Masonry Mostly Done; Geothermal Begins

During the second half of the week, noTTafarm's progress included more HVAC ductwork installation, more  plumbing, more masonry, and a little geothermal fun.

The plumbers are nearly finished running supply lines and vents. This photo shows the master bath vanity area.

The installation of the HVAC ductwork continues. The chase built to house the ductwork on its journey from the basement to the second floor is jam packed.

The majority of the masonry is complete! The east porch and surrounding courtyard wall are just about done.  The piers and wall are awaiting cast concrete caps. Scott is trying to decide what type of posts will be used to support the east porch roof; the selected posts will be attached to the piers on either side of the slab. 

The masons had just the right amount of bricks. Scott was only able to add about 15 leftover bricks to his hoard stockpile in the barn.

On Thursday, September 6th, a crew from Jensen Well arrived to begin installing the geothermal system. After anticipating this interesting engineering feat for over a year, wouldn't you know I missed the whole thing? I spent the day in Kearney with my mom who is recovering from knee replacement surgery. (Go, Jolene, Go!) The installation will continue next week, so perhaps I'll have some eyewitness accounts for you. Luckily, Scott took some great pictures to share.

 The drilling rig bored four 200 foot-deep wells.

What is a geothermal system?

This explanation is courtesy of Jensen Well Company's web site:

“Geothermal” literally means “heat of the earth.” With a geothermal system, a series of pipes is buried under the ground’s surface to tap into the earth’s natural heat. The underground heat source that can be found in any backyard is enough to cover approximately 10 times the amount of energy required during any season. This unending resource is constantly recharged by the sun and the surrounding earth, so you never have to worry about waning resources. 

The pipes coming out of each of the wells will be linked and fed into the basement. The story will continue!

Since most of the addition's exterior work is coming to an end, our focus has turned to the interior. We are anticipating doing quite a bit of the interior finish work ourselves, including installing all of the light fixtures. Scott and I spent the majority of our Saturday shopping; we ran all over town trying to find exactly what we need, and made a decent dent in the list.

Stay Tuned for Another Week of Progress!