The House Manual
A living document for a living home.
You know how frustrating it is when you’re standing in the hardware store, staring at a wall of filters, and suddenly can’t remember which size your air handler takes, or when there’s a leak under the sink and you sprint to shut off the water—only to realize you have no idea where the closest shutoff valve actually is?
I can’t tell you how many times in my life I’ve been standing in that aisle feeling like an idiot, or digging around in a basement looking for a shutoff, and though “man I wish this was written down.“ So with that in mind, this feels like an opportunity to take action.
Every house has its quirks. Most of us have probably had the pleasure of discovering them one by one, usually while something is leaking, sparking, or making the wrong noise. But Grandview takes it to another level. This place feels more ship than house, and that’s coming from someone who has spent years living and working on both.
The systems in this house are ridiculous. Super overbuilt, high quality stuff. Stamped brass tags on every system branch, that kind of thing. But there are also pipes that go nowhere. Switches that do something… but only sometimes. Odd angles, legacy wires, valves hidden behind old work, and windows with full personalities. There are four furnaces, half of which work and all of which are ancient. It’s beautiful and storied and rich in character. But it’s also complex. And complexity without documentation leads to confusion, delay, and often bigger problems.
Why Build a Manual?
When I worked on tugboats, we had standard operating manuals for everything. Training was standardized and workflows were too. Need to change a lightbulb? Great, go grab the lightbulb changing procedures from the electrical book. Need to replace a piston in a 6,000hp diesel engine? Same thing, just go grab the right book and follow the instructions. Maybe get an extra deckhand for help. With crew and personnel turnover, the infrequency of some periodic and emergency repairs and operations, how else could anyone be expected to accomplish these tasks successfully? On a ship, standardized manuals with clear instructions are the only way.
This house is no different. There are dual plumbing controls in each bathroom. A foundation drain system that terminates a hundred feet from the house. Water lines sprawled across the entire property, many of which require annual winterization. It’s not reasonable to expect me or anybody else to maintain this place withing an operating manual. So I’m going to build one. Each time I repair or replace something, I’ll do my best to document and record it in an organized way so that the next time it has to get done, by me or anyone else, there will be a record of historical work and information about the existing conditions. Gear too; I’ve been working on the mower a lot lately for example, and that stuff’ll end up in the manual too. Why not. Pool maintenance, septic locating, whatever. Then this platform here is an expansion of that concept, where I’ll be documenting the house systems and repairs, and also sharing more of the general life bullshit too, which I think also has a good deal of value.
What It Actually Is
Kind of like a ships log, the house manual will be part technical record, part personal journal, part risk mitigator (by documentation). I’m going to try to keep it as technical as possible because while I enjoy creative writing, the objective here is to build something that’d let anybody walk in off the street and run this house without background knowledge or special skills. To that end, and to the best of my ability, house manual entries are going to include these kinds of attributes:
Systems diagrams for plumbing, electrical, heating, and other home systems
Notes on valve locations, fuse resets, filter sizes, and seasonal changeovers
Paint colors, materials, use locations, storage locations
Maintenance schedules by system
Photos of system runs before they are covered
Lessons learned: quirks about the system, house or project
Summary of mistakes, inefficiencies, what I’d do differently
Why Share It?
Because I’m looking for a creative outlet.
Because maybe you want to make one, too.
Because…. why not?
This is like… a whole thing. It’s not just a physical house manual, or a website with a blog… it’s an intentionality I’m trying to bring to every aspect of life. I’m setting out to take on a project that is way bigger than anything I should reasonably be able to handle, am overwhelmed by its scale and complexity, but am here for exactly that reason, and am going to attack it by breaking it into parts, organizing and managing those parts, and working my way through the entire project with structure, intention, documentation, and respect and appreciation for the truly unbelievable place that Grandview is. If you’ve ever lived in an old house, or on a boat, or any place that has its own unique rhythm and logic, you know they can have, for lack of a better concept, their own language. The pursuit of learning that language, to me, is rewarding in and of itself.
When I used to live and work on ship docking tugs, I’d know what kind of ship we were docking based on how I went flying out of bed when we came alongside. I’d feel an engine start acting up in real time based on the slightest change in sound, vibration, or response. Being that in tune with your immediate environment is comforting, empowering, and also just fun. So I’ll be sharing pieces of the Grandview House Manual here as the project evolves. Not because I think your house has the same quirks, and also not because I think I’m special, but because every house deserves this kind of attention, and because you might find something helpful for your own project or house manual while you’re here.
