Girls’s Week 2012 has begun!

Note: Newspaper Designers – Joie on left, un-remembered friend on right
Newspaper Models – Me on left, un-remembered friend on right
Lady in doorway – Mom  *heart*

Memorial Day, Montrose Style -
Flags everywhere -



A classic small town parade -
First the Harley’s -

Then the Boy Scouts

Then the American Legion

Giant Flag

High School Band (totally overdressed for the 85+ day! One of the flag twirlers almost fainted in front of us!)

Any number of miscellaneous groups

and of course lots and lots of fire engines!


Even the spectators were in the moment -




The parade ended with ceremony on the green -

Truly, a classic small town Memorial Day Celebration.
Our celebration ended with a great Chicken BBQ back at the conference center.

Yum.
But lest we forget, Memorial Day is a day to say thank-you for those that gave the ultimate sacrifice -

Day is done…
Gone the sun
From the lake…
From the hills…
From the sky.
All is well…
Safely rest
God is nigh.

Fading light….
Dims the sight
And a star….
Gems the sky….
Gleaming bright
From afar….
Drawing nigh
Falls the night.

Thank you.

This week was all about holes. And it was a task that Gary was dreading. You see, all that nice ductwork still needed to actually GET to the rooms. And that meant that we needed to install a return and supply vent in each room, and that meant we needed to cut two holes (at least!) in each room. And we knew that that would be quite a job. You see, this building was built in the 1920′s and it was built very well. And all those hotel rooms have been remodeled any number of times over the last 90+ years as they’ve added bathrooms and made building improvements. The floor of the attic (original ceiling of the second floor?) is 3/4″ tongue and groove pine. Over that is any configuration of cement board, drywall, ceiling tiles or any combination thereof. And of course, up in the attic is all that wonderful loose insulation.
We knew that with 22 rooms and an apartment (and a total of 51 holes (26 round, 25 square)), we needed to come up with a working plan pretty quick. With a little (a lot really!) help from our friends Bill and Tim, here’s what we worked out -
Bill would locate the best spot in the room for the hole (near a window for the round supply, near the door for the square return) and drill a test hole through the ceiling into the attic.

Tim (or Gary) would locate the drill bit (or a dowel which we later started to use) and dig out the area.


Then Tim would locate where the actual hole could be cut,

taking into account floor joists (or would they be ceiling joists?) and he would center his template and drill through to the room (and Bill).
Bill would center his template on the ceiling using Tim’s drill bit as a guide, making sure that there were no other obstacles (like trim strips) on his side. Then he would trace the template and cut the hole.


Hello, Bill!

Once the hole was cut then the vent would be installed.

I’d like to say that once we had the process down, the holes became routine, but truth be told every room was different and yes, there were a couple “misses” as they worked together to find the right spot for the hole placement.

You know the saying – it’s easier to fix a couple of drill bit size holes than it is to fix an 8×8 hole in the ceiling, right? Our motto to be sure!
Although Gary got the guys started, once they got the basic plan down, he started connecting the duct runs to the vents. What started out looking like this -

looked like this by the end of the day Tuesday -

There is still plenty of “connecting” to do
,
but I’m happy to report that by the end of the day Thursday ALL 51 holes were cut and all the vents were ready for the next step.

Great Job, Guys!
So what was I doing all week, since managing a sawzall on a ladder is a little out of my comfort zone? I was the Advance Team – making sure the rooms were draped as much as possible

since the guys were making a pretty nice mess.

And then, I followed behind them trying to put the rooms back in order.

Yep, me and the shop vac – BFF! And well within my “skill set”.

So it was a great week! Our visit with Bill was wonderful and the Project Manager (Gary) is delighted that the Hole Hurdle has been accomplished. One little bonus of the week was this little guy who stayed curled up at the base of a tree not 3 ft. from the sidewalk all day. Apparently Mom had said – “Stay here until I return” and he obeyed.

So precious!
See, it’s not ALL about the A/C Installation!

SWEDGE
Verb
swedge (third-person singular simple present swedges, present participle swedging, simple past and past participle swedged)
1.To shape metal using a hammer or other force.
2.(colloquial) To leave (a restaurant etc.) without paying.

Let’s stick with the first definition, Okay?

These are swedging tools -

This is me trying to swedge a copper pipe -

This is the pipe after it has been swedged -

(Final turns by Gary who said, “I guess I’m a little stronger than you.”)

Note to self – do not add “Swedging” to the resume.

I bet you’ve been wondering how the big A/C installation is going.  Right?

I’m certainly not the expert in this, but it seems to me that things are moving along at a great pace. We’re trying to get all the attic work done before attic work becomes unbearable (and it’s in the 80′s today, so those days are closer than we’d like!)
So – Early this week we finished up the duct work runs, connected everything to the indoor blower/evap units, secured everything to the platform and made sure that all the supply and return vents were in place.

Check.
Next up was running the electric and refrigeration lines. Gary got the electric circuit breaker panel installed and ran the wires to the outside of the building.

But that led to a small problem.

Those wires were really, really high.
But of course, Gary has always been a man with a solution -

And let me tell you, he’s been itching to give one of those Man-Lifts a try for a long time!

(Did you know that ANYONE can rent one of these babies?

I can’t even decipher the control panel! Way too many arrows on that thing!)
Getting the wires into conduit was pretty simple, but getting the already put together copper pipe was a bit trickier….


Kind of like threading a needle!
But, true to form, he got them all through the correct holes, and neatly attached to the building.

And then, his trusty helper got to give that ol’ man-lift a try!


(I did take a video of the first lift, but (thankfully) it’s a real snoozer of a video!)
Next up was running the refrigeration lines on the inside. This, of course, required training me to do a new job – preparing the copper piping for soldering. Yes, I now know how to de-burr, ream, and clean copper pipe and fittings.

My new friends.

De-burring

Cleaning

All shiny and ready for the guy with the REAL tools!

Safety note –

Better safe than sorry.
So, by the end of weekend, all the suction lines (that’s the fat copper tubing) were run from the 5 units to the pipes we (ha! – using that term loosely)had brought up with the lift. Soldered and insulated and ready to go. Next up (in the piping department) is running the liquid line (that’s the skinny copper tubing) that also needs to run from the inside unit to those pipes (which will, of course, eventually be attached to the outside condensing units). Got it?

We’re excited that a good friend of ours is arriving today to help Gary & I this week with our next big step. We’ll be (again I’m using that “we” word – don’t you love it!) making two holes in each of the rooms for the supplies and returns and actually connecting the duct work to the rooms. This would probably be a fairly direct event except for all that loose insulation in the attic (that we would prefer to stay in the attic as opposed to falling in the rooms)

and the fact that the ceilings are not wood or plaster or even drywall. They are cement board. And cutting through it is kind of like cutting through, well, cement. Could be a challenge, but I bet Gary is up to it!
Should be a good week! And thankfully the temps should be falling back into the high sixties and low seventies with some showers on the horizon. Perfect weather for working in an attic!