On Wednesday, Jim opened up the toe board heater box to get that started. It looks really nice. This will go underneath the sink base kitchen cabinet. If timing had been different, Jim would have installed the heater before the cabinets; however, getting occupancy was more important.
So Jim had to do a little modification to get the heater in place. First, he figured out where he wanted the heater to be. This cabinet is a bit smaller than the permanent one will be, so Jim had to center it based on the permanent dimensions.
Then he had to cut out that marked section to fit the heater. Once the heater is installed, Jim will put a false bottom over the hole so that I can use this space.
Jim had used up the roll of Pex I picked up the other day, so at lunch he went to Lowe's to get another roll. He also had to stop at State Farm to get some insurance questions answered.
Once he got back to the property, he went back to Pex work. He sweated another Pex adapter on one of the down tubes. He used a piece of leftover Pex to connect the two different baseboard sections in the master bedroom. You can also see the blocking he has to make and install.
Jim's Supply House order came in which included a bleeder valve. The end of each line has to have a bleeder valve to eliminate any air that gets trapped in the top of the system. Jim was smart and planned to have the bleeder valves in the bathroom and laundry room where there is tile flooring just in case of any water issues.
Once he got the bleeder valve installed, he was able to do the first pressure test of the run that includes the bathroom, living room and the eating nook. He pumped this section up to 40 psi. When the system is operational, it will only see 15-20 psi, so 40 psi is a good test. At the end of the day on Wednesday it was maintaining 40 psi but the test was going to be overnight. Since I'm writing this on Friday, I can happily state that the system is still maintaining 40 psi so that is extremely good news!
On Thursday morning, Jim worked on the toe board heater. This will have to be plumbed into the system but unfortunately, it came with 1/2" fittings and Jim only has 3/4". So he ordered those Wednesday night when he got home. However, the heater also has to be wired to plug into the wall receptacle that Jim put underneath the sink. This is before...
He had to open up the case and wire in a cable - this is afterwards...
Then Jim finished the back Pex circuit that connects the two baseboard heater sections in the master bedroom. He had to work over the woodpile for this job which makes it even more challenging.
Next, he started to run the Pex from the second bedroom all the way down the building to reach the manifold. This is before...
At first, Jim was going to make blocking to kind of "jump" over all the trusses. However, once he started that, he wasn't happy with it. So he made and installed this runner down the entire length of the building.
Starting to unroll and run the Pex line. As he does with wiring, he always rolls it out to the end of the line to get an accurate measurement and then works backwards so he doesn't have any waste.
After all that work, he even managed to cut grass at the end of the day!
On Friday, he worked on the Pex again. From the manifold, he had planned to run the Pex through the same opening as the hot/cold water lines, but he wasn't happy with the way it looked inside the bathroom. So he rerouted things and cut new holes at the top of the wall.
You can see how good it looks coming out the top of the bathroom wall and then back to his blocking. What looks like a nice graceful curve though requires a ton of work. This Pex isn't flexible - Jim has to get out his heat gun for every bend and try to soften the Pex enough to shape it. Of course, all of this is working above his head and around everything on the floor.
Then the Pex goes across the side of the building and then runs down the length.
You can see how neat everything looks fastened to the runners. When you walk in the shop, you can barely see all this Pex tubing!
We got a different brand of polyurethane and Jim put another coat on the door sills. It's still a bit shiny so we may look for yet another type!
We continue to bring boxes over and get them organized in the corner of the metal shop. It's a good start!
Whew - Jim accomplished a ton of work while I was gone!
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| High 80/Low 61 - late evening shower |
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