Above 1200 Sq/FT Restored 1930's Auto Shop

[BB767]

Please post night time pics


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'd like to do just that. I've never shot a night time exposure with any success but my current camera does have a setting for it. I presume I'll need a tripod to steady the camera for the slow shutter speed.



Before I retired from Continental, I tried taking a B767 cockpit picture at night in flight and no matter how hard I tried to steady myself it still blurred. I suspect using a tripod would have made it work.



With the cockpit dome light on, the additional light stopped the blurring but the glass instruments didn't photograph. Clearly I'm no professional photographer. Good thing I didn't quit my day (night) job!

Here we're flying at 37,000' on a north heading so we're headed back to Newark (EWR) from Sáo Paulo (GRU) somewhere over the south Atlantic. For those with sharp eyes, the standby altimeter reads 37,100' (red arrow) while the left side Primary Flight Display - PFD (yellow arrow) is showing 37,000' exactly. Without getting overly technical, the autopilot uses the PFD for it's flight information so the aircraft is being flown at the correct altitude. The standby altimeter is only used if the 2 PFD's fail.

I'll see what my night time photography skills will produce showing the house outside lighting. This will be interesting.

New career bound Thomas

 

[bp460]

Thomas,

Thank you again for sharing your journey. The outside lights look great! I am curious... what color temperature did you select?

Cheers,
Brad

 

[GJoustra]

Wow, Awesome work Thomas!! Great idea with the privacy window.

 

[stillp]

Thomas, to photograph the outside of the house you don't need a tripod. Just sit the camera on a solid surface and trigger the shutter using the self-timer, so you don't cause vibration by using the shutter button.

Pete

 

[BB767]

Thomas,

Thank you again for sharing your journey. The outside lights look great! I am curious... what color temperature did you select?

Cheers,
Brad

Excellent point Brad. It's important to look at lighting temperatures, measured in degrees of Kelvin on a scale of 1,000 to 10,000.



My LED's are 3,000K, near the top end of Warm White range. Note the operating cost per year of $1.81 for 3 hours use per day. They are estimated to last 27 years with kind of usage.



A key feature is that they are dimmable. That will allow me to set the brightness that I want with a rheostat if necessary.

More coming up.

Thomas

 

[bluestripe67]

Each of us have photographic skills, but the cameras now a day override us with technology. I must say you have done a fantastic job of documenting the events at the center of the universe. Thomas check your email, I have something in waiting. Dennis

 

[BB767]

More Interior Progress

So what's been going on out here...



...behind the front, closed door? (nope, that's NOT the finished door hardware, just a temporary knob)



At first glance it appears to be most unwelcoming, however...



...on the other side of that door, in the front foyer that will also serve as an airlock, work on the porcelain floor tile was in progress.



Eventually a pair of solid hickory French doors with beveled glass will enclose the foyer running across where the blue tape is hung.



To add some visual interest and make the foyer it's own space, 18" square tiles were cut 4" wide for the outer boarder. Then some very small rectangular tiles slightly less than 4" wide in total width were set next the the outer 4" boarder.



Finally the 12" square main tiles were set on a diagonal with the front door. This is without any grout installed...



...and here is the foyer completed with grout. The small area to the back-right is a coat closet that will have hickory doors enclosing it. The foyer is small, but an important area. It gives a first impression when entering the home. By doing a few small details I think I succeeded in making it an interesting area. Once both pairs of doors are hung and it is all trimmed out, I think it it will create a positive, first impression.

Turning around, beyond the foyer and through the French doors...



...will be the the kitchen. It uses the same color porcelain floor tile but it is slightly larger tile at 18" square and set so that it runs parallel with the walls in the main house.

All the various cabinets throughout the house are now installed and I'm very happy how everything turned out, stand by for that.

Meanwhile outside...



...Mike stopped by with his stunning '63 Nova. It looks right at home parked in my driveway. The color works really well with the house don't you think?



The first of what promises to be a plethora of interesting cars to grace the carport in the coming years.

Thanks everyone, stay warm.

Thomas

 

[Craptain]

Welcome back Thomas. Oh! Wait it only seems like a long time.
I like the tile. I also appreciate the fact that you didn't feel constrained to the full size tiles. Doors soon? And then. ....

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

 

[BB767]

Welcome back Thomas. Oh! Wait it only seems like a long time.
I like the tile. I also appreciate the fact that you didn't feel constrained to the full size tiles. Doors soon? And then. ....

Thanks Andrew, the doors...



...are all waiting in the garage. I'm planning on starting their installation tomorrow.



The foyer French doors are buried in there somewhere...

Thomas

 

[Laro13]

My OCD is kicking in.

Nice job Thomas!

.

 

[BB767]

My OCD is kicking in.

Nice job Thomas!

.

Thank you Laro13 for noticing! That little foyer space was quite a challenge for the layout. It's a small space with 7 inside and outside corners and walls with various angles. What do you want to key on for the layout??



The problem was worked backwards starting with what I knew I wanted. So the 4" outer boarder was first, followed by the smaller rectangular tiles. That's when the real challenge started. I was pretty sure I wanted the 12" tile set on a diagonal but several different layouts had to be tried to make sure all those different corners didn't turn out looking too funky with how the 12" tiles laid out to them. Imagine that corner you pointed out Laro13, with that line at an odd angle instead of being parallel to the 45º corner?



Ultimately after some trial and error, starting with a 1/2 tile set diagonal in the middle of the doorway which I thought looked good and radiating out from it would get the best looking corners everywhere else. It's all a compromise of course but and with a bit of luck the final turned out OK.

BTW, once the closet doors are installed...



...the tile set in the closet doorway threshold will only show a 4" tile border inside the foyer, just like it is all the way around the rest of the room.

The 1/2 bath in the basement is the only tile work left but that's pretty straight forward. Nothing exciting there, trust me.

Check back...



... for some nice cabinetry.

Thomas

 

[Sweet Old Bill]

Thomas,

I submit that we are all looking forward to you carrying the beautiful Miss Chris across the threshold when the house is at a "Temporary Pause"! I am reasonably certain that the house will never actually be done. Enjoy seeing your plans turn into reality.

 

[BB767]

Thomas,

I submit that we are all looking forward to you carrying the beautiful Miss Chris across the threshold when the house is at a "Temporary Pause"! I am reasonably certain that the house will never actually be done. Enjoy seeing your plans turn into reality.

That's a surprise Chris doesn't know about so mum's the word! I do indeed intend to carry my bride across the threshold on the first day/night we'll officially occupy the house. As a guess that's about 45 days or less from now. We're getting mighty close. All the various appliances are set to arrive mid-week.


The HVAC crew tells me they might even finish...





...before Christmas. From the looks at the system, I'm going to be doing some home work over the holidays.

Thanks Bill, hope we can get together next year.

Thomas

 

[panthersteve]

. From the looks at the system, I'm going to be doing some home work over the holidays.

Thomas

Yes, it does look fairly involved

At least you have some homework to do too, not just us for the test!!

 

[Laro13]

Thank you Laro13 for noticing! That little foyer space was quite a challenge for the layout. It's a small space with 7 inside and outside corners and walls with various angles. What do you want to key on for the layout??

Thomas, I'm just kidding.
It's a strange shape to tile and you always end up with some conundrums.
You did an excellent job and I really love your eye for the details.

Cheers,
Jasper

 

[Dave_Car_Guy]

Re: More Interior Progress

...Mike stopped by with his stunning '63 Nova. It looks right at home parked in my driveway. The color works really well with the house don't you think?

The first of what promises to be a plethora of interesting cars to grace the carport in the coming years.

I love everything about this. What a great space you created!

 

[csp]

That's quite the air handler setup!

So you have a combination of forced air and radiant, or is one primary and the other secondary?

 

[BB767]

That's quite the air handler setup!

So you have a combination of forced air and radiant, or is one primary and the other secondary?

I'll admit it's a bit overwhelming at first but when it's divided into it's various sub-assemblies it's not so bad. I'll do a more in-depth post on the HVAC but for now here's an overview. The Geo-Thermal wells condition methanol which is fed into the Water Furnace heat pumps. There the primary heat source is radiant floor. If that can't keep up with demand it is augmented with heat pump forced air. As a last resort, if neither of those two heat sources can't keep up, electrical resistant heat strips are employed to provide heat. It's highly doubtful that the electrical resistant heat strips will ever need to be used.

Up until 2 weeks ago I was heating the whole house with exhaust air from 1 dehumidifier on the 1st floor to 60º. Once it really started getting cold, 20º lows to upper 30º's during the day I finally turned on the forced air heat since the radiant floor system isn't completed yet. That heat pump doesn't run very often but then again the house isn't completely sealed up yet either.

In the basement I don't have use of the floor radiant heat yet, but exhaust air from the dehumidifier located in the basement is heating the whole basement space to 70º quite easily.

The house is super tight and well insulated.



That's why I have a CERV air quality system to exchange air in the home in an energy efficient way. That system is still being installed and was not completed when this picture was taken.

So the upshot of it all is radiant floor heat is my primary heat source and it's not going to take much energy to heat the house. For more information on CERV , it can be found here:
http://www.buildequinox.com/

Was that at all helpful csp?

Thomas

 

[Boosted1]

Looks like you have done a lot of planning including backup systems.
Will you have a way to heat if electricity goes off? Possibly a generator hookup for the geothermal?

 

[Finallygotit]

Was that at all helpful csp?

Thomas

It was for me.

What is the SEER rating on the heat pump, if I may ask?

I had a new one installed about a year ago that has VFD's on all three motors. I also sealed up the house pretty tight and installed a LOT of insulation. That heat pump system just idles along to keep the house at 72° while it's 105° outside.

 

[csp]

Was that at all helpful csp?

Thomas

Absolutely! I had forgotten that you're using geothermal as well.

 

[Lotusnut]

Thomas

Do you have 2 heat pump radiant units in the basement? In your post from the 5th the 2 pictures are for different installations with the heat pumps in different orientations to the units that look like water heaters.

Rob

 

[BB767]

It was for me.

What is the SEER rating on the heat pump, if I may ask?

I had a new one installed about a year ago that has VFD's on all three motors. I also sealed up the house pretty tight and installed a LOT of insulation. That heat pump system just idles along to keep the house at 72° while it's 105° outside.

The 2 heat pumps I have are WaterFurnace 7 series units. They are designed to work specifically with GeoThermo installations and as such are not exactly like a traditional heat pump. The two ratings they list for them are an EER rating- Energy Efficiency Rating - the WaterFurnace 7 Series holds one of the highest recorded certified performances of 41 EER.

They also use a COP rating - Coefficient of Performance - the WaterFurnace 7 Series holds one of
the highest recorded certified performance of 5.3 COP

They are reputed to be among the best available and seem to enjoy a good reputation in the industry. Check back with me in April, after the heating season is over. I should have better, first hand information then. It's my hope they will just idle along to keep the house at 72º while it's -25º outside.

Looks like you have done a lot of planning including backup systems.
Will you have a way to heat if electricity goes off? Possibly a generator hookup for the geothermal?

At present I have...



...400 amp service to the house.



I'll add a 3rd panel that serve as a backup panel and will be run strictly by a standby power generator. It will be a 25KW unit that is a 4 cylinder, water cooled unit running on natural gas. It should run most everything in the house but it won't support any of the 3 phase equipment.

And then of course as a backup to the backup I have...



...a splendid wood burning, masonry fireplace that will throw off a bunch of heat in a pinch. Remember it's a Rumford design with several modern day improvements in efficiency so it actually can be considered a heat source.

Thomas

Do you have 2 heat pump radiant units in the basement? In your post from the 5th the 2 pictures are for different installations with the heat pumps in different orientations to the units that look like water heaters.

Rob

I do indeed have 2 units Rob. As explained above they are WaterFurnce units designed to work with GeoThermo systems. This unit...



...is zoned to do most of the main floor and garage and part of the basement. Meanwhile this other unit...



...is zoned for the 2nd floor and the other part of the basement not handled by the 1st unit.

The water heater looking apparatus seen to the left in both installations are indeed water heaters.....of a sort. They aren't for domestic hot water but aid with the radiant floor heat. I'll get into more specifics in a later post on the system.

Thanks once more for all the interest and positive support. It really does keep me on my toes. Every day we're a little closer to calling this house our home.

Thomas

 

[rixtrix1]

Nice mechanical heat set-up, Thomas. First time I have heard of a methanol filled geo-thermal system, But I really haven't followed it that much since I moved to AZ. I know how corrosive methanol is in a racing fuel system. How does your system deal with that?

 

[bluestripe67]

Thomas, I had a tile layout issue in our addition, but not like yours. Your does look nice. Dennis

 

[BB767]

Snow Comes Calling

For some of you in southern climates, these might be of interest...







It was a real wet heavy snow...



...but cleaning the new driveway will be much easier this year! This is looking from the barn back to the old shop of course.



That's the barn framed by the carport during the snow. Only about an inch (2.5 cm) of accumulation but it's the first snow of many more to come on the new house. The carport kept the area by the front door high and dry. That's was the idea!

Meanwhile inside...



One piece left to trim out the front door and...



... another coat of polyurethane finish. Coat closet doors...



...in the foyer are hung. About 1/2 of the doors are now hung and some trimmed but none have the final hardware installed yet. In the hallway to the right...



...is the pantry, crafted of hickory like most all the interior woods.



It's a double sided pantry...



... and the shelves, which are really trays, all roll out to give easy access to items in the back. They are all constructed with dovetail corner joints. The pantry is extra deep at 29" (73.7 cm) and is just around the corner from the kitchen.

More cabinetry coming up.

Thomas

 

[old salt racer]

Thomas, The first snow picture looks like a black & white post card from the '30s. Things are looking goood !!! Don't let any of the white stuff drift this way. Merry Christmas to all caught in the vortex at the center of the universe.---Lou---

 

[David0858]

[email protected]

I read this whole thread (among others) when I was laid up in bed a couple weeks and this was very impressive. One question though, the gas pump, I didn't see it mentioned or even asked about. It looks like you restored it too and did a good job but I assume it's not functional? Any pics of the restoration?

The snow pics look good but I'm about as far north as I have any desire to be. My trees still have green leaves.

 

[red]

Thomas, that roof line is just begging for Christmas lights . . .

And with the size of that ***** you wouldn't have to go to get food until the spring. Brilliant planning!

Almost forgot to ask- What type of polyurethane did you decide on?
I've found that using foam brushes or specialty foam rollers for floors gives the best results.

 

[Boosted1]

Looking good!
25kW. Wow. That should handle backup duties.

 

[BB767]

Nice mechanical heat set-up, Thomas. First time I have heard of a methanol filled geo-thermal system, But I really haven't followed it that much since I moved to AZ. I know how corrosive methanol is in a racing fuel system. How does your system deal with that?

Methanol is very commonly used in Geo Thermo well installations. As with everything, it's a compromise. Other fluids each have their weak and strong points. Methanol is the easiest on the circulating pumps. There are no iron parts in the system that come in contact with methanol. For example, all the circulating pumps on the methanol side...





...are internally bronze. Other components that come into contact with methanol are either brass, bronze, stainless steel or plastic.

Thomas, The first snow picture looks like a black & white post card from the '30s. Things are looking goood !!! Don't let any of the white stuff drift this way. Merry Christmas to all caught in the vortex at the center of the universe.---Lou---

Lou I knew those pictures would get your attention, especially after you helped me out there last summer when it was devilishly hot! Believe it or not those are color photographs. That's the way my digital camera depicted the scene. I suspect the overcast sky and heavy white snow in progress confused it a little. The snow only lasted a day, it's all gone now but it was sure pretty.

A very merry Christmas to you my friend. See you next year.

I read this whole thread (among others) when I was laid up in bed a couple weeks and this was very impressive. One question though, the gas pump, I didn't see it mentioned or even asked about. It looks like you restored it too and did a good job but I assume it's not functional? Any pics of the restoration?

The snow pics look good but I'm about as far north as I have any desire to be. My trees still have green leaves.

Hello David and welcome to the vortex. I bet that was interesting reading since you could do it all in a short while and not have it stretched out over almost 7 years! That's a long wait to see how it all will turn out but some of these guys are gluttons for punishment I guess. They keep hanging in there.



You're correct I haven't really said much about the gas pump outside the barn.



It's a Tokheim Model 300. Those pumps were made from 1950 to 1960. This one came from a small town South Carolina and is in overall pretty good condition. It hasn't been restored as yet but there are some features about it that are incorrect that I need to change.



It does make a nice background for photo shoots just the same. I hope you'll check back in with us here from time to time. As you've read, there's always something going in the COTU.

Thomas, that roof line is just begging for Christmas lights . . .

And with the size of that ***** you wouldn't have to go to get food until the spring. Brilliant planning!

Almost forgot to ask- What type of polyurethane did you decide on?
I've found that using foam brushes or specialty foam rollers for floors gives the best results.

I'm using satin Varathane interior polyurethane. I've been using Varathane products for a good share of my life and have been very happy with them. For the last several years I've had to use water based material since they don't make the petroleum based products anymore. I still use brushes too but should give those foam "brushes" a try. I've heard others say they work well too. Thanks for the reminder.

Thomas

 

[merr6267]

With bated breath, we wait for the next update.

Many thanks for keeping us informed.

 

[BB767]

With bated breath, we wait for the next update.

Many thanks for keeping us informed.

You must be turning blue by now (!) so here is the latest. This is what...



...251 gallons of...



...distilled water looks like. That's what I'm going to use for the fluid in the radiant floor system. We're not sure exactly how much we'll need, but we'll start with this. I'm using distilled water rather than plain tap water because it has no mineral deposits in it and it's relatively inexpensive. I'm trying to avoid mineral deposit buildup in the heat tubing that might occur over the years. I'm installing a whole house water filter on the main water in-feed line but the initial fill of the lines will be done with distilled water. Then as air is bled out of the lines I'll resupply the system with filtered water. That resupply should not amount to very much at all. I'm trying to do that in the next few days so I'm getting very close to having the Geo Thermo radiant floor system up and running. That will be a milestone indeed. The CERV air quality unit in the background...



...is now fully installed and ready to go.

Meanwhile elsewhere in the house...



...the kitchen cabinets are installed...



The counter tops will be installed in a few days and the appliances the day after that. All the doors have been hung and we'll be doing trim work around them.



Remember these 2 doorways in the basement from last spring? This was the first framing done on the house back then.



Here they are with the doors hung, but no trim around them yet. The large door on the left with glass, 7' (2.1 m) tall and 42" (107 cm) wide...



...is the door at the bottom of the basement stairs. I put in an oversized door to aid getting material in and of the basement when I'm not using the material lift. Seen through the glass are the temporary basement steps. Eventually those will be replaced with Hickory steps and risers. Disregard the man reflected in the glass.

By the way, today, December 14th is the 8th month anniversary of the house ground breaking. I might be finishing up in another 30 days or so. Stand by!

Thomas

 

[HOTFR8]

Disregard the man reflected in the glass.

He must be thinking this is looking good now. The house not the reflection.

By the way, today, December 14th is the 8th month anniversary of the house ground breaking. I might be finishing up in another 30 days or so. Stand by!

Thomas

Well done.

 

[Grizz1963]

Just looking in and grinning madly at your continued progress Thomas and Chris.


Your energy and drive for perfection continues to be in place, and that is a rare thing.


Love the glass in the door too.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Just looking in and grinning madly at your continued progress Thomas and Chris.


Your energy and drive for perfection continues to be in place, and that is a rare thing.


Love the glass in the door too.

I an only echo that sentiment...

 

[drivesitfar]

BB: i've seen A LOT of nice homes in my lifetime, but so far i'd have to say yours is shaping up to be one of my favorites. WELL DONE TO BOTH YOU AND YOUR BRIDE and all of your friends and subs helping you.

so you'll be done by my birthday at the end of JANUARY? i'll just keep watching and learning as you keep posting up the progress and wish you the best of luck with the work and the weather.

 

[markviii]

Okay, now someone has gone and done it... I checked the post count just after 1/2 Cup posted and there were still about 3k posts until 5mil. I checked when I got back from meetings today around 3pm and we're 1k over 5mil. It's not even the weekend when post-counts usually accelerate. But 4k in 24 hours?

Soooo, I'm letting all you long-timers who've been following along and waiting so patiently for the quiz/test/quest that it will be coming up shortly. Really, truly. It will be in several sections on several different GJ forums (Flooring, Heating/AC, Lighting/Electrical and maybe Free Parking, too). Clues to the whereabouts of each section will be given on this thread and all the answers will be throughout this thread (generous clues will be provided to answer the questions).

I haven't decided where to end the content, how to turn in your results or the turn-in deadline. It's still in the works. Just know that things are being worked on to make it fun.

It really won't do you any good to cram. And please don't get stressed about it It's all fun! Really!!

Chris

 

[Vernmotor]

O NO the day has come ! O my what to do! where to look! what to read !!! Been thinking For years about the day it would happen !

 

[BB767]

....................

.................. Just know that things are being worked on to make it fun.

It really won't do you any good to cram. And please don't get stressed about it It's all fun! Really!!

Chris

"Things are being worked on to make it fun.........

.........It's all fun! Really!!"

Don't you believe her for one minute fellows!!!!!!



She might look harmless enough...



...but trust me...



...behind that innocent smile...



...she's always looking-...



...searching for ways...



...to heap misery...



... upon poor, unsuspecting souls.



Bribing her with candy is utterly futile, believe me I've tried.



You might as well face up to it and wave goodby to any happiness you foolishly thought you might find.

We're about to be facing DOOM, very soon............................

Misty eyed Thomas