11 August 2016

Kevin built most of the 8′ diameter raised flower bed that will be a centerpiece of the patio.  He glued the stone together with Lumberlock^® construction adhesive so that they look dry-layed but are solidly attached to one another.  He also started work on the outdoor fireplace and wood storage bin, getting the three piers built.  After some discussion, we decided to use two ½″ x 4″ x 55″ flat stock steel lintels to hold up the two caps that will cover the woodbin, vice overlapping the caps on the adjoining piers and installing a vertical concrete block divider.  Called Nops Metalworks at 10 o’clock to see if they could provide the steel pieces we wanted.  By 10:45 Chree (on her way back from her workout at Middlebury Fitness) had the steel in the back of her car.  Now that’s what you call service!  Put a coat of primer on the steel soon after Chree arrived back home.  Dennis Senesac and Bill Gabbiet arrived mid-morning to attend to various plumbing punch list issues.  They installed a water meter so that we can measure domestic consumption and determine when to change the water filter.  Dennis and I set up the hot water re-circulating pump timer, which hopefully will save us some electricity.  For the same reason, Dennis also disconnected the HRV from the air handler.  Bill put insulation on several more water lines to stanch, hopefully, the condensation problems we’ve been experiencing in the mechanical room.  Bill also installed the mechanical room floor drain.  Unfortunately, that installation required grinding away some concrete, which created a LOT of dust, which set off the fire alarms when the mechanical room door was opened.  Was excitingly noisy for awhile there…  Perry and Lynne came over for a dinner of burnt offerings (steak cooked over a much-too-hot fire).