I posted a few more pics to fourhorsehaven's album... Jess and I did a bit of work today, getting the machine shed ready for stonedust (which is supposed to be delivered today!). I'll post more later :)
**LATER**
My stonedust hasn't arrived yet... I'm supposed to be getting 8 cubic yards of it (which is 12 tons!) It was CHEAP! $189 for the load, delivered, tax in... bottom line! Its supposed to arrive some time today before 6pm. I'll take a pic of it when it arrives, but on the phone they told me its about 120 wheelbarrow fulls, depending on the size of the wheelbarrow and how full you make 'em. Yikes... that sounds daunting to me!!
It's been a weird week... and yes, I'm aware its only Tuesday afternoon! Yesterday, the guy that's coming to address moving my water softener backwash out of the septic system didn't get here. I was in touch throughout the day with the office and found out that their first call of the day was to fix someone's septic and they found some cylinder part (??) was PLUGGED SOLID with poop.
The woman I spoke to during the day went into great detail about the thingy plugged with poop, it was rather entertaining. I guess they waited too long to have their tank pumped and this cylinder part is maybe supposed to stop anything backflowing from the tank into the house... well, when it got plugged then apparently poop was coming out their toilets, their sink drains.... all over... you get the idea!! Lesson of the day: Pump your septic BEFORE its full!!
By late afternoon, they had both their teams working on this problem plus they had called in another company to help them... so me and 8 other people got their appointments bumped. I told the woman at the office that my problem is not a big deal and is certainly not an emergency, so maybe we could reschedule for next week. We both figured that one more week of the softener backwashing would not really hurt anything :) And compared to the solid poop plug... well that certainly takes priority!!
Then today, I took my car up the road to the mechanic to have the timing belt and water pump done. All was good, until he called me to say that the dealer had delivered the wrong water pump and wouldn't be able to get back here until late today or early tomorrow with the replacement. So now my car will go back tomorrow and hopefully get done. The guy DID give me a price quote and its about half of the price quote I got from my old mechanic in Kitchener... whether he added in all the parts and labour, I don't know... I'll find out tomorrow.
I did get Jess's linens all washed this morning... her sheets, her new duvets and the duvet cover.
Jess and I also went outside and did a bit of work... I cut some grass... she cleaned out the machine shed... some was garbage, some of the stuff is boards that are still in good shape and we'll likely use for something. I think its mostly ready now for the stonedust!
While we were out there, we started ripping off some of the red siding off the machine shed... it was kinda gross, there were bug eggs between the boards and siding... I didn't clean them off yet, I'll deal with them another day! We got the front face mostly done except for the parts where there are things attached to the building, like the hydro insulators and fuse box. It looks dramatically nicer now. Can't wait to work on the one next to it too! :)
It wasn't too hard to remove... I love my crowbar :) There are lots of nail heads that will need to be either removed or pounded down though before I can paint or whatever I'm going to do to the outside of the building.
Jess and I worked hard enough and we got hot and *gasp* sweaty & dirty!! so we stopped... came in and showered and are now enjoying the breeze flowing through the mudroom and awaiting my stonedust :)
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2 comments:
The stuff on the outside of the building is insulbrick. It does look just like roofing shingles, and some of the sheeting was made to look like brick.
It is ugly.
Is stonedust something that pack down hard eventually????
Oh, you have so made me book an appointment with the septic pump guy(Pepi le Pew) Really!
The septic guy also said not to use antibacterial soap for laundry or dishes as is kill the good bacteria in the septic. Makes sense, just never thought of it!
Let me know how the stone dust shovelling goes.
Hmmmmmm wooden floors, yes, covering with mats will help, but you'll have to make sure you can lift those so it can dry out and air out.
It's so nice to watch something come together, and actually see the fruits of your labours!
Chat later,
Jayne
I had never heard of insulbrick, but after you mentioned it I did some research and found that typically when its used its glued down with some adhesive (that also had a name that I now cant remember). I found much info of ppl bitching around how hard it is to remove.
Again, we got lucky, here its just nailed up, so you can just pull it down or at worst, pull out the nails and down it comes. I guess if adhesive was used, there wouldn't be all the yucky bugs and eggs under it!!
Stonedust is awesome stuff... it easily packs down to become almost like concrete. Last night, we did about half of the machine shed and I tamped it with a rake and then walked all over it, its already quite solid... but if you want it hard like cement (say for a base to build a tool shed on like we did at my parents house) then you should water it and rent a tamper.
Stonedust is a popular base for horse stalls also, it does drain the liquid, but is firm... lots of people use rubber mats over stonedust to add cushion. The big drawback is that once a year or so, its good to pull up the mats and add a bit more stonedust to the areas that are compressed or uneven due to digging, weaving or stall walking.
Sorry to scare you into booking a septic pumping, but that woman's description scared ME into almost having another one! haha
And that's true about the antibacterial soap... although that's less of a problem than actual caustic materials people put down, like drain and toilet cleaner. Though I personally will stay clear of the antibacterial soap during future purchases, just in case!!
Apparently small amounts of bleach are not as big a deal as some of the other stuff, as it breaks down to be harmless faster than the harsher chemicals.
Oh the things I've learned about septic systems lately!! Grease is BAD BAD BAD for the bacteria... water softener backwash, not good for it either. Those boxes of "stuff" that supposedly are good for septic systems like sept o bac, are not that good, as they can throw off the balance of bacteria.
As my septic guy so eloquently put it "If you didn't eat it or it didn't come off the toilet paper roll, it doesn't belong in there."
Good point about the wooden floors needing to air and dry out! They would not be my floors of choice and I still have to poke around and see if they are actually safe all the way through. But Im a fraidy cat! :)
It is nice to see some progress... and I must say things are looking nicer each time we do work, so that's rewarding. But its also easy to be impatient... when you're me :)
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