Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Here I Am

No photos today though; just a little update on what's been happening. I'll have some current photos shortly. We really didn't work on the house this past weekend so there wasn't much to show. We thought we should take more advantage of having a free backhoe so we did some more road and clearing work since we were kind of to a stopping point on the roof. Allen cleared the way that the water lines are going to run from the spring to the house and consolitated some brush piles that we have been trying to burn up and took them away from the front of the house so it looks much better. In the process, he uncovered many good rocks that I am going to need to build the wall under the house so we loaded 2 full backhoe buckets of rocks and took them up to the house.
On Sunday I went to a lecture that an architect presented here in town on passive solar houses. I didn't learn much but it was interesting to go to anyway and see that there is growing interest in the subject.
On another subject but still related to the house, I have been lent to another job that needed a carpenter for awhile so I am not on the Big House right now. The job I have been sent to is a branch of a children's hospital down here. Hospitals in Birmingham are big business and are constantly being renovated, which is what we are doing even though the hospital isn't 7 years old. Anyway, renovations mean they are tearing out and throwing away LOTS of stuff; great stuff if you are willing to deal with it. So, I have got enough insulation to do the entire house, 3 practically brand new bathroom sinks (Kohler no less), stainless steel lock sets and maybe some other stuff. The sinks even still have the fixtures on them but I will probably buy something a little more residential looking. Money is starting to get a little tight so this comes right in time and hopefully the insulation will not have to sit long before being installed. I wanted to buy the insulation that is available nowdays that is not made using formaldahyde but when you are offered completely free, basically new material it is hard to turn it down. It is a standard fiberglass bat-type roll insulation so it's good stuff. Maybe any fumes have already dissipated. Truely green materials can be very hard to come by in this area or too expensive for me to afford but I think it counts to reuse what you can because that saves any material (green or otherwise) from having to be manufactured, which is where alot of enviromental problems come from and plus the materials are not thrown in a landfill. It still pains me greatly to see how much is still thrown away. But if the owners of the buildings do not put it in the specs to recycle the materials, then it is rarely done.

4 comments:

Rurality said...

Were there a lot of people at the lecture? We checked out her book from the library, and several others... I think I messed up their solar display but I tried to leave a few!

Your house is looking good! That watermelon was hilarious.

MamaHen said...

Hey Karen! there was about 20-25 people there. I was glad to see that many come. Her book did seem interesting and informative and if I had not already bought several others I probably would have purchased it. the concepts of passive solar design are so simple that once you have one good book on the subject that's pretty much all the info you need. Thanks on the house. You and hubby need to drop by again one weekend that you don't have a show. Can't guarantee that there will be any watermelon for you though.

js said...

We are using the architect you heard on Sunday to plan a concrete ICF passive solar home in Waveland, MS--where our dream retirement home was washed away with Katrina. I just found your blog and will watch with interest as you work on yours.

MamaHen said...

Hello jan! glad you found us! Sorry to hear about your former house but I hope you are about to build something you will love now. The architect sounded like someone who really cared about what her clients wanted so it sounds like you will be successful. Hope you enjoy our site; feel free to ask questions or make comments. I'm not sure how much you read so just keep in mind we are only building half of the house right now.