The Jolly Green Gardener shares his experiences learning all the new high-tech aspects of the green house, from his perspective working in the trenches so to speak. He also writes about the sustainable gardens on the site.
6-11-07
Today the job site was humid
and hot. Luckily most of the action took place down in the much cooler
basement. I had the pleasure of knocking out a section of the cinder
block wall to make room for a new basement window, which was fun and
a much simpler task than the continued ducting adventure. The excitement/headaches
continue to abound around the ducting and maneuvering in the confined
basement ceiling space.
Several aspects of this project
are making every little detail tug, nag and pull at the builders’
attention. The guys from UMR working on the ducting are having problems
fitting all the connections for the heating, cooling and return duct
that runs into the confined space. The main problem has been getting
it through the tight squeeze into the mechanical room. We’re running
out of physical space in the main trunk ducts for attaching to the various
systems. The space between each floor joist is the only remaining option,
and each joist space can only hold one connection going one direction.
Now, we're running out of joist spaces.
The recurring theme in dealing
with what would seem to be routine needs is that we are innovating –
our combination of applications isn’t the everyday routine for our
team of contractors. For instance: the return duct runs in conventional
construction aren't necessarily enclosed in their own metal ducts. It
is common to simply seal off a single joist space between the sheet-rock
in a wall or under the floor and run that back to the heating/cooling
units. Not so in LEED construction.
All these little details contribute
to energy and resource savings and sustainability. They are also proving
to be one learning experience (a nice word for a headache) after another.
Geoff
About geoff
Geoff Boeder works on site at the LGLS remodel and is the gardener for the sustainable gardens there.