Prep for Insulation

Walls and ceiling in 3283's addition have been framed, sheathed and sided for a number of months. And, we removed the paneling and installed windows in the south living room wall a few weeks ago. I finely finished the electrical wiring in these walls last week. They were then ready to be insulated. I have been working with Tom Tuls of Holland Insulating Company. They will be installing closed cell polyurethane spray foam insulation in the addition and living room walls, the underside of the roof in the addition, and at the ends of each joist above the foundation in the basement. This work is scheduled to begin tomorrow [Thursday] so I had to get the rooms ready for them by today.

We've been living here since the electric was connected in May. Furniture has been in the living room, and the addition had become the catch all place for all my tools, supplies and stuff. I had to clean out the area where the crew will be working. And, before they started spraying I needed to complete some caulking where new addition walls abutted the old Dutch Lap siding.

Not many exciting pictures from this work. But, here they are.
Before:

The addition's mess -- 1.

The addition's mess -- 2.

Living room -- quasi-furnished.

After I re-organized my stuff and moved it from the addition it was ready for the work. And after most of the furniture was moved away from the living room wall it was ready to get spray foam. The sofa will be moved and covered before I go to bed tonight.

After today's organization:

The addition looks bigger without the stuff.
The bathroom will be behind the partition wall.

This shows the old north cottage wall. It will be covered with drywall
and the old window will be smaller and become a TV nook.

Another look at the cleaned up addition.
I'm looking forward to insulation, drywall and living here.

The southeast corner of the living room.
The wall will be insulated tomorrow
and the heating duct will be boxed in before drywall is installed.

The southwest corner of the living room.
I needed to add the stud in the corner so the drywall
will have a nailing surface.

Here's the south wall, [almost] ready for insulation.
I'll move the sofa, and cover it later tonight.

My caulking was done yesterday. It made sure that where new walls met the old siding the joint was sealed well. This was especially important since the Dutch Lap has little curved areas that need to be filled to seal the joint. Really, really boring pictures of this caulking follow.

The wall joint needed to be caulked above the ceiling line.

This is where the west addition wall meets the old siding.
You can see the curved portions of the Dutch Lap that needed filling.

The same caulking was needed where the east wall,
in the future bathroom, meets the old structure.

Tomorrow Holland Insulating will be here and spraying the foam in these walls and under the walls above the foundation in the basement. I promise that my pictures will be much, much more interesting.

Sprinklers and Mud

Last week we turned the lawn area around 3283 to "basic black" with the installation of topsoil. It looked great. The loam was nice and dark colored and relatively dry. But what fun is good black soil if it's dry. The task assigned to West Ottawa Sprinkling was to provide a system to make it wet. And so they did. 

Last Thursday Doug Wedeven, the plumber they subcontracted, came to 3283 and made the connection for the new sprinkler system to our well pump piping. He ran copper pipe from the copper near the pressure valve/tank to the basement ceiling; then PEX pipe to the north wall of the addition where the sprinkler connection and control valves would be located. On the outside of the building he installed a vacuum breaker / back-flow prevention device between the house water system and he underground piping for the sprinklers.

Doug is cutting into the existing supply line to make the sprinkler connection.

One more PEX pipe line was snaked through the basement ceiling.
Our water supply popes are red and blue. Sprinkler supply is white.

Copper pipe was used to connect the vacuum breaker to the system.

The completed piping...ready for the sprinkler valves to be attached.

After the plumbers left 3283 on Thursday I headed across state to visit my 'other home' and to give Bobbie a break from her cross-state driving. I was also able to do some things around that house for a change. And we got to spend Saturday evening with some good friends who we haven't seen in months.

I returned here late Sunday night. And thus, I was here when the West Ottawa Sprinkler crew arrived around 8:00 this morning. Scott Dykstra, West Ottawa's owner, was here first thing along with his guys. He marked sprinkler head locations, defined the zones that each valve will control, and met with me concerning the locations for the sprinkler control panel and the rain sensor. He stayed beyond that to see one pipe be pulled and sprinkler heads attached. Once this was done the crew tested the flow rate and pressure that our well was able to provide. Scott then raised the system pressure to allow the sprinklers to run more efficiently.

He then left the project in the capable hands of Adam, Carlos and Evan who did the majority of the installation. The first step was locating underground stuff. Consumers Energy and Semco Gas had marked the electric and natural gas supply lines -- which, obviously, are located right where nearly every sprinkler supply line was to be connected to the valve manifold. The crew had to locate the septic line, the electric line to the front deck light, and the sleeves that were installed by the sidewalk contractor to allow piping to pass underneath.

After pulling the first sprinkler line.

Locating the septic line.

One of the 4" PVC sleeves under the walks.

Following the testing and locating the crew went to work pulling 100s of feet of 1 inch diameter plastic pipe  We estimate that just shy of 1000 feet of pipe was buried in the yard of 3283 today. This included pipe to water all lawn areas, the area north of the addition where we will use ground cover, and provision to add sprinklers at a later time to the flower/shrub bed areas -- including the retaining wall terraces.

The machine made many passes across the yard to bury pipe.

Here the pipe is being pulled along the south sidewalk.

Irrigation piping was provided to each terrace.
Sprinkler heads will be installed once we know what will be planted there.

Adam worked to install a rain sensor on the west eve of the addition. This will allow the controller to skip sprinkling cycles during and following rain events. Since the addition walls are yet to be insulated and dry-walled, the control wire could easily be run indoors. He also ran the wires from the valve manifold to the control unit.

The rain sensor on the west addition eave.

More holes were drilled to run the wire to the control panel.

We were able to re-use the control panel from our old sprinkler system.
Adam mounted it on the basement wall next to the water heater.

The white PVC pipe is the manifold to which all control valves are attached.
Its buried just north of the addition. 

Much of the rest of the time the crew was there was spent making connections between pipe runs and installing sprinkler heads. There is a lot of pipe and many connections throughout the yard.

Pipes heading east from manifold/control valves.

Evan connecting a sprinkler head.

Running pipe under the septic line.

Working on complex junction adjacent to a sidewalk crossing.

The area north of the addition is where all our utilities enter the house. It is also where the sprinkler valves are located. Carlos did a great job regrading the area after installing the valve manifold and connecting all the pipes to it. The green valve covers will be eventually covered by mulch/bark and ground cover plants.

The "mess" during installation.

Nicely finished with top soil replaced.

When all the pipe and sprinkler heads were installed the crew energized each zone and made adjustments to the sprinkling pattern. This is when the most mud was created. I'm sure the new sod will love the water once it arrives. But today the sole activity of the water from the sprinklers was to make mud.

The crew did a good job of attempting to clean the sidewalks. But I think it will take a few days/weeks of rain and sweeping to get all the dirt off ... especially where the machine's tires pressed it onto the walk. I'm not concerned -- a power washer will definitely make them clean again.

Testing by the back porch.

Adjusting one of the main back yard sprinkler heads.

Adjusting sprinkler heads in the front yard.

Our muddy yard at the end of the work day.

A Lawn In Basic Black

The next step in the landscaping process was completed today. Mervin returned and moved all the topsoil he had left in piles around 3283.  He covered the sand and brought the base for the sod to the proper level. He and his helper did a lot of work today using a small John Deere tractor, wheelbarrows and shovels. They arrived just before 10:00 this morning and worked until after 5:00 this afternoon. Most of their morning work was along the south side of the cottage and in the front yard.

Some reshaping of the sand was needed before topsoil could be placed.
This was especially true south of the new sidewalks.

Where he could, Mervin placed the top soil with the tractor bucket.

Good old fashioned manual labor moved much of the dirt.

The tool on the rear of the tractor is made for landscape grading.

Topsoil is coming close to final level here in the front yard.

Mervin spread the existing stockpile until about 1:30. Then the final load of topsoil arrived. This load was 20 cubic yards -- slightly less that the two 25 yard loads that came before.  All in all, we have added 70 cubic yards of topsoil to the yard. This latest batch was spread throughout the back of 3283, and into the terraces created by the retaining wall.

Another BIG truck made a delivery to 3283.
Too bad Leo and JJ, my truck loving grandsons, aren't here to see it.

Mervin covered the back yard with the soil.
Here he is working next to the steps to the basement.

Some dirt had to be moved by wheelbarrow to fill corners of the yard.

All of the terrace "planters" got their share of the top soil.

When Mervin and his helper were done the yard was no longer sandy beige. Now, it has taken the classy color of Basic Black. Four inches of rich, black top soil cover the [soon to be] lawn and flower/shrub bed areas around 3283. The following pictures were taken after 5:00 so there are afternoon shadows. But they give a good idea of how the yard looks at day's end. If you try maybe you can picture the black replaced by green ... and imagine how the yard will look once sod is in place.

Looking at the back [east] side of 3283.

Looking north across the front 'lawn'.

Looking east toward the front porch...across the new 'lawn'.

Looking southeast showing the expanse of front lawn
[and the cottage's new addition].

Looking east along the south side of 3283.