27 June 2016
After ten relatively
stress-free days finishing the unpacking and settling into the house, today was
quite hectic. Sonny arrived just after
7, followed an hour later by Tom and Brandon.
Their mission: knocking out the 18 carpentry and electrical punch list
items. Those included: plugging a multitude
of Cortex® screw holes in exterior Koma® blocking;
painting all the exterior air supply and exhaust vents; adjusting various doors
so they open / close properly; installing the wood stove and grouting the
stove’s fresh air supply duct into the woodstove nook soapstone wall;
installing an accent light in the small nook above the wood bin; and (Sonny’s
favorite) installing Roxul® insulation in the mechanical room
ceiling. Virtually all of those items
were done by noon. So, after lunch, the
guys started on the big item: installing aromatic Eastern Red Cedar on the
ceiling and walls of the aptly named cedar closet. My radial arm saw and dust collection system
got a good workout… and, oh, does the shop smell nice tonight! They got well over half of that project done
by quitting time. Dennis arrived early
afternoon to install the fancy Venmar HRV programmable controller that I had
asked him to order for us. We also
reviewed the other 9 items on the plumbing punch list… and the latest Ryan’s
bill, about which I had some questions.
He also explained how to prevent the geothermal system from filling the
heating / cooling holding tank with 107° water whenever the
A/C is turned off temporarily, with the tank, at that point, full of 41° water. Sean also came by to check
on progress. Together with Dennis, we
started to fill out the required Vermont Residential Building Energy Standards
(RBES) Certificate that ultimately has to be filed with the State Public
Service Department and the Town Clerk.
Tom Hobbs came by mid-afternoon to finish that part of the dust
collection system that captures debris when the radial arm saw is in crosscut
mode. Perry also stopped by for a few
minutes. For awhile there, the shop was
a very busy place! We discovered,
after dinner, that the HRV is only supplying air through the A/C ducts, which
means that ¾ of the house is not getting the intended fresh air exchange. Phone call to Dennis to follow…
