blanketing the church
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Posted:Dec 11, 2013 12:38 pm
Last Updated:Apr 26, 2024 1:29 pm 3704 Views
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i put up the latest two styrofoam window furnaces, the biggest one up in the top right corner on the transom above the door. the smaller one is in the bottom of the last window on the right. the doors under the transom are also foamed near to death.
it was only then that i realized that the nasty frigid cold draft was still there and not coming from that wall. it was coming from the floor. i couldn't tell when there was just so much draft in the room that it was everywhere, but once i got most of the front wall insulated, you could feel it coming up from the floor.
the church part of this building is one story and set on a slab. likely it was added some time after the original building. beneath the wood floor of the church is a 4 foot crawlspace with plumbing and whatnot. the space runs all the way out under the sidewalk and the street. i sealed the open wall of it where it meets my basement, but i never thought to insulate the ceiling of it. that is now high on my lists of to dos. it will be a nasty job though, it is like a sewer tunnel.
in the mean time, i took the easier way out and threw out a bunch of throw rugs inside the church. it made a major difference right away. between the rugs and the foam heaters, it is completely nice in there today without any other paid heat at all. YAY!
thank you lord 
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heat your house with pop cans, styrafoam & duct tape
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Posted:Dec 10, 2013 7:49 am
Last Updated:Dec 13, 2013 2:49 pm 3987 Views
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ok. i have made some modifications to the standard outdoor popcan solar furnace. i have brought them indoors, which means they don't have to endure the weather. styrofoam is perfect. it is strong enough to take anything inside, and lightweight and easy to work with. additionally, it can be securely fastened into needed configurations with just glue and duct tape. additionally, the foam serves as extra insulation and cuts WAY down on window drafts. it even completely insulates the window glass itself it covers.
the larger one is for the transom over the frong door. that window is a HUGE continuous cold draft, and just covering it up for the fit made a major difference in the church. i have one of these already up in one window, and the smaller one is for another. i only have so many windows in direct sunlight on the building, and i am putting these little furnaces on most of them.
the hope is that it will keep everything much warmer on sunny days so that the church starts out warmer at night and is easier to heat then. also, i sometimes jam on the church stage during the day, or conduct other necessary functions inside it. it helps me to want to get into church stuff more often if it isn't freezing in there.
the coolest thing about this heat, is that it is essentially free. i have been collecting pieces of styrafoam i find in the alleys when i walk calvin. the pop isn't free, but i saved all the cans that i drink and would have just thrown them out. recycling alluminum in chicago is not worthwhile financially. duct tape isn't free, but it is really cheap. i am also using cheap electrical tape to stick the cans together. it works better than glue or caulk and it is more or less air tight if you put it on tightly.
it is cold here today. it is snowing again
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calvin and the roomba
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Posted:Dec 8, 2013 8:02 am
Last Updated:Dec 10, 2013 3:18 pm 4059 Views
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i have had a roomba, robot sweeper, for a few years. i got it for $5 at a garage sale without a battery, and got a battery for $19.99 on ebay.
hobbes was mildly amused by it at first, but ignores it completely now. calvin thinks it is an intruder. the roomba makes a lot of noise. a kind of whirring and grinding, and it bounces off everything. it is a little annoying.
it is much louder now with calvin on its trail. he barks and growls and tries (successfully ocasionally) to turn it over. when it is all spinning and everything on its back it looks like a helpless turtle. calvin will just walk away from it once it is immobilized like that.
the roomba keeps the floors clean, calvin busy, and gives hobbes a little break. calvin thinks hobbes is one of his toys.
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homemade extra-large crate
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Posted:Dec 5, 2013 9:23 am
Last Updated:Dec 5, 2013 2:30 pm 4028 Views
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i put this crate together out of two rubbermade type 50 gallon tubs. the bottom one has wheels, so it is portable. it is pretty light weight and durable too. it has a water bottle on the side and a bowl glued to a corner inside.
calvin loves it. he started sleeping in it as soon as i put it in the house. he has almost completely outgrown his original crate.
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mo neighborhood view
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Posted:Dec 4, 2013 2:34 pm
Last Updated:Dec 4, 2013 7:25 pm 4058 Views
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this is the backside of hansen feild stadium that faces god's garage. when they have games there, they announce over the PA like a real stadium and you can hear it inside the church. Thankfully, they usually hold the games in the early day.
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more god's garage view
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Posted:Dec 3, 2013 2:50 pm
Last Updated:Dec 4, 2013 2:30 pm 4035 Views
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this is looking east down fullerton. god's garage is across the street on the left. on the right, there is fencing at the end of the hansen feild property, and then it is is all open as far as you can see.
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mo pics of god's garage
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Posted:Dec 2, 2013 7:32 pm
Last Updated:Dec 3, 2013 7:53 am 4011 Views
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that is the technical school on the far left, and that is surrounded by smaller fields too.
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the God's Garage neighborhood
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Posted:Dec 2, 2013 2:23 pm
Last Updated:Dec 4, 2013 2:31 pm 4107 Views
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God's Garage is located on the westish side of the northish side in a commercial, yet very mexican neighborhood. I have been blessed to be right across the street from Hansen Feild, a very large multipurpose stadium own by the chicago park district. Next to the Feild, there is a smaller field for the workers of Hansen Stadium and other city workers, which has a lot of field all around it. next to the park house, is Hansen Park Elementary School, which also has a lot of feild all around it.
Effectively, there is open feild across the street from me for about 4 city blocks or so. Behind the grammar school, there is a High School that also has fields, and a technical school that has some fields. for the most part, there are a feilds across the street for a good square mile. there is a little skinny park back there too, and soccer fields, and baseball feilds, and just feild fields.
it is really a blessing to have this much space in the inner city. i can take calvin across the street into the parkhouse field area which is mostly fenced in, and take off his leash to let him run. i have a bunch of pictures of the block i will post after this post.
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no habla espanol
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Posted:Nov 30, 2013 12:07 pm
Last Updated:Dec 1, 2013 9:17 am 4249 Views
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this is going to be another rant. beware.
there is a chat room designated for spanish language. there is also one for taglog and i once was banned for 24 hours by admin for speaking english there. a girl i knew here and i used to go to the taglog room to talk because nobody was ever there.
when the spanish speakers come into the other rooms they tend to take over. there are other empty rooms, and even the spanish room will be empty, and still they come. spanish in the middle of an english chat room is like static on your tv. it makes it harder to track conversations and it is annoying. it is bogarting the bandwidth
once two spanish speaking people come into a room, more will follow quickly. even if you iggy them, you have to keep iggying all the newcomers and eventually the room slows down. and everybody who didn't iggy them will leave anyways. it is invasion plain and simple.
there is a spanish language room for speaking spanish. there are also usually empty rooms to be had. please only speak english in the english rooms or i will be forced to be unpleasant.
this is not a debate. this is war.
thank you
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