The Undergound Bunker has Arrived

Just kidding!!

Our 10,000 gallon water tank has arrived. Hopes are that it will be in the ground by the end of the day today.

Four truck loads of back fill (cinders) have been delivered, this will be spread at the bottom of the pit and then around the tank itself.

The tank will have a 4" inlet pipe connected to it, and then a 4" over flow which hopefully at some point will be connected to another 10,000 gallon tank.

The original plan was for 20,000 gallons of rain catch but cost and actually being able to capture that volume due to the prolonged drought will dictate whether or not we at some point will add another tank.

We had the option of going with a galvanized fresh water tank but my concern there was a possible metallic taste to the water. Cost would have allowed for a bigger fresh water tank going galvanized but we opted for a fiberglass tank for fresh water instead. The rain water tank will be connected to the washing machine, toilets, and dishwasher.

This past week I have been working evenings on getting the wiring in that needs to be completed before the rest of the roof SIPs are applied. Some things that we have thought of recently are any holes that will need to be cut in the roof prior to getting the metal roof installed. They are sewer vent pipe, fireplace and a sky light in the up stairs bathroom.

In addition to this we would like to get the upstairs loft windows in place prior to the metal being installed so as to hold down on any foot traffic on the metal roof. These considerations may push us out a little further on getting the metal on, but once the remaining SIPs are installed, inspected and the Grace Ice & Water Shield applied we will at least be dried in.

Calling In Reinforcments

About a week and half ago, I started thinking that it would not be long before the end of June is here. The end of June and the first part of July marks the beginning of our wet season.

Huge thunderstorms will build up like clock work in the afternoon and at times can dump a lot of rain in a short amount of time. This whole scenario is if the continued drought decides to let us get back to somewhere near normal with rainfall.

Anyway, we still are without a complete roof and it is looking like by the time the monsoon season arrives we would not quite have the house dried in. On top of not being dried in, my hopes are to start catching rain water with this monsoon season. Given all of this, I put a call in to Alan Bernholtz of Windriver Timberframes and asked if he could spare a couple of his crew members to give me a hand finishing off the east side of the roof.

The reason my first choice was Alan was, I have been running into a lot of people who are not familiar with this type of construction, and I do not need somebody that has to get over a learning curve at this point. Alan and his crew have had a lot of experience with SIP's. Fortunately, Alan is able to spare a couple people for two days which should allow us to complete all SIP work.

So our big push now is to complete the Aspen work and some wiring that needs to be completed prior to finishing the roof off. We have scheduled the metal roof to be installed the middle of June. So as soon as all SIP work is complete we will need to get the rest of the Grace Ice and Water shield on and also finish installing the rest of the sub facia.

Also, currently under way is the installation of our rain water catch and fresh water tanks. We also have the crew installing them doing some other trench work.

So far, they have dug the trench for our Eco-Flex pipe which runs out to the solar collector for the radiant floor system and hot water heater. I also asked for them to do a little more digging for the electrical service conduit so that it will come in a little bit closer to the corner of the house.

The 10,000 gallon rain water tank should arrive and be installed today. The fresh water tank should arrive within the next couple of weeks and be installed at that time. Trenches from the down spouts will have to be dug in after the tank is installed. Roof washers will need to be installed, as well, prior to final hook up. The rain gutters will be installed by the roofing company so our hopes are we will be ready to catch rain in time for the monsoon season and have a dried in house!!

Slow Going

The east side, as we thought, is taking considerably longer than the west side of the house.

Last weekend we finished off the east side roof over the balcony/front porch. We also installed the sub-facia on the the front roof which really gave it more of a finished look. We also started on the dormer roof SIP. This proved to be quite a project in itself.

The first SIP on the dormer intersects with not only the balcony roof, but also the back of the SIP makes up half of the valley on the main roof. All of this, on top of having the SIP at a 9 /12 pitch. Needless to say, much more time than we care to admit was used getting the SIP to fit into place.

Also, a fair amount of wiring has to take place due to the open space of the dining room and great room. This has been going well with the chases that have been burned out in the SIPs, and a fair amount of planning ahead.

This Saturday morning found us contending with a inch of fresh snow. This scratched working on the roof for the day. Although the snow did test our west side and it really shed the water and snow well.

So, we turned our attention to framing the east side great room wall. This went well, although we did not have a lot of lumber to get too far but made a good dent in it anyway. This has to be completed relatively soon due to the fact that SIP's will be placed on the upper portion of the wall and they must be put in place prior to the great room roof going on.

This week will find us working on the south side of the dormer. As I mentioned earlier, more wiring will need to take place on this side before any more SIP's can be put in place, as well as a little more Aspen having to be put down.