Genius loves company
Nick gets his ingenuity from his dad. Often times Nick will come up with a clever way to help make a job easier or more exact. Seeing him work with his dad is great. They built a jig that held the joist tracks that they needed to screw into the ceiling to hold the tubing for the radiant flooring. It has two grooves that the joist tracks sit into and there is a movable piece of wood that you turn so it sits against the side of the joist. While one lined the jig up, the other would put screws in each of the outside corners to hold it in place. Then the jig would be lifted off and the rest of the screws put in.
The joist tracks all look nice and straight and I think it saved a bunch of time.
No need for re-measuring and putting in chalk lines. They also built temporary scaffolding to put on top of the sawhorses. When the scaffolding needed to be moved, we just slid the entire thing across the floor. Now if they could just invent something that could shop vac the entire floor at once, that would be great! Nick’s dad has worked so hard this week & we sure hope he’s willing to come back next summer. We’ve promised that we’ll tack on a trip to Mt. Rainier on one of his visits.
3 Comments
mandaliet·July 21, 2005
I’m always impressed by how fast you guys get things done, and how you just seem to dive into the whole rennovation thing with such ease. I have to read like 50 books while I’m pulling out my hair, and then put it off for a month because of my own lame excuses. But anyways, I wanted to instal pex and a small manifold system in my house, not for radient flooring, but just for regular plumbing (our plumbing system is pretty basic, as we have an unfinished basement, and the kitchen and one bathroom are right next to each other on the first floor). My boyfriend has already replaced a bit of the plumbing, and seems to have a knack for it, do you think this is something he is capable of taking on? Thanks for any excelent advice you have for this home-restoration newbie.
Jocelyn·July 23, 2005
You guys rock! (just had to say that)
Nick·July 24, 2005
Mandaliet - I’d say that just about anyone who’s handy with tools could install PEX for potable water. We don’t have a manifold for our potable water (ours will branch out just like a traditional copper or iron system), but really this doesn’t change how easy it is to install. The hard part might be obtaining the correct tools – Home Depot just doesn’t stock the stuff you need. Good Luck!