I finished up installing all of the re-enforcement beams for the bedroom and bathroom. These beams will be used to re-enforce the walls when we bury the two sides in the ground. Here is a picture of the beams in place. I have six more beams to weld and the 40 foot wall will then be completely re-enforced. I still need to weld the beams in place going down the center of the containers to re-enforce the roof.
This was a one day work weekend due to a speech contest I was in on Saturday. I feel like though that I got a critical part well on the way, along with solving other parts of the house.
The first thing I did was to bring over the 6 inch i-beam to put in place for supporting the roof. This is a picture of me using a hoist to raise it up.
The hoist could only take the beam up so far, so I had to change over to ratchet straps. As you can see in the picture, there are hooks mounted in the ceiling. I am leaving those because they are so strong that literally a backhoe scoop can be attached to one and pickup the container. I am going to weld the hooks to the i-beam.
The change over was scary and it took quite a while to secure the straps and slowly pull the beam on to the top. I attached four 400 pound capacity straps so there was little danger of it falling while also attaching a chain to the center and to the ceiling for added safety.
Once I finally got the beam pulled to the ceiling, I then replaced two of the straps with chains for more protection against falling. With one strap on each end and three chains, I began tightening and securing the beam to the ceiling using jack posts. Once the posts were very tight, I removed the last two straps. This process took all day doing it by myself. It is a most dangerous task and I took extreme caution while doing it. Here is a picture of the final product:
When I return next weekend, I will weld it in place along with welding the beams in the walls.
My next breakthrough was realizing that I would not have to build and underground room for the water totes. There are solar panels available for water totes that keep them partially heated so they do not freeze in the winter. When I had decided to bury them, I did not know so much sunlight would come through the trees during the winter due to the leaves falling in the fall.
One more thing that I have been trying to figure out how to get to work on 12 volt DC is the fan that will blow air through the 12 inch culvert. The thought of using car equipment never crossed my mind until this weekend. The radiator fan is 12 volts and can be adapted to blow directly into the geothermal culvert piping. The culvert piping is 12 inches and I found that a 12 inch fan is also manufactured for some vehicles. This makes for an easy setup and also allows for easy control of the cooling system.
This was a big weekend. A structural engineer came in to look over everything I have done so far. He said I have done everything right so far. The only thing he found that needs to be done is to install a 6" i-beam down the length of the containers so the roof will be adequately reinforced.
After meeting with him, I began working on the containers again. I finished up grinding down the center metal piece. I then sanded it down and applied primer to it. I also sanded and primed the steel flats that go over the center of the containers. I have laid the steel flats down the length of the container so that it seals off the crack.
Here are a couple of pictures of it.
The third thing I did was to cut out the four inch i-beams to fit into the walls. I had to use my plasma cutter to cut them to the correct length and to fit over the lip at the top so that they have as much contact with the structure as possible. I purchased only two i-beams at first so that I could form them out as templates for the rest. The end walls are different than the side walls. The end walls are 90 degree angles, whereas the side walls are 45 degree angles and are slightly taller due to structural differences. I am going to use these templates to cut out the angles need back home before I bring them over to LBL so that it cuts down on the time required for putting them in place.
The fourth thing I did was to install a fourth solar panel. I now have 60 watts. I showed in the last post how I have the system setup. This time I wanted to see how much the solar panels were keeping the battery charged. Before I changed over the cable modem and router to straight direct current, they would completely deplete the battery by the end of the weekend. Once I changed them to DC, the battery still had more than half of its charge left. When I got home late Sunday night, I plugged the battery into the charger. It only lost 10% of its charge. It now has me seriously rethinking how much total power we will need over there.
It has been quite a while since I was last over at LBL to work on the house. I pretty much quit over the winter as it was just too cold and with the walls not being insulated yet, heating the inside would be very difficult with the size it is.
This time I achieved quite a lot. It was 73 degrees outside, so I thought a really good test could be performed this weekend on the geothermal cooling system I designed. To do the test, I placed a 14,000 BTU heater in front of the 12" inlet pipe and blew the heat in with a fan. I had performed this test before and knew the air coming out the other end of the pipe was cool, but I did not know how cool it was. To make sure it was doing an adequate job, I purchased an infrared laser to get an accurate temperature of the air coming out the other side. Our HVAC guy told me which device to purchase. I set the heater to maximum output and the fan to low speed. I left it running for 30 minutes to make sure it had pushed the air adequately and any warming that might occur would happen. After 30 minutes, I went to the outlet side and shot the infrared laser inside. It showed the temperature was 56.6 degrees. I was very pleased. I also ran a second test of blowing the 73 degree air through it. The temperature came out to 51.0 degrees. It has performed well above what I had expected. I am attaching a video of it so you can see the test that was performed.
Here is a picture I took of the results of blowing the 73 degree air through the pipes and out the other side.
Here is a video of the test:
The second thing I did, which you can see in the last video of the temperature test is to tear out the foam I had originally used to seal around the geothermal pipes and replaced it with caulk. Some of the foam had shrunk over the winter leaving gaps. It is now permanently sealed.
The next thing I did this weekend was to install the first solar panels. They are temporarily installed. Right now, all of the leaves are gone on the trees so sunlight comes down on the home. This coming spring, I am going to bulldoze the trees down on the other end of the property to permanently install the panels there. That way, the home will still be shaded in the summer from the sun, but the panels will be exposed.
I purchased a kit of three 15 watt panels, which included a 500 watt regulator. These panels are sufficient right now to power my cable modem and router, plus an LED light I installed. I can add four more 100 watt panels to the controller. It was exciting getting the first power installed. Right now, I have to carry them outside when I get there, but I am going to start building the mounts for them to be placed in the ground. Here is a picture of them out back.
This is a picture of the temporary table I have setup that has the cable modem, router, and regulator. You can see the deep cycle battery sitting underneath.
The final thing I did this weekend was to finish grinding down the middle part of the containers where I had cut out the walls. Once I ground down the jagged steel, I then used a wire brush to take off all paint and rust. Finally, I sprayed three coats of primer on it. Next week, I will tack weld the fine strip of steel to cover over the crack in between the containers. This will stop mice and insects from coming up through there. I will also caulk down the edge for the final seal.
I talked to the person who I purchased the containers from, as he is a brilliant construction person who really knows about engineering. He suggested that I use 4"x4" I-beams to reinforce the walls from caving in when we go to bury the containers this spring. This coming week, I am going to purchase twenty feet of the I-beams and consult him before welding them in place. Once I get the beams welded in place, we will then start building out the subfloor, bedroom, and bathroom.
A lot was accomplished this last weekend. I finished connecting the culvert piping. I used cement for the large gaps and then covered that will aluminum tape. Finally, I cut small portions of the piping and put over the aluminum tape so that weight of the ground would be distributed evenly across the joints.
Next came filling in the trenches. We did this very slowly, while I was inside the trench to make sure the joints remained OK while the dirt slowly came down on them. Here is the final view after the trenches were filled in.
Here is a view of where the pipes enter the house.
Finally, a mound was built up to divert water flow over the winter around the house.
At the same time this took place, I had to take a tree down for the cable guy to install the high speed internet.
While the bulldozer was there, we went ahead and cleared out the rest of the land. The entire property is now cleared.
The next thing was performing the first test of the cooling system. I placed an 11,000 BTU heater behind a fan blowing directly into the air intake. I set both the fan and heater to maximum. I then walked over to the air outlet pipe and felt cool air coming out. This was most exciting!!
Finally, here is a picture of the inside. I got high speed internet installed this last weekend, so now I have connectivity to the outside world. This will be the only utility the house will be connected to. The window is installed behind the water totes in the back left. The sliding door will be installed next spring. Over the winter, I am going to build out the frame for the sliding door and the second window. I am also going to weld the 4"x2"x0.25" beams every four feet down the wall on the right and the wall to the back. This will reinforce the walls when they are buried to keep the dirt from pushing the walls in. The tires that will be placed outside the wall will also help to hold back the dirt. The dirt pushes with 2,300 pounds per square foot of force. The other thing I plan to do over the winter is to install the subflooring. The container on the right is slightly lower, so I will have to shimmy the subflooring slightly.
This was the last time that I will be over to work on the house this year. I have two speaking engagements and my wife and I have three vacations the rest of the year. I will be returning this coming January.
This weekend, we got the telephone pole installed. Since there will be no electric utility hookup, I had to install my own pole, or pay roughly $2,000 to have one installed. Luckily, my neighbor had a pole laying around and brought it down and gave it to me. He also helped me install it by bringing his backhoe down. He dug a 4 foot hole in the ground using an 18 inch scoop.
Next, we picked up the pole and put it over the hole as I guided the pole to the deepest part of the hole.
Once we got it centered in the hole, we started filling the hole up with rocks and tamping them down. We finally filled the rest up with dirt.
This weekend, I started on the earth tube cooling system. I purchased 12 inch culverts. There is 85 feet for the air to travel through and cool down. We dug it 6 feet down.
Here is a pic of starting the dig.
Here is after the first trench was dug and we initially laid the piping in place as a guide for the other side.
This is standing inside the trench.
Here is a pic of the trenches after they were dug out and connected.
Next, I drilled pilot holes in the wall as a guide to cut out the steel for the plasma cutter.
After I cut out the wall, I was able to fit the piping through the hole.
Here is what the pipes now look like as one has air going out and the other has air coming in.
I have sealed around the cuts for now. I still have to connect the U end of it. At current, I covered the end with trash bags so water cannot come in on the one day this week which rain is supposed to move in.
The other thing that was done was to clear the lot. Here is a picture of the back showing what it looks like now. I still need to install the french door and the other window. I have also changed what I plan to do to cover the container look. I was originally going to use stucco, but ran across stone veneer that will give the outside a great look. Another change to the design will be the deck. Now that this is cleared off, the part which we were going to build a deck is not as sloped as I originally thought. Instead, we are going to build a large paver patio. It will be much easier to maintain than a deck. Plus, there is not the fire hazard with an open fireplace we want out there.
