R&R and new tools

Last blog post I mentioned that we got A/C in the house. I can’t even begin to say how nice that is. It doesn’t get old walking into a cool, dry house. I still find it strange leaving the bedroom doors open though. Previously, we had A/C in the bedroom but not in the rest of the house so we’d close the bedroom door to try and keep the cool in. Also, we now keep all of our windows and exterior doors shut. Previously they stayed open hoping for a breeze to blow the heat away. The house is so much quieter with all of the doors and windows shut.

Campervan trip

This week we took a short campervan trip for our anniversary. We stayed just north of Flagler Beach on a beachfront campground in Beverly Beach. We were able to park the campervan right at the seawall. It was pretty cool. It was nice to relax for a bit. I did a bit of fishing and Oceana did some of her leatherwork. We generally just took it easy and got a chance to rest up. We got to see some dolphins body surfing the waves which was neat. Oceana got stung by a jellyfish, which hurt and itched. I saw a bunch of bait fish (mullet) getting crashed by other fish but they were just out of casting range. It didn’t stop me from trying to catch them though. All and all, it was a good trip.

New tools

Just before leaving for the trip, I found out some machinery that I had ordered 4-5 months ago had shipped, and that it was coming in on Monday. Monday we were supposed to be gone, so I scheduled it for Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday morning the freight driver called and said he was on his way, and he was going to be early. So we packed up and headed out, but he still beat us there. He was driving a big rig and wasn’t comfortable driving down our street, so I met him in a nearby parking lot and he offloaded the crates and pallets into my van. Back at the house, Oceana helped me get them out of the van and into the shop.

More concrete work

Since I found out the machinery was shipping, one of the things I needed to do to get ready was to pour a concrete pad behind the shop for the new dust collection system. The dust collector will sit out back and will connect to a series of metal ductwork that I had already hung up in the shop. Before our trip, I formed up and leveled out the area for the pad and then early the next morning I mixed 20 bags of concrete and got it poured. The pour went well and the slab turned out nice. In the future, I’ll be building a simple lean-to to enclose the dust collector and air compressor.

Attic fan install

After pouring the slab, I decided to install the new attic fan. To install the fan, I built a plywood enclosure for it that I would mount in the existing gable vent. The plywood would stop the fan from sucking in air from the vent and pushing it right back outside. The plywood seals off the rest of the vent space so the fan is forced to suck out the attic air. It also has a thermostat to kick on when the attic reaches a certain temperature. I set it at 98 degrees, or thereabouts. Just slightly warmer than the normal daytime temperature so it won’t turn on until the attic starts getting hot. The cooler I can keep the attic, the better the A/C will work, especially with the lack of insulation in the attic. We’ll be doing more insulation in the future, but that’ll come as we remodel the living and dining rooms. While I was up in the attic, I snapped a few pictures of the A/C units so you can see how they looked from the attic side.

Drywall

I was able to get a few sheets of drywall hung in the back bathroom. It’s starting to look like a room again. A few more sheets of drywall and I’m ready to start building out the corian shower.

That’s all for this week. Thanks for following along!