04-24-2019 07:59 AM
The Breakpoint has been quite lately so I will post some updates just for fun.
My better-half and I got started excavating for the door to the basement.
The cinder block wall that was crumbling came down fast.
I then took down the rest of the cinder blocks and excavated around same so that I could get down to the concrete footer.
That is where thing got hard.
A demo-hammer/hammer drill barely scratched the surface and I was faced with days or weeks if I proceeded that way.
So my brother and I decided it was time for a bigger hammer. Off to Harbor Freight (aka cheap tools cheap) and acquired the second biggest jack-hammer they sell. The largest one was 70 lbs and I thought would be hard to handle so I went for the 35 lbs version.
After a one hour test session I accomplished much more than I had after many hours with the hammer-drill.
After a full evening of wielding the beast I have an opening that is about as large we will need and maybe another night of hammering may clear the rest of the concrete and let me return to the digging.
One note on that last video. The large chunk of concrete that can be seen inside the crawl space WAS the footer for the wall to the left of the doorway. It had been undermined by the rain gutter feeding into the crawl space. When I removed three of the cinder block directly under the back beam of the house, the footer fell into the crawl space along with the rest of the block on top of it. I was not in the hole at the time it came down. There is still enough support that house should not be following in the paths of the footer (we hope).
So that is my dirty little update for today.
Take care,
Ben
05-06-2019 08:22 AM
The work done last year to develop those two springs to feed the pond actually worked to keep the fish alive over the winter.
I am looking forward to developing more springs when the opportunity presents itself.
While book-work would tell me the water temp would be above freezing, it is nice to see that it played in end.
Science is so cool.
Ben
07-12-2019 07:52 AM
I spent the fourth of July week digging out the basement so we can install the HVAC and water heater there.
Brutal work jack-hammering out the shale, shoveling it into buckets and then getting them up out of the hole to a cart and then dumping it.
Physics tells us the work we have to do to raise the buckets out of the hole is the most demanding part of the job. So we pulled out the stops and went all technical on it.
So now the "hard part" is done by my better-half who sit on the edge of the gorilla cart and pushes the button to run the Harbor Freight hoist to pull two buckets out of the hole at a time.
We did have to upgrade from a 16 to a 20 foot ladder now that hole is getting deep enough to stand up.
"work smarter, not harder"
Ben
08-05-2019 07:51 AM
My son called yesterday morning saying "I have a quick electrical question for you."
When he got to the point about resetting one breaker and the breaker next to it tripping I decided I had to visit for myself.
When I got to the point where I was measuring 115 VAC on the wire DISCONNECTED from the breaker, I realized this was not going to be quick fix.
Tonight I will be working with him to if we can figure out more.
Recreational house rewiring!
Oh Joy!
Ben
08-08-2019 08:03 AM
@Ben wrote:
My son called yesterday morning saying "I have a quick electrical question for you."
...
Recreational house rewiring!
Oh Joy!
Ben
We found this after a short time trying to figure out what was up with the breaker that would not reset.
That is the outlet that powers the heat tape for the water supply line to the house. Water and electricity do not mix well. So I replaced the bad supply line and decide we will let that dry out before we repair the outlet box.
With that situation under control (for now) I teamed up with my brother for some recreational tree felling and bucking into fire wood.
The tree you see my brother taking down is a "Dead Elm". We had a state forestry agent in to consult on our private forest and every time she saw a other dead elm she would simply say "dead Elm" in a fashion that had my better-half setting the phrase to the tune of the Pink Panther theme song...
Dead-Elm, Dead-Elm, Dead-Elm dead-Elm....
That was tree number five for us yesterday and it was quite a bit of fun even if it was a lot of work.
Take care,
Ben
08-08-2019 09:34 AM
I was thinking that there's no way that little tree wasn't getting hit. Then, I thought "It's Ben and his brother. They're gonna put that tree exactly where they want it." Sayonara, little tree. 😄
08-08-2019 10:01 AM
@jcarmody wrote:
I was thinking that there's no way that little tree wasn't getting hit. Then, I thought "It's Ben and his brother. They're gonna put that tree exactly where they want it." Sayonara, little tree. 😄
It was just a small branch.
I watched that video quite a few times and I think I may be able to offer some feedback to my brother about his technique. If you watch closely he is "rocking" the chainsaw back and forth in the cut. So instead a nice straight cross cut it is rounded inside the cut. In fact, a line drawn perpendicular to the edge of the chainsaw at the time it gave way is exactly the direction it fell.
"Rocking" a saw is OK most of the time but I think that when it comes to felling trees... no sir!
Ben
08-16-2019 08:06 AM
Those springs I developed last year have kept the pond fed nicely this year.
Last night I spotted a dragonfly that seemed to like the pond as much as I do and since this thread is all about what developers do when they are not developing I offer the following.
Ben
08-16-2019 08:52 AM
@Ben wrote:
@jcarmody wrote:
I was thinking that there's no way that little tree wasn't getting hit. Then, I thought "It's Ben and his brother. They're gonna put that tree exactly where they want it." Sayonara, little tree. 😄
It was just a small branch.
I watched that video quite a few times and I think I may be able to offer some feedback to my brother about his technique. If you watch closely he is "rocking" the chainsaw back and forth in the cut. So instead a nice straight cross cut it is rounded inside the cut. In fact, a line drawn perpendicular to the edge of the chainsaw at the time it gave way is exactly the direction it fell.
"Rocking" a saw is OK most of the time but I think that when it comes to felling trees... no sir!
Ben
When the LMB and I were newly wed we had an argument about how to spend a little extra cash. I wanted to remove an overgrown ash tree from the front yard that I felt represented a risk to the house, she wanted new livingroom furniture.
Enter the tornado event! Which, destroyed the tree in question and nearly provided us with "Rustic Ash Furnishings" for the living room PLUS an "Open Air" skylight system.......
I had exactly 4 degrees +/- 30 seconds of arc to drop the damaged 56 year old Green Ash (trunk width 0.65 meters, Height 42 meters)
Rocking a chainsaw is not acceptable! 😄
08-16-2019 11:09 AM
@Ben wrote:Last night I spotted a dragonfly
The PID for the stationary flight control needs a little bit of tuning. Still impressive for a few neurons. 😄