Branford Bike: Plumbing and Electrical, Emigrant, MT, Donate Used Books, Library Donation, D W Burns Plumbing and Heating, Arrowhead Electric, Glastonbury Landowner's Association, GLA, Montana, Vande Hey Raleigh, roofing, tile

February 18th, 2007
Jake Nelson and his Arrowhead Electric crew finished wiring the garage last week. Today the insulating experts from Bioseal stopped by and covered most of the garage interior with thick, fluffy fiberglass batts. The garage will have a wood stove but will not normally be heated except by the sun. Copious windows, 6 inches of fiberglass insulation and a foot thick concrete floor are designed to retain the sun's warmth and hold it throughout the night. While it may fall to 20 degrees below zero Fahrenheit in mid-winter, the inside of the garage will almost always remain above freezing. My car will be happy, warm, dry and should always start easily on bitter cold mornings.

The garage insulation is almost done.

The first layer of urethane foam is applied to the rafters.

Mike Murphy, Alan Bauer and Terry Counts of Bioseal in Livingston, Montana professionally insulated the new house. They sprayed two, 3 inch layers of urethane foam, on to the rafters over a period of a few days. Each layer sealed the rafters against drafts, lent them greater binding strength, added a thick insulating layer and provided a vapor barrier between the roof and interior. We used normal fiberglass batts for the walls so the house could still breath effectively while retaining warmth.

Contact Bioseal at (406)222-1331
Write to:
Bioseal, 191 Canyon View Drive
PO Box 1125, Livingston, MT 59047

I grew up in a house that was built before electricity was invented. When our home was wired in the early 1900's it contained two circuits and two, 15 amp screw in fuses, for the entire house. All of the room wiring branched off the original two circuits. We blew more than a few fuses and finally in the 1970's my Mom and Dad had the house rewired.
Modern houses use multiple, individual circuits that start at the main panel. Each circuit contains an easily resettable breaker and its own wiring. Individual circuits provide greater safety, convenience and more electricity. The entire house will not go dark if you overload one circuit.

Jake Nelson and his professional crew at Arrowhead Electric meticulously wired the house for electrical, TV, Internet and telephone service. E-mail Jake Nelson at Arrowhead Electric or
call him at (406)333-4166

The main electrical panel slowly grows new circuits.

Modern plumbing starts with a manifold system.

Plumbing has come a long way in the last 100 years. In the old days one set of hot and cold water intake pipes usually served an entire house. Today many people are choosing a manifold system which uses separate hot and cold water circuits for every fixture in the house. The number of intermediate connections and thus possibility of leaks is dramatically reduced. If a sink or toilet does develop a leak, they can be shut off at the manifold, and the other fixtures will still work fine. Water pressure is more even throughout the house so scalding showers when a toilet flushes are an experience of the past. The cross-linked polyethylene tubing (PEX) is flexible, easy to install and has a super smooth interior that allows water to flow quickly with less friction and chance of mineral scale buildup. Best of all, manifold systems generally cost less to install than traditional copper plumbing.

The experts at D.W. Burns Plumbing professionally designed and installed our manifold plumbing system.
E-mail D.W. Burns Plumbing or call them at
(406)333-4868

The expertly crafted heating ducts and perfectly spaced, manifold PEX tubing are slowly encased with wood and sheet rock. The bath and furnace rooms are insulated completely for soundproofing while all the exterior walls are insulated with thick batts of fiberglass for maximum heat retention.
Mike Foley and Micah Magnus, expert sheet rockers, stop by to analyze the house. They expect that in two weeks they will be able to professionally sheet rock every wall and ceiling; over 18,000 square feet.

A beautiful tapestry is encased by wood and walls.

The most physically demanding job when building a house is the unloading and stacking of sheet rock. Sheet rock comes taped together as two pieces. A normal 4 foot by 8 foot pack weighs about 120 pounds and is easily handled by two people. The tough part comes when the sheets grow to 5 by 10 or even 12 feet long. Those weigh over 200 pounds and are extremely difficult to lift and carry into the house. Sheet rock is fragile and can easily crack if mishandled or dropped. Keith, Chuck, Kim and I unloaded every piece of sheet rock and carefully stored it in selected spots on the three floors. Fortunately everyone else was stronger than I, otherwise we would not have stowed every piece, as well as we did.

The most strenuous job; unloading and stacking sheet rock

The pros from Bridger Garage Door installed our door and automatic opener in less than 3 hours!
E-mail Lori at Bridger Door, call her at (406)763-3667 or visit www.bridgerdoor.com web site by clicking on the underlined text.

When painted, these should look like two swinging carriage doors rather than a single, roll-up, garage door.

Aaron and Justin prepare the garage roof for tile.

Justin and Aaron, the extraordinary carpenters who meticulously framed the garage and house, are back and working on installing a tile roof. Everyone watches in anticipation as the two carpenters prepare the roof deck for the first tiles. Battens are carefully placed, the fascia and soffit boards affixed and weatherproofing striping is laid down. Aaron carefully installs the copper drip edge and gable/pediment trim. Finally, towards the end of the day, the first Van de Hey Raleigh tiles are placed on a corner of the garage roof. Aaron likens installing the tiles to "nailing a flower pot". They are delicate under a hammer but should last for a century or more of normal use.

Life continues after the devastating fire that destroyed my home, business and 99% of my worldly possessions. A new life is being constructed along with a new home. I do my best to serve my community by working with the Glastonbury Landowners Association. So far this year the GLA has put a final Master Plan to a community wide vote, adopted a much debated Code of Ethics and taken steps to deal with serious violations of the Covenants we live by. It is wonderful to work with individuals who care deeply about their community and freely give their time to serve in the majority of the landowners, best interest.

The Glastonbury Landowners Association Executive Committee takes a break from discussing weighty issues that affect our community.

Visit the Glastonbury Landowner's web site by clicking on the underlined text.

Donate a used book and help....

with the rebuilding effort. The fire consumed over 2,000 books; my lifetime collection. Every book was a small treasure and all are greatly missed. Many riders and readers have donated a few books from their personal collections to help rebuild my library. Their gifts provided me with comfort, happiness and a sense of security. Several donated books have helped with architectural and construction ideas for the new home. Others will make wonderful bedtime stories for children. Every book was carefully inscribed with the donors's name and date so we will always be reminded of their generosity. Click on the underlined text if you would like to donate a used book or two for our future library.

140 year old wagon trails ruts in Wyoming's prairie.

Parting shots from my recent road trip...

The Overland Trail was established in 1862 and used by tens of thousands of westward emigrants until the railroad came through in 1869. The light snow highlights the twin tracks left by thousands of horse drawn wagons.
Further north on the Oregon trail a natural feature called "Split Rock" guided emigrants for several days travel. It is the cleft you see below in the middle of the Rattlesnake mountains. Independence rock is pictured to your right. So named because timely westward travelers planned to arrive there by July 4th, Independence day lest they get caught in early winter snows closer to California. For many years westward emigrants partied on July 4th at Independence Rock.