Embellishments

The bedrooms are basically finished, and the guest house is at least 'sleepable' now! Here are the details:

We purchased a natural mattress from OMI for the slab wood bed, and topped it with organic

linens from Coyuchi. The comforter is organic wool from our friends at Prarie Glenn Wool in South Dakota (we'll be getting more of these shortly- they are great). The night stands are Box Elder slabs bracketed to the wall.

The dresser was saved from the landfill and is in the process of being refinished.

Bedroom #2 with similar linens.

I made night stands from salvaged lumber and antique sewing machine bases. The lamps (made from wagon wheel hubs) were found in an antique store and seemed appropriate for the barn:

My mom donated a really nice antique dresser as well:

Solar Sundays Part IX- Finishing up

We purchased Palram's twinwall polycarbonate panels from Farmtek to glaze the collectors. Since it is now the dead of winter, I brought them all inside to warm up before applying the gaskets. I sealed the top edge openings with Tyvek tape, and the bottom edge with a vapor-permeable tape supplied by Farmtek. Next, the perimeter was lined with adhesive-backed gasket strips. Back outside, I put the glazing panels up and covered the seams with cedar trim boards...as you can see, it has been a snowy winter so far. The finished solar array: The 'closet' at the far left end of the array houses the supply & return plumbing and wiring before it goes underground: The hot fluid exits the solar array at the top and connects to the 1" pex line below. The tee fitting at the top left leads to a schraeder valve for purging air from the high point of the system. The two valved tees midway down the closet are for a summer bypass loop- this is yet to be completed, but will likely lead to a heat exchanger in an outdoor shower system I'd like to build. The return water enters the array bottom right. Since I separated the 9-panel array into two 'banks', there are two separate supply lines. The two stubbed lines in the middle are for a spring/fall diverting loop which will dump excess heat into our garden beds to preheat the soil- this will be connected later. The diversion is controlled by the 3-way diverter valve at the first tee.

Inside the barn, I installed addition plumbing and controls to tie the solar system in to the existing hydronic system. My dad said it looks like "an organized Rube Goldberg project" and I can't really argue with that. I have managed to fit a 3-zone hydronic system, boiler and the solar hot water controls in about 4 square feet of floorspace...not bad. And it is actually quite simple- The solar heated fluid enters the barn through a pump (the pump is activated by a snap switch inside the first solar collector via a single-zone relay). The pump will send the hot fluid through the in-slab hydronic loops (2- 300 ft lengths of 7/8" pex tubing embedded in the concrete floor) then back to the collectors. Should the slab get too warm (say, spring and fall when not much heat is required), a thermocouple in the slab will signal an aquastat to switch a pair of 3-way diverter valves, thus bypassing the slab and sending the hot fluid to the diversion loop instead. The first diverter valve is located middle left in the photo below and the other in the closet at the collector array. Finally, the two stubbed lines at the top left are to send the hot fluid through a yet-to-be-installed DHW preheat tank. The photo below was taken as I charged the system with glycol, so the temp hoses and bucket-o-glycol are shown as well. Again, there are a lot of dangling wires since the controls for the diversion system are not yet connected, but you get the idea.Here is a shot from inside the utility room (actually just a 2 foot deep closet). The existing hydronic system is on the facing wall, and the solar branch controls are on the left wall.

SOOOO, I'm ready to flip the switch- all we need now is some sun!

Eccorok'd all over again.

Despite my previous not-so-wonderful experience using Eccorok for the kitchen countertops, I thought I'd have another go at it. This time the project was smaller- making a curved vanity to fit in the silo bathroom. Since I had enough Eccorok left over from the countertop job, and my labor is still free, I could fabricate a $1000 vanity (yes, I got bids) for nearly nothing. Here is the form, made from leftover panels of Skyblend particleboard and other materials I had on hand. The sidewalls are strips of 1/4" plywood bent to the desired radius and held to the form with wood blocks. I cut a piece of XPS foam board for the under mount sink opening and glued it to the base with caulk. The three stubs of PVC pipe, also caulked to the form base, are for the faucet plumbing penetrations. The interior surfaces of the form were given several coats of shellac, then caulked around the perimeter.

I mixed the Eccorok using a cement mixer in the yard, and tinted it with carbon black to match the slate flooring in the bathroom. There are no photos of the mixing and casting process because it was done in EXTREME HASTE- unlike the countertop job (done in the winter) where the Eccorok was very slow to harden, this vanity (done during late summer) set up so fast that I ran out of time trying to pack the material into the mold before it hardened. Within 35 minutes, the Eccorok was rock-hard, and I got to spend a couple hours with hammer and chisel trying to clean the chunks out of the cement mixer that afternoon...apparently, ambient temperature is very critical when working with this stuff! Anyway, here is the rough cast vanity after it cured for a few days and was stripped from the form:

I "wet" polished the vanity using diamond sanding pads and a small amount of water from a spray bottle- just enough to keep the surface wet, but not so much as to make a mess in the barn. Then it was coated with the same Ecotuff Clear Coat used for the countertops. I used smaller pieces of Eccorok (randomly cut from larger squares that I cast along with the vanity), to make my own backsplash tiles. Here's the install:

I'm done with Eccorok for awhile.

Drain water heat recovery.

Even after installing high-efficiency water heaters, low-flow fixtures, and practicing water-conservation habits, we're still faced with the fact that almost all our expensive hot water goes right down the drain. What a waste! Fortunately, I learned about Drain Water Heat Recovery (DWHR) devices from a friend who has been using this technology for over a decade, and was able to incorporate a DWHR unit into the barn. The drain water heat recovery system is basically a large heat exchanger designed to recover the heat from your shower water before it reaches the sewer system. The units consist of a large 3 inch copper pipe with smaller copper pipes wrapped around the outside. As your hot shower water drains through the 3 inch pipe it warms the pipe exterior. This heat is then transferred to the cold incoming water which is flowing through the smaller tubing wrapped around the drain pipe's exterior. There are no moving parts and nothing that can wear out- a very simple design and quite effective because there is lots of surface area and copper is highly conductive. By replacing a vertical section of your drain plumbing with the DWHR unit, a large percentage of the energy in the outgoing hot water can be used to 'preheat' the incoming cold water. I installed the DWHR pipe in a small vertical chase on the main floor to capture the hot water coming from the upstairs master bathroom before it goes under the slab. Putting the DWHR pipe in the basement would obviously be preferred, but since this is a slab-on-grade structure we don't have a basement- this is the only way I could incorporate the DWHR unit into the floor plan. I installed the GFX S3-60 model, which looks like this: Before testing it out, I insulated all of the drain plumbing between the sink, shower and the DWHR pipe. Before...

...and after. The insulating project is to retain the heat and also for sound abatement, since the bathroom is directly above the dining room. For this I used several layers of foam 'sill seal' material wrapped around the pipes and taped.Here is the vertical transition going into the chaseway:

I noticed most of the water noise was coming from the vertical transitions, so I insulated this area with XPS foam board and copious amounts of spray foam- not pretty, but it really cut down the noise and will contain the heat very well.

The building's incoming cold supply water (from our well water) always passes through the heat exchange unit on its way to the hot water heater, automatically extracting heat from the warm water running down the drain line. When I installed the DWHR plumbing, I added two gauges for monitoring the water temp going in, and coming out of, the heat exchanger: Today, I ran hot water through the shower to see how the DWHR would perform- results look good! With the shower running at 101F, the incoming cold well water was being 'preheated' from an initial 50F temp up to about 72F, capturing 44% of the otherwise down-the-drain heat! The manufacturer claims up to 57% efficiency is possible with this model, but that figure is based on a drain water flow rate of 5gpm- much higher than our low-flow sink and shower will ever provide. I'm guessing that around 40% is to be expected and is still very good. And the best part- the DWHR unit was virtually free- our electrical utility provider offered a $400 rebate for installing this $500 system, so the payback should be less than one year. Even at full price, this appears to be a very wise investment and a great energy conservation project. I'd be curious to hear what results others are having with the DWHR units.

The final steps on the yellow brick road.

It feels good to be actually finishing projects on the barn lately- this time its the yellow brick road. When standing in the original barn before it was deconstructed in 2007, I always felt that the brick floor gave the building a unique feel. Since the bricks were simply laid on the ground without mortar, it was easy to remove them undamaged, so we saved as many as possible. Some areas were heavily coated with oil and grease from decades of tractor parking, but the majority of the bricks cleaned up nicely using a pressure washer (thanks mom and Lisa!). To incorporate the old bricks into the new floor, I formed a meandering pathway across the new barn slab before the concrete was poured, which looked like this: After the structure was roughed in, I mortared the salvaged bricks into the recessed pathway- it soon became aptly named, the 'Yellow Brick Road". Since the bricks were laid with tight joints, I wasn't sure exactly how to go about the grouting process. Having absolutely zero experience with tile work at the time didn't help- so I decided to leave it 'as is' and come back to it later...that was 2008! Finally, almost two years later, I vacuumed all the debris out of the cracks (which amounted to over 3 gallons of sawdust and wood chips), and got started. I mixed some home brew grout using 2.5 parts sand to 1 part Portland cement- then with my mom's help we worked the powder it into the cracks using an experimental sweeping, rubbing and putty knife-packing technique. This worked relatively well, albeit very messy.

Working in sections, the dry grout was packed into the joint lines, then the excess was vacuumed off the top of the bricks and gently wiped clean with sponges. Once the bricks were fairly clean, I sprayed water over the dry mix using an HPLV sprayer to start the hydration process. We worked from one end to the other in this manner, taking an entire day to do the pathway. I gave the pathway a few more sprayings of water over the next few days, letting the grout set up. Then it required about a dozen moppings to remove the haze of grout that was all over the rough-textured surface (I had put two coats of AFM Mexeseal on the bricks before starting the grouting process, but it didn't seem to help that much). After alot of scrubbing, here's the nearly finished product:

The grout was VERY slow to harden using this method, and required some touch up in certain places where there didn't seem to be enough Portland in the mix for it to set. I changed the sand/Portland ratio to 2:1 for the touch up work and this seemed to be much better...more lessons learned on the rocky road of barn-building.

Heavy treading on the staircase.

Since the stair-building process has become a multi-year saga, let's recap. Starting with the timber-framed opening in 2009, I framed the curving staircase and built a border on the wall side using mostly reclaimed lumber and wainscotting. I milled slabs for the stair treads from some maple logs (these were from overgrown trees removed from the city streets in our nearby town).

The slabs were kiln dried over the winter, then cut into stair treads, planed and sanded smooth. A lot of precision cutting was required here, due to the unique shape of each tread and my choice to attempt a trimless installation. I finished them with Ecoprocote Eco-Tuff Clear Coat.

The final product:

I also made slab tops (these from white pine logs) for all the curved border sections.At the top landing, I built a small linen cabinet. The door pull was made from a hay rake handle that I found on the farm years ago (and saved for something like this). The stair treads have a variety of nail holes, knots, and worm holes to keep it real.

And finally, the treads were drilled for the motion-activated LED stair lighting kit, which is pretty cool in itself.

Final task is to fabricate a curved handrail...I'm still scratching my head over that one.

Solar Sundays Part VIII- getting closer!

*Warning* - this post is a lengthy, detailed description intended primarily for solar geeks. Proceed at your own risk.

The next step for the solar heating project was to install aluminum absorber plates to all the copper tubes in the system. When I built my prototype panel this spring, I stamped the plates myself. While this was a lot of fun to do once, the thought of pounding out a couple hundred more was not too appealing. Plus, I found a great source for high-performance pre-stamped plates so decided to buy them instead. These plates are made with an over sized groove which wraps around the copper tubing to maximize the contact surface and increase the heat transfer efficiency of the solar collector. They were also custom cut to my desired length, so all I had to do prior to assembly was paint the groove area with metal primer to prevent galvanic corrosion where the aluminum and copper are in contact. Time saved= lots. Normally, the absorber plates are fastened to the plywood backing of the collector framework, sandwiching the copper tubing in between. However, because I wanted a modular design that could be easily disassembled, I opted to build the fin-tube assembly separate from framework. I basically followed this design from the Build-It Solar website, with some modifications to work for my situation. I started by laying one of the copper tubing assemblies on a plywood work surface on the ground, then spacing it off the plywood with strips of 1" foam (I used the pieces of foam that were trimmed off when insulating the collector frameworks, but any thickness would work here).

Then a 3" wide strip of aluminum flashing was centered under the first tube, between the tube and foam strip.

Using a pair of modified Vice Grip 'clamps' (I had a friend weld these up for me, but they can also be purchased from the folks who made the absorber plates), the aluminum absorber plate is clamped tight to the copper tubing and held in position while a pair of sheet metal screws are attached at each end, through to the aluminum strip below. The foam strips underneath keep the screws from penetrating into the plywood work surface below. Next, the clamps are moved towards the center of the absorber plate and two more sets of screws are placed as shown. I found it beneficial to stand on the clamp with one foot to flatten out the absorber plate as much as possible before attaching the screws.

Then, repeat the process for three plates per copper riser... ...and a total of 24 plates per collector. Once the collector is finished, it could be lifted off the plywood work surface and the foam strips are easily peeled off the tips of the screws from behind. The result looks as follows- great contact between the aluminum and the copper! The finished assembly is light and easily movable. I also like that the fin-tube assembly is isolated from the plywood backer by the foam insulation in this design (less mass inside the solar collector is a good thing).

Two panels finished, seven more to go! Once all nine collectors were finished and connected back into the framework, I painted the whole system with Rustoleum High Heat black paint. The remainder of the bull work consisted of burying insulated water lines as well as power and communication wires between the solar array and the barn. I rented a Ditch Witch for a day to carve a trench about 150 feet across the yard. I was able to get about 30" deep with this machine- not below the frost line, but since the system will contain anti-freeze, it shouldn't be a problem. When the barn foundation was put in, I included a run of Thermopex under the slab and out into the yard about 20 feet. Now I needed to extend the insulated lines the remaining 60 or so feet to the solar array. Since Thermopex is around $12-$13 per foot, it was cost-prohibitive to use it again and I opted to make my own system (for about 1/4 the cost). I cut 1.5" XPS foam board into strips and glued them together using spray foam insulation...

...Then put a temporary board on top and clamped it while the foam cured.

The cured insulation assemblies (each 8 feet long) were positioned over the trench and 1" pex lines were placed inside before foam-gluing a cover piece over each one. I staggered the seams between the top and bottom pieces of foam for strength. Once the finished assembly was cured, I turned it on edge (it was too wide to fit in the 5" trench otherwise) and covered the top and sides with poly. The poly was taped around the insulation to hold it in place during installation. Finally, the wood cross members were removed and the pipes lowered to the bottom of the trench- it was a tight fit in places, but it worked!

I left a couple feet of pex on one end so the new run could be coupled to the existing Thermopex end using pex fittings. After the connection was made, I wrapped the bare pex with pipe insulation...

...and wrapped a slit piece of 4" corrugated pipe around that before covering the area with pea rock and landscaping fabric.

After pressure-testing the water lines, the trench was back filled with gravel to about the 4" depth, where installed a run of conduit containing a CAT5 wire and four T-stat wires.

FINALLY, the remainder of the trench was filled and pathways cleaned up- good as new!