# 2900 sq ft DIY house



## twinAK

*More progress notes, photos*

We also installed the underground fuel tank and 1250 gallon septic tank/leach field. We rented the excavator and a friend ran it for me while I installed all the components. Some of the dirt and gravel had to be done by hand, WHEW!! Reminds me of working hard on the farm! I put felt and 2" XPS on top of the leach field and covered it up. The XPS reduces 2 ft of dirt cover and helps the leach field not so obvious in the backyard. I took a month off and went back to frame up the first floor. Next post....


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## twinAK

*First and second floor framing*

All right, last post for today. I took a month off work in September to get the first floor framed up. I got most of the the joists and decking down with the help of a friend. I know some builders swear by Advantech but I got a really good deal (40% off) on standard 3/4" T&G CDX and topcoated it with Thompson's waterseal to protect against the elements. I got this at a deep discount as well. I hired a a guy on to help with building and standing the 2x6 exterior walls since I was sheathing them on the deck. I built most of the attached garage walls by myself since I had to ration my cash available for hired help. Framing them in place took some time. Once all the exterior walls were up I built all the interior walls myself. Between occasional help from a friend and assistance from my helper, we installed all the 2nd floor joists and decking, including above the garage where the joists had to be spaced 12" O.C. to accommodate a 22' span for the bonus room. But before we installed the joists 4 of us had to slowly wrestle this huge gluelam into place above the open space between the kitchen and great room. That was 2 hrs of nerve-racking manual labor. In hindsight I should have either hired a crane or got two more people. The backfill is all done and the existing structure is covered with 6mil plastic for the winter. As of now I'm coordinating with the power company to have a power pole put in on the corner of my lot. After I get the 2nd floor walls and roof framed up in the spring I'll install my service entrance and main load center to run enough wire for a couple circuits for now. Once I get the roof on and shingled I'm going to take a breather and go fishing! 
The only things we plan on subbing out are: HRV install, poly-foam spraying the rim joists, and maybe the boiler install. If I can get a really good price on drain waste and vent rough in I may opt for that as well since I really don't want to mess with it.
I welcome the feedback, good and bad(recommended solutions/ideas for the bad of course) Thanks for looking.


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## shumakerscott

Great job, Now I have to wait until spring for more pic's? Get back up there and get to work!!! Keep posting, looking forward it. dorf dude...


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## DangerMouse

so???.... how many fish did you catch?????

DM


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## twinAK

*Quick weekend trip*



shumakerscott said:


> Great job, Now I have to wait until spring for more pic's? Get back up there and get to work!!! Keep posting, looking forward it. dorf dude...


Thanks! Unfortunately I can't go back up there because I have to save my vacation time for pre-retirement leave this spring. So the good news is starting mid-May I'll be back at it everyday with lots of pics. We did make a trip this weekend to haul a bunch of materials and do a few minor things. I installed a service door in the garage wall and moved some snow. There was at least 18" of snow on the ground and we left this morning in the middle of a blizzard. Weather report said an additional 22" fell within the past 24 hrs. I didn't take any pics, forgot the camera.  However, here's an aerial pic given to me by the power company. The water filled hole near the "location of new pole" is from early excavation efforts. The pic is a couple years old but shows the area.

Tim


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## twinAK

DangerMouse said:


> so???.... how many fish did you catch?????
> 
> DM


DM,
None lately, I was referring to this coming summer after I get the roof up. But since you asked, last summer we caught a couple kings, a few small halibut, and dipnetted a bunch of red salmon. My last fishing trip was cut short due to a damaged prop. We're just about out of fish so I'm anxious to get back out there. The quicker I can get the roof up, the more time on the water for my family and I.:thumbsup:


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## kickarse

This is really inspiring for me to build my own house in a limited budget... great work!


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## twinAK

*Floor plans*

Thanks! I can tell you it's not easy at all, and I started out with a lot of cash, with the foundation and septic eating up all of it. I had to borrow some money to get it to this stage before winter and worked on paying it off. I just paid for the trusses today ($8700) to be ready in a couple months, the costs of lumber just keep going up and up. We really wanted a 2500 sq ft house to keep the building costs down but every set of plans we looked at in that range just wasn't functional for our family of 5. I attached some pics of the modified plans. I did stretch the garage out another 4' to make it 22x28 since I do all my own auto repairs. Anyways, enough blabbing for today.


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## twinAK

*Still at it*

I've been extremely busy since May and disconnected from the internet where we're living until now (travel trailer) so I haven't been able to keep up on the posts. The short version is I retired from the military in May and started a new full time job two days later and have been devoting every waking moment to building the house when I'm not at work. Two weeks ago I finally took two days off, the first time since May. Progress has been slow and I've blown my budget out of the water for hired help and a couple other things. Since I'm not able to put as much time in as I'd like, I've had to hire on some help here and there. That really took away from available funds for other supplies but I've been able to work around it, so far. Now the race against time is on as fall is just about here and I probably only have about 30-45 days until snow flies in this part of the country. 

Anyways, here are some pics. I got all of the framing done, passed inspection, and now I'm pressing with the garage slab prep. The roof is covered with Triflex and is holding up real well. I still have to do some more Tyvek and fine tune some flashing at a couple roof/wall intersections. The flashing is all done around the foundation. I'm just tryin to get the house weatherproofed., and make a section of it livable before snow flies. The foam is down on the gravel base in the garage but I burnt up my hammer drill trying to drill holes in the foundation wall for the radiant PEX. Guess I'll be renting one tomorrow so I can knock out the prep for the slab pour in about ten days. I do have electrical service and ran a couple circuits to power the tools and supply the camper with power. The phone company took their sweet time running a line to my property so we finally have internet and a land line. Once I get two more circuits ran for the well pump and heat tape, my well guy will finish the water line install to the house and install the pressure tank. Once I'm in the house and not racing against old man winter I'll have more time to post.


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## twinAK

*Garage slab*

We spent last weekend prepping for a slab pour this coming weekend and it's all ready for Saturday. We also knocked out the rest of the Tyvek install except for under the service entrance riser on the side of the house. The wife has been putting in fiberglass batts during the day while I'm at work and I knock out some other things for a few hours in the evenings. I put 2"x4'x8' of XPS foam on the perimeter of the garage slab, then added 1" sheets inside that perimeter. Laid down 1/2 PEX and then mesh. I had some leftover rebar from the foundation so I used some of it to strengthen the front part of the slab near the door. My DIY radiant manifolds are almost done. I pressure checked one @ 58 psi for two hours and it only dropped 2 psi in 2 hrs. I'll put 85 psi on it tomorrow to make sure it's good. I'm not a plumber but I figure that should be good.


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## BigJim

Good gravy, you don't do things in a small way, that is for sure. I admire your spirit, your strengths and knowledge of under taking a project this size especially being located where you are. Please by all means keep posting pictures of your home, we appreciate you allowing us to be there with you through your posts.


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## twinAK

jiju1943 said:


> Good gravy, you don't do things in a small way, that is for sure. I admire your spirit, your strengths and knowledge of under taking a project this size especially being located where you are. Please by all means keep posting pictures of your home, we appreciate you allowing us to be there with you through your posts.


Thanks! Every morning I wake up, look at the house out my camper window and a Dierks Bentley country lyric comes to mind, "What was I thinking?" 
:wallbash: 

I really wish I had the internet access earlier because those pics are just a few of many. Now that I'm connected I'll try to post more regularly. Thanks again!

Tim


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## twinAK

*slab, radinat, electrical, and insulation*

For the past couple weeks we've been busy pouring a slab, installing insulation in the garage ceiling, master bedroom walls, master bath walls/ceiling, running electrical circuits, and other minor stuff to prep for winter. We poured the slab but the concrete was very slow to activate even with 1% accelerator mixed in. The guys hand troweled the best they could because it wouldn't firm up enough to get the power troweler on there. It looks good though. I put 2" of XPS in the joist bay above the garage and then my wife put 12" of fiberglass under that. She fell off the ladder the other day trying to finish it up and twisted her ankle but is recovering. I used metal joist bridging ties to hold the foam in place while the foamboard glue dries, works pretty well. Most of the garage ceiling 'glas is done except for about two more joist bays which we should knock out tomorrow. The overhead light circuits are ran so we'll install the visqueen very soon in the garage. If I wasn't going to occupy the garage for the winter I wouldn't bother but we have to seal it off from the rest of the unoccupied/unheated space. I ran all the circuits for the master bath, well pump, water line heat tape, dryer, and laundry room circuit. I ran short on 6-3 for the stove circuit to the garage so I have to splice it in at a box and finish that up too. A cheap bath fan is installed for now until next year when I have money to get an HRV installed. The vapor barrier is up all through the master suite, I just need to seal around the ceiling light boxes and put up a few temp light fixtures while I save up for drywall. Over the past couple days I put down battens on the floor and today ran all the radiant PEX. Tomorrow or Sunday I'll fill in between the battens with sand for thermal mass. Right now my main concern is installing the wood stove chimney in the great room, hanging the vapor barrier in there to create a large air bubble, and installing the garage door. They're calling for snow next week so I got to keep plugging along until I get the bare essentials in so we can get out of the travel trailer. Oh yeah, and the dryer venting is installed as well. Here are a couple pics, I'll post more tomorrow or Sunday.


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## twinAK

This weekend we got a good bit done but a little more is always nice. Saturday we filled in between the 2x sleepers on the floor and covered over the PEX with sand but the sand is damp so I used up the rest of my propane on the bullet heater to heat up the master suite in an effort to dry it out. Didn't work so well, but I'll keep the fan blowing across it for now until I can fire up the wood stove and cook it out. Once it's nice and dry I'll cover over it with some hardiebacker for tile areas and 1/4" OSB for hardwood flooring areas. The wife finished up the fiberglass in the garage ceiling so it's now ready for vapor barrier. The well driller stopped by to see what was needed to finish up installing water service to the house. Right now we have a temporary control on top the well casing that we plug a generator into when we need to refill the camper tanks. He's coming back this week to trench the line from the well, into the crawlspace and up into the garage and set up the pressure tank. I expect frost within a week so it's important to get some utilities set up in the house. I wrapped the inside of the garage door opening with pressure treated 2x and flashed it. It's ready for the door now but I'll wait until later in the week after the vapor barrier is up so we have good lighting for that. Today a couple friends stopped by for a few hours and we put up vapor barrier in the great room ceiling, installed a few pieces of drywall where the chimney comes through, and put the ceiling support in for the chimney. I used some .7 mil plastic to enclose the great room at the second floor walls, creating an air bubble to keep some heat in, making it a little nicer to work in. I hope I can knock out most of the chimney when I get home from work tomorrow evening, we'll see. The picture of my sleeve is from the result of messing with black death, aka, acoustic sealant. Man do I hate that stuff, it gets everywhere and it won't come off.


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## twinAK

This past week we were able to get the soon-to-be-occupied part of the house closed in with vapor barrier, insulation and a functioning wood stove. I also built a 4' high, 4" thick foam partition in the crawlspace to segregate the heated part of the house where we'll be living from the unheated part since there will be water pipes in the crawlspace under us. The well installer trenched the line from the well to the house (7 foot), into the crawlspace and up into the garage where he installed the pressure tank. No more running a generator to pump water! Last night was our first frost so we need to get out of the camper soon but I haven't been able to make any plumbing connections in the house yet. Next weekend. Knowing I work long hours and winter is just about here, a couple friends knocked out the vapor barrier in the garage ceiling while I was at work on Friday. I put the garage door sections up on Friday night and discovered that the vertical tracks were stolen from the site some time between October 2010 and this spring because they were on site last year and now they're gone. I'll have to contact the manufacturer to get replacements. I just have them held in with bent over nails for now. The wood stove easily keeps the garage and master suite nice and toasty. We'll see how well it does when it's -40 this winter.


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## Dinggus

You are building your house the smart way! I have a buddy who's parents built a 3 story house and it was estimated to sell for $1.2million, but economy went to crap right after it was finished and it put them in the hole big time.

Plus, how many people can actually say they built their own house? The wife and I would like to build our retirement home, just depends on if I get out of the Army in a few years or 20 years. Keep up the good work!


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## BigJim

That is what I call friends.
I hope you can catch the sorry jerk who ripped you off. You might keep a watch they may be back.

Man that makes me cold just thinking about the first frost.


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## firehawkmph

Nice job and nice thread on the house build. Looks like you are doing a very good job. I had to chuckle when you mentioned the garage door tracks missing. Not funny, I'm sure. But I had to wonder, who in the heck would steal just the two vertical sections of track out in the middle of the wilderness? You would think they would grab your wood stove or something more valuable if they were going to swipe something. Good luck with the rest of the project and keep us posted.
Mike Hawkins


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## twinAK

The thought that somebody would take just my vertical tracks does make a person wonder. Anyways, thanks for the feedback, the project is not easy at all and has taken it's toll on me, and some on the family, but I would do it over again, just on a smaller scale. 
Another 12 hr day today at work so no new updates for since I came home and spent about 1 1/2 hrs trying to restart the LP gas flow to the furnace so I don't freeze my butt off again tonight. Last night the propane ran out and the camper got pretty chilly. I tried to switch the regulator over to the other tank and it wouldn't pressurize the system on the new tank. So I got home today, tinkered with it and couldn't get it to work. Since the local hardware store was about to close and no place to get a new dual regulator, I cannibalized the regulator off my propane turbo heater, bought a brass adapter fitting and presto, I got heat. 
I had intentions of laying down some hardiebacker board in the laundry room tonight since I picked up a masonry blade for the saw, but I'll have to work on that tomorrow. It's 9:30PM and the temp is down to 38 deg already, I think I'll turn in early tonight. Here's a pic of a couple moose that showed up the other morning behind the work shop.


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## twinAK

*Plumbing work*

The past few days I've been whittling away at the minimal plumbing to get us in the house to avoid renting a place for the winter. I can do only a little bit in the evenings so not much got done. I'm taking an unpaid 2 week vacation so I can wrap up the rest of the bare essentials to keep us warm and functional in the house for the winter. Most of the Durock is done in the master suite and laundry, I ran out. I plumbed in a whole house filter, line to the softener, then to the water heater, then to the Manabloc. Still have to run the water heater circuit. Tonight I took a break from that and hung a few cabinets in the garage for our makeshift kitchen so the wife can start setting up. 
Question: I bought a 50A range outlet and it says it's non-grounding. Is it normal for a range plug not to be grounded? Seems weird to me. 
Friday night I figure I'll watch a movie with the kids before I dive head first into a 2 week DIY binge. So I should have plenty of pics/updates in the near future.
On another note, the northern lights have been very active, what a sight to see. My wife's digital camera doesn't do so well with snapping pics of those, my old 35mm SLR does pretty good though, just outta film.


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## Scuba_Dave

Great job on the house
Looks like you will be prepared for the weather
I visited Alaska over 10 years ago around Anchorage
Drove all over the place, awesome area to live in


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## twinAK

I've spent the last three days trying to get all the minimum plumbing wrapped up so we can get by for the winter. I ran PEX lines from the manifold to the washer bibs, temporary bathroom sink, kitchen in the garage, toilet, and temp shower. I broke the first toilet ($158) putting it in so I got a cheaper replacement for now. I found an economy stand up shower kit at Spenards to use for the winter, the kind that might be used for a remote cabin or work site. $219 for the shower walls, pan, drain adapter, water control valves, shower head, and a curtain. What a deal! I also set up the temporary kitchen in the garage with used cabinets, sink, and faucet from Habitat ReStore, and a new laminate countertop. Today I hooked up the stove and hot water heater circuits. Feels good to take a shower in the house instead of the chilly camper. So we're camped out in the garage and master suite for the winter. The garage is our living room(tool box sets there nicely), kitchen, kid's sleeping area(ours too until the master bedroom ceiling is insulated), and dining area. We're still running on minimum power outlets right now but I hope to add a couple circuits to the garage next week along with some overhead light fixtures. The work light on a stand is getting in the way and taking up valuable floor space. Tomorrow I'll be winterizing the camper and start working on laying down 1/2" CDX on top of the radiant floor in the master bedroom and closets. Once that's done next comes the drywall and insulation in the master bedroom.


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## hasbean

Wonderful job, not many people like you left out there


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## Snav

Wow - awesome work so far. It's taken me 6 years just to remodel  You're flying along.


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## twinAK

Snav said:


> Wow - awesome work so far. It's taken me 6 years just to remodel  You're flying along.


Thanks! In about 2 weeks I'll slow down to a very slow crawl to rest up and work on paying down the money I had to borrow to make enough progress to avoid renting a place for the winter.


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## twinAK

hasbean said:


> Wonderful job, not many people like you left out there


Yeah, I'm a bit different. I have a hard time parting with my hard-earned cash for something I'm capable of doing myself.


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## Snav

twinAK said:


> Thanks! In about 2 weeks I'll slow down to a very slow crawl to rest up and work on paying down the money I had to borrow to make enough progress to avoid renting a place for the winter.


Worthy cause to take a break!


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## gma2rjc

Great thread! 

I wonder what percentage of the men and women in this country dream of doing what you're doing.

I'm sorry to hear that someone stole from you. Thankfully that's all they took. 

How far are you from the nearest town? From the aerial picture, it looks like your neighbors aren't too terribly far away.

Keep up the good work and thanks for the pictures!


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## twinAK

Thanks! I'm about 3 miles from a one-light town with a supermarket, hardware store and restaurants, and about 15 miles from a small city (Fairbanks). Here's a couple pics of what I did the past two days. I finished putting down the CDX on top of the radiant PEX, sheetrocked the MBR ceiling, and put insulation in the attic above it. Installing the PEX this alternative way is veru labor intensive but waaay cheaper than paying for Gyp-crete to be poured. The only thing I would change is next time I do an area that will be tiled I will use a sand/cement mix with just enough water to make it workable. That way I have a real solid base to tile on. The sand has a little bit of flex even after being packed down. Tomorrow I'll take care of some odds and ends and prepare for a week of wiring.


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## twinAK

The past few days I ran two power circuits, a light circuit, and under-cabinet lights in the garage. Since I use my garage extensively I put the outlets on the north wall on one circuit, and the south wall outlets on another. Also, I have to run two outdoor receptacles on timers to plug the vehicles into during most of the winter to keep the engine block and battery heaters on. I only had one timer so I will have to install the other one after I run to town tomorrow for another and more supplies. The north wall circuit has more outlets than the south wall since my work benches will be located there eventually. It's complete except for that timer, outdoor GFCI receptacle, and I need another 20 amp breaker to power it up. I mounted the 4" boxes to strapping on the wall because I'm going to strap the wall 16" O.C. horizontally, put EPS foam in between and sheetrock over that. I talked to my inspector/engineer and he said that's fine, just staple the romex to the edges of the studs. The box seems to have too much flex to me so I might run a piece of 2x2 under it and put one screw through it to sturdy it up. I though about metal boxes but I don't want the cold metal to attract moisture. These were vinyl boxes I bought at the local electrical supply store so I might see of they have a fiberglass version.
When I was looking at lighting options I wasn't sure if four 4' two bulb fluorescent fixtures would be enough but once I had them powered up it was no question about it, it's plenty. I didn't want the kind with diffusers because they just get all dirtied up and bugs tend to get trapped in them too. So I went with these ones that have white reflectors and a wire cage over them to protect the bulbs from getting broken. They came wired with a cord that I didn't need so I had to snip it, drill a hole for the romex and clamp on the backside because it came with two knockouts, one on either end. I wanted it centered over the ceiling box, that's why I had to drill my own. When I roughed in the wiring for the ceiling boxes two months ago I referenced the wrong wiring diagram and didn't run the right wiring between fixtures for a power-switch-light x 4-switch configuration. So today I took a couple steps back and had to run another run of 14-3 from the first switch to the second one, and ended up using the 14-3 already in place between the fixtures for parallel circuits, clipping the red wire. The insulation and vapor barrier is already in place so re-routing 14-2 up in the ceiling was out of the question. Oh well, I'll pay more attention next time. 
The other to-do on my working vacation was add some under-cabinet lighting for our temporary kitchen. I didn't hard-wire them in though, I took the easy route this time. I bought 3 little 14" fluorescent lights that link together and get plugged into an outlet. Later I might put a little switch in the power cord to make it easier to turn them all off at once. I'll have a pretty nice brewing area by the time I'm done with the house and we've completed the real kitchen, leaving me with this setup in the garage.
Tomorrow I won't get hardly anything done since I'll be running to town for supplies and putting studded tires on the wife's van. The roads are slick because the temps are hovering between 20-30* in the daytime. There was two cars off the road when I went to the post office earlier today. Next up is the master bedroom lights.


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## Thadius856

My goodness, what a project!

2500 sq ft dosen't seem small for a family of 5 at all. I think you're going to have more than enough space. 

Thank you for your service.


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## twinAK

Thadius856 said:


> 2500 sq ft dosen't seem small for a family of 5 at all. I think you're going to have more than enough space./quote]
> We looked over countless sets of plans but couldn't find one we liked. I wished we would have searched a little bit longer. Oh well, can't change it now.
> I'm taking a break for the next two weeks to rest up, and add up all the expenses for this year up til now. I have no idea how much I spent this year. I'm guessing $25K or more. I got a big stack of receipts to work on for the next few days so we'll see.


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## Thadius856

I know the feeling with the receipts. I prefer to digitize and shred, so with my printer/scanner busted right now, I'm drowning in a sea of paper.


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## jackie treehorn

Wow, one word, ambition!! My old man did the same thing, started building before I was born and we never had carpet in the house till I was in the third grade. 
What you're doing reminds me of long ago, keep up the good work


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## twinAK

Well, it's been kind of a restful 2 weeks but I'm slowly moving again. I'm cutting back on the relentless house work and trying to spend some time with the family and pursue other leisurely activities. The past two Saturdays a friend and I brewed beer, the first since February. We're going to bottle it up tomorrow night. But I've been slowly whittling away at soldering up the radiant manifolds. This Saturday I hope to get the boiler in place with all the plumbing hooked up. I still need to get an oil lift pump since the tank is too far away for the boiler to pump it. I'll take some pics this weekend and post them.


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## twinAK

*Slooooooow progress*

So much for me taking pics "last weekend" and posting them. 
For the past couple weeks I've made slow progress on getting our boiler up and running. Last spring I pre-fabricated the radiant manifolds, only to realize recently that they would be too small. So I took a few steps back and had to remake the radiant manifolds all over again in a larger size. I soldered up all the manifolds, mounted them to some uni-strut, soldered some more, set the boiler in place, and soldered some more. All my solder joints were leak-free, but a couple of the threaded joints leaked and I found those leaks using compressed air in the manifold before I mounted them so fixing them wasn't too hard. 
After the boiler was all plumbed in I installed a Toyotomi lift pump to bring the heating oil up out of the in-ground tank and gravity feed to the tank. The first attempt didn't work out so well because when I tapped into one of the two lines running into the tank I tapped into the return line, which is about a foot or so above the bottom of the tank. With only 75 gallons in a 500 gallon tank, the lift pump was sucking air. So back to the hardware store again to get another fuel line splice. Once I tapped into the other line the lift pump station filled with heating oil and bled the fuel supply all the eay to the burner head.
We bought this used boiler for $400 last winter off craig's list with intentions to use it temporarily until we could afford what we really wanted. I recently found out that they don't make them anymore and parts are hard to come by, so it's good that it's only temporary. After I made a power cord using some 14/2 romex and a repair plug, I installed the exhaust flue and surrounded it with some rock wool insulation left over from the wood stove install. Amazingly, the boiler fired up right away! 
I'm still toying with balancing the water flow between the two 1/2 loops coming off of one header, but we have heat in the garage slab. The inner portion of the slab is nice and toasty and the outer portion is slowly warming up. 
The temps for the past 10 days or so have been -20 during the day and -35 to -40 at night so with only the wood stove to supply heat until the boiler was fired up on Sunday night, the garage has been chilly during the day and pretty cold in the AM. We had the kids move into the master suite with us for about a week while I tried to get more heat in the garage. The boiler is kind of manually controlled right now until I get more money to buy a zone valve controller. Two zone valves are installed but right now I only plumbed in the garage zone. After I take a break for a couple weeks I'll plumb in the master suite zone and that will be the only two zones to run for the rest of this winter.

Question for anybody smart with mechanical plumbing:
What purpose does the 1/2" line with ball valve serve that's installed between the supply and return pipes on the side of the boiler. See the pic with the close up off the 1/2 ball valve with the yellow handle. Just above it is an air bleeder. When I bought the boiler this was already installed. Not sure if I need to have this closed or open for normal operation. It's closed right now so hot outlet water doesn't shunt to the pump on the return side. Any guidance would be appreciated.


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## Ironlight

Looks to me like pressure release valve but it strikes me as odd that it would be coming off the return line. I'm stumped!


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## RUMBLON

Nice job. I am keeping an eye on your progress as I am in kind of the same boat. I own 175 acres in Idaho and want to build a home on it. The days of taking 200K out of my current home are long gone and time is running out until I attempt to retire again. So we are bebating taking out a 85 K loan to build a barn style home. I have done the well, spetic, power and have a 30x40 pole barn that I hope to enclose and make use as storage and a work space this summer. But with my current cost of living am making to headway towards the new home. Plus I am 8 hours away living in Northen Nevada, so working on it means talking at least a week off to get things done. Im very impressed with your progress and would prefer to have no mortgage. 

Nice job:thumbsup:

RUMBLON


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## twinAK

Thanks Rumblon, I've pretty much stopped all progress for a few months while I rest up and pay off a few things. I did connect the radiant in the master suite so now I have two zones of heat. Since I'm almost out of dry firewood that's a good thing. I've had some problems with the moisture escaping beyond the vapor barrier in a few places, particularly around the bath fan. I also learned that sand between 2x2 strips for radiant floor mass doesn't work so good under backer board. The same setup under the 1/2 CDX is holding up fine though. Later next month I will probably start insulating other parts of the house. Good luck on your project, it feels good to live rent/mortgage free.


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