crazy idea for trenching/excavation
davidrt28 (zone 7)
last year
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John D Zn6a PIT Pa
last yeardarth_veeder
last yearRelated Discussions
Should I push DH into the excavation pit now?
Comments (31)To tell the truth, I have shown him my choices, so he has a chance to veto...But for our bedroom carpet in particular, he's never home by the time there's enough daylight to really look at the samples in the room, so forget it...I showed the kids my 2 top choices instead, and they weighed in for me. I really want this to be a team project and have him care about the choices, but I have the better eye and will care more about some of the details in the end anyway. What mine is headed for the trench for these days is thinking, even though he isn't here to help with certain things, that they should be done exactly how he would do them. Phoohey on that. The latest: he wants us to stop and test every outlet we've wired before putting on the little face plate, to avoid having to take it off later if one has a problem. We are taking bulk boxes of these things and putting them on, one after another, as far as they'll go. We're not stopping to plug a radio into each one when we're 'on a roll.' It'll take 5 seconds if we ever have to take a face plate back off, and we'll do it if/when we need to. His way is not wrong, but neither is ours. It was his great idea to save the ceiling painting for last, over my opposite thought, and now it's me having to mask off the already painted walls, so we can do the HUGE job of painting the ceilings. That's all I'll say on that one, since I'm finding no humor in it at this point...It's the big load on my shoulders right now. Keeping him alive is the fact that he started cutting the material for my kitchen cabinets yesterday. :-D...See MoreCrazy idea to keep the creek out of my house:
Comments (3)The place to put a waterproof membrane is the exterior side of the foundation, right down to the footing. More important, though, is installing good french drains. And most important of all is: Divert the rain gutter downspouts into a solid pipe, at least 8' away from the foundation, downhill into the creek or into drywells. (the creek may not be the main problem, it could be mostly from the roof runoff.) The placement of the perforated drain pipe is key. It must be lower than the bottom of the footing. You want to create a low spot in the water table around the foundation of your home. Water must flow freely without a physical barrier. Geotextile fabric (NOT LANDSCAPE FABRIC)is specifically designed for this purpose: to allow water to pass while filtering sediment. Landscape fabric traps water, vinly traps water, and trapping of water is the problem you are currently experiencing. Basically do not use vinly or landscape fabric. It will do the opposite of what you are thinking. Talk to a geotechnical engineer. I have 3 close friends who are geotechs; we have experience designing and installing many subsurface drainage and soil retention systems....See MoreGeothermal loops/trenches questions
Comments (15)cs That is the same in my area. There is really only 1 company that has been doing GT for a long time - something like 20 years. Everyone else - just a few - are newbies. And you have to factor all of that into your decision. For the install, you could have a company travel from a distance to do the job. But what happens when things go wrong - if (when) you need service? I have had a contoller board and a fan relay fail on one unit within the first 12 months - both of which seem to be related to a power surge. But when heat is out, and it is cold outside, I want it fixed right away! And I mentioned it before - put whole house surge protectors in your main panel to protect your HVAC equipment (see www.smarthome.com, Panamax Whole House Surge Protectors). Make sure you spend the money and get good equipment, read the warranty and post with the equipment recommendations to get second opinions. I also think that if your company is a distance away, having some guages on the system so you can trouble shoot with your HVAC guys over the phone will help. Some of the tools the HVAC guys use (like temperature probes) are not expensive, so you could do things like check loop input and ooutput temp, air input & output temp - the basic things they would do to trouble shoot a problem. Have them explain to you what to look for on the contoller board when there is an issue - and how to reset it if your compressor locks out. With mine (Econar GeoSource 2000) the lights on the board will tell you if the compressor is locked out or if there was a pressure alarm condition. In my last home, I had gas heat and electric A/C. I found a great HVAC company and never worried about the system - knew very little about it. When it broke, I just called my guys. With my new home, I want to know everything about my GT system - not just because I find it inetersting, but because I know that if that one company who installed it goes belly up, there are very few people around here that know anything about GT or how to maintain the system I have. I also recommend that you install some form of backup heat if you live in a cold place. I chose to install direct vent fireplaces that are rated as heaters. This decision has turned out to be one of the very best investments we made in the house. When power goes out - or the heat pumps break - I can fully heat the house with one wood burning fireplace and two gas fireplaces. All of the fireplace units units have blower fans and thermostats - so they can be set to operate just like a heating system. All fireplace electronics are connected to the backup generator. I can live without A/C on a hot day, but cannot live without heat on a very cold night. Just some ideas to think about....See MoreA crazy remodeling idea?
Comments (6)Are you old enough to remember when the latest craze was fallout shelters,( in fear of the big bomb)? Can easily be done with enough money, the right contractor with approval from the proper engineers/building dept. I have a lot of respect for folks like yourself who think outside the box. The ideas that come to life need to be safe. Dependent on your area and in most areas, underground remains a consistent temperature with little fluctuation. Here in the mojave desert back in the mining days of the late 1800's, miners dug and lived in underground cabins that resembled daylight basements. Stayed cool in the summer and warm in the winter with little effort to heat. Mining was underground in those days as well. We went down a famous mine of the day that had three lavels, the deepest being around three hundred feet. The temperatures in those shafts remained between 68 & 72 degrees all year round with the help of ingenious designed air shafts. Designed right, the same results could be had with your wine cellar dependent on your location....See Moredavidrt28 (zone 7)
last yearlast modified: last yeartoxcrusadr
last yeardavidrt28 (zone 7)
last yearlast modified: last yeardarth_veeder
last yeardavidrt28 (zone 7)
last yearlast modified: last yeardavidrt28 (zone 7)
8 months agolast modified: 8 months ago
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