11/15/2006

Radon was 2.0 this morning

Propane was delivered and the camper was warm. Jim Mellott is working for OVCC now and he is taking care of the water and propane for me now. Jim is a good guy and quite capable at a number of trades like plumbing, electrical and general construction. Jim and I figured that the propane in the little bottles the camper uses last only a week. He will make sure I do not run out again. We agreed that a larger tank of propane would be better but of course it would not fit into the cabinet of the camper.

ARC guys are digging a trench in the floor of the SW basement room to install a 4 inch perforated plastic pipe recommended by EPA to collect Radon gas under the concrete floor. This pipe will connect to others in the other rooms before new cement is poured and then exit the house in the SE chimney which is not used.

While digging in the sub floor area Luke turned up a tea spoon. It was an “1847 Rogers Bros.” silver plate with moderate to heavy wear. It was not lost by any of the Simpsons so it must have been lost by one of the Kinneys. But When? I went to the internet and found that was the Assyrian pattern made from 1849 to 1890. that does not tell us any date it was lost or by whom but it was an interesting find and will go into the collection of artifacts found in and around the house.

The crew got the trench done in that first room and placed a layer of gravel, then 4 inch pipe was assembled in a rectangular patter around the room with the exit under the doorway to the hall. Then they got the word that EPA did not like the kind of plastic elbows used at all 4 corners as they were not smooth enough on the inside and would slow the passage of the Radon gas. They had to disjoint all of it and get new approved elbows and install them.

I was not here when the crew used a carbide tip saw to cut a trench in the cement floor of the wash room. Went between the washer and dryer. My Tag-Sav-R supplies had all been removed from the SW room to this and not covered when they ran the saw. Needless to say cement dust went all over everything, including an open box of low jaw parts worth about $800.00 and all tools, dies and drill press. I am not sure how much damage was done to the lower jaw parts as they are not protected from stuff like that. I will be had pressed to assemble any Tag Sav R tools for some time due to the lack of space, dirt, etc. where I work.

Floyd Simpson