Construction

The New Induction Oven in Place

Jai Ganesha!

With great fanfare, our new induction oven and electric griddle have arrived at the Aadheenam’s kitchen! As mentioned yesterday, the old gas stove had served us well over the years, but its numerous issues made it an ideal candidate for replacement. Our Chef Mani will particularly enjoy the new electric griddle, which will take center stage for dosa-making.

Today, our monks simply did a test fit of the units in the space, since there is further electrical work to wrap up before fully installing them. Induction ovens and cooktops use electromagnetic fields to directly heat the cookware, rather than heating the stove surface. This makes them highly desired for their lightning-fast boiling times, precise temperature control, improved kitchen air quality, safety, and unmatched ease of cleaning compared to gas ones.

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New Vehicle, and Roof Complete

We are regularly on the lookout for good deals to expand our utility vehicle fleet, and a great opportunity recently presented itself. Now we’ve added this Polaris Ranger to our lineup. The row of flowers is from it’s blessing the other day. Here, Sadhaka Shankaranatha is transporting several bins of leafy greens from the hydroponic greenhouse to the kitchen refrigerator.

The roofing team also completed the Guru Peedam hall the other day. The final layer of asphalt shingles was applied, along with copper gutters and flashing, and mortar in various places to prevent leaks. This re-roofing is a temporary fix for the next 5-10 years while we saving up for completely rebuilding the structure of the Guru Peedam ceiling, which is slowly rotting.

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Guru Peedam Roof Nearly Half Done

Good progress was made on the Guru Peedam roof and they are close to finishing the first half. Seven redwood boards were custom cut on our saw mill for the ceiling covering. Rafters were custom made using our band saw. All this wood came from sishya Deva Rajan 26 years back. The wood came from a water tower that was dismantled in California. This is all old growth redwood that is impossible to find today. After replacing wood planks, they laid new plywood sheathing, then tar paper on top of that as seen in the last photo. On Monday they will attach the composition roof shingles, then move to the other side.

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Gurudeva Padapuja, and Guru Peedam Roof Resumes

This early morning we observed Gurudeva padapuja on Chitra nakshatra.

Gurudeva briefly answers a question on karma and the laws of the land–

Later this morning, after some days break due to sickness and the weekend, the roofing team returned to work on the Guru Peedam roof, carefully removing the old rotted boards.

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Guru Peedam Roof Replacement Begins

The roofing company has begun replacing the roof of the Guru Peedam hall. The old concrete monier tile was there for more than 50 years, bearing many a rainfall and intense tropical sun before gradually starting to leak. The team finished removing one side of the tiles yesterday and will finish the other side today. A number of rafters will be replaced in the coming days before laying down the same roofing material as we did with Kadavul Temple.

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Preparing for Guru Peedam Roof Replacement

In a couple weeks a contractor will come and replace the aged monier roof tiles of the Guru Peedam room with composite roof shingles. The wood A-frame ceiling rafters inside the room also have termite damage, so multiple rafters will be replaced at the same time. Here are Vishvanathaswami and Arinien starting to mill some of our redwood for this project.

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