Archive for June, 2008
Monday, June 30th, 2008
Pentagon Fights EPA On Pollution Cleanup
The Defense Department, the nation’s biggest polluter, is resisting orders from the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up Fort Meade and two other military bases where the EPA says dumped chemicals pose ‘imminent and substantial’ dangers to public health and the environment.
8 Ways to Green Your Garden
Summer is a great opportunity to spend time in the garden. Sunny days provide nice weather and extra daylight. School is out so you’ve got extra potential workers. The ground is fertile from springtime rain.
Biodiesel’s New Approval Rating Could Ease Warranty Concerns
Lack of warranty support for biodiesel has been a major stumbling block for new diesel owners who want to start using the fuel. But three long-awaited ASTM specifications could help change that.
Unprecedented bill could spark renewables in US
A new feed-in tarriff bill, mimicing many laws already in place in Europe, could pave the road for a renewable energy revolution in the United States.
Cost Benefits Could Bring Natural Gas Vehicles To Forefront
There is nothing really new about using Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as a vehicle. The new thing, the reason that talk about CNG is growing, is that natural gas now costs about half as much per unit energy as gasoline and has an even greater cost advantage over diesel fuel.
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Saturday, June 28th, 2008
Today, the tile installers finished laying the full pieces of tile. Now, they have to come back on Monday to make all the cuts for all the edge pieces. I am going down tonight to count all the edge pieces we’ll need, just to make sure we have enough tile.
On Tuesday, they will come back again to do the grout. Well, that’s what I hope will happen anyway. I thought this job would be done in two days, but as time goes on, I am realizing that it is more work than I thought. 450 square feet is a lot of area to cover.
Here are some photos of today’s tile installation.
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Friday, June 27th, 2008
Also today (it was quite a busy day), the tile guys came over to start the tile installation in the basement.
I have to say, this installer has impressed me on a number of occasions. By nature, I am skeptical. I always think people aren’t going to do a complete job or try to get around doing something. Everything I throw at this guy is answered very satisfactorily (in my opinion).
The job is bigger than I thought. They brought about half the tile because te other half was too heavy for his truck. When he pulled in the driveway, the bed was sagging quite a bit. When they started, everything was going very smoothly, but just slower than I expected. By the time 4PM rolled around, they were about 40% done laying the full pieces.
Tomorrow, they are coming back to lay the rest of the full pieces and some of the cut ones. He kept telling me there were a lot of cuts. I really don’t envy him, because this job is going to take a few days.
Here is what they have done so far…
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Friday, June 27th, 2008
It feels good to get some things checked off my list.
Today, the gutter guys came over to clean the gutters and install the rest of the gutter covers. I felt a little bad having a gutter cleaning company install the covers, but they didn’t seem to mind. The owner told me that I could call him any time (or when) they fail. He would be happy to come back and clean the gutters.
From what I have already experienced, these gutter covers work very well. We have had a few heavy rains since I installed the sections I could reach and there were no issues with anything.
I also felt like a caged rat today watching these guys climb the ladders. I really enjoyed installing what I did and wanted to do the rest. I just don’t know how I would feel laying on my back on the lawn after falling off the 40 foot one.
Here, this is what I am talking about…
I would like to go back to the point in my life when I began worrying about falling off of ladders.
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Thursday, June 26th, 2008
Yesterday was pretty fun. I met the tile installer at Tile America in West Hartford. I picked out the tile for the basement and the grout color. I like the grout to match the tile, so the floor doesn’t look like a big checker board. We also ordered up the thinset.
I bought 473.44 square feet of 13″x13″ Classic Wheat commercial grade tile. That’s a lot of tile. I also bought 60lbs of Avalanche colored grout. Lastly, I bought 100 lbs of Ultraflex polymer modified mortar.
The tile guys are coming tomorrow to start the installation. The nice thing is they are going to pick up all the materials before coming here in the morning. They have a truck…I don’t. If I did, trust me…I would be at Home Depot getting the 67 cent per square foot tile. Oh, the price I pay for delivery. I had actually contemplated installing all the tile myself. Then, I thought better of it. I think I would do a good job, but then again, who is going to do my computer work for me that day? I prefer to work at what I do and let others work at what they do. The door installation validated that.
Last night, I had a few small things to take care of in the basement. I had to trim up the bottoms of the door mouldings and apply a crack prevention membrane on parts of the concrete floor.
I used my Dremel and cutting disk to cut through two and a half mouldings. The first two went very well. About half way through the third one the Dremel started sounding like popcorn. I looked down and smoke was pouring out of the motor. The whole thing felt so familiar. Man, it stunk!!! Yeah, I guess I blew up my Dremel. I will have to check my receipt to see if it’s still under warranty. To finish the job, I used my reciprocating saw, which I should’ve used the whole time. It worked great.
After that, I gave the whole floor a nice cleaning. I swept and vacuumed. If there are any cracks in the floor, you need to use some sort of a membrane. I have actually heard of people using tarpaper for this, but I chose to use RedGard. I got two gallons at Home Depot yesterday. The other option was to use Schluter®-DITRA, but I didn’t think I needed that. The only thing that is wrong with the floor is a hairline crack about five feet long. You can hardly notice it. I tried to stay on the safe side.
RedGard is very cool stuff. It has the consistency of yogurt and can be applied with a brush, roller or sprayer. It goes on pink and dries red. After it dries, it’s like a layer of plastic. People use is for a crack membrane and waterproofer. I am sure you can find other uses for it too.
I basically needed to use it for that one crack, but decided to put it around all the concrete expansion joints too. I believe that you aren’t supposed to tile over expansion joints. You tile up to them and keep the joint. From what I am reading, people tile right over everything, while using no preparation and the tile floor lasts for 100 years. It’s only us who analyze the thing to death that have issues. I am going to see what the tile installer’s experience tells me. After all, he is the expert with the picture book of hundreds of jobs.
I’ll take some pictures tomorrow of the installation.
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Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
Today was another day of running around. I had to head up to Tile America in West Hartford to meet the tile installer. After that, I had to go over to Pat’s Power Equipment in Tolland for a new backpack blower.
I am sure I will write all about the tile in another post. Now, I would like to share an awesome new tool I got today…the backpack blower. When I bought the pressure washer, I wasn’t too enthused. I mean, yeah, I’ll use it when I need it. The backpack blower on the other hand, is something I will actually enjoy using when I need it.
Take a look…
This is the Stihl BR 550 backpack blower. It’s the second most powerful one they have. I just used it on the driveway and the walkway and am very happy I got one so powerful. I have recently heard good things about those hand-held ones, but was skeptical. I used to use a commercial backpack blower and knew what it was capable of. I couldn’t imagine me trying to blow leaves out of the gardens, come Fall, and me not getting wicked mad at one of those hand-held machines.
Here are the specs:
DISPLACEMENT: 64.8 cc (3.95 cu. in.)
ENGINE POWER: 3.0 kW (4.0 bhp)
WEIGHT: 9.7 kg (21.4 Ibs.)
FUEL CAPACITY: 1400 cc (47.3 oz.)
AIR VOLUME:
With tube: 900 m3/h (530 cfm)
Without tube: 1490 m3/h (877 cfm)
AIR VELOCITY: 89 m/sec. (199 mph)
I think the things people look at are the “air volume” and the “air velocity.” Those are the two things that actually move stuff.
I like getting Stihl power equipment. When I do so, I never have to worry about if I just bought junk or not. I know it’s not.
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Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
Boy, that title is pretty long.
Yesterday, Laura and I went shopping. We first went up to Home Depot in Enfield, CT. I got a bunch of stuff, most of which I can hardly remember right now. I am sure I’ll write about it when I start using it.
Then, we went to Circuit City and got some stuff. After that, we went to Costco for food shopping. Just to let you know, Costco in Enfield has a gas station for members. Gas around here is $4.39 per gallon. I paid $4.05 yesterday at the Costco gas station. It averages about 30 cents less per gallon than regular gas stations.
Back to Circuit City. While there, I picked up some Sony bookshelf speakers that I am going to use for the new downstairs. I also picked up some new computer speakers. The computer speakers I was using up until yesterday were Altec Lansing and getting pretty old. I gave them to Laura as a hand-me-down. I got a hand-me-up to the new Bose Companion® 2 Series II Multimedia Computer Speakers.
When I was looking at them in the store, I kept asking the guy (kid) if they had an amp in them. I was worried that they might be like those cheap Dell speakers you get with a new computer. You should probably have someone standing next to you hitting two pans together than using those Dell speakers. Man, if I had a nickle for every pair of them I threw away.
He never gave me an answer. He just kept saying that these Bose speakers were the best brand they had in the store. Since I never quite got an answer out of him, I just bought them and decided that I would return them if they were horrible.
I got home and hooked them up. Right after that, I hooked up the Altec Lansings to Laura’s computer, which made her very happy. Now she can pump the bass. Back to my speakers. I turned on Media Player and was quite impressed. All that stuff Bose says about themselves is pretty true. The speakers are very clear and I can now hear sounds I never heard out of my old speakers. It’s pretty amazing what they can do with half the size and weight of something.
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Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
As promised, the basketball hoop is being enjoyed by someone who may have a bit of trouble dunking for some time…even when the hoop is on its lowest setting.
My brother stopped by a few days ago to pick up the whole thing. This, of course, is after I spent a good chunk of time with my sledgehammer getting that large ball of concrete off the bottom pipe. With a bit of sweat and a lot of energy, I removed the concrete. The hoop was as good as new.
I told you he was going to have a little trouble dunking. I can see it now, the next best basketball star telling his story about practicing in the mountains of Virginia.
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Monday, June 23rd, 2008
Top Scientist: Put Oil Firm Chiefs on Trial for High Crimes
James Hansen, one of the world’s leading climate scientists, will today call for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming in the same way that tobacco companies blurred the links between smoking and cancer.
Are Artificial Reefs Good for the Environment?
It sounds like a great idea. Sink an old fleet of subway cars in the ocean. Plants & invertebrates will colonize the hulking structure. Fish will migrate there & reproduce. And before long, the replenished ecosystem thats great for recreational fishing & diving. But some scientists aren’t so sure they replenish the ecosystem.
NASA Climatologist: “Almost Too Late to Stop Global Warming”
On Monday, NASA climatologist Dr.James Hansen will testify at a House committee hearing that it is almost, but not quite, too late to start defusing what he calls the “global warming time bomb.†He will offer a plan for cuts in emissions and also a warning about the risks of further inaction.
Is the ‘Oil Drilling Debate’ Masking the Real Issue?
Should we be focusing on making oil cheap or should we focus on making it obsolete? Of course in an ideal world, gas would be cheap and increasingly obsolete. We don’t live in an ideal world. By focusing on unrealistic “quick fix†solutions, are we just scraping ourselves up a little more time to keep avoiding the real issue?
Germany ‘is world’s greenest country’
Germany has been labelled the world’s greenest country after it cut its energy use by more than any other state in 2007.
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Monday, June 23rd, 2008
When we first moved here, I really didn’t give the hillside on the property too much thought. I just said to myself that I was going to plant some pine trees there. At the time, there were some “unbloomed” bushes waiting for leaves. Some of them were those ever growing pricker bushes.
When I was a kid, we had this huge pricker bush in between our property and the neighbor’s. It was large and really needed to be taken care of because it was taking up so much room. I can’t really ever remember any flowers growing on that pricker bush. Oh, how times have changed.
A few weeks ago, I took some pictures of some half bloomed flowers in the front. I really didn’t know what I was in store for and to be honest, I am quite impressed.
Here, I’ll show you what I am talking about…
This is just a random shot in one of the more clustered parts of th flowers. As you can see, there are some pink roses in there.
Here is a better picture of those pink roses.
Here are a few photos of the whole area of flowers. Pretty neat, huh?
On my way back, I decided to pick Laura a bouquet of flowers. I think this is the nicest one yet.
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