What does a Garden Gnome do when she is not gardening, in the kitchen or doing genealogy? Well the answer might just surprise you so read the entries to find out more. This blog focuses on everything we do to make our house a home. There will be a strong emphasis on home energy efficiency and do-it-yourself (DIY) projects. At the same time there will also be crafts, knitting and crocheting projects along with any other little tips we do to create that down to earth, I want to be here home. Please enjoy your visit :)
One question immediately arises with the final installation of our Jenn-Air® down draft system and that is why use a Broan® EcoVent? In the winter of 2006 we installed our Jenn-Ai® slide in range (more on my range here) with down draft system in our previous house then moved it here in June of 2007. At the same time we installed our front loaders in the old house in February 2007 and also moved them here. All three appliances are high efficiency appliances but what we noticed as a flaw was the venting on both the dryer and the range. Both had regular vent covers. Cold air despite everything we did came back up through the vent! I actually resorted to placing a folded up towel over the down draft grate of the range.
When we moved here we looked for an eco-friendly, energy efficiency dryer vent (more here) and found it in the Broan® EcoVent. This is a Canadian made vent cover designed for Canadian winters. It is larger than regular vents because it is insulated preventing cold transfer. It has a unique floating ball check valve that prevents back draft as well as insects entering and the design also prevents rodents from getting in. It definitely solved our dryer vent problems. I decided I wanted this vent for the Jenn-Air® down draft even though it meant reducing the air flow from 5" to 4". The problem is and there has been complaints over the vent cover meant for the Jenn-Air® down draft ranges which includes both back draft and rodents getting in. We live on water front property so rodents are a huge concern! We also live in Canada so cold back drafts is a major concern in terms of energy efficiency. Reducing the air flow but using an energy efficient vent cover made a lot of sense. First the reduction would actually create a stronger flow of air from the range increasing it's efficiency. Second using this vent cover virtually eliminates the back draft and rodent problems making this vent cover an extremely eco-friendly choice for the down draft system. It meets all of our needs as well as providing energy efficiency!
We moved here in the spring of 2007. I have a down draft Jenn-Air® slide-in range with down draft system (more here). Hooking up the down draft in our previous house was as simple as attaching the down draft to the floor the going through the outside vinyl sided wall. It took minimal effort and about an hours worth of time. Here it was a different story. The house is earth bermed with the lower, main living level mainly below ground. That meant the vent had to go through a cement foundation wall that was about 12" thick and on the only on ground level. So the vent would span from the lowest level exiting on the ground level. This past weekend we decided to hook-up the down draft after securing the necessary equipment to do so. It was a DIY project.
Our first step was work in the walk-in pantry that is below the only room on the ground level which is a large entrance. We marked out the area in the pantry where the vent would be going through then carefully dug around to make sure there were no wires (1). Next we used a 4" cement drill bit (2) and marked on the outside (3) where we would be drilling. We decided drilling from the outside in would be a lot less mess indoors and it would keep the noise for the most part out of the house.
The drill bit was attached (4) to the heavy duty drill then we started drilling. I'm telling you drilling through cement is very loud, dusty work and slow going work. You definitely need ear plugs and don't push the drill. Let the drill do the work for you without forcing it.
The drill went through the cement foundation wall (5) in about 4 inch segments. This actually took a lot more time than expected as you just can't rush the drill. Once the drill hit that mark my husband wacked out the plug (7) with a hammer and huge screwdriver. We ended up with 3 full sections of plugs plus a small one. They looked like the big beads the Flinstones might have worn! Then he drilled further until he finally broke through (6). Breaking through really meant we were able to free the hole of any debris and not actually drilling completely through. Had we drilled completely through we would have had quite the mess in the pantry! At the end of Thursday night we were left with a nice hole in our foundation that spanned from the outside into the pantry. We stuffed the hole with an old towel and called it a night. My husband was sore and achy from running the drill and it was getting hot an humid out so we figured on finishing the hook-up over the weekend.
We had all the materials ready for the hook-up that included rigid ducting, flexible ducting, elbows, a reducer, eco-friendly vent cover and metal duct tape (9). The first step was to install the eco-friendly vent cover on the exteriour (10) in the duct lined hole (11). This is a special Canadian made vent cover that is heavily insulated and saves energy (more here). I should mention when doing this type of DIY project go as energy efficient and eco-friendly as possible even if it costs a bit more. The vent cover is not only heavily insulated but during insulation a heavy application of caulking is applied assuring no air leaks later. The insulation and automatic valve closure via a specialized floating ball means there will be no transfer of cold air into the interiour of the house during the cold weather. The automatic valve also ensures that rodents and insects even if they somehow got through the vent grate system would not be able to get into the vent pipe itself.
The down draft system of a Jenn-Air® is an extremely powerful venting system. The main blower that moves the air to the outdoors is attached to the floor (12) which means moving these types of stoves is not quite all that easy. The back of the down draft (13) is the main area of interest. A short flexible metal hose runs from the air intake to the down draft exhaust (not shown but basically in line with the plug in 12). A rigid duct pipe runs from the outside vent (14) to the down draft exhaust (15). Each bend is carefully sealed with metal duct tape to keep the velocity in the duct.
The actual opening of the Jenn-Air® down draft (13) is 5" but we used an adaptor to reduce that to 4" for two reasons. First we wanted to us the high efficiency vent cover by Braun which in our climate saves a lot of money and second by reducing the duct size we increased the velocity of air being expelled so increased the efficiency. Unlike a dryer vent there is no concern over lint build-up either so the ducting should stay relatively clean.
Once everything was hooked up we gave the down draft a test run. Oh my, it was wonderful! Surprisingly it was a lot quieter than the last installation and in fact is barely noticeable when turned on. The stove is now 100% fully functional. I am a very happy camper!
We have had on and off plumbing problems since buying this house. We actually are dealing with two drainage systems possibly three, faulty design for both and roots. The first system is the municipal sewage system. The two bathrooms and laundry room drain into the municipal sewage system. Shortly after moving in we discovered a problem with this system which we thought was fixed until another problem appeared the following spring that involved using a porta-john and digging up the neighbours' yard. That ended up being a rooting problem so once the roots were removed that system has been working fine. During the second repair we installed additional drain clean-outs for that system and the system that drains into the natural water body. Ground water, rain water and the kitchen grey water drains into this natural drain system. This means we have to be careful to use a no or low phosphate dish and dishwasher detergent as well as scrap plates before washing either by hand or in the dishwasher. Before you ask, yes this is a perfectly legal, acceptable and common drainage system here. Now we know there is a septic system that we suspect may still be in use for rain water drainage but we haven't found it yet.
Just outside of the kitchen patio doors there is a pit, brown circular object at beginning of the arrow. Water from the kitchen, rain water and two drains from the patio (one pictured end of arrow) (1) drain into this and from there travel down another solid pipe to the natural water way. We suspected a blockage of this solid pipe that forced water up and back into the house. The only solution was digging up the patio.
We discovered a corrugated drainage pipe that was obviously bowed (2) and (3) so now things got interesting. When the solid pipe was snaked, the snake went through the 'Y' joint instead and snaked the corrugated pipe instead of the smooth pipe. We do not know and the plumber can't figure out why the corrugated pipe is there in the first place unless it was a shoddy repair. At the same time we found the solid pipe (4) that had obviously been patched at some point. The end solution is we are tying all of the drainage pipes together in one solid fashion so nothing can get inside the pipes. The pit is going to be replaced with a clean-out. What we will end up with is a solid plumbing system into the natural system with 3 clean-outs covering all bases.
Pictured is the machine our plumber uses to snake the drains. A large coiled, flexible metal rod attaches to the front. It is then fed into the drain and the machine is turned on forcibly clearing any blockage. Additional rods are added as required. When the blockage is cleared is shows as a thick, black and very smelly sludge. In a normal system you would not see this as it would go directly into the sewage system. In our case we could both see and smell it!
Once we got the blockage cleared we discovered another problem. The pipe end in the pit (1) was more than half blocked with cement reducing the diameter considerably which reduces the flow of water from the pit. This creates a greater chance of water backing up into the house. Then when the blockage was cleared it was obvious the patch in the solid pipe wasn't sealed. So we are replacing the solid pipe from the pit that will no longer be a pit to the connection of the first patio drain.
The majority of the work happened Tuesday afternoon. The good news is there is no flooding in the house. It has drained and dried up. The trench my husband dug has also mostly dried. As you can see from the bottom picture the water coming out of the drainage pipe has cleared considerably. The bad news is the plumber wants to leave the open trench as is for at least one week before hooking things up properly. That means we are left with a nice trench, piles of bricks and a pile of dirt for the next week.
Heating costs continue to rise and while energy conservation through lowering the thermostat combined with insulating and sealing your home helps keeps those costs down there are other ways to help reduce your heating costs. A logical place to look for a free heat source is the sun. Many of us already take advantage of solar energy during the winter months by opening window coverings on sunny days to help warm rooms and closing them on cloudy days and at night to keep the heat in the room. Using a few recycled items we can take advantage of those sunny windows to boost that heat output by using simple homemade solar heaters. Over the next month or so, I will be making a few posts on homemade solar heaters.
These solar heaters are not meant to be your sole source of heat. They are meant to supplement your existing heat. The more you use the more savings you will see on your heating costs. Keep in mind that if you live in an area that has a fair number of grey days with little sunshine, the solar heaters will not produce any heat. They also will not produce any heat in north facing windows.
I found the following video that shows how to make a rudimentary solar heater using recycled pop bottles and beer cans. Aesthetically this solar heater might appeal to you but it is a very inexpensive way to get a good idea of the possibilities of using a solar heater. Surprisingly this solar heater will work quite nicely in a sunny window. It would be a good project for parents or teachers to introduce solar energy to children.
This homemade solar heater follows the basic principles of all solar heaters. There is an air flow that goes through the collector (tin can) that is heated then released. The glazing (pop bottle) intensifies the heating effect. The air flow moves from the bottom of the bottle (cool air) to the top of the bottle (hot air) due to physics. Hot air is not as dense as cool air so it rises. This simple solar heater takes advantage of this principle.
Despite its looks this heater will work and can be modified to fit the size of your window. The best part is you are using mainly recycled materials so the cost is minimal. The kind of pop bottle really doesn't matter as long as it is a clear 2L size. Beer cans are taken back to the Beer Store for a cash deposit back so I would recommend using pop cans and adjusting the size of each solar unit to fit the can. The tape will make a somewhat adequate seal. What I would suggest is to run a bead of clear silicon seal around the bottom portion of the unit before pushing it into the upper portion then running a smooth bead of silicone on the resulting outside seam. Also hand painting is rather tedious. A spray bomb of flat black paint will have the cans quickly coated in a lot less time than brushing on the paint. When it comes to mounting this particular solar heater you will want it a few inches from the window sill simply for air flow but I don't think hanging the heater is the best way to go. Eventually the glue will give way causing the individual units to fall as well. What I would advise is using wood dowels. Attaching two dowels within the window frame on which each solar unit could sit then another dowel spanning from distance between the window frame would create the perfect spot to simply set as many units as would fit across the span of the window. The air flow would not be restricted either. So this simple design has a lot of potential. It would be an ideal way to add a bit of free heat to basement windows!
Scrapbooking and family history just go hand in hand. Back in 2005 I started experimenting with digital scrapbooking as a way to extend my scrapbooking experience as well as document our life through both pictures and journaling. A contributing factor was not being able to find the right sticker or background mixed with wanting something unique. If you have been following this blog you will know that I love Photoshop® as my main graphic editing software but the following 2 page layout was created with Microsoft Word® for Mac. The layout is a combination of digital and paper scrapbooking using elements of each. It is part of 6 pages highlighting our culinary favourites from 2005.
The first thing I did was determine the main colour theme as being an almost sky blue. What doesn't show well in either picture is the actual background. On this two page layout the background and title is printed on brilliant white cardstock. The background for this two page layout is multiple lines of canning in a light sky blue. I used the same colour to make the title a script font and highlighted that to use Word Art. Once I had the desired effect, I printed out two sheets, one with the title and one without.
Next I selected the photos I wanted to use and size then printed off all of my pictures on matte photo paper using iPhoto. At thirteen pictures I knew the layout would be rather graphic intensive so kept the images small. Once I had the two sheets of pictures printed I had to cut them out using my Fiskars® large flatbed rotary cutter. This really is a must have for anyone doing paper scrapbooking! Next I used scalloped decorative scissors to round the edges of the photos for the first page. I really like the look of rounded corners and I know there are punches for that but part of scrapbooking is using what you have on hand sometimes.
Journalling is very important in scrapbooking because it ads that personal touch. I wrote the recipe in a dark blue font in Word and printed it off on plain medium blue card stock. Then I cut it into a rectangle and positioned it using 2 sided tape on an angle to give movement to the page. Using movement is a big part of scrapbooking but basically it just means adding interest. With the journalling in place I snipped off the over hanging portions with the rotary cutter. The pictures were then positioned around the journalling and secured with 2 sided tape.
The pictures on this page were left with sharp corners. The journalling used the same font and font colour to write a bit more personal touch to canning then printed on white card stock. I used a fancy corner punch to make a design in the upper corner the used a piece of scrap paper to form a stencil to colour in a mirror image of the punch in the lower corner with a gel pen. To give the journalling a bit more of an impact and tie it in with page 1 I used the same blue card stock cut into a square then used it as a partial matting.
Next I arranged the pictures then secured them to the page using 2 sided tape. Next I wanted something a little extra so chose a couple of stickers from my vast supply of stickers. These were stickers from Creative Memories®. Now, I do have a love/hate relationship with stickers. First you are really restricted to available stickers and second you can never just find the right sticker. At the same time, you end up with a lot of stickers you will never use. But there's a work-around by using a Xyron Create a Sticker gadgets of which I have the smaller X and the larger 500. Just about anything can be turned into a sticker using either.
Microsoft Word® also has a feature where you can import photos. You can resize and position alignment them as well as some basic photo adjustments. Simply import your image into the Word document then go to Edit > Edit Picture. I was surprised at some of the effects so this is a nice feature of Word without having to invest a lot of dollars.
Scrapbooking remains to be a mixture of both paper and digital imaging for me although I am moving ever more to strictly digital. Digital scrapbooking expands your creativity. Basically any image can be used, adjusted or tweaked so you really are limited only by your imagination. You can add shadows for depth, rotate images for movement and the best part everything is done on the computer without any wastage. When you are finally finished you can print out the end result on brilliant white card stock. So a scrapbooking layout that would have taken several sheets of paper, cutting, trimming, stickers and other embellishments is now reduced to one sheet produced on the computer. In scrapbooking terms you are saving a lot of money! With experience you can get some very beautiful and very realistic results. At the same time digital keep your layouts flat so you don't have to worry about other layouts being damaged by raised elements on another. However, you will be missing some of the texture and textile feel of fully paper scrapped layouts. Combining the two techniques gives you the best of both worlds!
Pictured is my first attempt at the Old World Map tutorial from psd tuts+. This would be a cute digital scrapbooking image that can be used as an element or background or even a frame. This tutorial uses several techniques to create a fictional old world map. It was a rather easy tutorial to follow but there were a few important details left out of a couple of the steps that would make it difficult for a beginner to complete. Once I had worked through the tutorial I decided to tweak just a little. There were several layers to creating the image which is something I really like. What is nice about layers is you can easily go back and change one element of your image if you save it as a .psd file. The image is created by adding additional layers each with a technique. For example in this tutorial the landmass was created as a layer then a background layer was added and dragged below the landmass. Each time something new was added I used a new layer. To get the final ridging effect all the layers were merged then a texture filter was used. I added a page curl using AV Bros. Page Curl Pro 2.2. This is an additional filter I purchased for Photoshop® that makes customizable bends and curls on the image. That left a transparent background so I added another layer filled with white so the image would blend properly on this blog.
I like the resulting image but have a few ideas how to make it better and that's what tutorials really are all about. I'm not really happy with how the stripes turned out so would use the gradient tool instead. I definitely would keep the compass on a separate layer, turn off that layer, merge the other layers then add the texture and turn the compass layer back on. I think the map would look a bit more authentic with perhaps a burnt or ragged edging as well. There are a few suggestions in the comment section of the tutorial so I will be playing a bit more and post what I come up with!
The Feather and Fan stitch is formed by increasing using the basic yarn forward (yfwd) and the decrease is made by knitting two stitches together (k2tog). The other stitch used is the purl stitch. The result is a lacy pattern. There are many variations to the Feather and Fan stitch based onmultiples of 18 plus 2 which forms a single stitch edging on row 3. An edging can be added by changing the 2 stitches to desired number (eg. 8) and knitting the first and last 8 or desired number stitches of the purl row. If adding a wider border knit 8 rows at the beginning and end of the afghan. The afghan I made does not have a border or either end.
Feather and Fan Stitch
Cast on any amount (divisible by 18) plus any amount for border. I used 200 stitches, tension 14½ st and 16 rows to 4 in. (10 cm) measured over pattern. Border stitches are knit on both sides all rows.
Row 1: Knit to end of row Row 2: Purl to end of row Row 3: K1, *[K2tog] 3 times, [yfwd, K1] 6 times, [K2tog] 3 times, K1, repeat from * to last stitch, K1 Row 4: Knit to end of row
Repeat these 4 rows for pattern until piece measures approximately 56 in (142 cm) from beginning or until desired length ending with Row 4. Cast off.
"Home is the wallpaper above the bed, the family dinner table, the church bells in the morning, the bruised shins of the playground, the small fears that come with dusk, the streets and squares and monuments and shops that constitute one's first universe." -- Henry Anatole Grunwald
I am a wife, mother and grandma who enjoys the many aspects of homemaking. A variety of interests and hobbies combined with travel keep me active. They reflect the importance of family, friends, home and good food.
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