Back Porch

I got a little ahead of myself and forgot to post the pictures of the back porch. There is one part of the porch that I forgot to take a picture of and that is the small portion that came out over the kitchen door. It was nice feature and helps out when going straight into the kitchen verses the mudroom.

Outdoor Wood Furnace and Heating

By the last week of April we had our heating installed. We had an air handler installed that will force the air over an coil insert attached to the outdoor wood furnace.

We purchased a outdoor wood furnace made by Central Boiler and we also had a propane insert installed in the furnace in case we won't or can't heat by wood.

Submersible Pump, Well and Slave Well

In the first two pictures our plumbers are preparing to install the submersible pump into our cistern. The cistern was originally dug when the house was made. It goes down about 35 feet and after 8 feet was hewn through Ohio sandstone to the final depth.

We cistern captures some ground water that runs from the ridge behind the house, and then we'll have the gutters empty into the cistern as well. From there we'll let the water settle out and then move it to the slave tank, made of concrete, where we'll pull it into the house. Once in the house it will be filtered with a standard home water partial filter and purified with a reverse osmosis filter.

We decided to install a slave tank in the event we have to haul in water during peak summer months, we won't lose the water through the sandstone.

Rough Plumbing Installed

During the first of April our plumbers were able to get down to our house to install much of the rough plumbing, actually a week or so before I took vacation. Below are a few pictures of the rough-in portion.

For the central water system we went with PEX rather than copper for cost savings and longevity, and in the first two pictures you can see the green PEX that will tie in to our outdoor wood furnace and our forced hot air system, and it will also heat our hot water tank (picture 2).

We have two hot water tanks, one is propane and the other is electric. The propane will be for summer use, and in case we go away and let the outdoor wood furnace go out, say on a vacation. The second hot water tank, electric is just a holding tank where the water will actually be heated by the outdoor wood furnace and then move to the propane tank for distribution through out the house. Using an electric hot water tank rather than the "holding tank" normally used saved us about $200.

The young guy in the last picture is Aaron, our plumber Harold W. oldest son, who knows more about plumbing than a plumber twice his age.

Pentecost Sunday

Good Sunday, today is Pentecost Sunday.

Acts 2: 1-4
1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Construction Begins on the Front Porch

Here are some pictures of the new front porch.

Originally the porch had a flat roof, which led to a door on the second floor leading into the master bedroom. The folks that owned the house prior to us had taken the door out and installed a wall. Since the old porch was so rotted we had no choice but to tear it down. We added the small window where the door used to be and then we decided that we would change the front porch up a bit from the original, and add a hip roof that mirrored the main roof line. However, we kept the orginal footprint of the old porch so it is basically the same size.

Basement Stairwell Takes Shape

Our concrete guy finished pouring the new wall that will encase our outdoor stairwell to the basement. Right now the stairwell is in the kitchen and took up quite a bit of floor space and we both felt it was pretty unsafe having a trap door in the floor, which would be fairly close to where planned to have the kitchen table. Since we have the extra money we decided to have the exterior stairs built, which will definitely be safer, give us the floor space in the kitchen and provide a good cold cellar to store can goods.