On Second Thought
1-Roof design
There is a valley over battery room hatch where snow collects and turns to ice. The valley is also on the north side so parts of it never see the sun. It is also over the battery room entrance, so every time you access the battery room it is literally hanging over your head.
First year an ice damn formed and the melting ice backed up and started to drip between the rafters over the deck. Our contractor risked life and limb on a ladder to hammer the ice free. Sheets of ice up to 5 or 6 inches thick came down.
I now duck tape a rubber mallet to the handle of the roof rake (16 feet long) and I can loosen the ice from the ground. Much safer. I have also acquired ladder stand-off arms that attach to a ladder and make it much safer if I have to use the ladder.
2-Where the cottage roof and the garage roof meet and over the entrances
Both of the above have the same problem, snow accumulation. The snow collects on the roof then slides off (some times while you are standing there), forming large piles that if left unattended they form into large ice mounds, right where you want to walk…
My first line of defense is the roof rake. A roof rake is like a backwards snow shovel, in that it works by pulling the snow towards you. That reverse plough is mounted on the end of a long handle, 16 feet long. After a snow fall I will go around the cottage pulling down snow at places where I have to stand etc. I try to caution anyone who visits in winter not to park under a roof line or spend anytime standing under a roof line.
At the time we decided on a metal roof we were warned that these things happen and on second thought I think I would still go with a metal roof.
3-Floor hatches
Heavy and hard to open
I have been looking into manual foot activated methods to open and close with an integral safety barrier when open.
Dangerous when open
I put those orange cones on both sides of the hatch when its open and other people are around. I have heard of horror stories of people falling down similar hatches.
Crawl space access
Originally, the plans had access to the crawl space from utility room but it was put in the battery room over the batteries. Did not want any direct open connection to cottage from battery room, poisonous gas etc. I got it sealed off.
We had to come up with quick fix. A floor hatch in the pantry was the best solution at the time. I do have to empty the pantry when I need to go to the crawl space, like when I empty the fireplace ash pit. The rolling shelves really help.
4-Heat from the masonry heater radiating into pantry
The pantry should be kept cool cause that is where you keep food but because it is directly behind the heater it collects heat that radiates from the back of the heater.
The separating wall should have been spray foamed during construction. Yes there are retro fit spray foam solutions.
There is also a 4 inch gap between the masonry heater and the wall in which I could hang a reflective insulating sheet that would reflect the heat back into the living room. I have the materials , I just have to do it.
5-Upstairs bathroom heat or lack there of
Because the upstairs bathroom is off of the master bedroom. The bedroom that is kept cool/unheated the bathroom is cooler still. It does have its own in floor radiant heating zone but that is only heated by the electric boiler and I think is the main power draw on the system when we are not there.
There are three sources of free heat that would require some modifications to use. 1-Passive solar from the living room 2-Excess heat from the battery room 3- a branch radiator from the roof solar collectors.
All have their challenges.
6-Landscaping for water control
In episode #4 Water, I told you about the weeping tile system and how it is day lighted and works very well. That is not how it started.
Originally the weeping tile system was designed to collect any water from around the foundation of the cottage and feed it to the sump pits. Then a sump pump would turn on and pump it to the outside and away from the cottage. That might have made sense for some properties but when you are trying to provide a path of least resistance for, at times a lot of water to flow, a couple of small sumps in a closed weeping tile loop, just won’t do especially if the pumps haven’t been installed yet and even after. Day lighting the weeping tile, that is to say, giving the water a direct path from the foundation to an exit, was the answer.
In The Beginning – The Land
In this segment I will try to pass on, to the best of my recollection, the story of how our country cottage came to be.
Starting with the land.
We had a vague idea of what we wanted for our property. 20 acres or more of wooded remote land with no neighbours in site. The 20 acres came from the fact my parents retired to 3 to 5 acres and it seemed small plus we had the an opportunity to buy a 20 acre property that was not far from my parents that seemed about the right size. There were no employment prospects in the area and we were just not ready.
So 20 acres min.
A local real estate agent started keeping an eye out for us and after a couple of dead ends and a couple of years, she took us to where Our Country Cottage is located. I had no idea what a quarter section was but it was defiantly more than 20 acres. The first visit or so was in the winter and a logging company was finishing up taking what I can only assume was the best lumber material. The advantage being that there was a logging road that we could drive around, dodging the odd logging truck, dozer etc. Driving around, eyes wide open to what could be, we saw a herd of mule deer in one of the clearings. I think that sold us on it.
It became clear that if we were to spend any time there we would have to have some amenities. Washroom facilities were top of the list for a family of females. I thought a travel trailer would fill the bill and give us a place to sleep, cook and wash all in one, so in the spring we purchased a second hand trailer from a dealer with the condition he would hold onto it until we were ready for delivery. Well it was a good thing we stipulated that because on a run out to the property to see where we would put the trailer, an interesting transformation had taken place. The firm frozen roads of winter and turned into the mud quagmires of spring and our 4 wheel drive jeep got stuck up to the axels on our access road before we even got to our land.
Priorities changed quickly.
The travel trailer dealer was informed it could be some time. They didn’t seem concerned, they had our money.
During one of our winter trips I had talked to one of the logging contractors, probably getting permission to drive around. Can’t remember how, but I managed to get in contact with him to find out how to get a road built. I lucked out because he was a road builder himself and in a few months we had a nice gravel road with ditches, culverts and a gravel pad to put the trailer on. Not knowing where we were going to go the road turned out to be less than a third of our final drive.
At Our Country Cottage
I spent four days at our country cottage last week.
Lately I had been telling people that the cottage needed a good two days to get up to temperature while secretly telling myself that it could be done in a day. I guess the 2 days came from last years reality and the one day came from this years wishful thinking. And reality wins especially if the sun doesn’t shine.
Day one-I built a fire as soon as I got there and another that night. I kept busy assembling some cabinets, so I didn’t notice how cool it was in the living room. 13C (55F). The batteries were down so I didn’t turn on the domestic hot water in hopes that the sun would come out tomorrow.
Day two– Well it didn’t and I started the generator manually at 6 am and started another fire at 6:15 and enough was enough I turned on the domestic hot water at 7 am.
Starting the generator manually requires I press a couple of buttons in the back hall. I don’t even have to go outside.
The bedroom was about 10C (50F) and the bathroom was about 11C (52F). My shampoo was more of a gel but the hot water was great, and the toothpaste can be a bit challenging at those temps too.
The masonry heater started working later in the day and I didn’t need a fire that night.
Day three – kinda cool, built a fire first thing 6 am
batteries were down again, no sun remember. The generator fired up automatically, this time, at 6:30.
I had to clear the snow off of the panels with the roof rake. You just have to get most of the snow off and because they are dark colour and photovoltaic cells generate a little heat when working they clean the rest themselves.
The afternoon was better with the sun coming in and out.
Day four – As I was going back to the city a fire would have been a waste forecast called for sunny all day and it was. The sun coming up through the trees with fresh snow highlights was gorgeous. To add to that seeing the White tail of a doe bounding into the bush followed by a stag that was kicking up snow as he went. What cold……
I checked the gen oil, collected the surveillance camera SD card and the solar power system data. Loaded the vehicle and headed back to the city.
Next time Stuff To Do and “In The Beginning” looks at cottage design.
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Till next time have a good one.