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Construction Starting !!

10/26/2013

We received our septic permit last week and submitted our plans to the Building Department. We plan to start the septic and excavation next week.

We made a last-minute change to the entry. The original design was a bit awkward since you had to walk down the slope and then up several stairs. We decided to put in a 'bridge' that extends from the porch to meet with the grade. It's only about two feet above the ground, but we hope to make it look like it's floating over the slope.

We got the idea from this raised walkway at Gibbs Garden.

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The Amazing Bagster

10/6/2013

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OK, "amazing" is an exaggeration but the Bagster is really convenient. It is a big 4'x8' foot dumpster in a bag. You pick it up at a place like Home Depot, unfold it near the end of your driveway, and fill it with junk.

Then you go to their website and click on Schedule a Collection and in a couple of days it's gone.

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Fun with Fans - Science Project

10/6/2013

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You know how the basement always stays nice and cool in the summer. In our present home there is at least a five degree difference at each level. The basement will be comfortable at 75 while the second floor is at 85.

Our open floor plan makes the problem worse. When we run the air conditioning the second floor cools off. But as soon as the AC stops, the cold air all settles back down in the basement.

neoTerra will also have an open stairwell. We thought it would be reallly nice if we could circulate that cool basement air up to the main floor, so I did a little science project to test the theory.

For this test, I selected a 340 CFM Panasonic WhisperLine fan. These are among the quietest and most energy efficient on the market.

I put the fan on the basement floor and used flexible duct to push the air up the stairwell to the second floor.

It worked better than expected, though the cleaning lady was a little baffled by the shiny metal tubing running up the hallway!

The 340 CFM fan actually moves too much air for a single room so I'm planning to buy two smaller units for neoTerra. We will locate them at opposite ends of the house to make the air travel as far as possible to get back down the central stairwell.

Here's a link to the Panasonic web site:
http://www.panasonic.com/business/building-products/ventilation-systems/products/whisper-line.asp

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Construction Starting !!

The Amazing Bagster

Fun with Fans - Science Project

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