Ah, Home Sweet Home… Finally settled into my Workshop Office

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Well, I’ve had a bit of a breather and decided it was time to get settled into the Workshop office.

First thing was to add the final two HVAC zones to the workshop.  Now the Finishing Room and Office both have there own 3/4 ton heat pump to maintain a comfortable and economical temperature.  Adding this small zone to the office (and installing the exterior grade door between the Office and the Workshop) allows me to keep the rest of the building at more economical temperatures while keeping the Office within a comfortable range.

Then, it was a matter of finishing the closet (except molding, of course), outfitting the bathroom with some cabinetry, and hanging my various photos, maps, and citations on the wall.

Here’s my new ‘work’ environment:

New Water Softener Installation at the Little House in the Woods!

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There were several aspects of the original water softener installation at the Little House in the Woods that I didn’t like, but when several of the fittings started leaking I knew it was time to re-do the entire installation.

The original installation was clearly installed at the convenience of the plumber literally without ANY consideration of the impact on the Homeowner.  In the original installation the Salt tank, which needs to be loaded periodically with heavy bags of salt was positioned inside a wall formed by the Water Softener drain pipe – inexplicably plumbed at knee level an stretching across the region in which both the heavy bags of salt needed to be transported, but also the access to service the Water Pressure tank and pump fittings.

But the most ridiculous aspect of the installation is that the control panel, from which the home owner can make adjustments to the Water Softener cycles or even do something as mundane as correcting the time of day after a loss of power, was positioned directly behind the supporting wood post!  You couldn’t read the panel or make any adjustments!  TOTALLY STUPID!!!

Anyway, the fact that the system was leaking, caused by even more stupid or careless installation practices, was motivation enough for me to replace it.  So, here we are, the original with all its warts and the new setup…

Finally, if you look closely at the new photos, you’ll notice a few additional items:

  • A water meter just past the pump cutoff – this meter has an electrical contact to register each gallon of water used…
  • A Water Filter to clean up the sediment from the silty well we have here.  The previous installation didn’t have a filter and the Salt Tank was absolutely filthy with sediment!
  • A tap to electronically measure water pressure just after the Water Softener.  Will help monitor pump performance and if the filter is getting clogged.
  • A couple of additional taps that will be used to monitor the water hardness so that we can cycle the water softener when its needed, rather than some arbitrary timing cycle…  More on these new features in a later post.

Added Wood Storage Rack to Workshop

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I’ve finally gotten around to adding a wood storage rack to the Workshop.  It was a matter of necessity, really.  I’m currently working on the Hoist Beam for the loft and there are a lot of large pieces of lumber to build the beam and supporting joists.   The Workshop floor was strewn with long pieces, which, while easily negotiated as I stepped over the peninsulas of lumber, they were blocking the pathways on the floor that I’ll need to have open so I can move the crane around.  Once I start building the beam, it will quickly become too heavy and unwieldy to move without some kind of rolling equipment to carry it from workstation to workstation.

In any case, here is the storage rack.  I have enough hardware to make another complete rack, but I’m saving that for the Finishing room.

Click to view larger image.

This rack will provide short term storage of wood. It's located at my compound miter saw as this will most likely be the first place I'll work on the wood - to cut to rough lengths.

The Little House in the Village Hall Floor is in!

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We’ve finally installed the flooring for the Hallway in the Little House in the Village.  This was a long time coming.

When we bought the LHV, this area was occupied by a 3/4 bath that must have had pipes burst and gone undiscovered for some time.  The entire space required Hazmat gear to clean it up.  It was in the process of stripping the room that we realized that the bath had been placed in the middle of the original hallway.

After a lot of shuffling, removing ALL services from the crawlspace (so we could downsize the access door and steps), literally nuking ALL the construction in this quarter of the first floor, adding a new half bath where the old crawlspace access door used to be, shoring up the old beams to have a stable platform to build on, we can FINALLY realize the end to end Hallway that really opened up our little home.

No longer claustrophobic, it is a charming little home waiting for its finishing touches…

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