Meran Moore

I guess a few details are required. I'm in central Utah, at 5,500 ft elevation. I own the house. It was built without a vapor barrier between the foundation and the blocks, much to my dismay. The north wall isn't just cold, it's damp. It was originally built to be a workshop on the family farm. The floor is suspended 2 ft above the ground and is just plywood. There is no attic. The ceiling is 10 ft high. We use a propane furnace right now, but will be installing a mini-split in a couple weeks.

I have a cinder block house, oriented North-South. It's 14x50 with a 10-degree lean-to metal roof facing West. I had no control in how it was built. The main bedroom is on the south side and is quite nice in the winter. However, my kids are on the north end and their rooms are ice boxes. So much that they refuse to sleep in there after Thanksgiving. The cinder blocks stay cold no matter how warm the air is inside. How can I transfer some warmth to the other end of such a long building?

I didn't know where else to take this. My landlord, who just happens to be my sister-in-law and lives right next door, just sprayed Roundup all over the driveway, the flower beds, and the edge of my foundation. How do I deal with this? Can I neutralize it? She didn't even check if my cat was outside and my son is outside playing with her daughter. I can already feel it burning in my throat. What is wrong with people? I'm so angry right now! P.s. I'm bringing my son in.

I'm looking to start a permaculture food forest next year when we can get our land we've been eyeing. I really want to go to a hands on course to get some experience before I dive in head-long. The issue is that I have a four year old son who I have to take with me. Does anyone know of a place that would be willing to have a little hobbit sized helper (he's really well behaved)?

I don't think it's even picking them up. It's the worst vacuum I've ever seen. When I went over a pile of cat litter that got spilled it flung it back into my feet instead of sucking it up.

I've been completely infested with fleas and nothing is working. We've bombed. We've sprayed. We've bathed the cat. We tried drops (which almost killed him). And recently we tried DE. It's not doing anything. How much do you have to put down to kill the little buggers? I did a fine layer just like everyone says and we're still being eaten alive. It's supposed to kill them but I've only noticed an increase in them and how many bites my preschooler gets when he plays on the floor. I've vacuumed and that doesn't help either. (I possibly have the world's dumbest vacuum-it doesn't even suck in the same compartment as the brush head.) Help me out here. What am I doing wrong?

All I keep seeing is people talking about woven plastic bags, which can be pretty expensive. I've found a source for burlap coffee bags that are relatively cheap (about 80 cents per 30"x40" bag). Would these be durable enough to make a home with or would they degrade too fast? burlap bags

Thanks for all the ideas. We get an average of over 300 inches of rain a year in Oregon. It's literally a temperate rain forest. There's an old joke that goes around... I love the summer in Oregon, it's the most beautiful 30 minutes of the year! But joking aside, I think I have decided how to manage the rain on my compost. I'm going to build my bins withs rremovable roof. Probably just a sheet of corrugated plastic that I can clip into place when it starts pouring cats and dogs. Then when the sun comes out I can easily remove it.

I'm planning on moving to the Coos Bay area on the Oregon coast this summer and building a small home off the grid. A composting toilet is part of the plan. I'm a little concerned about the humidity and the quantity of rainfall we'd get on a regular basis. Would it be enough to cause issues with composting? If we built a roof over the bins would that be sufficient to protect every thing from getting too soggy? I dread mold. Does anyone have some experience with moist weather? I need some advice.

Would it be feasible to make a small version of this to heat just enough water to wash a sink full of dishes? I'd love to have one in my kitchen. I was thinking of a 5 gallon bucket or a propane tank that's been refit, instead of a 40 gallon water tank. Do you think the water would be inside the coils long enough to reach a nice temperature? And then, would that be big enough to have a shower off the same system later? or a bath? I guess I just want my hot water now, not an hour from now.