The New Shed - Phase 5

With the ground prepared, and the removed sod in a big pile to maybe use later, it was time to start working on the form for the concrete. This is where positioning became much more important. The town wanted 3 feet of clearance on the side and 5 feet on the back.

From the CAD drawing of the property survey I was able to take measurements from various corners of existing buildings, like the house. Getting the intersections should be accurate within a couple inches. The often repaired fence around the property is not quite on the boundary line, so it was not something I could measure from.

Starting with the south end of the form frame, and allowing for thickness of materials, stakes were driven level into the ground. To them, was attached levelled 2x4 rails.

The next line of stakes went up along the eastern boundary, and thus allowed side clearance checks. The old 3-4-5 rule (and multiples thereof) came in handy with squaring things up.

Then came the western side. Along the way I had to buy a larger sledge hammer, and even then, each stake and support took about an hour to do. With the form coming together, the difference in grade between the SW corner and the NE corner became more obvious. It is around 18 inches, so I may have to do some digging in the back to help compensate, or a long ramp will be required until the driveway can be raised.

The front of the form (north side) was last, and not finished. While the levelness carried around, I wasn't quite sure about the square. Also, I wanted to leave a gap to get the stone and other materials in. The lower rails were attached, however, that was as much time as could be put into the project this year. It was time to start preparing for winter. (This is one of the projects that had to get done: http://py23serenity.blogspot.ca/2014/11/tongue-extension.html)

A lot of work has been done, so as soon as the snow is gone and the frost is out of the ground, the form can be finished, concrete poured, and the structure started. Watch for more phases in 2015.

---

The Entire Story To Date:

The New Shed - Phase 4
The New Shed - Phase 3
The New Shed - Phase 2
The New Shed - Phase 1

The New Shed - Phase 4

Clearing away all the sod by hand took much longer than I expected. It was into September before that phase was completed. Around the sides it was a couple feet larger than the shed's footprint, but on the front I had to go all the way to the end of the asphalt driveway.

Then there was a stump and roots to deal with.

After digging away as much as I could, I blasted it with the garden hose to expose as much of the roots as possible. A chainsaw was used to cut away all the roots which could be accessed. A come-along was attached to the hitch of my truck, and cranked on to lift the stump so it could be cut at until it finally let go.

The ground was raked and cleared of any remaining organic material. Rocks and pebbles which surfaced were brought to the driveway side to be used as fill and drainage.

A check of where I needed the top of the shed/garage/workshop's floor to be showed that rather than digging down for my footing, it had to come up. Upon speaking with a supplier of stone, it was determined that it would take about one dump truck load of class A to provide the volume I needed under the concrete.

Spreading out the crushed stone took a while, even with some help from Jim and the purchase of a new rake and shovel.

The final levelling has to wait until after the form is built since the top of the class A has to be 9" below the top of the floor to allow for 4" of concrete, 2" of foam insulation, and 3" of stone.

I'm not an engineer, architect, or even a contractor, but I can do research, and I can make some pretty nice CAD drawings and do most of my own work. According to David Hewlett, that might make me a reno nerd.

---

The Entire Story To Date:

The New Shed - Phase 3
The New Shed - Phase 2
The New Shed - Phase 1

Fuel for the Fire

There was a sale on recently at an marine store I order from online. My wishlist there is several pages long, and whenever they have specials, I go through it to see what I need now that I can save a few dollars on. Among the essential items this time was a Contoure Heatmate 5200 stove/heater.

I already have a single burner butane stove, and a propane barbecue on the boat, so I was more interested in the cabin warming abilities of this unit than its ability to boil water. We are into the cooler days for boating now, and any time on a mooring would be much more comfortable with some economical, safe and portable source of heat.

Another reason for buying a unit like this now, is for home. It is not unusual to lose the electricity during winter storms for hours, or even days. A little heater would be quite appreciated at such a time. It would keep us warm, and cook food.

The issue, I have discovered, is what to use as fuel for the thing. It runs on non-pressurized denatured alcohol, but try finding something labelled as "denatured alcohol" in a marine or hardware store in a small town in Newfoundland. Doing a search on the internet turns up results that show even people in larger centres are having trouble buying the proper fuel. See also http://blog.bigsnit.com/2010/05/01/finding-denatured-alcohol-in-canada/.

So, I researched exactly what denatured alcohol is, and it turns out that you actually have a couple of choices for fuel in a device like this, ethanol with additives to make it undrinkable (aka methylated spirits), or methyl hydrate (methanol). The former pumps out more heat per volume, but the latter is much less expensive, however, it is more toxic. You can find methyl hydrate with the paint thinners and brake cleaners.

For food safe, you'd probably think that you can't do any better than called Fondue Fuel. A closer look at the description reveals that it "is a highly refined Methyl Hydrate that provides excellent, odour free fuel for fondue heaters and chafing dishes." Ok, so maybe it isn't as bad as I thought, in this more refined state. You can pick it up at places like Rona, Walmart and Home Hardware for about $2.50/500ml or $20 for 4L. Do not buy the gel versions for wick cylinder burners!

For a source of ethanol (ethyl alcohol), the choices are not as many, and the price jumps up a bit. The most commonly available product appears to be BioFlame Fireplace fuel. It is about $25 and comes in 3.78L jugs at both Home Hardware and Canadian Tire.

At marine stores you may find denatured alcohol products, like Captan Phab Marine Alcohol for a little over $20. Stright-MacKay has a 4L jug of fuel for $35.25, if you are willing to spend the extra coin.

Your choices and experiences will probably be different than mine, so I'd be interested in hearing what you use in your non-pressurized, wick fuel canister heater/stove.

 

Here is a review of the 5200 by Practical Sailor: HeatMate Takes the Chill Off - Alcohol heater-stove is a simple onboard heating solution. And a YouTube rundown on operation.

The New Shed - Phase 3

This part was what I expected to be the quickest and easiest, but it has turned out to be the longest and most difficult job so far - removing the grass. My plan was to rent a mini excavator for a day, scrape the organics away, and make the ground ready for the foundation.

August 12 - String run for a guide

So, I contacted the guy to get the machine, and he said that he might be able to do the job cheaper, since they are used to this type of work, and operating the machinery. He came by and looked it over, we discussed what he would do, and scheduled a day. A couple hours later I realized that I didn't get a price quote. The figure he gave me was double what I had budgeted, so it was back on me.

August 12 - Sods rolled and stored for future compost

Since the day off work I was going to use for this machine operation was now pretty much over, I was forced to manually strip the sods whenever I could find a few minutes to spare, when the weather was cooperating. Where July had been one of the hottest months on record, August was one of the wettest. We also had to be out of town a couple of times during the month.

August 16 - Weapons of grass destruction

After using some string to outline an area 2 feet larger than the footprint of the foundation, an edger was used to cut the grass into strips of about 1 foot wide. At first I rolled them up, but this was too dirty and strenuous a job, especially when the grass was damp, so I began cutting them into squares and carrying them to the pile.

August 16 - Making progress

My wife took over most of the cutting duties, but I still have to pry the sods up,  relocate them, and rake the ground. My right hip started to give out on me, so I'm now working with my left side. Many times I've wished that I'd come up with the money to have a machine do all this, but the end is near.

August 16 - Only a few more feet to go.

Next up I have to do some level work to determine my top of grade, and then dig out for the footing. After that it is crushed stone, insulation, etc and the form. That is, if this old body holds together long enough.

---

The Entire Story To Date:

The New Shed - Phase 2
The New Shed - Phase 1

Game Over Ingress

Ingress is an augmented realty game which uses a smart phone's GPSr to turn certain locations into things called "Portals ". A person has to physically go to a portal to participate. Once there, you can hack, capture, attack or link, depending on your intentions and which faction controls the portal.

While it was still in beta, back in 2012, I requested an invite, and received one that December. I downloaded the app, and completed training, but there were no portals around here to interact with, so I would have to submit some.

 
Being winter, I decided to wait until the weather warmed up and the snow melted before taking the required photos of potential portal locations. After waiting a couple more months, one was activated, and I was able to capture it for the Enlightened faction, and do some hacking for inventory items.

After a while the second one was available, but it wasn't much fun playing alone, so I didn't do much with the game. Then, about a year later, I got notice that someone from the Resistance had taken over my poorly defended portals. This got me back playing more regularly, but there wasn't much I could do against them at my low level.

One day this summer I heard that a much higher level player from my team would be in town, and planned on retaking one of the portals. We met at the location, and I had my first encounter with others who were playing the game too. I got more involved with the community, and started introducing family and friends to it. The game was beginning to get fun and interesting.

Then, a couple days ago, I got an email from the people who operate the game, accusing me of cheating. They would not say what I had done wrong, and provided no means of defending myself, just an order to stop whatever it was I was doing, or have my account disabled.

So, here I am at Level 3 of 16, having played the game for about 20 months, when other people can get beyond Level 5 in a week, and I'm accused of cheating and generally being a despicable person who is taking all the fun out of the game for others. If I was cheating, then I was doing a very poor job of it, considering how slowly I have been advancing.

Since I know that I am not running any helper apps, or anything out of the ordinary, there is nothing I can stop doing. My conclusion was, that to keep from being kicked out of the game, I had to stop playing the game. With that decision made, I deleted the app from my phone, and severed all connections to the community.

It is only a game. I will not put up with being accused of wrongdoing and having my character attacked for a mere casual pastime. It is especially unacceptable since there is no crime specified, and there is no means of proving your innocence. I was assumed guilty and sternly warned.

Ingress, as far as I am concerned, it is game over.