After drafting up 500 or so septic systems over the years, I finally got one of my own inspected.
The state inspector showed up today and spent about 5 minutes and handed me my approval for operation.
Picked up my block, brick, chimney tile, etc. today to build a 2 flue center-chimney.
I have a wood burning fire place but couldn't build one new. It's not allowed by the Air Quality Management District. Natural Gas is allowable, I think. We also have no burn days in the winter which are the cold, damp, foggy days (when Placerville is 65f and we are 45f) when you would most like to have a fire. Cold stormy days are OK because of our typical unstable cold front storm pattern.
Placerville! Nice area, I once tried for a job there. If I remember correctly, it was a County job but that was many moons ago.
Anyway, great job on the house, Perry! You simply do not see that type of craftsmanship in homes these days.
I always drive by Placerville on the way to South Lake Tahoe and always admire the look of it. Never stopped by to really check it out.
Dave
I'm not planning on a fireplace. I am building a brick hearth and putting in a woodstove with a glass door. You get some of the ambiance of a fireplace but much more efficient, and much less pollution. Oil is pretty much standard around here for furnaces, probably because we have no natural gas, I may also put in a pellet furnace in the cellar.
Dave
the fireplace is old school for sure.
I can't install anything that burns wood.
Hangtown is the nickname.
I live in Sacramento about 45 minutes west of Placerville which is located in the Gold Country (El Dorado County).
Dave
If not for burning wood thru the winter, we would be living in the cold.
We do use a couple of space heaters to regulate the rooms we are in until it gets too cold and then we start the freestanding Homestead unit.
It saves propane when I cook over it 😉
Dave
My parents used to live in Mammoth Lakes, CA in the Eastern Sierra Nevada. They burned a lot of wood for heat but here in the central valley it causes a problem of particulate pollution caught under the temperature inversion.
Dave
At 32 people per square mile average we don't have air quality to worry about unless on a rare occasion the wind is blowing from NE and the paper mill fumes engulf the area.
Storms provide most of my source of wood and especially with what the timber industry leaves behind.
I have seen some of the new efficient wood and pellet burning systems and they hardly expel any smoke.
Of course, burning seasoned hard wood make a difference in the lower quantity of smoke output and of the chemical buildup on the flume.
Dave
Almond is readily available here and it burns hot and clean.
I want this house. Just have to convince Wendell! 😉
