April Showers

The system is finally working. I am happy to say that 270 gallons of water are in the barrels at this moment. If we had more storage there would have been a lot more. It is a start. Now to the next project : delivery and distribution to the garden.

Downspout today

Today after my third trip to pick up parts I finished the importing of the water from the downspout to the sunken sump pump basin. Now I just have to pipe it out and plug it in. The tricky part was devising a way to turn off the flow and have it go back down the drain at such times. So far so good.

Rain Water Harvesting

Here is my next project. I am in the middle of it now. It is basically a lot of plumbing . The object of the game is to get the rain water which is currently going down the drain to the storm drain which ends up in the Wissahickon creek . Its not a great set up. It pollutes the creek and overloads the sewage system.

So I buried this Sump basin below ground and will pipe the water from the drains to the basin. From there the water will be pumped over 150 feet to two 75 gallon rain barrels in the garden. Its a little tricky to do it properly. So I have been taking my time. However I should have an image up shortly of the working system.

Passive Solar Benefit

So this is our shed used primarily to store garden tools ect.. I cleaned it out and reorganised the tools. I installed a makeshift window on the east side and painted the east and south side flat black. When the sun is out the temperature is raised 10-15 degrees inside just by virtue of the black paint. Thereby making the shed a lot more use able during the winter months.

Cold frame update

I have been monitoring the temperature in the cold frame lately: outside temp. 19 degrees F inside 80 degrees. Yesterday 40 degrees F outside 105 F inside. Solar power works! Being that the heat builds up that much I installed a heat activated door opener to vent the hot air from the cold frame. Very cool.


I also have another blog going on our garden at: http://gsacgardening.blogspot.com/

Twig and branch pile

One of the byproducts of the sorting of all our yard wastes was this large hill of sticks. It was a pleasant surprise to see the flocks of birds that have been using it it for a hang out. Initially I thought about renting a big chipper and reducing it to wood chips. This is a much better solution. The sanctuary softens the visual landscape while giving the birds a safe habitat.

Solar

With all the talk of global warming and the high cost of energy I thought it was time to explore the viability of putting a solar array on our roof. So after doing some research I called in Jon Costanza from Sun Power Builders. He did a survey of the roofs and will be presenting a report shortly. We have been waiting to hear the results of the Pa state legislature to see what sorts of incentives are available for our project. We were profoundly disappointed in the federal energy bill that recently passed . Although with the present administration what else can one expect.

Windows

One of the issues that we were confronted with early on in my stay here was the state of our windows. The CoOp was done in the early 90's . The project being to convert an old factory building into artists studios and residences. It was a low budget project hence the windows failed at a high rate. So the talk at the time was of getting new windows at a cost of around 1/2 mil. Out of the question. Artists in our society are highly undervalued unless you happen to be an art star. So we got three bids and Crothers window services got the job . We ended up replacing over 80 failed thermapane units and over 110 balance devices (slides). Total cost around $18,000. All the broken glass panels were recycled and we were ready for winter without going heavily in debt.

Up on the roof.

I moved in to our building in May. We are a two story structure and I live on the second floor. I also have southwest and west facing windows. So I was concerned about my comfort level in the summer. After examining the roof (which was only 3-4 years old ) it had'nt been coated. So I pressed to have it done. The prevailing consensus was to silver coat it. I did some research online and discovered that white coating was far superior. So I lobbied to have that done. Cost became an issue because the one quote we had for white coting was triple the cost of the silver application. I pressed on and got three more quotes. Finally I settled on Simpson Roofing Co. which managed to do the project for the same cost as the original cost of silver coating which is much less labor intensive.











The marvelous results! It really did make a difference in temperature. You can put your hand down on the roof in Mid July on a sunny day and find the surface cool. I understand that a 20-40 % savings in cooling cost can be had by taking this step.

Welcome to the GREENe Street Artists CoOp Maintenance Blog

Maintenance is more than keeping our facility ship shape. It involves using our experience, wisdom, and skill to create a habitat that nurtures creativity while living in harmony with our natural environment. This blog will express my point of view while engaged in the process of trying to transform this property into a model of ecological common sense.

We for the most part have lost our way with living in balance with the natural world. With hope, dogged determination, and sincere effort things can change. Check back often to see how this adventure unfolds. All the best.

Jonas