It's been two months!

How the heck did that happen? We voted in a consequential election, I became a Splunk employee on November 9, Casey tore up his bathroom and vanished. I decided to pay EnergyWorks to install a gas water heater for Casey, and then had to press them to actually do it. At the same time, I set up a music studio in the living room.

Casey decided to turn the vanity counter 45 degrees and built a live-edge counter for his black porcelain vessel sink

Creative destruction. Casey painted and prepared to install his new sink

Before EnergyWorks arrived, I removed the shelf and door to give them access to the old water heater. Some of Casey's fancy accessories had to come down as well.

Casey removed the toilet before he left, but he installed the sink (left).

Curt and his son, Ryan, showed up at 8am on December 8

Casey was supposed to dig this trench. Curt ended up making it deeper with the pick axe. The new gas line passed its pressure test and county inspection on Dec. 9.

Curt couldn't remove the old water heater, so I had to remove the door frame Tuesday night. The EnergyWorks electrician, Dylan Lamb, did a great job putting the old hot tub circuit in a metal box (center).

The new unit is just right. Water at the sink is hot in 10 seconds.

Lots of shut-offs and other valves. The white ball is the new kind of expansion tank.

The inspector made them add electric anti-freezing tape around the pipe. I can't fill in the trench since we don't have final approval yet, but when I do, they gave me bright foil indicator tape to warn someone digging in the garden that they're about to hit a gas line. I think I'll put boards down, as well.

Now we just need Casey to put his bathroom back together. His new black toilet is in a box in his room--it doesn't fit because the center of the drain in the floor is 10" from the wall, not 12" (if I understand correctly) and the adapter Casey bought doesn't work without breaking up the concrete.

Temperatures have dropped to the thirties this month and we've had a lot of rain, but the new deck shrugs it off (except for all the needles and stuff from the trees). Curt took the trouble to run the new gas line between the joists in the basement so that it doesn't reduce the head clearance. 

Bye, 2020. And to all a good night.

Hot Water is Easier Than It Sounds

 We've been talking/arguing with plumbers. Kevin Holloway sounds great on the phone, but he doesn't want to come all this way from Issaquah. We've been around and around.

He says, go electric.

I had decided to go gas. because electric needs more than 240V x 50-amp = 12kW. A lot more. We have a convenient 50-amp, 240V line right there, but 12kW's the limit.

This afternoon, Mr. Holloway suggests the Rheem RTEX-11 11kW 240V Electric Tankless Water Heater. Amazon sells it for $260. As Mr. Holloway says, "Buy a couple for spares." It serves up to 2.68 GPM, which should be enough for a shower. It's the size of a piece of paper and 3-5/8" thick (8.25" x 12.625").

Looking at the user manual, it must be mounted inside with 12" clear above and below, 6" to each side. That's 20.25" and I'm not sure we have that unless we mount it on the east wall of the closet. It requires no venting.

Greenwood is coming out tomorrow (10/15/20) at 11am, but they already said they want too much and won't consider a cheaper water heater than the upsell they put in their bid. But bid guy doesn't talk to field guy, apparently. I also talked to Fischer Plumbing--they don't bid, they do time and materials. So I could get the Rheem from Amazon and Fischer would put it in.

Trying to understand Rheem's data table. It seems to say that this model, at 2 GPM (a typical shower, I think) can raise the temperature 38 degrees. Is tap water 55 degrees? Then you get a 93-degree shower.

Do we install the tankless unit inline with the old tank? Do we remove the old tank and hope the Rheem keeps up? The User Manual says we might want a Flow Regulator to "prevent the exit temperature from becoming too cool." The manual says if the inlet water temperature is 60-degrees, we want a 1.5 GPM Flow Regulator. The water here is about 59-degrees, as measured by the kitchen thermometer.

I like it as a solution (it costs thousands less), but it's right on the line of working. I like Rheem (that's what I bought for the main tank), and they actually make a smaller one, just 8kW.

If we go this way, we just have to bring the 50-amp wires into the house. That means opening the wall, removing the closet shelf and figuring out what the conduit has to do.

Should be simple enough. If the wires don't reach, we'll need a j-box. Maybe we cover these wires with the j-box and run the new wires back in the house from there. They must be individual wires and in a metal conduit, I think, but that's doable.

Possible deal-breaker: the User Manual calls for 6-ga wire (I don't know what we have, maybe 8-ga) and a 60-amp breaker. That seems odd because the same table says the max amperage draw is 46 amps, so you would think a 50-amp breaker would suffice.

Deck Complete Except for Punch List

Well. We slowed down a lot at the end, and I was hoping for a more polished look from the cable rail, but I have to say that I'm quite satisfied with the results.

Punch List Items

• Clean off remaining tree sap
• Some deck boards are not screwed down everywhere; need to backfill screws
• Need a block under one of the lower deck boards--it comes to an acute angle that barely rests on the joist
• Tighten stair cable rail--make lines more parallel
• 2nd coat of black stain on understructure
• Final placement of patio lights, tuck in extra wire--lots o' cable ties
• Tension patio light support wires, cut off excess
• Hardware cloth critter barrier under both decks--2x2 frame?
• Handrail at house for upper deck

Rain Storm Strikes

We got a lot of rain Friday afternoon, September 25.

The deck and patio lights survived the rain storm quite well. The drainage swale at the street, however, filled with mud and plant debris and completely clogged the pipe under the driveway.

I filed an online report with the City of Seattle on Saturday (confirmation #20-00193731). They expect to respond with 5 days. In the photo, you can see that the street runoff created a river across the grass, down the driveway and through the backyard to the ravine. My property, by the way, starts at the brick post light thing.

The 118th Street River

We had some mist on Saturday, but it's been dry (sunny, at times), for days (I'm writing this on Wednesday).

Clearing the Front Yard

 The front yard was out of control, so Fidel and his guy worked from 9 to 3 yesterday to fix it. I paid $550 + $100 tip. All I know about Fidel is his phone number: (206) 476-3238.

In the street, looking at the drainage swale. Notice the house, cowering in the right rear.

What the Amazon delivery guy sees. Curb appeal, amiright?

Better, but I kinda knew it would be a two-stage process, if not more.

Before...

...and After.

Better this way...

Or like this?

That was a lot of work and a lot of hauling to get us this far, but it needs more. Maybe new planting, certainly more pruning (and more careful pruning). 

Before, looking east

After, looking west

Presentable. Bushes need pruning.

Hot water for the 3rd Bath

Casey finds that the hot water runs out when he tries to take a shower. Not a long shower, every shower. It's just a 12-gallon tank, so that's a 6-minute shower with a low-flow head, less at full strength. We discussed this last April and yada-yada-yada, now it's September.

Builder Matt Risinger just put out a video on tankless water heaters and he points out three drawbacks: 1) they don't work if the power goes out; 2) they encourage wastefulness; and 3) they need more maintenance than tanks. He left me with the impression that a tanked water heater is an anachronism for poor people.

In our case, if we install a unit on the outside (on the south or even the east side of BA3), we can run a gas line from the basement under the new upper deck and straight up to the tankless. This gets us six square feet free in the bathroom and allows us to replace the 36x36 shower with a 54x36 shower as phase 2. 

Something like a 155,000-BTU model with 6.5 GPM rating. Rinnai V65eN ($680 at Home Depot) for example. (They also sell a "value series" for $550 that's 122,000-BTU, 5.6 GPM.)

We need a plumber to extend the gas line and route the hot and cold water from the water heater closet outside. That's maybe 2 men, 2 days = 32 hours. (I've learned to be cautious with estimates.) So, maybe $3,500?

I can move the existing water heater power to an exterior receptacle. 

Among the positives that Matt Risinger lists is that if one goes away for a while (Casey sleeps at his Dad's, I don't rent the AirBnB), it costs nothing, unlike a tank.

Local plumbers include:

• Gene Johnson, who I don't trust
• Beacon Plumbing, who spend too much on advertising
• Washington Energy Services - their bid was too high for the furnace, but maybe. They sell Navien equipment, apparently
• 2 Sons
• Raymark Plumbing

HomeAdvisor is a waste of time.

Recommendations from NextDoor:

• Pioneer Plumbing (Ballard) - 2 reccs. pioneerplumbing.biz
• Kevin Halloway (206-854-3864) specializes in on-demand
• Archies Plumbing (Keith) - 2 reccs 206-339-0064
• 1st Response http://www.1stresponsehvac.com
• Rush Plumbing (Robert)

Handrail joints

 There are a lot of gaps in the Fiberon deck. Because it expands and contracts with the air temperature, the system requires large gaps between deck boards. Accordingly, I fitted the other joints with more of a gap than I might have. 

For the handrails, I thought that I would use Super Glue to fuse the miters so that the handrail would move as a single piece. That turned out to be basically impossible, so I left a gap at the miters.

Mockup of a typical miter joint

I wanted to test whether DAP Dynaflex Ultra black caulk ("advanced exterior sealant") would work to make these joints seem more finished.

I like the look; I think it works. It's waterproof and permanently flexible

The mockup looks bad, I think, because it got smeared on the surface of the Fiberon. I tried cleaning it up with Acetone; the packaging says it cleans up with "water," but it feels like tar. But, clearly, if I go ahead with this on all the miters (there are six), I'll use painter's tape to protect the finish.

Looking for opinions here.

Pre-cleanup. The stuff was born to smear.

Steady progress

 It's Sunday, so...here's a progress report. It's going. 

Second coat of black stain really helps. The Fiberon handrail/cap is in place everywhere. Moved the patio light connect at the SW corner.

Quiet Week

Well, it's Sunday night again. I feel like I've been hardly working on the backyard. It started raining Wednesday night, persisted (sort of) on Thursday and a bit on Friday. I could have done lots of work in the dry times, or when it was just misting, but I just didn't feel like it. The lights dangled for a few days.

On Saturday, I hung the rest of the lights on the wire supports: 12 on the first (west-most) line, 11 on the middle, and 11 on the east-most line. I'm thinking I'll make that 11-12-11 by moving a light at the southern-most (spindly pine) tree.

I wonder where I got the idea that I could string the lights without wire supports? Could it be the sales material? Well, anyway, the $35 kit worked out just great--vinyl-coated, stainless steel cable with beautiful stainless steel fittings and turnbuckles. The connector at the southwest corner has to change, though--the wire is rubbing against the house, because I foolishly mounted it out of sight around the corner.

Sunday, I cut the remaining handrail pieces for the lower deck, including the sloping stair handrail. Making and fitting a template handrail out of salvaged lumber was a master stroke. The miters were wrong when I first cut them, and some had to be re-done twice. But when they were right, I had the precise angles and lengths so cutting the Fiberon handrails was easy. Also, I cut the end returns a couple of weeks ago--that was very tricky, because they come to a knife edge on two sides. So I super glued the returns on the cut boards and we're good to go on the handrails.

What that means is that this week I'll paint the undersides and ends (two coats) and I'll glue them down when I'm ready. One issue with the upper handrails is that the miters must stay in the same plane. I bought some metal corner angles to install on the underside and we'll see how that works.

This project is nearing completion.

• Give the railings a second coat of black stain (may need more black stain)
• Install the angled cable rail on the lower stairs; it will be tricky
• Glue the handrail on the angled stair railing
• Glue the handrail on the other 5 sections
• Buy parts and install electrical for the lights
• Misc fixup--add blocking under unsupported deck end; add deck screws where needed; cut sharp corner of upper tread
• Install the remaining cable rail (7 panels x 8 rows)--112 pilot holes, 112 holes, 112 lag screws
• Move the wood piles to the front (side) yard
• Solve the basement stairs (a project in itself--to the drawing board!)

Twilight; that's why you can still see everything

Same list with a few changes

I considered updating the previous list, but I want a record of mistakes the project.

I'm still bothered by having several roads to walk at once--patio lighting, handrail (that is, the last of the Fiberon), cable railing. 

Salvage wood railing mockup will become a template

Handrail

This is tricky. I can't superglue the miters--the material expands and contracts, for one thing. So, on the upper deck, I made the miters as perfect an 1/8" gap as I could. The lower deck is even harder because of the odd angles. So, I've built a mockup.

At least 2 of the 3 miters are not parallel--I'll fuss over the template until it's right, then cut the last of the Fiberon. The subrail at the stairs is too low--I'll fix that. I may need shims in some places, as I did on the upper deck. 

Once I cut six boards, I'll need to super glue 4 miter ends and then paint the undersides.

Upper deck handrails. Paint needs two coats.

Finally, I'm about out of the construction adhesive I used on the upper deck (Loctite PL375), so I'll need two more tubes. I put down a big bead and now I have to deal with the squeeze out underneath--either black or brown paint. I also want to caulk the subrail so that there is no light coming through. If I can't find black caulk (ya think?) I'll have to paint that, too.

Cable Rail

This looks like it will go fairly easily; it's just a lot of rails to install. I'm a little worried about the 30-degree cables at the lower deck stair. Not sure how to start the drill, not sure whether I should use the standard cable spacing story board, etc.

Other than that, however, the cable technology works well.

Patio Lighting

I had planned to attach one end of the lights at the house, then pull up the other end with a loop of paracord attached to a tree, run it back to the house, then out to another loop of paracord at another tree. I bought ratcheting carabiners to tension the paracord. Turns out, according to YouTubers, that's not how it's done. You don't ask the 120V electric line to do all the work.

The new plan is to choose some kind of cable (lighter and easier to work with than the cable rail), and simply install and tension it from house to tree, tree to house, house to other tree. Then, sayeth the web, you hang the lights from the cable with zip ties.

I think I can mount an eye bolt high enough in the two trees to work.

As for the electrical, I had planned two switches at the two doors. Dumb. The post light out front is on a Wemo switch in the basement. I can turn it on from my phone, and program it when to turn on and off. I just need to run power from the breezeway to the SW corner of the house. I'll run a conduit vertically up the outside of the house to a box under the eave. If I'm feeling charitable, I'll install a switch on the way up--an emergency shut-off. An outlet at each deck, the GFCI as planned, and an "in-use" outlet for the sewage ejector.

Details piling up--time for a list

 Another to-do list, because I'm paralyzed about what to do next. There are distinct projects:

• Cut and install the handrails
• Cut the pieces to fit precisely
• Super glue the end pieces (where occurs)
• Level the pieces so the miters work; confirm that the miters are tight
• Paint the underside of the handrail pieces
• Use construction adhesive to place two handrails on the sub-rails
• Super glue the miter while the adhesive is still setting up
• Place the next handrail with adhesive; super glue the miter
• When the adhesive has set, drill and screw the handrails in place
• Drill and insert the 144 cable rail swage lag screws (and the sleeves)
• Finish screwing down the deck and stair treads
• Figure out and install hooks on two trees way up high
• Finish designing electrical; make shopping list
• Install electrical boxes and conduit; trench along outside of house
• Run wire and install outlets and switches
• Cut, crimp, and tension 72 cables
• Use the tree hooks to hang the patio lights

Handrails

They're harder than I expected, because I want good, tight miters at the corners. On the upper deck, they are simple 45-degree corners, and I'm still having trouble getting them to align. In addition to the miter, the plane of the handrails must match--each handrail rests on two 4x4s, so if they aren't level, or the 2x4 subrail protrudes, the rails won't meet precisely. I'm counting on the adhesive to act like caulk to minimize this problem.

Super glue. It's runny, so it drips out when I'm holding the miter ends--I have super glued my fingers every time I have done this. I will test carpenter's yellow glue on the deck boards to see if that's an alternative.

I'm a little worried that perfect miters will be even harder on the lower deck.

Swage Lag Screws

I realized I don't need to screw in 72 lag screws. I have 72 cables, so I need to screw in 144 of them. Luckily, I bought 80 pairs, so I have 160 screws.

I rewatched these videos: This one from Muzata (the makers of the swage lag screws), and this one from a guy using Muzata screws. It seems that the hydraulic crimper I have is a little easier to use than what the guy in the second video had. 

I bought a genuine Crescent-brand 6" wrench (as used in both videos) and tried it--it makes it easier than the mini wrench or the vise grips. This won't be so bad.

I'm still worried about drilling at a 30-degree angle on the lower stairs.

Hooks on Trees

To my surprise, the internet says screw in your eye bolt. "I'd use a treated deck screw so it doesn't rust or be corroded by the wood tannins. Just don't wrap anything around the tree, like a belt. That will definitely kill the tree as it grows." Davey, the tree people, have an article: "The #1 thing you don’t want is for a nail or screw in your tree to rust over time. That’s why it’s best to choose stainless steel, aluminum or any other rust-proof nails and screws for your project."

I need to see how high my ladder will get me up the tree. I'm not sure what my plan b is if it's not high enough. Nail ladder rungs to the tree! That's the ticket. 

I'll pick up a couple of stainless steel eye bolts: https://www.lowes.com/pd/National-Hardware-N100-189-V2151-Screw-Eyes-in-Stainless-Steel/1001842788. Looks like $2.50 for two. Two carabiners with 5 or 6 feet of rope tied to the carabiner and a big-ish loop on the other end. Then I'll thread the patio lights through the ropes on the ground, lift and snap the carabiners into the tree eye bolts.

Outdoor Electrical

 I've been thinking about this for several days; here's what I've come up with.

Existing: 

1. Romex "extension cord" with a plug for the sewage ejector (#29, 20A)
2. Outlet, switch, and eave downlight in the corner of the breezeway notch. In theory, we can get access from the BR3 Hall (except the downlight)
3. Eave light fixture outside BA3 seems to be controlled by the dimmer switch at Casey's door. It seems to have power, but isn't lighting. Tried with known good bulb. Tried to isolate circuit (1, 3, 13, 15, 21, 26, 28, 29, 30A, 30B--tester behavior changes with #22 off).
4. Garden light on west property line, controlled by switch 4 in the BR3 Hall. (We don't know what switch 3 controls.) The garden light comes on, intermittently, suggesting a dangerous 120V situation. (Circuit #6--we'll leave it off for now.)
5. Outdoor wall switch outside BA3 with conduit running into the dirt.

Given this confusion, the initial plan had been to tap circuit #29 and install a number of outdoor outlets, including a new one for the sewage ejector, all protected by one GFCI. Then, using this power source (item 1), install an outlet at eave height controlled by a switch outside each door. We can still do this, but we want to resolve items 2 and 3 before painting the house.

The electrical code wants every outside door to have an inside switch controlling a light outside the door. We're not going to do that, but if we could make Casey's switch work, that would be cool. 

Distribution

I considered EMT metal conduit (I own a bender) and liquid-tight conduit, but since we have to use UF-B cable anyway, I think I'll just bury it, as we did with the post light in front. Dig a 12" trench along the house from the glass door to the southwest corner. The 3-way switches need to connect to each other, but not to each outlet, and laying cable in a trench means the wires don't need to connect in each outlet.

I think PVC (Cantex, Sched. 40) will work from the boxes to the trench. Lowes sells 10-ft, 3/4" for $3.00.

The boxes can be Sigma Electric metal with three 3/4" knockouts. We'll need a 3/4 bushing connector (Lowes, $0.43) for each.

About 40' horizontal, with about 36' verticals. 250' of UF-B 14/3 should do it. We only need /3 for the switches, but it might be easier to have just one kind.

GFCI

We'll put a box where the Romex pops out now and fill the box with a Legrand 20A non-outlet GFCI (Lowes $21.24). All the outlets and the light outlet will be protected.

Switches

Basic 3-Way toggle switch (Lowes $1.69) with a TayMac weatherproof cover (Lowes $4.98).

Outlets

In-use cover for the sewage ejector and light outlets (Lowes $8.98), but simple Sigma Electric metal cover (Lowes $3.67) for the others. I'm thinking we need outlets:

• Above the upper deck
• Below the upper deck (for under-railing low voltage lighting)
• Sewage ejector
• Above the lower deck (east end)
• Below the lower deck (west end) for low voltage transformer
• Switched lighting outlet

I'm thinking we can get by with simple Eaton 15A receptacles (Lowes $0.74).

Into, or Thru?

New controversy. I had decided on cable accessories that screw into the posts. To add tension, you tighten the screws. This works because one side is reverse-threaded. 

Swage lag screws look like this

With this system, you can see where the stainless steel receiver has been crimped to hold the wire, and you may even see a bit of the lag screw threads. A pair of swage lag screws is about $3 from many sources.

The controversy is that I've found another product that involves drilling through the 4x4s. You still crimp the wire at both ends, but you use an allen wrench at one end to tension the cable and all that is visible between the posts is the wire. For a clean look, they sell stainless steel sleeves to cover the drilled holes.

The fittings on the left tighten without turning the cable

Muzata sells these for $8 a pair. In addition, however, you want to clean up the holes with a pair of sleeves, which adds $1.60. So, the "invisible" fittings are 320% as expensive as the swage lags.

What is that in real dollars? Well, first, in real effort, the invisible connectors require drilling all the way through the 4x4s at both ends, then drilling again, precisely, for the tensioner. With the two posts at the house, I would have to un-bolt the posts for that second drilling.

I have 9 panels of 8 cables each, so we're talking about 72 pairs of fittings. So, $216 vs. $691.20 or $475.20 more for invisibility.

There's one more option. I could run the cable around the corners. That would mean just 24 pairs of fittings and a few more $0.80 sleeves. About $300, but we'd have cables at the corners.

Cable at the corner, like this

I am leaning toward my original thought--swage lag screws. But I don't want to spend $400+ on cable stuff without considering all the angles.

The End of the Handrail

The Fiberon handrail is going to be fine, I think. I'll put down a thick bead of construction adhesive and two screws into each 4x4. The adhesive will act as a caulking, to eliminate seeing light through gaps between the handrail and 2x4 subrail.

But how do we handle the ends?

A. Cut it cleanly. Maybe sand it a little, unlike the photo. Maybe paint the edge brown to match.

B. Power sand the edges. Make it look intentional and, at the same time, have only safe, rounded edges. Maybe we paint this brown to match, like A.

C. Miter the ends. This is time consuming and needs to be quite precise.

The main edges we're discussing are: the top of the upper deck stairs--it's very visible--and the ends of the prow railing on the lower deck. There are two other ends where the railing meets the house; they can use type A (except that the end on the upper deck is visible through the glass door). The weird one is the bottom of the lower deck stair railing. The latter angles down, so its a lot less visible. 

There are only 6 ends: 1 stair, 1 at house, and only 4 we might miter. Even if it's tricky, the miter is doable.