Our water heaters are installed! Yes, that’s plural, as in two. The little (50 gal.) tank on the left is actually a pre-heat tank that doesn’t even power on, but it ties in directly with our geothermal system’s hot water generator feature. This is a function that allows a separate heat exchanger inside the geothermal furnace to heat water at a much lower cost. It then sends it into the pre-heat storage tank, which then feeds into the larger (85 gal.) Rheem Marathon water heater. The ClimateMaster rep said it would save somewhere in the neighborhood of $150-$200 per year on our water heating costs.
What’s Cooking?
Our appliances are in! We went with all KitchenAid stainless steel appliances and we purchased them online through a site called AppliancesConnection.com. We sent out an RFP to a number of local and statewide appliance retailers asking for their best pricing on these specific models, with tax and shipping to our door. Nobody could come close to the pricing we got online, so that’s the route we went. Amber is really excited to see how she likes the double oven range!
You can read more about each model here:
Erection Successful
We erected a Rohn 25G communications tower this weekend. This is a 30′ tower which we can use for mounting any number of communication apparatus including a television antenna or satellite dish, weather station, wireless radios, or even an IP video camera. Amber thinks it would also work for Christmas decorations, but that is strictly prohibited according to the manufacturer’s specs…I think.
The tower has a 4 ft. hinged base which we set in concrete. Having a hinged base makes this tower much easier to lay down and work on things. The tower is grounded using three 5/8″ x 8′ copper-clad ground rods which ground each leg of the tower independently. The three grounds are then bonded together with 4 gauge copper and then everything is bonded to the house electrical ground using 4 gauge copper as well.
I Crown Thee
Colt put up the crown molding on our kitchen cabinetry today. This really made the cabinets come together nicely.
Taken for Granite
Our granite countertops were installed today! We went with New Venetian Gold granite and we actually picked out the slabs directly from Midwest Tile, Marble & Granite in Lincoln. We tried to select a set of slabs that had veining to add some character, especially since the island is such a large surface. The island has 12″ overhangs on three sides, so there’s plenty of room to slide up with stools. The granite itself is supported by a piece of 1/4″ plate steel to help bear the weight without needing corbels (brackets).
For our kitchen sink we chose a Blanco Diamond Silgranit II in the color Biscotti. This is an undermount sink that is also composed of granite so it has all the same benefits of heat and scratch resistance as well.
