Purchase and Location
I bought this property in 2005 and named it Richmond Woods for my father who taught me about nature and respect for the wild. It's located in Alabama near the Alabama/Georgia state line. The small nearby village of Mentone, AL has been a mountain retreat for 150 years for people escaping the summer heat of Birmingham and Atlanta. My companion, Carolyn, has helped me every step of the way.
A Cottage in the Woods
When you were little, did someone read fairy tales to you? Invariably, there was mention of a cottage in the woods. Our plan is to build such a place: handmade, no architect plans, buying local materials or using salvaged materials. The purpose of this blog is to document our progress.
The mounting racks are in place, but before I order the solar power equipment I need to construct a small building to house the equipment and battery. I've decided to locate the power house directly behind the solar panels approximately equidistant between the shop and the cabin. Because the battery consists of 40 cells, each weighing nearly 50 pounds and occupying a space of only 4' x 5', I've decided that I need a quite sturdy foundation.
I am pouring a 4" thick footer with 3/8" rebar. In each corner there will be a 6" diameter 12" deep key to help anchor the footer to the slope.
Let me tell you that digging footers by hand in 95 degree weather is no stroll in the park. Especially when you are wearing long pants and long sleeves to protect your hide from the sun. One quarter poured, three to go.
At the end of a week of festivities, it was time to get back to work. I had 10 solar mounting racks to build and hang. The racks are made of 2 x 4 pressure-treated pine with pre-drilled mounting holes for the solar panels. Each rack is fastened to a 2 x 6 mounting bar using 5 strap hinges. This allows a rack of PV panels to be tilted to optimize the solar incidence angle. Completed racks were loaded onto the Little Red Wagon and hauled out to the site to be hung on the posts. Cleats were temporarily nailed to the posts to support the rack while everything was being plumbed, leveled, and squared. Clamps were used to hold things in place until heavy galvanized lag screws could be installed to fasten them together.
Things went smoothly for the first two rows. When I got to the last row, because of the slope of the land, the height of the cleats was well over my head. This resulted in several failed attempts to raise the rack by simple lifting as I had previously done. I spent some time piecing together a gin pole for Trakker. It worked great for a couple of racks then they were too far off the ground. The maximum lift of the gin pole was simply not high enough. The last two racks took quite some time inching them up the poles with clamps.
The week of my birthday was highlighted by the arrival of Carolyn's daughters and granddaughters. It was a fun week of camping, boulder grooming, cooking out, water coloring, tire swinging, harmonica playing, S'more eating, and splashing in icy cold well water.
Did I mention that Carolyn gave me a picnic table for my birthday? My first ever. It is nice.
