Automatic Door Opener

I’ve been spending lots of time researching automatic door openers over the last several months and have come up with a couple thoughts: There aren’t many manufacturers that make them They cost an awful lot of money I could probably make one myself for much cheaper
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Automation Overview

Hard to believe that it’s been almost a full week since I wrote last, but throw in the preparation for a few weddings, bachelor party, 10-year high school reunion, trying out new wheelchairs, and applying for grants and you can see how quickly time can escape. And this was
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Construction Specifications – Part 2

The plan for today is to discuss the rest of the top-level construction specifications. Roof The roof system is an engineered roof truss system with hip style layout on the main portion of the housematched to the gable sections over the garage, family, and sun rooms. The roof is
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Wall Construction

Was going to write this response back as a comment responding to Brian and Deirdre’s comments from earlier today/last night, but figured there was enough here that it would make a better post. The whole topic of wall construction/insulation has really been one that has
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Construction Specifications – Part 1

Foundation This was a no-brainer for me, but a steady and constant struggle between me and one of my parents.Now, I won’t name any names, but she certainly feels that a house in Northern Maine should have a basement!My thoughts: I can’t get down there, and it’s
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House Design Changes

Hey folks! It’s been a few days, but I have a good excuse!Since starting this blog I’ve had such an incredible outpouring of support from all of you and across the various forums I subscribe to that I’ve actually gotten laryngitis from talking to my computer
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The House Design

A lot of different ideas/themes/principles have gone into the designing of this house. Accessibility, open floor plan, passive solar, and universal design all floated through our heads as we worked on revision after revision. Hundreds of hours later we have arrived at a floor
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The Land

Last fall I set forth to find and purchase the perfect piece of land. I can remember driving my wheelchair all over town with my mom/dad in tow next to me on their bicycles. What we wanted seemed like an impossibility. In town, but still quiet and secluded, beautiful view,
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The Game Plan:

So I’ve been thinking about how I can best design/research/blog this material and have decided to break it into smaller chunks that will hopefully be more manageable and easier to tackle. I think I’ll probably break it down something like this… 1. Land (Survey
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Background: Me, my abilities, the project

Let’s see… how about a little background about me and what I’m trying to accomplish here. Three years ago, before a skiing injury left me a quadriplegic, I was living in Utah working as a controls engineer for a large ski lift manufacturer enjoying the outdoorsy
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