Harken Camper Shell Hoist

Those with pickup trucks usually fall into two categories; the ones that run a camper shell and the ones that don't.  Both have their benefits, both have their draw backs.  For many years I had a pickup truck with an open bed.  The ability to simply toss large items in the bed was one of the major draws of owning a truck.  But once you have a shell , it is hard to go back. The secure storage, shelter from the elements, and the ability to over load the bed without worrying about things flying out is nice.  However the shell does get in the way when you really need to transport large items in the bed.  Such a dilemma.

Camper shells however are not permanent installations.  They can be removed when you need to carry something that is too large for the capacity of the cap.  Though typically not to heavy, 100lbs or so, the large dimensions of the shell make it nearly impossible to remove and install by yourself.  Even with two people it can be awkward. 

A friend suggested that I buy a hoist system for my camper shell so that it would be easy to take on and off.  Taking the shell on and off was happening more often, now that transporting motorcycles became a regular thing.  Me, being the "do-it-yourselfer" of course looked into a homemade hoist system.  However once I found the Harken Hoister I knew that this was one of those things best left to the professionals.  From my years of sail boat racing the brand name Harken was synonymous to quality.  At a price of under $150 dollars, I knew that there was no way I could put together a system as good or as cheap as the one Harken made.  So I bought it.  At the heart of the system is the 8 to 1 block and tackle pulley.  This mechanical advantage device not only has all of the pulley nestled within itself, it also has a line lock, similar to that found on your mini blinds.  Of the many hoist systems Harken makes, the 200lb rated version was designated as the "camper shell" hoist. 

Prior to getting the hoist it is key to find a place where the hoist can pull the camper shell out of the way.  Carefully measure out the location as some spots which might look like it will work simply won't  As seen in the first picture my camper shell fits snugly between the back wall of the garage and the garage door opener.  It also sits high enough so that the back door of the garage can be opened without interference. 

The installation was pretty straight forward.  Though upon initial unpacking, the parts and lines are a bit over whelming.  The detailed instructions clearly lays out the steps required.  In addition to the parts included, you need to provide some 2x6s and some lag bolts.  It is recommend that two people do installation.   The most tricky part was to insure that cross member was bolted to the joist.  This isn't one of those things that will hold if bolted to the dry wall alone; you must sink ALL the lags into solid joist. 

Once installed the system perform flawlessly.  If you plan on leaving the shell in its hoisted position for any amount of time, it is a good idea to provide a safety back up.  Two fixed length of rope under the shell in case the buckles let go, and to securely tie off the primary hoist line in case the line lock gives.  Though I write this precaution, I have yet to add such safety back ups and had not had an issue. 

With this hoist I can now go from camper shell to open bed in less than 15 minuets.  A great addition to any truck owner debating a shell.  Now you can have the best of both worlds; thanks Harken.

Garage Floor Drains - Clearing clogged ones

Garages are the best! In the snow country, garages are a must. Not only does it keep your car free of frost and snow, it is a place for your car to thaw out. Snow free also means a few extra minutes of sleep in the morning. A well thought out garage has a floor slab pour with a drain in it. Without a drain, garages tend to flood as your car shed the snow and ice it accumula ted from the roads. I have found that our subi can collect about 15 gallon of water, and my truck can accumulate over 20 gallons of liquid. This is alot of water which needs to be disposed of.

Most garages floor drains are directed to a gravel pit under the house. The ground under the house is warmer than the outside air and typically stays above freezing. Sometimes pits are located to the yard. These can be problematic as they tend to freeze. Garage drains sometimes are directed to the sewage system or septic tanks. This is also a bad idea, as it contributes a large volume of gravely water to the septic or the city sewage system.

Over the years a garage drain will being to clog. The snow which accumulates under your car is not simply snow. It is also chocked full of road grime. In areas that spread sand on the roads the problem is even worse. The first winter at this house after I had finally cleaned out the garage enough to park the cars in it, I discovered that I had a clogged garage drain. A flooded garage is no fun. I would attempt to clear or knock off as much snow as I could before I parked the car inside. Then spend the evening bailing water into a bucket to be hauled out and dumped. A drill pump made the job a little easier, but I was out to seek a solution.

I was not sure what I was up against. Did the drain freeze? Was the drain pit filled with debris. I fished a small plumbers snake into the drain, only to have it stop a foot or so down the pipe. I was up against something solid. Most likely a blockage of gravel. Clearing a clogged drain of gravel and sand is not going to be easy. In fact an Internet search yielded no solutions. I had to come up with something.

My Dad was an oil man. As a child I spent many hours pouring over the details of off shore drilling rigs. One thing that made a lasting impression was the use of "drilling mud'. The drilled hole was deliberately filled with a fluid. This fluid served many purposes, but the one which I was most interested was the use of mud to remove material which had been liberated when a hole was bored. This was how I was going to clear my clogged drain. To get this idea to work, I needed a way to introduce my fluid, and a way to remove the fluid with the drain clogging media suspended within it. My simplified setup would involve a wet and dry shop vac and a garden hose. However getting this worked out would require a trip to the hardware store and what would seem like an eternity in the plumbing isle.

The garage drain has an opening of about 1.5 inches. The Shop Vac had a 2 inch hose, and the garden hose was about 3/4 of an inch. The first thing I needed was to reduce the size of both hoses. I speced the input water line at 1/2 inch and outtake vacuum line to 3/4", after all you needed to remove more volume than was introduced. Combined these two hose would barely fit into the drain. The garden hose was easy: a thread on cap to a 1/2" barbed fitting. The vacuum neck down was a bit tougher. The heart of the system was a 2 inch rubber compression fitting with a 2 inch threaded female collar. It was a blessing that the shop vac had a common size hose end. Next was to find a variety of reducer to finally end up with a 3/4" hose. 2" threaded double male coupler, 2"threaded female to 2" glue in female coupler, 2" male glue in to 3/4" female threaded reducer (this was the piece which really reduced the number of reducers needed), 3/4" threaded to 3/4" barbed fitting, 3/4" I.D. hose. These sizes are what I remember off the top of my head. Be sure to measure and test fit for yourself.

Once at home, I assembled my contraption. No glue was necessary in any of the glue in joints. Next I taped the two line together with the water line protruding a couple of inches ahead of the vac line. I then attempted to stuff the two lines into the clogged drain. I was only able to get the device in about 6" before it would not feed any further. A 90 degree bend in the drain line prevented the tight fitting pair of hoses from advancing any further. I thus untaped the two hoses, pushed the water line in as fas as it would go then the vac line to the bend. Once I had everything in place I turned on the shop vac and then the water. Then adjusted the water flow till a steady state was reached with that of the vacuumes. With the clear vac hose I could see it sucking up clear water, another second or two passed and then output solution was brown. IT WAS WORKING! A five gallon shop vac can only suck about 2.5 gallons before it if full. I was cautious not to suck water into the pump. But even then I found out that there is a flap that blocks the flow before water is allowed in. Idot proof. After several dumpings of the shop vac, the output water in the vac line finally ran clear.

I now have a perfectly working garage floor drain. I kept my vacuum fitting in case I ever need to clear the drain again. On snowy days I now drive straight into the garage without clearing any snow off the car, knowing that the run off will now take care of itself.

Drill Pump - flood solution

During the wet winter months it is common for flooding to occur. A ruptured pipe, melted snow, leaking water tank. I have spent alot of time bailing water out of flooded areas. That was till I fond this little device. It is a water pump that is powered by a common electric hand drill. These drill pumps can be found at your local hardware store for about $10. Often times they are packed with a bunch of hose attachments and ball valves and sell for close to $50. No Thanks. Just look for the drill pump by it self.

How does it work. Simply attach the quarter inch arbor to the chuck of your hand drill. Attach garden hoses to the two ends and hit the trigger. The pump is self priming, however I found that the self priming is very limited. It is helpful to keep the intake side hose short and close to the water. Make sure that there are no leaks in the hose as the pump will draw air and not water. The discharge side is less sensitive to hose length and condition. The pump is capable of pumping water at the rate of about a gallon a minute. Of course this all depends on the speed of the drill.

I found that the pump required a bit of torque and quickly ran down the batteries of my cordless drill. Even with a large corded drill, be weary of continuously running the drill and burning it out. Be extremely careful when using a corded drill, as the extension cord connection can easily fall into the water which you are pumping. This often times is the same water which you are standing in. Getting zapped with household 120 can kill!

A drill pump is not a long term solution for any large volume of water which needs to be transferred often. However before I was able to clear my garage drain, this was how I cleared out my flooded garage. I now keep this little gem handy, and is another tool in my proverbial box of tricks.

The Honda Snowblower- oil change - 2 of 2

It is Saturday morning after a huge snow storm. All the good people of Tahoe are out digging, shoveling, and snow blowing. The symphony of chugging snow blowers goes "budddddda" in my ears. A quick drive down any street will reveal that the majority of the instruments in this orchestra are made by Honda. In a previous post I mentioned that I once owned a Craftsman , but it wouldn't cut it for primary snow removing duties. Thus now I own a Honda.

Honda makes 3 two-stag snow blowers: the HS724, 928, and 1132. 7, 9, and 11 horsepower; and 24, 28, and 32 inch clearing path. Each model has the four variations: track drive or wheel drive; Electric start or pull start only. It is rare to find a wheel driven Honda snowblower. Though wheels are easier to steer, the traction provided by a tracks greatly aide in clearing power of the blower. The electric start, which sounds like a necessary luxury, is not. Typical starting of the blower is accomplished by the pull starter. The electric starter needs to be plugged into a 120 volt wall outlet for power, and is only used when the machine is having trouble starting. From my experience with Honda blowers, one pull is all that is ever needed to get it started. The electric starters are a useless feature, unless the engine is in bad condition.

There are other models of Honda snow blowers. I have seen a 5 and an 8 series, but those are no longer produced anymore. I ended up buying a 5 year old 928 track, with no electric start for $1500. I was looking for a 1132, but those are hard to find and expensive. The MSRP of the 928 is about $2750, but I have heard that dealers often charge more than the MSRP due to the high demand, delivery cost, and certain accessories that might be included. Even at 5 years of age, the 928 sold for more than half its original MSRP. These things hold their value well. I believe that when I eventually sell it I could still get $1500 for it.

The reason that Honda blowers are popular is because they can throw wet snow, guaranteed. Other blowers seem to have a hard time throwing wet snow any distance. This is a necessity with my 20 foot wide driveway. It isn't necessarily power that makes the machine throw the distance it does; since the previous Craftsman had the same HP rated motor (which actually seemed stronger). I think the distance is a result of auger speed. The engine on this machine runs like you would expect a Honda to run: Flawless. It starts every time with one pull of the start cord. No matter how cold or how long I have let it sit, it never fails to start right up.

The second feature that makes Honda work is the Hydrostatic Drive system, which has finite speed adjustments between 0 and max speed. The drive system is hydraulic, and allows the machine to drive forward as slow as you desire. This is important when chewing through a thick heavy berm. Go slow and allow the machine to work. Snow blowers with indexed speed controllers often do not go slow enough. I guess this could be modified by adjusting the amount of slack in the control cable (I just thought of that, and never tried it when I owned the Craftsman blower).

Other features that are unique to the Honda is the on the fly depth control. A foot pedal adjust the scraper to Low, Med and High. Typically I run the blower at Med. If I am trying to scrape up some snow which has been compacted I will use the low setting. High is reserved for driving the machine a long distance, where I do not want to scraper to catch on the pavement, when I want the machine to climb a snow pile, or if I am backing up and the auger housing is dragging a bunch of snow.

Recently I changed the oil on my snowblower. At first it is a little confusing. The case appears to be symmetrical right and left, and it is not exactly clear which is the drain and which the fill. What appears is that there are two drain plugs and two fill plugs. The draining and filling can be done by the holes on the left side of the machine. The picture on the right shows the fill hole (blue arrow), the drain plug (yellow arrow) sits above a small drain chute. Even with the drain chute, I had to fabricate a drain catch so that the used oil did not spill all over the snowblower's track and then onto the ground. On the right side of the machine, matching drain and fill plugs can be found (same blue and yellow arrow). Though both fill holes can be used to fill and check the oil level, the right side drain hole is not a drain hole. First there is not a drain catch, and second the plug/bolt is blocked by the chassis and not allowed to back out all the way. In one of the fill holes is a dip stick, in the other a plug. Checking the oil level from either fill holes yields the same results. The 928 take a tad more than a quart of oil to fill. I filled my machine with mobile1 synthetic, 5-30w.

While changing the oil, I performed some other maintenance. Checked the track tension. Adjusted the skidder height. Tried to clean out the air filter, only to find that there was none to clean. I guess snow environments do not have much dust to contaminate the carburetors.

This miracle of a machine does have its flaws. The handle bars are a little weak. Alot of torquing goes on when snow blowing. On many units I have seen tweaked handle bars. On one I have even seen a bar snapped off. The chute direction controller is known to freeze, and needs some persuasion to free, some grease in the track will hopefully prevent water from seeping in and freezing. All the controllers are cable actuated. Each cable has a bellowed seal at the end. These are critical for proper operation. If the cable/housing seal is compromised, water will enter between the cable and the housing. This will rust the cable and cause it to bind. Before the rust occurs, the water will most likely freeze and cause the control cables to bind. Finally a note on the shear pins. Unlike the craftsman, the shear pins on the Honda break very easily. Instead of an actual pin, the shear pin is a bolt and nut (10mm head). These appear to be special (weak) bolts. I have heard of people replacing the shear pin with a regular bolt in a pinch, and ruin the auger when they hit something solid. I am convinced that a grade 2 bolt (or slightly cut)would work, but have been reluctant to try after hearing such shear pin failure to fail stories.

Well there you go, a tale of two snowblower; and now I only have one!

Reverse Osmoses Water Filtration

"Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink." 75% of the Earth is covered with water and 75% of you is water. I guess that stuff is important. And because it is so important I feel that putting the cleanest water into our body is also very important. When I was younger we use to buy our water from water vending machines. A dime to a quarter would buy you a gallon. I remember spending a few hours every couple of weeks to fill old juice containers and 5 gallon water jugs. At the time we could not justify the cost of getting drinking water delivered, so that was our alternative.

What is it about tap water that is so disagreeable, it is regulated by the government to meet safety standards. The main issue I have with tap water is the amount of chlorine that is added to the water to insure that it is free of live microbes. Chlorine is not only a toxin, but is not pleasant to smell and taste. At one house we live at the pines trees near the lawn had light colored bark the first 10 feet up. I finally figured out that the height of the bleach bark coincided with lawn sprinklers. Years of soaking in tap water had bleached the color out of the bark.

Sometime in my adolescent years, our family installed a Watts 5 stage reverse osmosis water filter under the sink. When I finally graduated college and moved out on my own, I purchased a similar system and installed it in five various houses which I lived in. Clean great tasting water without having to lug jugs from the vending machine and without the high cost of water delivery.

So what is Reverse Osmosis . You might have heard the term before and considered it some kind of filtration method. You are mostly correct. RO refers to not only the process but the membrane used. The RO membrane is pressurized on one side with the "dirty" water, the membrane then lets only water molecules through while larger ions are not allowed to pass. Rather than being forced through the membrane and trapped, the majority of solutes and ions remain on the pressurized side and are discharged. Because of this fact the RO membrane last much longer than a filter which traps all the undesirables and becomes clogged.

A down side to a typical home RO system is that it takes four gallons of water of make one gallon of processed drinking water. RO systems also take time to process the water. A storage tank is required to accommodate the processed water. There are RO systems that do not waste any water, but uses an electric pump to provide the adequate osmotic pressure. I am not familiar with the exact workings of this type of system. Does it still discharge some "dirty" water so the RO membrane does not get clogged? How much electricity does it consume? Is it better to consume extra electricity or waste a few gallons of water. I believe that a four to one ratio is hardly noticeable to the consumer. If you drink a gallon of water a day, you waste four gallons of water. The most efficient low flow shower heads all discharge at a rate above 2 gallons per minute. You do the math.

So what are the five stages of water filtration? The unprocessed water first enters the system and is processed by three filters. A pre or sediment filter, and two carbon block filters. These can be seen in the first picture as the largest, three equal size filters. These three filters do the bulk of removing contaminates from the water. The three initial filters are a standard size and can be purchased from any hardware store. Instead of the set up I just described (stock configuration), I have opts to use two sedimentt filters, a 10 micron and then a 1 micron, followed by only one single small pore carbon block filter. After being filtered by the first three stages, the water then enters the RO filter stage. The RO components sits horizontally atop the three first stage filters. This part of the system is the most complicated and includes pressure regulators and discharge lines. The dirty water is discharged into a drain line and the processed water goes into a storage tank. After four filtering stages the water is ready for drinking. The final filter is a carbon scrubber which removes any unpleasant tastes and odors that might have resulted from sitting in the storage tank. This final carbon filter is the same as the kind found on refrigerator ice maker. Finally the ready to drink water is dispensed through a tap which sits atop your sink.

Installation of the system is fairly easy. The filters are a free standing unit and can easily fit under most sinks. I have once placed the unit in a neighboring cabinet and simply ran the lines through a small access hole. Next you will need to tap into the cold water line. DO NOT USE HOT WATER for the system. The hot water will cause the filter membranes to expand and prevent water from passing. This has been known to cause filter systems to explode. The intake water is collected from a simple "T" fitting that is screwed in line to the line which delivers water to your faucet. The green line in the picture goes towards the RO system. A valve allows the intake water to the RO system to be shut off. This is helpful when maintaining the filter system as you still have water for the sink and dishwasher. The drain line is the only part of the system that is semi permanent. From the first picture you can see a transparent line connected to the sink drain line above the trap. A hole must be drilled into this pipe and a saddle installed. This is not such a big deal when the system is removed, as the hole is easily patched with a dab of epoxy. If a more professional solution is desired the length of pipe can be purchased for a few dollars and pre-treaded collars makes replacement a breeze.

The part that can be the most difficult in the installation can be the drinking water faucet. Most kitchen sinks come equipped with a minimum of three access holes, most come with more. The three primary access holes are intended to the used for a standard three hole type faucet. The other holes can be used for sink sprayers, soap dispensers, dishwasher vents, or drinking water faucets. In many of the rental homes, a unused hole was capped by an easily removed cover. In other homes I simply removed an unused soap dispenser or a sink sprayer. In my current home I had four holes in a stainless steel sink. I opted to cut a fifth hole so that I could retain my soap dispenser. Cutting a hole in SS is easy. If you have a porcelain sink, you might considered freeing up an existing hole. Porcelain is difficult to cut and can easily crack. One option is to use a single hole faucet in a three hole sink. Instantly you now have two accessory holes available. Another option if you have a sink top dishwasher vent is to get an under the sink vent, though this might be a function of the dishwasher and not so easily accomplished.

One interesting thing that I found out about these filter systems is what is known as an air gap. After installing the filter system at some locations a gurgling sound could be heard in the still of the night. I discovered that this was not caused by a troll living under the sink, but by the air gap. Many states require that an air gap system be built into plumbing. An air gap is a vertical space between the faucet and the drain that prevents contaminated water from flowing back up into the faucet. To tell you the truth I do not fully understand the mechanics of the system but know that it is required in California. Not all states require an air gap, thus you can find non-air gap type faucets for sale. I do know that having this air gaps opens up an acoustic path to the drain; and when the RO system is working a slight gurgling can be heard as waste water drains.

Is all this worth it, can't I just buy bottled water?? Since I have moved and installed this system into 5 different homes; my answer should be clear. If you drink bottle water exclusively, you should take one of those bottles and...

A Tale of Two Snow Blowers - The Craftsman - 1 of 2

I was told once that a Tahoe local has owned two snow blowers. And their second one is a Honda! I guess that makes me a local.

On the third place rental house I lived in, snow removal was the renters responsibility. The local plow company had several different tiers of service they provided. Basically it was going to cost $1000 for the season for snow removal. The year prior I lived in a house down a 1/4 mile dirt road and no plow service available at all. The owners of the house left an old, but operational, Honda snowblower for us to use. Since the current place required 1/10th the snow removal, I figured I could do it myself.

After the first large series of storms I attempted to shovel out my driveway. After hours of toil, I had successfully shoveled out the driveway and one of the three parking spots. This was not going to work, I needed mechanical help and decided to buy a snow blower. It was late fall: the worst time to buy a used snow blower. I knew that in general Honda made the best blowers. But I was sure that some of the top models of Craftsmans, Arnies, MTD, or Snapper performed well. But none of the other brands are known to throw snow like a Honda. The only draw back is that a new Honda was going to set me back $3k. Since I have always trusted Sears tools, I looked into getting a Craftsman.

Since I was not getting a top of the line blower, I made sure to get one that was slightly larger and more powerful. Snowblowers are often classified into two catagories. Single and dual stage machines. All larger blowers are two stage, with a auger to bring in the snow and a second one to throw the snow. I found a Craftsman blower with a 9 hp Tecumseh Snow King engine, a 28 inch clearing path, 6 speeds, and tire drive. The whole deal cost me $1000. I ordered it and it was shipped to the Sears store in South Lake Tahoe (Zephyr Cove). Picked it up and within an hour of getting it home, had it put together and fired up. Went outside and rammed it into the snowbank and watched it shoot snow in the air. What a great feeling.

The engine fired up on the first pull or two of the cord. There is also a electric starter. Unlike a car there is no battery and the electric starter needs to be plugged in. This is only needed if the engine becomes hard to start; after it has been sitting for the summer for example. On some reviews, there were complaints that the plastic chute was weak and broke. But over the three years I used this blower I never had an issue with it. I assume most problems arise when the chute is frozen and forced to turn. The 6 forward, and 2 reverse speeds are ok but can be improved with lower gear ratios. 1/4 speed, 1/2 speed, 1,2 and fast would be a more usable spread. 3,4, and 5 are too fast for snow blowing. Only one reverse speed is really necessary.

Snowblowers come equipped with shear pins. These are pins that are designed to break if it encounters a solid object, like a large rock. Instead to destroying the gear box or the auger, a shear pin will snap and the disconnect the auger blades from the drive shaft. I ordered a five pack of shear pins when I got the snowblower, not knowing that it came with two extra pins. The craftsman pins are very strong and I only ever broke one. In fact I think that the pin is too strong. When I attempted to throw a large rock once it broken the pin. But before the pin broke, it slightly bent the auger housing and jammed the unbroken portion of the pin within the hole. I needed to use a small punch to drive out the remaining part of the broken pin, then gently tap the new pin in the slightly deformed hole. A shear pin that was designed to break easier should have been specified.This particular blower was equiped with drive tires/wheels instead of tracks. Tires made steering the blower easy. Traction was adequate for most applications. I was tempted to add a set of tire chains to improve the traction but never did.

The "West" is known for its heavy wet snow. And Tahoe snow is a perfect example of that. Winter storms often blow in warm, with rain instead of snow. It is common for the snow that does fall to be on the verge of rain: wet and slushy. You can squeeze water out of this type of snow. It is a snow blowers worst nightmare. This was the Craftsman shortcoming, and the reason that it made it into the tale of two, as the lesser of the two. When the snow is wet and slushy, no snowblower can blow it, not even a Honda. This type of snow would jam the chute. When the snow was a little dryer but still heavy, it would be able to throw the snow only about 5 feet from the blower. Five feet is not enough range to clear the width of the driveway. Once you throw the snow once, you were not able to scoop up it up a second time to throw further. Thus on heavy wet snow days the snowblower was almost useless. On average days the snowblower was ok, and on dry snow days the snowblower was a champ.

I assume that the designers and testers of these snowblowers lived in the mid West, where the cold temperatures usually resulted in very light snow. And therefor did not design the blower for "western" or coastal snow. This was short sighted on the part of the eningeers. I assume that a faster spinning aguer of the second stage thrower, was all that was required to make the snowblower work in the heavy wet stuff.

Other than shear pins and gas, there is one more consumable item. It was one that I had not replaced yet: the friction wheel. This is basically the clutch. For the three years of regular use, I never wore mine out. On occasion the drive wheels did not engage when the lever was. Releasing the lever and re-engaging it always did the trick. There was is an adjustment of the control cable that could have solved the issue, but I never needed to examine it in more detail.

The Techuseh Snow King Engine was the best part of the snowblower. It started up on the first full pull. It ran strong and never bogged down. Over the summer prior to storage I ran it out of gas, and poured a table spoon of oil into the cylinder through the spark plug hole. When fall came, I filled it with gas, and it started on the first pull.

The craftsman blower was very basic. It did not have a lever to control chute discharge height. It was ususualy on the highest. It did not have scraper depth adjustments. But it was a bargin and would have worked for smaller driveways.

Green Fiber - Blow in Insulation

Buurrrr. Growing up in Southern California, I never experienced cold like I do now. Sure there were nights that got below freezing and visiting the mountains when it was snowing, but living in it everyday is a whole different story.

One thing I noticed is that our house was not well insulated. Since I now own my home, I might as well do something about it. One clue that the house is poorly insulated, is the presence of melted snow and an ice dam on the roof. Both were present.

Crawling into the attic reveled two items of concern. One there was only about 4inches of fiberglass insulation, with many holes in the insulation network. The other bad thing was that highest point in the attic allowed for only crawling. There was no way I could access the edge of the attic near the eves and exterior walls. I tried cutting sections of batting material and stuffing them to the edges with sticks and broom handles. This was exhausting, time consuming work in the dark confounds of the attic. After about an hour of toil, I had only installed a single roll. I had estimated 20 rolls to do the job.

The solution to my problem was blow in insulation. This was perfect cause all I needed was to drag a hose into the attic and fill the voids with insulating material. I did a quick search and found that Home Depot carried Green Fiber brand cellulose insulation. Each bail covered 40Sq Ft, at $10.67 a bail. HD was having a special: free machine rental with 10 bag purchase, I think it might usually be 20 bails for the free rental. It was calculated that 40 bails were needed to properly insulated the attic space of my house. On the first trip down to HD I was able to get the machine and 20 bails in my truck.

There are several benefits of Green Fiber insulation other than the ease of installation. It is made of 85% recycled material. Both post consumer and post industrial. In fact this stuff looks like rats nest material. Basically chewed up newspaper. I even found some cereal boxes in the mix. Having shredded newspaper fill your house sounds like a receipt for a house fire, so this stuff in fire resistant. It is processed with a broate solution. When burned the cellulose material chars and forms a non flammable barrier. All this is while being non-corrosive, and formaldehyde-free.

The machine comes with 2, 50 foot long hoses. Set the machine up outside, cause it really makes a mess. Then I dragged hose up into the attic. The machine reminds me of a yard chipper. You feed the compressed Green Fiber material into the machine and it breaks it up and shoots it down the pipe. Make sure the flap is pulled back to allow the material to enter the delivery hose. This is a minimal 2 person job. One to feed the machine, one of spray the insulation. Three or four people would make this job even easier. Since it helps to have someone man the hose, and help with communication. I used a walkie talkie to communicate with the machine operator. It was helpful to know how much material I had left and when to turn the machine on and off.

Prior to actually blowing in the material some prep work needs to be done. Hot vent pipes and reccesed light fixtures need to be boxed off. I did a rather minimal job with pieces of plywood. Blowing in this stuff is one of the dirtier jobs ever. So much dust is created that you really need to protect yourself. The ideal thing to use is a full face respiratory that covers up your face and eyes. I used a half mask respirator and ski goggles with clear lenses. A dusk mask can be used if you can get it to seal up well enough. The attic space at my house was unlit and thus I also needed flashlights and head lamps. Because of the close quarters and darkness, once the machine started blowing I had 2 feet of visibility. That means I had no idea where I was spraying the material. I had to take several breaks to let the dust settle in order to see my work.

After about an hour and a half of blowing I finished 20 bails. However there was several "holes" in my insulation network. I estimated 10 more bails would finish off the job. So the next night it was back up into the attic to spray some more fluff into the house. The result was another 4 inches or so of insulation. However all of the entire ceiling was now completely insulated.

Well was it worth it. For about $350 worth of material and two nights worth of work it defiantly is. Before the upstairs would get cold as the fire started to die out. Now we forget the fire has run down and sometimes dies cause we do not have the cold to remind us. The upstairs rooms do not drop in temperature dramaticly as you walk past each door away from the fire. I am very happy that I did this and only wish I did this in the fall so that I could have enjoy the fruits of my labor all winter instead of just the second half.

Pouring a Concrete Slab

Owning a house mean an endless slew of home improvement project. I knew this going into it, and looked for a house that was already remodeled and did not need vast improvements. I have enough projects planned that I did not want to add home projects to the list. However with my personality, the projects seem to simply appear out of the necessity to repair or to set up my home to my liking.

The first and largest project we started was to rebuild the deck which was in poor structural shape. This post is not about that project. But part of the deck job was to move my shed to its permanent location under the deck. My Keter Pent 4x6 shed has been with me through several different homes. http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspxProdid=11486578&search=keter%20shed&Mo=3&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=enUS&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=keter%20shed&Ntt=keter%20shed&No=1&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

Since it is plastic and built from several interlocking pieces, it needs a flat base which to sit upon. If not the shed twist and flexes exposing gaps in the interlocking joints. The spot which I chose to place the shed was not level and rocky. In order to create a suitable base, I decide to pour a small concrete slab. In the past I have set the shed on driveways and even on a leveled brick paved base. The slab I intended to pour did not need to be perfect. It did not need to take much load and did not need a perfectly level smooth finish since it was going to be covered up.

The first step was to build a frame or a form for the concrete to be poured into. I decide that the frame would be a permanent leave in place one, so I used either redwood or pressure treat lumber for prolonged life. I rough fitted the pieces of the frame by digging a small trench which to lay the lumber within. The frame established the shape, size and levelness of the finished slab. It was therefor important to make the frame square and level. I was fortunate in the fact that the concrete slab was enclosed by the footing of the deck. This allowed at least one of the two free sides of the form to be locked in place. A 2x4 was used between the house and the slab, and one between the existing slab and the new one. This allowed a separation between the old and the new slab. It also allows the new slab to move independently of the old to reduce cracking. I was not sure, but decided the new concrete should not be right up against the house. In retrospect, it might have been better to do so, so that no water would seep in between the new slab and the house. However without the fourth leg of the square frame it would have been difficult to keep every thing in place.

On the morning I had planned on doing the work however, there was a power failure. So all my cuts were made using a gas powered chain saw. Good thing these were not fine finishing cuts.

Because I did not need the slab to take any substantial loads, I wanted to use as little concrete as possible. I collected rocks from around the yard and broken concrete chunks which I was about to take to the landfill. Reduce Reuse Recycle. I used these to fill in the major voids of the fill area. Each piece was carefully fitted so that it was stable and would not shift easily. I took a long 2x4 which would span the length of the frame and drew it across the entire frame to ensure that none to fill material was protruding above the level of the frame.

Next I mixed several bags of concrete extra soupy so that it would flow into all the crevices around the fill rocks. After each pour I would use my long 2x4 to scree the concrete, just like doing so with the rock filler, this made sure that I did not have any bit of concrete which would protrude above the level of my frame.

Hand mixing of the concrete was accomplished in a wheel barrow with a gardening hoe. The mixed concrete was either poured directly from the wheel barrow or shoveled into place. A concrete trowel was used to smooth out the surface.


After four 50lb bags the slab was only partially complete. I had extra bags of concrete lying around from my deck project, which is one reason why I started this little project. But I still needed to make a hardware store run for more concrete to complete the job.

At ten bags I called it quits. I could have used one or two more bags to make the surface perfectly level, but this was good enough since no one but myself would even know there was a hand poured slab of concrete under my shed.


Here is the finished product. After a day or two of curing I moved my shed in place. I do notice the slight unevenness of the slab some of the floor board flex before they come into contact with the solid floor. However I am quite pleased to have the use of my little shed again. That is one project I am glad to have checked off the list. NEXT!

Moving - Backing Up A Trailer

The last two weeks my life has been completed engulfed with one overwhelming task: Moving. The fact that I own a truck and have owned a truck for 15 years make this task even more difficult for two reasons.

1-because I have the capacity I am willing to move myself with my truck. If I did not have the ability I might rent a large truck and/or hire people to do the moving.

2-because of the truck, I can easily transport and thus bring home large items. "Hey Bill you want a _____? Sure throw it in the back of the truck." That conversation has been had many times. Having a pack rat, just in case mentality does not help either. The combination of that mentality and many hobbies, is a recipe for moving hell.

Several years ago, I did make a purchase that was for the sole purpose of moving. A little 4x8 trailer. I have used it for 6 moves now.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=90154

This thing is great. Combined with 4 foot tall sides, it really increases my load carrying capacity. When not in use the sides come off, folds in threes and stores upright on little casters. This item often comes on sale for much cheaper. I added a spare tire, and tongue jack. One major gripe is its difficultly to back up. Never having the experience of driving a trailer, backing maneuvers have always been a daunting task. A small trailer is more difficult to back than a large one due to the fact that it does not want to "come around" very easily. I will share what I have learned with backing a trailer.

Step 1- Initiating the turn. The trailer will move in the opposite direction the truck moves. Someone once told me a trick: Place your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel. What ever direction you move your hand is the direction the trailer will move. I however can not get use to this. Instead I keep my hand on the top of the steering and move my hand towards the mirror I don't want to see the trailer in. It is just a mental assistance I use.

Step 2- Follow the arc. Once you initiated the turn, the truck must follow the arc started by the trailer. This will require you to direct the truck in the opposite direction from what you used initiated the turn. Then you use the step 1 technique to adjust the direction of the trailer.

If you come close to jackknifing or can not get the trailer to come around, just pull forward and start over again.

This is a total clutch burner if you have a manual transmission vehicle and are backing up hill, like I have been. With alot of practice you might become a pro. But I think this skill is more like skiing; despite any amount of practice, some will never be a pro at it.

Additional note on the HF trailer-Harbor Freight tools, also known as the Chinese Tool Store, has several of these trailers. There are in fact two trailer that look almost identical. The only difference is there load capacity, which is limited by the wheels and tires. The one I have listed has the 12" wheels, and the 1195lb load capacity. There is one which has the same chassis but only 850lbs. It has 8" inch wheels. The wheels and tires are therefor the limiting factor. In fact it is limiting in several ways. The primary being speed. These trailers are limited to 55mph as is all towed vehicles in the state of California. So NO you can not travel down Interstate 5 at 70mph even though that is the posted speed limit. Another lesser known fact is that pressure requirements of these tires. They are high, 50-60 psi, I have seen this type of tire saying max pressures upwards of 80 psi. Fully loaded and under pressure, I broke the internal radials of one tire and created a very dangerous situation once. Keep the tires inflated properly and have a spare.

New House- It's Official

What a long crazy month! Finally we are home owners. Our escrow was actually 37 days. Here are some highlights.

The offer- We were sortta competing for this house with another offer, the amount of which was unknown. We still paid below asking price. But we were never certain there was another offer.

Septic-The Sellers agents canceled the septic pumpers inspection. We

found out the tank was badly deteriorating, based on the pumpers note in 2003. Negotiate to have tank replaced prior to close of escrow.

Inspection- Inspection yielded more issues. Most of it was just poor upkeep. Because the bathroom and kitchen were remodeled, we were under the impression that the place was in better shape. More negotiations.

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The last part was getting the septic done, and the house cleaned.

Now that all that is over, I am past the negatives and ready to enjoy my new house. Great location, good price, large yard.

But before I enjoy it. I have to move in to it. That takes place the rest of this week, the weekend, and next week. If anyone wants to visit in the future, secure your place by visiting before the month is over!