20 May 2014
Woke up at 5 am with
an epiphany. Why don’t we run a
ground-loop geothermal system under the driveway, since we’re already going to
dig up ⅔ of its length in order to run the water line from the well to the
house? Sent those thoughts off to Dennis
and Sean in an email. Sean arrived at
Fern Lake just as he got that missive.
Perfect timing! Larry, Rick,
Kevin, Victor, Scott, and Ben also got here about the same time and began
prepping for three concrete pours planned for this morning. Sean left after he and I had caught up on
current and near-term planned events… and all the changes to the house
specifications document. Soon thereafter
a Carrara mixer lumbered down the driveway yet again, this time with only half
a load. By 10 we had poured a nice floor
for the Shed lower level, put concrete in the footer for the house chimney, and
dumped 4 wheelbarrow loads into the form for the sauna stove pad. The
Longrridge crew then began the laborious process of stripping forms off the
cellar walls and lugging those beasts out of the hole. Talked to Dennis and got the cost (from
Spaffords) to drill three 200 foot wells for a vertical closed-loop geothermal
system. Expensive, but just barely
within budget. Certain that a
ground-loop system would be far more pocketbook-friendly, Dennis is going to
consult with his geothermal engineers to see if a system such as I proposed
could work. I then spent the rest of the morning pulling and de-nailing cleats
used to hold the concrete forms in place.
Sometime around midday Jimmy LaFlam (Sean’s & Ben’s father)
visited. We had a nice chat, after which
Sean’s ears were probably burning. (Ben
got off easy… this time.) After lunch
Larry taught me how to break off form ties, which you do by swatting them back
and forth with a hammer. He made it look
very easy. It’s not. By the end of the afternoon my right forearm
was pretty much dead. Also by the end of
the afternoon the shed garage floor still had not taken an initial set (most
likely due to the low temperature and high humidity in those nether regions),
which meant that it couldn’t be floated, which meant that Rick’s wife was not
at all pleased that he couldn’t come home on time for dinner. Once Larry and the rest of his gang were
gone, made a quick trip into Brandon for the usual (the flavor this time is
Sugarloaf Mint Chip). Rick had FINALLY
been able to float the floor while I was gone.
A quick Bud consumed, so was he, and I settled down for some burgers and
dogs hot off the campfire… and my own Allagash Triple Ale. Oh, yeah, remembered to call Chree to wish her
a happy anniversary. She seemed to
recognize the name of the guy she’s been married to for the last 42 years…
