It has been several weeks since we managed to assemble the whole crew for a meal. Nicolai has been all over the country practicing with his team for the World Cup (just 3 weeks away now), Maya was in quarantine recovering from her second bout of Covid and Kyle was in Las Vegas for a work function. As a bonus, we were joined by Sarinnagh, who is like another member of the family. We were all in Somerville to see Maya’s new apartment, located a few steps away from Union Square. She is sharing the third-floor flat with three friends (two from high school) and is now a short walk away from work. After moving to and from three different states for internships, in and out of her dorm at Olin every year, back and forth to Amsterdam for a term abroad, and in with us while waiting for her lease to start, Maya is really looking forward to settling down for a while. We are thrilled that she choose to remain in Boston.

We learned that Nicolai will be playing an exhibition soccer match in the center of Times Square next Saturday. Other obligations permitting, I may make the drive down with Maya. Meanwhile, Kyle is headed to Cabo, Mexico for another work function next week.

The formwork for the basement walls of the River House was completed this afternoon. Weather permitting, the concrete will be pumped in on Tuesday. I spent the day working with Kyle on his basement renovation, which is really starting to take shape. Jeanine helped Maya move into her new apartment in Sommerville which she will share with three friends. A nicer day you could not wish for. Jeanine and I enjoyed the last rays of the sun at the worksite and relaxing on an old bench with a commanding view of the river.

Passing kidney stones has a hard part (kidney to the bladder) and an easy part (bladder to the free world). For me, the first part usually lasts for a few days and is no fun at all. The second part can be delayed by weeks or months and is often triggered by airplane travel. This morning, I welcomed this fine collection of stones including one in the shape of a heart (if you are a lover) or an arrowhead (if you are a fighter). The long dimension of the triangle is about 3.5mm. I am now something of an expert on kidney stones but still have no idea why they always seem to arrive in large groups. Perhaps the big one makes a way for the little ones. I would rather pass a hundred small stones than one big one, much less a big one with sharp angles.

The side door entryway to our Road House is something of an oddity. It features five doors. One to the outside, one to the garage, one to the kitchen, one to my office, and one to the mudroom. It is something of a major traffic intersection and the floor has taken a beating over the years. This morning, I started a project to install cork flooring in this space. Step one was to lay down a substrate, in this case, 3/4 inch Advantech (we will be using the 1-1/8″ version for the River House sub-flooring). I used glue and screws to secure it. Next, I need to fill the screw holes and board seems. Cork will telegraph the slightest imperfections from below, so I will take my time to ensure this gets done right. I hope to install and seal the cork over the long weekend.

I have spent a considerable amount of time evaluating different options for lighting and lighting control for the River House. I have settled on Leviton Decora Smart Wi-Fi Motion Sensing Dimmers for control. 36 of the 38 lighting circuits in the house will be fitted with this switch. The device is highly programmable and can be configured as a regular dimmer switch, an occupancy dimmer, or a vacancy dimmer. Every light will be controllable from my phone, the internet, or any of the voice assistants (Siri, in our case). The switches can communicate with each other as well (motion at the top of the stairs turns on lights at the bottom of the stairs). 36 motion sensors spread throughout the house also make for one hell of a security system. I also spent several days evaluating recessed LED lighting fixtures and have selected the 4″ Halo HLB4069FS1EMWR which will be used in 76 places. I down selected from over a dozen units based on the following characteristics: cost, appearance, total lumens, lumens/watt, color temperature, ability to dim, color rendition index, beam angle, ability to use in showers, ability to use in contact with insulation, size of the connection box, style of connectors, ability to daisy-chain, built-in wire clamps. I then ordered one of each of the top three choices. I then wired them up to my chosen dimmer switch and tested them for: flicker, acoustic anomalies (hum or buzz at all lighting levels), ability to dim to near zero, ability to mount directly under a ceiling joist, spring tension to hold fast to ceiling, quality of diffused light (analyzed the shadows, looked for hot spots), mounted on the ceiling and observed light spread to determine optimal spacing.

Some people (including close family members) think I am insane for investing this kind of effort for something as mundane as lights and switches. The fact is, I enjoy doing this type of research and investigation. Moreover, the investment in time now will pay dividends in the future. I will be happy every time a light in an unoccupied room turns itself off and when I tell Siri to turn off all the lights in the house when going to bed or to set the lighting scene for a dinner party with one command.

One of the projects I am working on for a client involves dispensing a precise amount of powder to be mixed with a solvent. For the moment, I have settled on a vibratory dispenser and spent some time today testing an inexpensive unit I purchased on Amazon. It performed as expected but I learned that vibration frequency was possibly even more important than intensity in determining flow rate. I did my initial experiments with salt (because it was handy) and need to repeat with the actual powders of interest.

On my way home from my soccer match this morning, I noticed this newly completed house which shares some design elements with our new house project. Jeanine and I returned later in the day to check it out more thoroughly. Naturally, the outing ended at Kimball Farms for ice cream.

The soccer team I am playing with this season has many talented individuals but we have not learned to play as a team yet. We faced last year’s league champions in our opening match with many of our players still on vacation. The result was a predictable 0-4 drubbing. I played for 70 minutes and had our only shot on goal, a header off a corner that just skimmed the outside of the post.

Floor framing is generally very straightforward. When you are hell-bent on having zero ductwork or pipes on the ceiling of your basement, it is anything but. Access to the joist bays from the mechanical room has to be very carefully thought out to ensure that supply and return ducts have a path through the labyrinth to the necessary locations. Add in a ventilation system with 32 supply/return tubes and you have a real puzzle on your hands. Happily, I have come up with a plan which should satisfy all the objectives.

My Audi has been in the shop all week. I brought it in on Monday because my adaptive cruise control was not engaging properly (the only problem I have had with the car in three years). While performing diagnostics, they determined that one of 36 battery modules was not performing properly and needed to be replaced. Fortunately, the replacement will be covered under warranty but the repair involved removing the entire battery assembly (pictured above) from the bottom of the car. I have been advised that the work will not be completed until early next week.

I spent half of the day on-site and among other things, helped to unload an entire 53-foot long trailer full of ICF blocks that will be used as forms for the basement walls. Insulated concrete forms (ICF) are lego-like blocks made of styrofoam-like insulating panels that are held together by internal webbing designed as cradles for rebar and anchor points for fasteners. Once stacked to the desired height, concrete is poured into the forms and the resulting wall assembly has an R-value of 25. Jeanine joined me on a visit to the site this evening and we wound up visiting with our neighbors who invited us over for snacks and drinks.

When building an extremely well insulated and tightly sealed home it is imperative that a ventilation system be included in the design. Such a system runs continuously bringing in filtered fresh air from outdoors while exhausting an equal amount of stale air from the house. Rather than waste the energy in the conditioned air that is being sent out of the home, an ERV (Energy Recovery Ventilator) extracts this energy and transfers it to the fresh air entering the house. We have selected the Zehnder 600 Q to serve this purpose in our new home and it is able to recover up to 95% of that energy. Because of extended lead times, I placed an order for our system today so that it will be here in time for the HVAC work, currently planned for November.

Maya left work early today feeling very ill and asked if she could come home. She tested negative twice for Covid today but has most of the symptoms and looked very puny when she arrived. Jeanine is the superior caregiver in such situations but she was fully occupied at work and had an evening meeting. I did my best to do the things she would do if she were here. I took Maya’s temperature (>100F) and administered Ibuprofen. I asked her if she wanted anything to drink or eat. She requested fruits and Gatorade, so I went to the market to retrieve those items, as well as a broccoli quiche which I thought she might enjoy. Mostly, I just let her rest and hope that she will feel better in the morning.

In response to a request from the site supervisor managing our River House build, I upgraded the temporary power service available to folks working on site. I installed four duplex outlets, each on a dedicated 20 amp circuit, and a new load panel underneath the carport. This location allowed me to save money by using indoor-rated components, a good solution for a temporary installation. Should workers require 240V circuits for some reason, there is enough spare capacity to accommodate expansion.

While I was having fun on the river yesterday, Jeanine and friends from her book group were enjoying themselves in Bath, Maine. There, they apparently made the acquaintance of a very large lobster. I am sure there is a good story that goes with the photo, but I will need to. wait until she returns this evening to get the scoop. Meanwhile, back in Massachusetts, I got about 70 minutes of playing time in our last preseason scrimmage before match play begins next week. All that can be said of my performance was that I did not get injured. We played a younger team and with only 2 subs on our bench. Let’s just say we got trounced. Even so, we got a good run in and I feel ready for the beginning of the season.

Moving to Conantum has been wonderful on so many levels, not the least of which is the great neighbors that we have. This evening, I enjoyed a dinner cruise on the Sudbury River hosted by our neighbors to the south. Of course, Jeanine was also invited but is spending the weekend in Maine with girlfriends from her book group. The pontoon boat operated by Martha of the South Bridge Boat House picked us up on the shore of our neighbor’s backyard and toured us up and down the river while dinner was served. Martha was a fountain of knowledge about the river and the people who live on its shores. The party included 4 other couples none of which knew each other before but who were all connected to our hosts. It was great getting to know them and learning all we had in common.

Earlier in the day, I met with our surveyor at the River House and watched as he “pinned” the 8 corners of our foundation footing to identify the exact location of the concrete wall that will be erected next. As we only have one chance to pour the walls, I wanted to double-check the dimensions which we did with a steel tape (used by surveyors to eliminate errors that can result from tapes that stretch). All the pins were dead on. Not even 1/16″ of error over a 42-foot span. Next, we checked diagonals to ensure square corners. Once again, dead on. Finally, I had him check the footing elevations which were within +/- 1/4″ of ideal. When the walls are constructed, I believe we will be able to reduce the elevation variation by 2 to 3 times.

A recent innovation in building materials is the Tstud. It is meant to replace traditional lumber for external wall framing applications. Wood is not a very good insulator. It conducts heat through a wall at a much greater rate than the insulation (see thermal photo below). No matter how well you insulate the cavity, the framing will alway create a thermal bridge for heat to move in or out of the house.

A Tstud is made of two pieces of dimensional lumber that are connected by angled dowels. This creates an air gap that can be filled with insulation resulting in much less heat loss through the framing. Pictured at the top of the post is a 2×6 style Tstud (composed of two 2x3s) being used on a project our architect is designing. He invited my builder’s framing crew and me to see the work in progress for a better understanding of how the product will be incorporated. Our house will use a 2×8 Tstud which is made from a 2×4 and 2×3 dowelled together at right angles to form an L-shaped profile.

Weather conditions could not have been more perfect for our first concrete pour. No rain, overcast skies, not too hot. Today the foundation footings were poured, arguably one of the most important steps to get just right. This is when the levelness and squareness of the rest of the structure get determined. We used exactly two trucks of concrete with not a cubic foot to spare. In fact, the second cement truck emptied before we were finished and there was just enough in the pump truck lines to finish the job. I can’t say enough about our ICF (Insulated Concrete Foundation) sub-contractor, BlueGreen Building Concepts. The quality and accuracy of their work have been exceptional.

The foundation footing forms for the River House have been completed and two mixer truck fulls of concrete are scheduled for delivery tomorrow. The rain that was forecast for today never materialized, for which I am very grateful. It also appears that there should be little if any accumulation overnight which will make for excellent working conditions. I am planning to be on-site for the entire pour which should only take a few hours.

Nico spent last week in Texas training with the US National Amputee Soccer team. He is now in Los Angeles where it would appear he is a guest of the Los Angeles Football Club along with other members of his team and the American Amputee Soccer Association. I am looking forward to hearing all about his adventures when he returns later this week.

Work on the foundation footings is progressing nicely with about 70% of the forms in place. We are scheduled for concrete delivery and our first pour on Thursday. Naturally, there is currently a 50% chance of rain on Wednesday which will likely lead to more delay. I have learned to take delays in stride. First, it was the pandemic slowing down everything from the closing date on our purchase to the permitting approval for the project. Next, it was the lack of truck drivers to deliver enough dumpsters to clear the site of demolition debris. Throughout, we have been faced with supply chain delays and now the weather is conspiring to slow things down as well. I am learning to not worry about things that I cannot control and in this case to be happy for all the thirsty vegetation that has been suffering from the drought we are in.

Concrete is extremely strong in compression but very weak in tension. To compensate for this, rebar (typically carbon steel, hot-rolled round bars with deformation patterns embossed into its surface) is strategically placed within the concrete to provide strength in tension. In some areas, the full length of the rebar is used, in others, it is cut down and shaped for special purposes. The “L” shaped pieces below will connect the foundation footers to the foundation walls when work resumes tomorrow.

I was back on the soccer pitch this morning in a three way scrimmage with two teams from Lexington. My fall season begins in two weeks and to say that I have some work to do to get in shape would be an understatement. Even so, I manage two rather nice goals and managed to walk away without any injuries. With each passing season, I become less interested in winning and more satisfied with surviving.

Jeanine and I spent the better part of the day with my cousin Heather and her husband Burton who are visiting us from North Carolina. We enjoyed a +3 mile hike along the Battle Road trail in Minute Man National Historical Park before lunching on fare from the Concord Cheese Shop. Although she was not here to show it herself, we toured Maya’s tiny house before visiting with Kyle at his new home in Medford. Jeanine will be joining Heather and her sister-in-law at a yoga retreat in Mexico early next year and we are also looking forward to a North Carolina roadtrip at some point to visit with them, my cousin Vincent and sister Mayela.

Maya appears to be on top of a mountain. The mountain could be in New Hampshire. It is possible she is on a camping trip with friends from work. This photo may have actually been taken tomorrow. All of these details are unclear to her father who has had to rely on second hand information and photos obtained by her mother.

This morning, work with a client led me to downtown Boston for a meeting. I arrived early having learned that parking in this part of town can be a very challenging and time consuming exercise. With a half hour on my hands, I spent most of it at the Boston Irish Famine Memorial. I have passed by and admired the statutes many times but have never had time to dwell and read all of the plaques detailing the Irish Potato Famine, also known as the Great Hunger which took the lives of over 1 million people, 15% of the country’s population at the time.

Later in the day, I met with our builder, architect, and foundation sub-contractor in preparation for the next phase of the project. Weather permitting we are on track for concrete pouring next week.

We call the house we are living in now the “Road House” because it is located near the intersection of Route 2 and Route 62. The location is ultra convenient but the immediate surroundings are far from the natural setting we are looking forward to at the River House, now under construction. Even so, on an evening walk with Jeanine, it did not take long before we found ourselves wrapped in nature, one of the things I love about living in Concord.

Normally, I return home from working with a client or on the River House looking forward to some peace and tranquility. This afternoon, however, I was greeted by the sound of no less than 9, count them 9, smoke detector sirens blaring and an urgent voice warning me of fire. I immediately checked all parts of the house for any signs of combustion and quickly determined that this was a false alarm. While in the basement, I grabbed my hearing protectors to keep my head from exploding. All attempts to silence the system proved futile. I then decided I would use a step ladder to climb up and remove each detector from its mount until I located the source of the problem. By the grace of God, the very first unit I chose to remove was the guilty party. I knew this would be the case when water started dousing my head as I removed the detector from its ceiling fixture. I took the detector apart but was not able to repair the water damage which was causing the unit to permanently signal a fire alert to all the other units in the house. I ordered a new unit and moved onto the next problem; where was the water coming from. I determined that our guest bathroom shower was the source. The main control valve and shower head wand penetrations had not been properly sealed allowing a very tiny amount of water to seep down the back of the wall and collect in the mounting box for the fire detector on the floor below. Over time, enough water trickled into the detector to cause the damage.

Our Road House is situated less than 600 feet, as the crow flys, from Emerson Hospital. Having just started to pass another kidney stone, I take some solace knowing that help is nearby should I need it. I now consider myself an expert on passing stones, having gone past the several dozen mark. At some point over the next 2 weeks or so, I am going to experience intense pain for several hours up to a few days as the stone makes its way from my kidney to my bladder. There, the stone will vacation for several weeks or months until it finally decides it is time to move on. I have now proven beyond any statistical improbability that the final journey will be triggered during my next airplane flight suggesting I will greet this stone in early October after arriving in Istanbul.

Last night Jeanine and I joined Kyle and Maya (Nico is in Texas training for the World Cup) at Gustavo, a Cuban restaurant in Cambridge to celebrate his birthday. The food was exceptional, as was the ambiance. I liked the way the light reflected off our water bottle and decided it would make a nice photo.

It seems impossible to me that our first born has reached the age of thirty. I am very proud of Kyle for all that he has accomplished and of the man he has become. Seemingly, in the blink of an eye he has grown from the cutest baby into a bonafide adult. I feel fortunate that I was there for all of it. Every soccer game, chess tournament, piano recital, trip to the ER, camping excursion, prom, graduation, and all the rest. I am very happy that we still spend time together, working side-by-side on his house and discussing our work lives. My hope is that he will one day share the indescribable joy I have experienced of being a father to a child like him.

Completed in just two days, excavation for the River House foundation is now done. The time lapse video above compresses the entire process into just over a minute. The perimeter of the excavated area is four feet outside of where the foundation walls will be poured. This is to allow space for workers to place forms, install drainage tile, and waterproof the outside of the walls. The depth is set to reach virgin (undisturbed) soil and to accommodate roughly 20 inches of insulating substrate.

The day has finally arrived where work on the River House can be categorized as construction rather than demolition. Specifically, excavation for the east wing footings has commenced. With any luck, the west wing excavation will be completed tomorrow and weather permitting we will be pouring concrete footings next week.