June 11 – 24
Hi every one! Hope every one’s summer is going great. Mine is generally going well albeit with seemingly little progress on the various projects.
A word of warning. This is a rather lengthy post. On the bright side, your reading efforts will be rewarded with both laughs (albeit at my expense) and some pics.
Hurricane Bud which ran up the west coast of Mexico was forecast to take the same path as a couple of other hurricanes that hit a few years back that caused major flooding and damage to roads in the area. Precipitation from Bud was forecast to hit our area the afternoon of June 15 and last through June 17. With that in mind, I spent the afternoon of Thursday June 14 cleaning and organizing the electronics shed. Yep. I prioritized cleaning and organizing over other project work. You might say that cleaning and organizing the shed was a monumental project in and of itself. The shed had gotten to be such a mess that I couldn’t find anything in it and there was barely a path to walk from the door to the back wall for access to the control panels and breakers. I moved nearly everything not nailed down out of the shed, setup a shelving unit I bought from Walmart in Douglas the night before, then put every thing back in the shed in an orderly manner. Wow! I can actually find stuff now and I have room to put the table saw in the shed. The morning of June 15 I moved some dirt around with the tractor to create a berm on the west side of the build site near the fence line to minimize any rain runoff from coming directly through that area. I also took care of a few other house keeping matters in preparation for a weekend of rain. The rain hit Friday within an hour of me calling my prep work “good enough (I hope!!)”. It was the first rain we have had here since February. Nothing too exciting. I spent the evening first cleaning the trailer a bit then relaxing and watching some movies.
Saturday morning, the rain had paused and I thought it was a good time to take the trash and recycling to the weekly trash and recycling pickup location. While collecting trash and recycling stored in the electronics shed, I spotted evidence of water leak in shed roof. I followed signs where the water ran and found that it had pooled on top of one of the batteries. YIKES! That is a fire waiting to happen! I carefully mopped up the pooled water. I then climbed up on the shed roof to assess condition of “temporary” tarp that has been there since January. There were no obvious holes but obvious signs of weathering/deterioration of the tarp from the sun so I’m guessing there were many small holes that the water was penetrating through. We still had rain forecast throughout the day, so I needed to take corrective action ASAP before the next round of rain hit. Hmmm… Think. What are my options? Just needs to last for the day as next few days are forecast to be clear and I have all the material I need to put on a long term roof with turbine vent for cooling (roofing material was delivered Friday). Tape down garbage bags? That is certainly not ideal. Have a couple pieces of heavy duty pond liner but one is too small to completely cover right to left across the slope so no go there. Hey, what about the metal roofing I bought from Boyd months ago to use on the shed for long term but decided against it due to perceived challenges with flashing around the vent. Yea, can make that work for a day. I laid three 2×4’s across the slope to support the various metal roofing scraps. I then laid the various pieces of metal roofing across the support 2×4’s. Now, how do I want to secure them? As this is only temporary, I don’t want to nail/screw them down. Think. What do I have available to me? I have 2x4x12, rope, and ratchet tie downs. Solution determined. Lay three 2x4x12’s across the top of the metal roofing pieces and tie them down to exposed pallet slats near the bottom of the shed. Crap! Here comes the wind. I’ve got to get these tied down quickly. I would say I got them secured just in time, but I was finishing securing the last 2×4 in the wind and rain. None the less, I got them secured before the wind caught and sent them sailing through the air.
So much for a trash run. Next weekend.
We got a fair bit more wind and rain Saturday afternoon and night than what we had gotten Friday afternoon and night. A check of the interior of the shed Sunday showed that everything was perfectly dry. Whew!
Thankfully Sunday was sunny and there was no additional rain in the forecast for days. With that in mind, I removed the metal and 2×4’s I had put on the day prior and proceeded to remove the tarp so I could put on the rolled roofing. Sadly, the decking was wet and needed a day or so to dry out. Hmmm… what to do with my time now? I sat in my lawn chairs, enjoyed the unseasonably cool temperatures, looked at the shed, and let thoughts flow through my mind. You know… It would probably keep the inside of the shed much cooler if I were to insulate the roof. I can envision securing foam board insulation to the roof. I could then apply the rolled roofing over top of that. Seems like a sound and worth while idea. I don’t want to incur any unnecessary delays in getting the roof on though. I have a project completion deadline of June 28 because monsoon season starts around July 1 and I really don’t want to cut it that close. It is only 3:30, Lowes is only 90 minutes away and they are open until 8PM. I decided to make a hastily conceived road trip. I tried to work through in my mind how everything would go together and updated my shopping list accordingly and off I went.
Lowe’s didn’t have the additional asphalt primer I decided I wanted to ensure I had enough for the project but they did have foam board insulation that would work and liquid nail I would use to secure it to the decking. As I was walking from the store to the truck it occurred to me that I had forgotten the rope I had intended to bring with me to wrap around the foam board to keep it all together for the drive home. That was over and above the tie down ratchet straps I had with me to secure the load once loaded. That need for the rope became very apparent as I was preparing to load the board from the cart to the truck. As I removed the top sheet from the stack and was doing my best to control it, the breeze started to pick up the next sheet in the stack. I quickly put the one I had in my hands down to try to hold the stack of sheets down. Unfortunately I was positioned down wind from the sheets so I had very little control as the wind decided I wasn’t unloading the cart fast enough and it started to help unload the sheets of foam board from the cart for me. I have no recollection of the volume and extent of the profanity and altogether obscene language that came out of my mouth as I gave up holding down the stack and just started to load what boards I could get my hands on while the next two in the stack started to explore the parking lot with the aid of the wind. Thankfully, two shoppers who must have heard me came to my aid (one at a full run). With their help, we corralled the wayward sheets of foam board and got them all safely (albeit slightly damaged) loaded into the truck where I securely strapped them down for the ride home. A quick trip to Home Depot for the asphalt primer, then a break for a Father’s day dinner in Sierra Vista. A stop at Walmart to pick up a rolling pin to use to roll down the roofing material as none of the hardware stores had a purpose made roller for that job in stock. Before finally heading home a quick stop at the gas station to top off as is always the ritual when I am in town (when I have my wallet with me).
It was windy Monday and Tuesday and after my experience in the Lowes parking lot, I had no intention of dealing with that foam board in the wind. Tuesday I walked around two lengths of fence line that had the 6th strand of barbed wire added half way between the previous bottom strand and the ground to deter Sasha from walking under the fencing to explore beyond the fence line. I moved large rocks into the low sections of the fence line where she could still easily crawl under. Luckily it was the last rock I needed to move when my dumb ass once again crossed my legs while walking in my work boots and managed to once again hook the two boots together while in motion moving a 40-50 lb rock. That could have gone wrong in so many ways but thankfully an off balanced hop ramming my thigh and the rock together also managed to unhook the boots from each other allowing me to regain my balance. Whew! That was close! I must really do something differently with these boots.
Before calling it quits outside for the day, I also noted that the foam boards were sagging as one end of the stack was being supported by the tailgate that was up. I decided to put the tailgate down so they could lay flat. After that, I relaxed and used the time to try to get caught up on some of the youtube channels I subscribe to.
Wednesday, I was on a call doing some training with a colleague when I heard some strange and unnatural noises coming from outside. Any guesses? I looked up and saw sheets of foam board flying by the window and bouncing along the ground. I immediately excused myself from the call followed by yet another string of profanity as I searched for my shoes. Thankfully it was not a steady stream of wind but just a brief albeit very inconvenient wind gust that unloaded every sheet of foam board from the bed of the truck. I retrieved the sheets of foam board and securely strapped them into the back of the truck laying flat. My mistake had been dropping the tailgate and not reorienting and securing the tie down strap. Instead I had previously left it laying lose over the top of the foam board. Then back to work I went. After work, I picked a couple of minimally damaged boards and glued them to the roof decking with liquid nail. While I did not get the panels lined up exactly on the decking like I wanted, they were now glued down and they were good enough. Thankfully that was over all a relatively uneventful task as the wind decided to take a day off and not surprise me any more than it had earlier in the day.
I took a vacation day Friday and it was the day to put the rolled roofing on. Or not. The more I looked at the roof, the more I wanted to install fascia boards. I had originally planned on metal roofing and thought I could get by without the fascia boards but the more I looked at it and thought about it, I thought omitting them was a bad idea. So, I spend some time Friday morning pondering how I wanted to add fascia boards given the decking and foam board was flush with the roof rafters on the up and down slope sides of the shed. I also didn’t want to make a special trip to town again this week for fascia boards, so the plan was to use 2×4’s which I had readily available. I could cut the rafters back to make room for the 2×4 fascia boards under the decking but that would not give much room for adding foam board and siding to the walls (I bought foam board for the walls as well). I could simply add the fascia boards to the end of the rafters and somehow extend the decking/insulation that couple of inches on both ends of the shed. In the end, that is what I decided to do.
Before I got to work on that though, Francisco came over to help me put the cap back on the truck and work a bit on the fence. As I was walking into position to help pick up the truck cap, I stepped carelessly on uneven ground and rolled my ankle. I went down in a flash. There was no “slow motion” fall there, more like: BAM! I’m suddenly laying on the ground. No time to react, try to catch myself, or otherwise control the direction of my fall. Francisco asked in Spanish if I was okay, and I responded in Spanish that I didn’t know. I slowly accessed locations of pain – ankle (shocking I know) and same knee. I slowly got to my feet and tested my ankle. It held with only discomfort, no severe pain. My arm felt a bit strange so I took a look at it.
It seems that I fell into a cactus on my way down. Given the spines weren’t causing me any discomfort to speak of and Francisco was there to help me put the cap on the truck, after I walked a few seconds to confirm proper operation of my ankle and knee, we muscled the cap up onto the bed of the truck.
I took my shirt off to get the spines off me. That mostly worked…
After securing the truck cap to the truck bed, putting myself back together, and changing into my work boots for extra ankle support, I spent the day installing the fascia boards, and extending the insulation and decking. By the way, I finally got smart with my work boots. I wore tall socks and put my pant legs on the outside of the boots covering the lace hooks. Anyway, back to the shed. I had a scrap strip of ply wood matching the thickness of the decking so on the front of the shed I just attached that to the top of the fascia then cut a couple strips of foam board to glue to it. It worked out okay. I figured that was all okay as it is not a load bearing part of the structure. I took a slightly different approach in the back. I had spray foam for doors and windows that I never used for some long forgotten project. I used that to fill the gap I had between the two sheets of insulation (I did mention that I did not get them exactly where I wanted them, right?). I set a tape covered 2×4 over that seam so prevent the foam from over expanding above the level of the foam board. I then nailed up taped covered section of ply wood to the outside face of the fascia board with the top edge slightly higher than the level of the foam board. I then filled the resulting gap with what was left of the spray foam. I ran out so I didn’t quite get as much in the gap as I had planned but hoped it would expand sufficiently to fill the gap completely. I also laid a tape covered 2×4 over this gap to prevent the foam from expanding above the level of the foam board. The temp got to 105 and I was a bit lame from the fall, but I worked at a slow and steady pace the rest of the day drinking ample water and got a fair bit done. Surprisingly, the heat really didn’t bother me. I did notice that the temperature in the shed was noticeably cooler than it has been in the past on days around this temperature.
Big plans Saturday. Finish that roof! Battled 10-15 MPH winds most of the day while putting on roof.
Started by removing the form for the spray foam to see how it did. It didn’t expand and fill in the gap along the back edge as I had hoped, but I think (hope) it will be good enough. The board that was laid on the seam between the foam boards was not exactly flat so the foam expanded above the foam boar to some extent in many locations. At this point, I don’t care, I have to soldier on. The seam runs up and down slope so there is no real harm in having a high spot along that seam (it won’t cause water to pool). Next came the asphalt primer. I am SOOO glad I was wearing gloves, dust mask, eye protection, and long sleeves. I could only find the primer in spray cans. With the wind, even positioning myself upwind and with using a board as a wind block, probably only 80% of the spray was going where I wanted it. When I was done, the mask and safety glasses were specked black as were my shirt and wrists where the I had failed to make sure the gloves and shirt sleeves securely overlapped while I worked.
I started with priming a foot or so of the down slope edge. I let the primer dry then I used peel and stick door/window flashing to cover the downslope spray foam and folded it over onto the fascia board. Being my first time doing something like this, that effort did not go well at all. Note, if you let the sticky side touch itself – game over, you are not getting it apart. Forget it. After cursing a fair amount, I told myself: We still need to cover it with rolled roofing and we will be installing a gutter so no one will see, so get over it and move on. I then cleaned the rest of the foam board with a damp cloth and primed it when it was once again dry. I paused a few minutes to let the primer dry, then I covered the seam between the two sheets of foam board with the door/window peel and stick flashing. I had learned a few things from my previous attempt so this went marginally better. I was working from top of the roof down to the bottom. The wind was not helping as it was blowing the disposable peeling material pretty much unpeeling the roll of material on it’s own. While I was working to press down the flashing I had just unpeeled, the flashing wanted to roll down and apply itself whether I was ready and in the necessary position on the roof or not. Needless to say, there was a fair bit more cursing and a few undesired wrinkles in that application of the flashing as well.
Next came the first course of peel and stick rubber roofing material. Yep, you guessed it. Continued wind and substantially more cursing. I got about half way across the shed roof and took a grown up timeout. I stopped working, and simply sat on the shed roof for a few minutes calming and clearing my mind. With a calm a clear mind, I finished that course of the roofing. The wrinkles in the roofing material where there. Nothing I was going to do about it. Make the best of it and move onto the next course of material which should be easier as there was not a long flap of material to overlap over the down slope of the roof onto the fascia board for the wind to blow and make it stick to itself.
And it was easier and went well. Until…. I got to the end and realized I had cut it about 5 inches shorter than I should have. I had just enough to make it over the edge of the roof but not enough to extend down onto the fascia board as I had desired. More cursing. Stop and think. Okay. Apply a strip of window and door flashing along the fascia which will give the roofing material something more solid to stick too as opposed to only foam board. Done and good enough. Moving on. Next course. I made sure that I cut it long enough. By this time, I pretty much have my application methodology figured out for this stuff.
After the third course of rolled roofing material, it was time to pause and install the 12 inch turbine roof vent. Generally speaking, that went as planned. Identify where in the roof I want it to go. Mark the center from inside the shed and drill a hole there. Stick a long screw up threw the hole so it is easy to find from on top of the roof and I can use that screw as the center of a compass to draw a circle. I’ve used string and pencil as a compass before but that usually doesn’t come out as nice as I like. Think… What alternatives are there. Look around. What is available to me. Ahh.. got it. I spot a rectangular piece of ridged card board. Perfect. Put two holes twelve inches apart and I am golden. One hole for the screw through the roof and one hole for the pencil. Done. Ready to go. Climb up on the roof. Put the cardboard compass on the screw and…. WAIT… OMG.. You dumb ass… That would have been an epic mistake. Anyone figure it out yet?? Geometry lesson. Objective: 12 inch diameter hole Method: use a compass to mark the hole so I know where to cut. When using a compass to mark a circle, you set the compass for the radius which is half the diameter. I had set the compass up for 12 inches which would mark a 24 inch hole, not a 12 inch hole. Of course I didn’t have my tape measure with me on the roof so back down to the ground to punch a new hole in the cardboard at 6 inches to create the desired 12 inch circle. Back to the roof, mark a nice circle, drill a hole with a spade bit so I get my jig saw in there to cut out the marked circle. Cut the circle. Silicone the hell out of the bottom of the vent base. Nail the vent base into place putting a dab of silicone under each nail head before I drive it down into place. Add the vent riser adjusting it so it was level then secure it into place with the screws that came with it.
Get my protective gear all back on and spray more asphalt primer onto the base so it is ready to receive the final course of rolled roofing material.
At this point, it was getting late in the afternoon. I knew I had enough time to push through and complete the project before dark, however, I decided that was not a good idea. Having to unroll around the vent is not going to be easy. I needed a well rested mind and spirit before I tackle that.
Got cleaned up, was tired and hungry. I had no leftovers to eat so I decided to go out to eat to the Portal Cafe. Christina, Dennis, and Gary were also performing at the Valley Lodge so stopped there for an hour and a half to enjoy their musical performance.
It was 105 again Saturday but with the wind and low humidity, the heat didn’t bother me directly. Indirectly, although I took numerous breaks and drank water at each break, I had failed to drink sufficient water through the course of the day. I did not get dehydrated to the point of feeling heat exhaustion or anything of the like but my kidneys let me know that I screwed up. Nothing a gallon of water and a bit of time couldn’t correct.
Besides enjoying the night out to unwind a bit in a social environment, I’m also glad I took the time to write my journal entry this morning because a methodology for laying that last course of rolled roofing material came to mind. I think I have thought it through enough that it will go smoothly. Get dressed and head out confident. I take some measurements needed for my plan. I unbox the roofing and unroll it so I can cut it to length. I unroll all of it. It is about three feet short of what I need. UUUGGGGHHHH!!!! <insert more profanity here> Are you kidding me? Take a deep breath. I can do this. Project deadline is Thursday night. Go inside and check website from where I bought the last roll. Free ground shipping. Great, but that doesn’t do me any good. No options presented to change shipping method to get it here faster. UGH! Think. Wonder if I can find that product on Amazon. Yes! More expensive, but I think the two day shipping is worth the extra $20 in this case. So I order it. ETA: Wednesday. Talk about cutting things tight!
With that, I switched gears to work on building that seat that I believe I mentioned previously. I sanded it and got the first coat of stain on it. Sadly, it is not the work of art or have the level of craftsmen ship I would have liked. Like everything else in this phase of building, it doesn’t have to be pretty, just functional.
I spent the rest of the day working in the trailer splitting time between the computer, cooking, and cleaning.
Battery charging observations.
I was getting the batteries to charge to 48 volts during the winter/spring but this summer they have only been charging to 47 volts and that last volt at the top end is a big deal. 1 volt at the top end of the batteries capacity is actually a lot more energy stored than 1 volt at the lower range. That means if I chose to drain the batteries down to 39 V instead of 40V, there is a fair bit less power consumption needed to use that 1V capacity than there is from 48 down to 47. The fact that the system was stopping it’s charging cycle at around 47V even though it was configured to go to 48V was really bugging me. I had pondered if it had to do with the heat (upper 90s and low 100’s for the last few weeks). I got my answer June 16 and 17. With the temps in the low 70’s, the batteries charged to 48 volts both days.
I also observed while it was raining with complete cloud cover, I was still getting between 1k and 1.5k watts from the panels. That was around the same power I was drawing from the generator when I was using the generator to charge the batteries. My batteries are usually fully charged before the sun is at it’s peak on a sunny summer day. The peak I see the system absorbing from the panels is around 3.8 – 4K watts. All the panels together are rated just below 6K watts. I have no doubt I could get the full 6k from the panels mid summer’s day should the system have that level of demand. Bottom line, I have more than enough power available from my solar panels even on cloudy days for the foreseeable future.
Okay. It is way past my bedtime. Tomorrow will definitely be a coffee day.
Until next time!
Cary
Seeking Simplicity 