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May 22, 2006

Moving dirt

Moving dirt is fun work if you have the correct tools also if you are 2-1/2 years old. We had company over the past week so not too much was done on the AC project dispite the great cool weather that we had. This past week would have been perfect to take off and work non-stop in the attic - Oh well.

I did however get my dad to help in the removal of roughly 1.5 cubic yards of dirt in preparation of where the condenser unit will sit. This task was only slightly inhibited by the fact that I don't own a wheel-barrow yet. In absense of that wonderfull tool we used two 1.5 gal buckets... that adds up to alot of trips with the buckets. It actually ended up not being too bad and Matthew got to help us a bit as well.

So now for that section of the project I need to lay down some ground cloth stuff and put down the gravel. After that we will be ready for the pad to be poured and set.

May 13, 2006

AC take 7 (and 8)

When I asked Melissa what she thought of the progress on the SpacePak project. She said, "Well it looks like...

She said, "Well it looks like you are getting stuff done." This statement is something that is while true it is not something that I'd like to be hearing. Of course I'd rather hear something like "Yea its done" .. Ha

Today we were able to get our so called BeeRoom (extra bedroom on 2nd floor) finished with 2 outlets and two ducts run where I will need to build a book shelf to conceal them. These were the only two ducts that were not able to be hidden in a closet or other fashion. We also got one duct positioned into the dining room through the master bedroom closet. I miss-judged and drilled one small 1/4 in hole in the wrong spot on this outlet which I will have to patch later.

May 9, 2006

- BAM -

Well I had a shocking reminder of work that needs to be done this evening.

While Matthew and I were playing Legos in the play room after dinner one of the 1960's ish storm windows came crashing down in its sill. This of course shattered the thin payne of glass and made both Matthew and I jump. Once we located what had just happened Matthew was pressing to go out with daddy to fix it. :-)

I do need to contact the rep at Allied Windows who sent me my detailed information about the storm windows I want to use around the house.

May 6, 2006

AC take 6

So most installers would be rapping up the project. Mean while we are just getting to the fun stuff.

http://www.footefamily.net/house/upload/2006/05/264s-thumb.jpg

Today we actually positioned the terminations into a few rooms of the house. The big accomplishment for the day was getting one supply tube all the way down to the first floor through a second floor closet. We used a very inexpensive 4 inch sewer pipe to conseal the duct in the closet getting this to fit into place was also quite fun. So this first crack at getting the AC outlets into the correct spots was successfull. I have discovered that 4-1/8 hole saw is needed for the sewer pipe to go through the cieling while smaller 3-1/2 in is ok for going into the floor. Where the AC outlet is positioned in the cieling needs to be cut using the 4 in hole saw to account for the clips to hold the face plate in position.

May 5, 2006

AC take 5 (4 squeezed through)

I thought it couldn't be done... Pretty impresive eh?

http://www.footefamily.net/house/upload/2006/05/257small-thumb.jpg

Today we spent the day fishing the small duct work across the tiny eve space under the front dormer. This was no small chore untill we found the magic bottle. (No not that kind of bottle.) We devised a method of using a rope to pull one small tube at a time through the area much like our electrician had done when running the wires. I had to make a trip to Lowes while dad attempted the first pull... using the home made torpedo tool (picture left). Dad spent the better part of 2 hours on the first pull, when I returned we devised a new torpedo (picture right) which worked much better.

http://www.footefamily.net/house/upload/2006/05/pict0283small-thumb.jpg

When the pulling of tubes was done for the day we had 4 tubes through the space where I was hoping to get three max. This was quite an exhilarating day when all was said and pulled ;-)

May 4, 2006

AC take 4 (all about the plenum)

As the title states..... Guess what happened today?

Today we installed the plenum. We have joined most seams so things are in place and ready for the smaller take-off tubes to be run and joined into the plenum. For the most part the plenum went together easily. I actually only ended up having to make 3 cuts of the 9" plenum. This stuff turned out to be easy to work with as long as you take your time and measure correctly and think things through.

The west branch of the plenum is capped off and finished. We did leave an area inbetween the T and the elbow that can be removed for the lineset to be run by the plumbers. I ended up one piece short on the east branch. This last piece we will fit once the take off runs are finished. It will be a tight fit for that last six foot piece to squeeze around the corner and into position. The take-off connections will have to be pre drilled and installed before that piece goes into place as well.

May 2, 2006

AC take 2 (and 3)

Ok so I will double post since I am to lazy to post the day of..

So after we spent a large ammount of time trying to get the air-handler hanging equipment in just the right place to support the unit. We ended up scrapping the ordered drain pan and had one custom made out of galvanized tin. It turned out heavier duty than expected but that is fine I guess. The handler will sit on the pre-made box and pan combination which is suspended from the rafters through 3/8in threaded rod. After alot of futzing and fine-tuning the air handler / was in place and hanging from the rafters.

http://www.footefamily.net/house/upload/2006/05/frame-thumb.jpg

During the process of getting the suspension unit together and miscalenious electrical wire routed and re-routed, the preporation for the plenum run across the attic was being done. Thi s consisted of cutting a round(ish) hole through four areas of the wall on our third floor. Eventually these areas will be boxed in as window seats etc. (I do want this thrid floor to be presentable for a guest room/ playroom/ office... after all that is why we are airconditioning the space.)

http://www.footefamily.net/house/upload/2006/05/p01-thumb.jpg

We actually ended up placing some of the plenum into the areas just to see if the idea would work...
Looks like it will :-)