Tag Archives: debris trailer (Apex Roofing)

2015/06/16 (T) More Stupid

Linda was scheduled to go to the bakery this morning but rescheduled to tomorrow due to last night’s weather forecast and the possibility of flooded highways in Detroit.  The morning rush hour traffic is bad under the best of conditions and flooded roadways can make it near impossible.  She also did not sleep well and woke up tired.

The Apex roofing crew started showing up just before 8 AM and the Wimsatt truck showed up with the shingles a little after 8 AM.  They brought a conveyor truck this time and were able to get the shingles off the truck and onto the roof without difficulty.  The Apex crew did not waste any time getting to work.  It turned out to be a great day for roofing; clear skies, no rain, moderate temperatures, lower humidity, and some breeze.  Even so, it is work that is done without the benefit of shade and roofs are hot places to work even on the nicest of days.

Wimsatt unloads shingles onto the garage roof.

Wimsatt unloads shingles onto the garage roof.

Linda continued working on the financials for our amateur radio club while I checked my e-mail.  I had a reply from RV Critter Guard telling me what to order and how much it would cost.  I placed the order through their website and used PayPal to complete the transaction.  I tried calling the concrete contractor that Phil recommended (Bid Rite Concrete LLC in Whitmore Lake) but the phone would disconnect after the first ring and revert to a dial tone.  Perhaps the recent storms caused a problem but I e-mailed Phil to see if he had a different number for them.  I called the Henry Ford Medical Center in West Bloomfield and made dermatology appointments for myself and Linda.

With all of that taken care of I turned my attention to the bus.  The toilet is a Microphor LF-210.  It uses pressurized air to operate the waste valve and the water valve and to help push the waste through the drain pipe and into the black tank.  To remove the toilet I had to undo three connections—air, water, and waste—and take out the four screws securing it to the floor.  If only it was as easy as that makes it sound.

The plumbing at the back of the Microphor toilet in our bus.

The plumbing at the back of the Microphor toilet in our bus.

Undoing the air line was easy and undoing the water connection only a little less so.  The waste connection was another matter.  The 1.5″ black plastic drain pipe was routed from the water bay through the floor and into the HVAC chase that runs along the driver’s side of the coach.  The converter, Royale Coach, brought it out through a hole in the wood that covers the chase, making it impossible to take the wood cover off.  The pipe then made two right angle bends, the first one towards the floor and the second one towards the back of the toilet.  The waste pipe was connected to the toilet discharge pipe with a length of rubber hose and a compression sleeve.

The toilet has a large hole in the back for all of these lines to pass through to the inside where they get hooked up.  It should have been a simple matter to slide the toilet away from the wall/chase but the last bend in the drain line was below the top edge of the bottom of the hole, preventing it from coming out.  After wiggling the toilet enough to get the rubber hose loose from the drain pipe I was able to lift the drain pipe just enough to slide the toilet out.  I took pictures for a possible BCM article on our interior remodeling project and then Linda helped me move the toilet out of the bathroom to the front of the coach.

The more I disassemble this coach the more stupid I think the design and construction of its systems are.  I don’t know that coaches from Marathon, Liberty, Vantare, Featherlight, Parliament, Millennium, Custom Coach, or any of a dozen other companies that have come and gone, is any better as I have never tried to disassemble one of them.  These are one-of-kind vehicles that are custom built specifically for the original purchaser and the over-riding factor in every case is the interior design.  Stuff, like toilets, go where the customer wants it, and systems, which are generally buried and hidden from view, get built wherever and however they can be made to fit.  The converter does not expect to have to repair or replace anything during the very short 12 month, 12,000 miles, warranty period and if stuff breaks after that, or someone wants to do a remodel or upgrade sometime later, it will all be time and material.  How difficult it is to do, and how many hours it takes, is someone else’s problem at that point.

The Apex crew hard at work on the back side of the main roof.

The Apex crew hard at work on the back side of the main roof.

We had a call from Butch updating us on a possible property purchase.  They are waiting for a clear title search before making an offer.  The property includes a house and a sizable barn.  The barn needs a new roof and the house will have to be gutted and the inside rebuilt, but for the right price it will still be a good deal.  They already have a good estimate to replace the barn roof and since they are now retired they have more time to work on the house than they would have a year ago.  They also have family and friends who can help.  Besides, they still have their home/business building in Twelve Mile, Indiana and their bus, which they lived in all this past winter, so they will not be under any pressure to get the inside rebuilt quickly.

Linda started downloading updates from Adobe Creative Cloud, which take a very long time, and then left at 3:30 PM for Ann Arbor.  She agreed to take care of grand-daughter Madeline while Brendan and Shawna attended a reception at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor for newly tenured and promoted faculty.  I was on my own for dinner and Linda bought an Amy’s pizza so I would have something easy to prepare.

The roofers finished up for the day around 5 PM.  By the time they left most of the trash was in their dumpster trailer and the roof was tarped as a precaution against rain even though the forecast for tonight and tomorrow is for dry weather.  Rain returns to the forecast tomorrow night into Thursday but turns dry again on Friday, so we are optimistic that they will get the job finished this week.  It’s a big job but Apex has a big crew working on it and they got a lot of work done today.  We are very pleased with the look of the Certainteed Landmark Pro Max Def Resawn Shake shingle that we chose.  I took pictures of the work throughout the day as I always try to do with major projects.

After the roofers left I worked for a while in the bus.  I took the mattress into the house along with the electric heating pad controls.  I disconnected the two gas struts that support the plywood bed platform so I could open it far enough to reinstall one of the drawers.  I left them disconnected as I plan to remove the platform to provide better access to the sides of the box and floor.  I also plan to reposition them when I reinstall the platform to provide better access to the storage area underneath.  I then took measurements and made a sketch of the file drawer box for the desk.

Installing soffit baffles and replacing roof decking on the front of the main roof.

Installing soffit baffles and replacing roof decking on the front of the main roof.

I cooked the Amy’s Roasted Vegetable Pizza on the outdoor gas grill, both to avoid heating up the house and to see how it responded to that cooking method.  I used the grilling mat and the result was quite acceptable.  A glass of Franzia Moscato was a nice accompaniment.

After dinner I worked at the drafting board in my office turning my sketch and measurements into a scale drawing.  The two boxes for the desk will be trickier than a standard desk box because of the HVAC chase and because I have to put an Aqua-Hot heat exchanger in the bottom of each one.  I worked until about 9 PM and then came back upstairs.

The air-conditioner worked fine yesterday but was once again unable to bring the temperature in the house below 74 degrees F even though the outside air temperature never rose above 80.  There is clearly something wrong and I am wondering if one of the cold air ducts is open into the attic and/or one of the return air ducts us drawing hot air from the attic.  Either of these conditions would reduce the air flow to the house and overtax the evaporator in the air handling unit.  The more likely cause, however, is lack of refrigerant.  Whatever the case I shut the system off and opened up the house.

I was relaxing in the living room when Linda called at 9:30 PM to let me know she had left her babysitting gig and was stopping at the Whole Foods Market before heading home.  The reception started at 5 PM and lasted until 9 PM.  She was home by 10:15 PM and straight away to bed as she has to go into the bakery tomorrow and wants to leave early enough to be ahead of the morning rush hour traffic.

 

2015/06/15 (M) Cover Up

Linda was originally scheduled to go into the bakery today but it got rescheduled to tomorrow so we did not have to be up by any certain time other than to be ready for the delivery of our new roof shingles.  Apex Roofing is scheduled to put a new roof on our house this week, weather permitting, and assuming they can finish up jobs they had scheduled for last week when it rained so much.

The truck from Wimsatt Materials in Waterford showed up at 8 AM with our shingles but they were unable to deliver them.  They brought them on a boom truck that was too tall to fit under the phone lines across our driveway and there was nowhere else they could position the truck that would allow them to operate the boon.  They were on the phone with their dispatcher and I called Pat Davidson at Apex roofing to let him know what was going on.  The decision was that they would be back this afternoon with a conveyor truck which would fit under the wires and be able to get the bundles up to the roof.  Pat called back to let me know they would be starting in the morning around 7:30 AM.

Later in the day someone showed up in an Apex van with a large enclosed trailer.  We moved our cars and he backed it up in front of our single garage door.  Wimsatt did not return with shingles so they will presumably deliver them first thing tomorrow morning.  They will need to back into the driveway and position the truck in front of our double garage door but that is also where Apex plans to put their debris trailer.  The guy in the van also made it sound like there would be at least six cars/trucks here needing someplace to park.  It should be an interesting morning, especially given the overnight weather forecast which includes drenching rains and possible severe weather and flooding.  The forecast for the daylight hours, however, looks OK.

After the Wimsatt truck left we finished the last batch of granola for breakfast and then got busy with our chores and projects.  Linda spent part of the day at her desk working on the financials for our local ham radio club (SLAARC).  She also tried to contact PayPal to opt out of their upcoming RoboCall campaign but was not able to get through to a real person.

I settled into my office for the morning, dealing with e-mail but focusing on editing blog posts for the last seven days.  Kate got in touch with me to see if we wanted to see The Bikinis musical production at the Meadow Brooke Theatre this week.  Wednesday through Sunday is the final run.  She also forwarded an invitation to a former colleague’s retirement gathering in a couple of weeks.

We have an RV Critter Guard that seals around our 50 A electrical cord and water hose to keep “critters” from entering the coach via that access hole.  We lost our original foam insert when I forgot to remove it from the cable entrance hole in the floor of the bus utility bay and it fell (blew) out while we were driving.  I checked the RV Critter Guard website and my exact products were not listed.  I measured our existing tongue and groove plate and then contacted the company via their contact form and explained what I needed.  I got an e-mail back indicating that my product was custom made and asking me for one additional dimension from the plastic plate.  I got that measurement and e-mailed it to them and indicated that I wanted another plastic plate and two spilt foam inserts.  I expect to receive an e-mail tomorrow with the price.  Once I have that I will call them to place the order.

I have tried several times in the last two years to order products from EZ Connector but they have always had another question for me that required me to go check something and I have never managed to close the loop with them.  I’ve been on a roll the last couple of weeks and decided that today was the day to get this done.  The company is in California, so I called them during the afternoon (my time).  The woman I spoke to on the phone gave me some good information but suggested I e-mail Joe with my requirements.  Joe e-mailed me back and answered several questions but had another one for me.  I responded to that question and went on to something else while I await the prices.  Once I have the pricing I will have to call them and finalize the order.

I exchanged e-mails with Josh from Coach Supply Direct and got a series of revised quotes from him for our new RV furniture and window shades.  What I really need are the drawings that show the exact dimensions of each piece including the size of the base and the location of the pivot (swivel) point.  Apparently he is having difficulty getting these from Flexsteel.  I would also like to have these for the Lambright Comfort Chairs but we took our own measurements at Bradd and Hall.  The whole process of getting furniture is getting very frustrating.  I need to contact Mike at Suburban Seating regarding the ISRI 6860 and pick a day to drive to ISRI USA in Galesburg to look at fabrics.  While I am at it I should probably get a price from Prevost.

I finally got back to work in the bus this afternoon.  I shut off the auxiliary air compressor, closed the valve on the air manifold that supplies air to the toilet and other house accessories, and drained the water separator.  I then investigated what will be required to remove the toilet.

There is a shut off valve on the water line behind the toilet so I closed that.  The water line is attached to the toilet mechanism with a plastic connector with two wings and looked like I could undo it by hand.  The air line looked equally easy to disconnect but the drain looked a bit trickier.  It goes out the back of the toilet rather than through the floor.  There is a metal sleeve with band clamps at each end that connects the discharge pipe to the drain line.  Fortunately the band clamp screws are accessible.

The toilet is screwed to the floor with four Philips head screws.  The centers of the screw heads are threaded and there are plastic caps with posts that screw down into the mounting screws to conceal them.  With the water, air, and waste lines disconnected once I unscrew the base the toilet should slide forward and then we may have to lift it to get clear of the water line.  The trick to getting it back in will be to get the four mounting screws back in the exact same holes.

The humidity outside was near 100% and I did not feel like running the bus air conditioners so I did not remove the toilet today.  I need to get it out, however, to remove the last few pieces of ceramic tile from the bathroom floor.  Once it is out it will have to stay out until the new floor is installed.

I tried pulling on one of the window latch knobs on the fixed window across from the kitchen counter and was surprised by easily it moved the latch.  I did not pull it far enough to unlatch it but it appears that getting the window unlatched will be relatively easy.  Getting the frame open without damaging the frame seal, and getting it closed again so it is weather tight, may be slightly more challenging.

I used a chisel to try removing the thinset and mastic that was adhered to the plywood subfloor.  It came off better than I thought it would but it was a slow process.  In addition to being humid in the coach it was very warm as I have had to leave the roof vents closed with the fans off due to the rainy weather.  I removed enough thinset, however, to convince me that it is worth renting the power floor scraper from the Home Depot in Howell for a day and see how it works.

Late afternoon Linda worked in the kitchen making another batch of her fabulous granola and a black beans and rice dish for dinner.  She soaked two Hatch chilies, two Ancho chilies, and four Pequin chilies and used them in the bean dish.  I had a call from Pat Lintner before dinner to let me know that they took their Prevost to McMillers in Nappanee and were very pleased with work and the price.

I thought about driving to the Lowe’s in Howell after dinner to order the new Frigidaire refrigerator for the bus but it got too late to go.  We have decided to have it delivered to Chuck Spera’s shop in Novi.  We can pull it inside and he has a forklift, so hopefully that works out OK.

We were both tired and headed off to bed at 10 PM.  The weather radar showed a band of more intense rain setting up to our southwest and taking aim at us.  Linda fell asleep quickly but I was still up writing when the rains started around 11:15 PM.  We had the house closed up with the air conditioner running and a small fan for air movement so the sounds of the weather are not as noticeable as when we have the windows and doorwalls open.  I checked the radar again on Wundermap and it looked like we might be in for a long stretch of persistent rain unless the line drifted south just enough to miss us.  The strongest weather in the region stretched from Ft. Wayne, Indiana WSW to just south of Logansport, Indiana but there were lots of pockets of yellow with some orange on the screen over all of the southern half of Michigan’s lower peninsula and the northern half of Indiana.  It looked like it might be another restless night.