And Now A Word From…

Welcome once again to Jeff Does Nothing Particularly Important, brought to you by our sponsor, Barking Dogs. Nothing helps you get nothing done like Barking Dogs!

The past week was pretty busy.

The big news is that the contractors are almost done. They were here twice and finished up the drywall work. What remains to be done inside — mostly painting — is my job, not theirs. Their only outstanding item is an extension for one of the new gates. I’m waiting to hear back from them on that, along with getting a final bill.

I managed to finish the air filter and have had it running. It works pretty well. Here are some “action shots” of the final assembly:

And here’s the final product, plugged in and running:

It turns out to be pretty tall. The furnace filters it uses are 16" x 25" x 1", which means the total height is about 32", not including the handle. The reason for that is the fans. They came in batches of five, and it made no sense to have leftovers. So I figured out how much room I needed to use ten and picked a filter size that provided the needed space.

If I was to do this again — not a sure thing — I would probably use a smaller filter and either fewer fans or put some on the top as well as on the sides.

Why is it not clear that I will build another of these? There are a few reasons:

• First, it took a lot of time to build. Some of that was my own fault and some was down to interruptions from contractors, but it still wasn’t quick.
• While the result is as quiet as you’re going to get a device like this to be, it still has a gentle hum that could be an issue for some.
• Also, our home continues to have pretty clean air, with very low PM2.5 numbers and a great AQI. In general I am learning that I don’t feel the need to run this thing all that often. Possibly after some kinds of cooking, and definitely after sanding drywall mud, but elevated PM2.5 and AQI numbers appear to go down pretty quickly, even without the filter. How much it helps is still not clear. It definitely moves air around, but it’s also nothing like an actual forced air furnace.
• I used scrap wood for the construction of this beast, and I am running out of nicer wood for things like this. That means I’d have to buy more materials for the next one, and that would add to the cost.
• And speaking of cost, it was expensive. I don’t regret anything about it, and I greatly prefer it to a box fan and some filters taped together, but the material cost was high enough that I am not sure it’s worth doing again. If someone (local) wants one of these, talk to me and I’ll work out an estimate of what it would take to reproduce it.

Still, it’s nice to have around and it is definitely useful at times.

In addition to finishing the filter, I managed to prime much of the new drywall. Not quite all of it, but a lot. What remains to be primed is either still drying (yes, really) or is in a place where it matters less for now.

I also hung three more of the new window coverings:

Those are the funky (and ridiculously expensive) two tone cellular shades. They each contain a top section of moderately open mesh and a bottom section of standard cellular shade. As shown above, they can be opened in various ways to admit more or less light and maintain privacy. Plus, since the cords are embedded inside the shade/mesh, they are legal. (Canada stopped sales of all shades and blinds with exposed cords of any length a while back due to the strangulation risk to children. The manufacturers have been scrambling ever since to figure out alternative items to sell, or different operating mechanisms.)

Anyway, I have gobs of painting left to do, as well as some minor trim work. The latter should be done in a few days, but the painting will go on for months. Still, in a couple of weeks I hope to get the house interior back to the state it was in before the window replacement project began.

In other news, I went to a local ceramics studio where a couple friends of mine work. They were having their annual holiday sale, and I was there to see what was new. Jessica — one of my school friends — had these on display and I am intrigued:

She’d hung them in a corner along a staircase (thus the angle) and they are her first attempt at this sort of thing. She’s toying with the idea in general. They might be glazed, of more sizes, etc. They might be sold individually or in groups, and she’s still trying to work out the right way to hang them.

If you ask me, this sort of thing is her strength. She’s got a fantastic design sense and her sculptural work is amazing. I hope to encourage her to keep at this idea and maybe install a few of them in our home one of these days. You never know!

That wraps it up for this week. Remember to support Barking Dogs!

Cheers!