It's been over 2 months since my last post. I apologize and will try to do better. Life has been busy!
The house has been a constant work in progress, but it's now in such amazing shape that it is a shame I have to move! It looks great, but the economy is not helping at all. We've had many showings, but no offers as of yet. It's only been about 6 weeks so I'm still very hopeful, but also ready to move on. In the meantime, I started my search for a new house. Not only did I start, but I found a gem!... or so I thought. My search was limited to large fixer-upper types or smaller new construction. I was very close to ready to pounce on few of those fixer-uppers when I stumbled onto what seemed like the perfect house. I played the off, counter offer game until we came to an agreement on the last day that I could qualify for the tax credit. Hurray for me. The only problem is that the inspection turned up quite a bit of large issues. I'm currently in the waiting phase to see if the bank (owner) will pay to have all of the issues fixed. If so, then it's still an amazing deal! I am getting very antsy right now awaiting a response.
Meanwhile the rest of life has been cruising right along. The boys are getting big and doing it quickly. They are wrapping up yet another school year. I can't believe how big they are. They continue to impress me with their advancement in their education, athletics, and socialization. It's amazing to watch.
Alex is reading so well and he is only in Kindergarten. Jackson is bored with his old books and now insists on the more difficult ones and knocks them out like it's nobody's business. Not to mention they will both correct you with any math discrepancies you throw their way. Just last night I told them that they'd have to go to bed in 30 minutes, then told them that bed time was at 8:00. Jackson said something to the effect of, "actually dad, that would be 20 minutes; 30 minutes would be 8:10". Hilarious. The point is that school is going well and my boys are getting smart!
Physically they're developing too. Jackson has progressed away from training wheels to his "two-wheeled bike" as he calls it. haha. I love that term. He wants to ride every afternoon even if just for a few minutes. He and Alex both are also still playing basketball every afternoon with me and continually improving. It seems like we usually do basketball, but yesterday I got a bonus. Jackson wanted to throw the ball. He had a tennis ball and we threw it a little and my goodness, he has an arm. I knew he could chunk a football, but he had some heat on that tennis ball. I'm not a baseball fan (yet), but I just may have a pitcher on my hands... and a lefty at that!
Let's see, what else has been going on in my world. Here's a quick list:
(1) I've had a few golf trips that were amazingly fun. I'm playing much better than in years past, consistently shooting low to mid 90s. For some people that's not great, but I'm extremely happy with it.
(2) Donna has introduced me to karaoke. I've always thought it would be fun, but never gave it a shot. After a few trips out with her, I love it! Of course she is a hell of a lot better than I am, but have fun doing and fully intend to keep it up.
(3) I've started getting back into bike riding. Donna and I have been out a few times and I'm really enjoying it. At least until I blew a tire last week! I need to get that fixed and get the bike tuned up. Once I do that, I'll be ready to tackle some longer rides.
(4) Basketball is going well... at least in some ways. I feel great on the court. The weight I lost last year has really improved my game.... now if I could just shoot free throws. lol. As a team, we don't have a great record, but we've proven that we can compete with any team in the league. Playoffs start Thursday, so we'll see how that goes. I think we'll be fine but only time will tell.
Showing posts with label house. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house. Show all posts
Monday, May 17, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
House Projects continued...
House update. I've been spending most of my free time working on the house, getting it ready to sell. I will post progress pictures later, but for now here is how my list is going.
(1) Redoing the kitchen: new counter tops, fresh paint on the walls and cabinets, and new hardware!
- Old counter tops have been ripped out with the exception of the one with the sink... I wanted to keep running water for a few more days!
- Walls primed and finally painted last night.
- New counter tops will be installed on Friday.
- Tonight I plan to paint the cabinets and install the new hardware.
- I still have to paint the molding and ceiling (not on the original list).
(2) Tearing out at least one more heat registry from a main room. If you've been a reader for a long time, you know what a project the first two registers were. Here we go again!
- Done! And I've painted half of that room as well. The half below the chair rail is done. Above will be a different shade. That room also needs molding installed. I have it and hope to work on that some tonight.
(3) Re-latticing (is that even a word?) the underpinning of the deck and the privacy wall of my carport.
- Not completed. Lattice remains on the list.
(4) Repainting a few rooms, which will include spackling and sanding in more than one of those rooms!
- Partially completed as mentioned in regards to the heat register removal.
(5) actually doing massive cleaning and straightening both inside and out (crap, that means straightening the basement too!)
- Constant work in progress. However, have not even touched the basement yet.
(6) oh, and eventually trying to figure out how to disassemble those loft beds that were built in the room with no intention of moving later!
- Will get to this eventually.
(Other) The house has been inspected and I'm working on everything found to have it repaired before potential buyers come through. More details on this later, but I'm working on it.
As a whole, I've been making progress. It feels good to start knocking it out, but will feel much better when the work is completed and the house sells!
(1) Redoing the kitchen: new counter tops, fresh paint on the walls and cabinets, and new hardware!
- Old counter tops have been ripped out with the exception of the one with the sink... I wanted to keep running water for a few more days!
- Walls primed and finally painted last night.
- New counter tops will be installed on Friday.
- Tonight I plan to paint the cabinets and install the new hardware.
- I still have to paint the molding and ceiling (not on the original list).
(2) Tearing out at least one more heat registry from a main room. If you've been a reader for a long time, you know what a project the first two registers were. Here we go again!
- Done! And I've painted half of that room as well. The half below the chair rail is done. Above will be a different shade. That room also needs molding installed. I have it and hope to work on that some tonight.
(3) Re-latticing (is that even a word?) the underpinning of the deck and the privacy wall of my carport.
- Not completed. Lattice remains on the list.
(4) Repainting a few rooms, which will include spackling and sanding in more than one of those rooms!
- Partially completed as mentioned in regards to the heat register removal.
(5) actually doing massive cleaning and straightening both inside and out (crap, that means straightening the basement too!)
- Constant work in progress. However, have not even touched the basement yet.
(6) oh, and eventually trying to figure out how to disassemble those loft beds that were built in the room with no intention of moving later!
- Will get to this eventually.
(Other) The house has been inspected and I'm working on everything found to have it repaired before potential buyers come through. More details on this later, but I'm working on it.
As a whole, I've been making progress. It feels good to start knocking it out, but will feel much better when the work is completed and the house sells!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
House Projects
This just in: my house will be sold!
I think it's funny that we have to clean our home before hosting a large party or gathering. Sure, it makes sense to have it in tip top shape, but the funny part is that post party it will sure be in worse shape than it was before you began cleaning pre-party! All that work for one point in time. Very funny. In much the same way, when selling a home someone will put in much time and effort to make it perfect even though the entire time they lived in that home it wasn't worth the time and effort to keep it that way for themselves. It's hilarious when you think about it, but so true. That is the situation in which I find myself currently. We've decided to put our house on the market. What does that mean? It means that every project that I've been putting off is now a priority. It means that all the dirtiness or messiness that I've not liked but learned to ignore will now be worth actually cleaning up or straightening up. Clean it up so you can move out. Hilarious. Such is life!
On my agenda:
(1) Redoing the kitchen: new counter tops, fresh paint on the walls and cabinets, and new hardware!
(2) Tearing out at least one more heat registry from a main room. If you've been a reader for a long time, you know what a project the first two registers were. Here we go again!
(3) Re-latticing (is that even a word?) the underpinning of the deck and the privacy wall of my carport.
(4) Repainting a few rooms, which will include spackling and sanding in more than one of those rooms!
(5) actually doing massive cleaning and straightening both inside and out (crap, that means straightening the basement too!)
(6) oh, and eventually trying to figure out how to disassemble those loft beds that were built in the room with no intention of moving later!
There will be much fun to be had over the coming weeks... and by fun I mean physical and mental work in hopes for financial gain. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?!
I think it's funny that we have to clean our home before hosting a large party or gathering. Sure, it makes sense to have it in tip top shape, but the funny part is that post party it will sure be in worse shape than it was before you began cleaning pre-party! All that work for one point in time. Very funny. In much the same way, when selling a home someone will put in much time and effort to make it perfect even though the entire time they lived in that home it wasn't worth the time and effort to keep it that way for themselves. It's hilarious when you think about it, but so true. That is the situation in which I find myself currently. We've decided to put our house on the market. What does that mean? It means that every project that I've been putting off is now a priority. It means that all the dirtiness or messiness that I've not liked but learned to ignore will now be worth actually cleaning up or straightening up. Clean it up so you can move out. Hilarious. Such is life!
On my agenda:
(1) Redoing the kitchen: new counter tops, fresh paint on the walls and cabinets, and new hardware!
(2) Tearing out at least one more heat registry from a main room. If you've been a reader for a long time, you know what a project the first two registers were. Here we go again!
(3) Re-latticing (is that even a word?) the underpinning of the deck and the privacy wall of my carport.
(4) Repainting a few rooms, which will include spackling and sanding in more than one of those rooms!
(5) actually doing massive cleaning and straightening both inside and out (crap, that means straightening the basement too!)
(6) oh, and eventually trying to figure out how to disassemble those loft beds that were built in the room with no intention of moving later!
There will be much fun to be had over the coming weeks... and by fun I mean physical and mental work in hopes for financial gain. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?!
Friday, January 8, 2010
I Have Heat!
It was a humbling experience. What do I mean by that? Well, anytime you are shown that your suffering is from your own ignorance, you have to feel a bit humbled; at least a little less smart than you felt just before being shown how ignorant you were. That was what happened to me.
After all was said and done, I was without hot water for 11 days. I had heated water on the stove for the boys baths twice during that time. The rest of the time, luckily they were with grandparents or with Stacy. For myself, I had mainly showered at the gym. We managed but it sucked. Not only that but I was beginning to get pretty annoyed with the handling of the situation by Lowe's. The fact that they give the plumber a 48 hour window to schedule the inspection, and another 48 hours to turn the paper work in, in addition to the time between when the scheduled the inspection and the inspection date, is quite annoying. In the end, it was that other company's fault, but the time frame that Lowe's allows is a bit much in my opinion. Luckily they have wonderful people working there that I was able to discuss with and they made me feel better. That being said, I did end up leaving to buy from someone else.
After getting a few verbal quotes, I had one other company come out to give an official quote on replacing the unit. Before he gave the quote, I asked him to see if he could figure out what was wrong with it. When I found out the cause, I felt like an idiot. When I originally went out to relight the pilot light and failed, I did not fail due to a broken unit. I failed due to my ignorance on the product. It apparently has a safeguard that requires you shut off the gas completely, before you can turn it back on and light the pilot. Wow. I had messed with that thing for hours and had never turned it to the OFF position (which was not marked). He simply turned it off, waited 20 seconds, then lit the pilot. Finished. 11 days of no water and it was just the Pilot light. Wow.
I may have felt stupid, but one ignorant moment is way cheaper than replacing a hot water heater!
After all was said and done, I was without hot water for 11 days. I had heated water on the stove for the boys baths twice during that time. The rest of the time, luckily they were with grandparents or with Stacy. For myself, I had mainly showered at the gym. We managed but it sucked. Not only that but I was beginning to get pretty annoyed with the handling of the situation by Lowe's. The fact that they give the plumber a 48 hour window to schedule the inspection, and another 48 hours to turn the paper work in, in addition to the time between when the scheduled the inspection and the inspection date, is quite annoying. In the end, it was that other company's fault, but the time frame that Lowe's allows is a bit much in my opinion. Luckily they have wonderful people working there that I was able to discuss with and they made me feel better. That being said, I did end up leaving to buy from someone else.
After getting a few verbal quotes, I had one other company come out to give an official quote on replacing the unit. Before he gave the quote, I asked him to see if he could figure out what was wrong with it. When I found out the cause, I felt like an idiot. When I originally went out to relight the pilot light and failed, I did not fail due to a broken unit. I failed due to my ignorance on the product. It apparently has a safeguard that requires you shut off the gas completely, before you can turn it back on and light the pilot. Wow. I had messed with that thing for hours and had never turned it to the OFF position (which was not marked). He simply turned it off, waited 20 seconds, then lit the pilot. Finished. 11 days of no water and it was just the Pilot light. Wow.
I may have felt stupid, but one ignorant moment is way cheaper than replacing a hot water heater!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Sans Heat
Wow! My 11 day break from work was awesome. Christmas Eve, Christmas, Weekend, 4 days of vacation and New Year's Day followed by another weekend. I don't think I've ever had that many days off in a row. Of course I had great intentions of what to get done and in the end very little of that list was completed. That being said, I really enjoyed my break... with one exception. When I got up on Monday, Dec 28th and attempted to shower I had a very bad realization: NO HOT WATER!!!
My thoughts: No problem. Surely the pilot light was just blown out. If I relight it, I'm good to go.
Let me back up a moment. About 6 months ago I had to have my hot water heater serviced because it was leaking. They fixed it, but also told me that it was on it's last leg. I noted that and moved on.
So Monday I attempted to light the pilot, but to no avail. The problem was obviously something bigger. My heater is outside, encased in a hot water heater "shed". The shed it a tin building that looks to have been made about 50 years ago. Looks awful and dilapidated. I took the front cover off revealing the hot water heater and the install date of 1988!!!! Holy crap! That thing has been humming for 22 years!
I called it in and they said they could be there in the morning. Then I thought about it and said to myself, if I pay all this money to fix it now and then replace it in 6 months that will totally suck. So I decided to cancel the service call and head to Lowe's to buy a new hot water heater.
I went in, picked one out and attempted to buy it. Why did I only attempt? Well it's simple; to purchase a gas hot water heater you must first pass an inspection certifying that your house is up to current codes. So the next step was to schedule the inspection. Lowe's made a call to get me on the list and said that the company would call me within 48 hours to set up the inspection. Really? 48 hours. That is ridiculous. As it turns out, I'd have been happy with 48 hours without hot water, but it didn't stop there. They took the full 48 hours to call back. When they called me (on Wednesday), they informed me that it would be Monday before their next available appointment! Wow! Seriously?!!!! I accepted the appointment and met them Monday morning for what turned out to be a 5 minutes inspection. Luckily I'm up to code. I was informed that he was taking the paperwork to Lowe's and once they processed it, Lowe's would call me so that I could finally purchase the hot water heater. Today is Wednesday. Still no call. The paperwork HAS to be in their system by now. I'm going by this afternoon to buy it. If there is any problem with it, I'll probably go elsewhere. For now, I'm still Sans Hot Water.
As a side note, one may wonder how I would bathe during this time. Well, when the boys are at my house, it's a task to warm water on the stove and transport it to the bath tub. That takes a lot of warming!!! However, when I haven't have the boys I have spent much time at Gold's Gym. Whether I work out or not, I go every day to get that shower. Ha! It has made me work out a lot though, so that is a nice little bonus to this annoyance.
My thoughts: No problem. Surely the pilot light was just blown out. If I relight it, I'm good to go.
Let me back up a moment. About 6 months ago I had to have my hot water heater serviced because it was leaking. They fixed it, but also told me that it was on it's last leg. I noted that and moved on.
So Monday I attempted to light the pilot, but to no avail. The problem was obviously something bigger. My heater is outside, encased in a hot water heater "shed". The shed it a tin building that looks to have been made about 50 years ago. Looks awful and dilapidated. I took the front cover off revealing the hot water heater and the install date of 1988!!!! Holy crap! That thing has been humming for 22 years!
I called it in and they said they could be there in the morning. Then I thought about it and said to myself, if I pay all this money to fix it now and then replace it in 6 months that will totally suck. So I decided to cancel the service call and head to Lowe's to buy a new hot water heater.
I went in, picked one out and attempted to buy it. Why did I only attempt? Well it's simple; to purchase a gas hot water heater you must first pass an inspection certifying that your house is up to current codes. So the next step was to schedule the inspection. Lowe's made a call to get me on the list and said that the company would call me within 48 hours to set up the inspection. Really? 48 hours. That is ridiculous. As it turns out, I'd have been happy with 48 hours without hot water, but it didn't stop there. They took the full 48 hours to call back. When they called me (on Wednesday), they informed me that it would be Monday before their next available appointment! Wow! Seriously?!!!! I accepted the appointment and met them Monday morning for what turned out to be a 5 minutes inspection. Luckily I'm up to code. I was informed that he was taking the paperwork to Lowe's and once they processed it, Lowe's would call me so that I could finally purchase the hot water heater. Today is Wednesday. Still no call. The paperwork HAS to be in their system by now. I'm going by this afternoon to buy it. If there is any problem with it, I'll probably go elsewhere. For now, I'm still Sans Hot Water.
As a side note, one may wonder how I would bathe during this time. Well, when the boys are at my house, it's a task to warm water on the stove and transport it to the bath tub. That takes a lot of warming!!! However, when I haven't have the boys I have spent much time at Gold's Gym. Whether I work out or not, I go every day to get that shower. Ha! It has made me work out a lot though, so that is a nice little bonus to this annoyance.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
The Countdown to Christmas
Christmas is approaching at an alarming rate. We're 2 days away and I'm not ready! The boys' presents are stashed away, but unwrapped. Tonight I guess I'll do some wrapping. Also on the agenda is more house rearranging. Last night I started the process of switching my living room with my dining room. Yeah, probably not the best time to do it with the hectic Christmas stuff going on, but I decided it was a good time to make the change. I only did a little bit of moving before going out last night. So my house is now in disarray, I have at least an hour of moving furniture planned and I have to wrap presents before going out again tonight. The kids are home tomorrow so time is running out. What a crazy, yet fun time of year!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Last night was an eventful night in many ways. I'll go into a little detail about three of the items and yes, you guessed it... good, bad, and ugly.
First off is the good one. I cleaned up my middle room in the house and designated that the Christmas tree room this year (since that room was basically empty at this point in time). I climbed up to the attic and retrieved all of our Christmas decorations and after dinner the boys and I put up the tree and decorated it. They had a blast, telling stories about the ornaments they made and previous years. It was very fun and they loved it. I took a few pictures but my camera is at home so pics will have to loaded later.
Next, the bad. A while back, October 5th if I'm not mistaken, a roofer had to fix a leak in our roof. Since then all has been well... that is, until last night. The torrential rain was too much and the leak sprung yet again. I found a small puddle in the kitchen and the ceiling was wet. Unfortunately I did not find this until the rain had stopped and I don't know where the leak is, but the roofing company WILL be coming back to fix it.
Moving on to the Ugly. In this transitional period that I'm in, I've tried to make work on the house a little, making it my own. Although that is great, I've yet to do some of the standard items like get the place straight! I have moved furniture around, but the place is a total wreck. This morning I realized how bad it was. Tonight I'm attacking it and eliminating the ugly!
So there it is; the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Until next time,
O
First off is the good one. I cleaned up my middle room in the house and designated that the Christmas tree room this year (since that room was basically empty at this point in time). I climbed up to the attic and retrieved all of our Christmas decorations and after dinner the boys and I put up the tree and decorated it. They had a blast, telling stories about the ornaments they made and previous years. It was very fun and they loved it. I took a few pictures but my camera is at home so pics will have to loaded later.
Next, the bad. A while back, October 5th if I'm not mistaken, a roofer had to fix a leak in our roof. Since then all has been well... that is, until last night. The torrential rain was too much and the leak sprung yet again. I found a small puddle in the kitchen and the ceiling was wet. Unfortunately I did not find this until the rain had stopped and I don't know where the leak is, but the roofing company WILL be coming back to fix it.
Moving on to the Ugly. In this transitional period that I'm in, I've tried to make work on the house a little, making it my own. Although that is great, I've yet to do some of the standard items like get the place straight! I have moved furniture around, but the place is a total wreck. This morning I realized how bad it was. Tonight I'm attacking it and eliminating the ugly!
So there it is; the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Until next time,
O
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
or⋅gan⋅i⋅za⋅tion
Over the past few years we've attempted to organize our lives, or at least our house. One place that has been missed in the move toward an organized house is my closet. It started with one shelf with some clothes stacked upon it. Before it was over, I had tons of shoes piled on dirty clothes, with random crap all on the floor. Among the shoes were my last three pair of black work shoes. That's right; my current black shoes, the one's those replaces and even the pair from before that pair. Ridiculous. Then there was the single shelf, which consisted of a mix of clean and dirty clothes, cds (most are years old), a few movies, and a random can of chicken (not sure how that got in there. It was a total disaster. I wish I had taken a picture. The best description of the closet was, well...it was a shit-hole. A mess or a disaster doesn't do it justice, so we'll go with shit-hole.
After months of putting off the project, I found a little time on Saturday to remedy the problem. I took some scrap wood from our basement and made some shelves in the closet (of course this was after removing clothes, balls, shoes, cds, movies, and that can of chicken). I moved the one shelf down for more shoe storage and added two for clothes. I'm happy with the result. Have a look. It may still be a hole, but now it's an organized hole. :-)
After months of putting off the project, I found a little time on Saturday to remedy the problem. I took some scrap wood from our basement and made some shelves in the closet (of course this was after removing clothes, balls, shoes, cds, movies, and that can of chicken). I moved the one shelf down for more shoe storage and added two for clothes. I'm happy with the result. Have a look. It may still be a hole, but now it's an organized hole. :-)
Monday, January 26, 2009
When it's hot it's hot, but when it's not...
This is the story of my morning.
This morning I got up as usual, got my shower and was about ready to walk out the door when I heard Stacy say "I have no hot water". I thought to myself, "hmmm, I didn't take that long of a shower, did I?". In fact I had not. I went outside to check out the situation and saw water spraying from the bottom of our hot water heater. Crap!
My task: Assess the problem and stop the water flow.
The ground was soaked, but warm. It is obvious that the pressure change during my shower caused it to burst and that I was lucky enough to have been finishing my shower before it became cold.
We have an ancient enclosure around our water heater. Not to mention the heater itself was sold in 1983. Yeah, it's time for a new but hopefully not today. I worked loose some screws in the ancient crypt of an enclosure and found the source of the water. I couldn't stop it. What to do next? Turn off the valve right? It was rusted shut and all the tools I could find wouldn't budge the damned thing. All of my large pliers were missing, so I headed to Walmart. At this point it was 6:35, which is usually my deadline for making it to work on time. I would not be on time today.
Walmart is only one mile away, so it was a quick trip. I grabbed what I needed, bolted home and turned the valve. No water stopped. Surely that was because the tank was emptying..... Nope. It never stopped. The valve did nothing, so I cut off the water to the entire house, called a plumber, and proceeded to removed the crypt covering. It took my for ever! Not to mention I got my work clothes all muddy. But in the end I got the enclosure removed and threw it aside.
I went inside and attempted to wash off the mud. No go. Remember, I cut the water off. This would be the first of about fifteen times that I reached to turn on the water, yet none flowed. I managed to get semi clean, changed into fresh clothes, and headed to work. The Plumber was supposed to give me a 30 minute heads up. Of course I was about 1 mile from my house when he called. That would have been quite fortuitous had he actually been on the way. Unfortunately his message that he would arrive in about 30 minutes was full of false hope. About an hour and 15 minutes later I get a call from their dispatcher that they are running behind but it will be another 30 minutes. I tell him that is fine. An hour later; same call, same apology, same delay.
The repairman doesn't arrive until after 10:00. He walks around back, sees the dilapidated crypt remains and the 1983 heater and immediately launches into a sales pitch for a new tankless heater that he can install...only about 3 grand. WTF!!! I said, "so you cant fix this one". He says, "oh, I can fix it". Then he looks in his book and finds a page that quotes $475 and says "oh, that cant be right". I'm about to laugh at this point. He then finds the correct page. Quote is $94. That is more my speed. I tell him that if you can do it for $94, then do it. It takes him a long time, but then he finishes. I pay and ask him to help me put the crypt cover back on. He does and it almost falls apart. I then take the next 45 minutes screwing them damned thing back down. I'm once again covered in mud....work clothes covered in mud. Since it's already past lunch time, I decide I've had enough crap to deal with today, so I decide before finishing that I will call it day. The morning and early afternoon totally sucked, but that decision to call it day was the best decision ever. It turned out to be a very productive day around the house...and I even got to take a hot shower when it was done.
This morning I got up as usual, got my shower and was about ready to walk out the door when I heard Stacy say "I have no hot water". I thought to myself, "hmmm, I didn't take that long of a shower, did I?". In fact I had not. I went outside to check out the situation and saw water spraying from the bottom of our hot water heater. Crap!
My task: Assess the problem and stop the water flow.
The ground was soaked, but warm. It is obvious that the pressure change during my shower caused it to burst and that I was lucky enough to have been finishing my shower before it became cold.
We have an ancient enclosure around our water heater. Not to mention the heater itself was sold in 1983. Yeah, it's time for a new but hopefully not today. I worked loose some screws in the ancient crypt of an enclosure and found the source of the water. I couldn't stop it. What to do next? Turn off the valve right? It was rusted shut and all the tools I could find wouldn't budge the damned thing. All of my large pliers were missing, so I headed to Walmart. At this point it was 6:35, which is usually my deadline for making it to work on time. I would not be on time today.
Walmart is only one mile away, so it was a quick trip. I grabbed what I needed, bolted home and turned the valve. No water stopped. Surely that was because the tank was emptying..... Nope. It never stopped. The valve did nothing, so I cut off the water to the entire house, called a plumber, and proceeded to removed the crypt covering. It took my for ever! Not to mention I got my work clothes all muddy. But in the end I got the enclosure removed and threw it aside.
I went inside and attempted to wash off the mud. No go. Remember, I cut the water off. This would be the first of about fifteen times that I reached to turn on the water, yet none flowed. I managed to get semi clean, changed into fresh clothes, and headed to work. The Plumber was supposed to give me a 30 minute heads up. Of course I was about 1 mile from my house when he called. That would have been quite fortuitous had he actually been on the way. Unfortunately his message that he would arrive in about 30 minutes was full of false hope. About an hour and 15 minutes later I get a call from their dispatcher that they are running behind but it will be another 30 minutes. I tell him that is fine. An hour later; same call, same apology, same delay.
The repairman doesn't arrive until after 10:00. He walks around back, sees the dilapidated crypt remains and the 1983 heater and immediately launches into a sales pitch for a new tankless heater that he can install...only about 3 grand. WTF!!! I said, "so you cant fix this one". He says, "oh, I can fix it". Then he looks in his book and finds a page that quotes $475 and says "oh, that cant be right". I'm about to laugh at this point. He then finds the correct page. Quote is $94. That is more my speed. I tell him that if you can do it for $94, then do it. It takes him a long time, but then he finishes. I pay and ask him to help me put the crypt cover back on. He does and it almost falls apart. I then take the next 45 minutes screwing them damned thing back down. I'm once again covered in mud....work clothes covered in mud. Since it's already past lunch time, I decide I've had enough crap to deal with today, so I decide before finishing that I will call it day. The morning and early afternoon totally sucked, but that decision to call it day was the best decision ever. It turned out to be a very productive day around the house...and I even got to take a hot shower when it was done.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Signing Your Life Away
Today, yet again, we signed our lives away.
With interests rates having dipped, we decided to refinance to lock in this great rate. Wait a minute... Is this deja vu?
Four months ago, after the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae fiasco we seized an opportunity to get rid of our "high" rate mortgage, which had previously seemed like a fairly low rate. We locked; we closed; we were quite happy with ourselves. That was September of 2008.
January 2009, a mere 4 months later, what happened? Our amazing rate from 4 months prior suddenly doesn't not seem so good anymore. With the financial markets in a mess, companies lining up for government bailouts like kids for ice cream in the middle of summer, and a crunch for mortgage companies to buy up and close on "good mortgages", we found ourselves in a situation to improve our situation yet again. So what did we do? Since we have no plans to move any time in the foreseeable future, we refinanced yet again... at an even more amazing rate.
Two separate deals in 4 months may sound ridiculous, and to be honest it kind of feels that way when you look at 2 sets of closing costs, yet when I look at the money saved over the life of the loan, it's a no-brainer. Seize the moment! That is what we did and once again we are pretty happy with ourselves.
I dont know about the rest of you, but we're sure doing our part to stimulate this economy...and all we had to do was sign our lives away....twice.
With interests rates having dipped, we decided to refinance to lock in this great rate. Wait a minute... Is this deja vu?
Four months ago, after the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae fiasco we seized an opportunity to get rid of our "high" rate mortgage, which had previously seemed like a fairly low rate. We locked; we closed; we were quite happy with ourselves. That was September of 2008.
January 2009, a mere 4 months later, what happened? Our amazing rate from 4 months prior suddenly doesn't not seem so good anymore. With the financial markets in a mess, companies lining up for government bailouts like kids for ice cream in the middle of summer, and a crunch for mortgage companies to buy up and close on "good mortgages", we found ourselves in a situation to improve our situation yet again. So what did we do? Since we have no plans to move any time in the foreseeable future, we refinanced yet again... at an even more amazing rate.
Two separate deals in 4 months may sound ridiculous, and to be honest it kind of feels that way when you look at 2 sets of closing costs, yet when I look at the money saved over the life of the loan, it's a no-brainer. Seize the moment! That is what we did and once again we are pretty happy with ourselves.
I dont know about the rest of you, but we're sure doing our part to stimulate this economy...and all we had to do was sign our lives away....twice.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
A Break in the Laziness
Typically on the weekend we get a few small things done and spend much time being lazy while watching football. I cant say that we've totally avoided either the football or the laziness, but today I did get more done than I do on most weekend days. It was a day of progress.
I posted a while back (or at least I think I did) about one of our newest house problems being a leaky porch. Basically the porch has settled such that the portion nearest the house is the portion that is now lower. What that means is that any rain water that falls on the porch drains toward the house....and though the cracks in the porch, causing wet wood!!! Not Good! Normally the settling of the porch would not be a huge issue, but our roof line stops too soon, leaving half the porch uncovered. Thus, much rain water pools on the porch.
Back to my progress. To fix the porch, we had options. We could pay a contractor to rip out the porch and pour a new one or fix it ourselves. We priced the contractors. It was more than we wanted to pay, so I figured I've five it a shot. I bought some items at Lowes to fix the problem. Rather than rip it out and pour a new one, I thought it would be worth a try to seal the leaks and change the angle of the porch. The first part is much easier than the second. Today I knocked out step one by ripping out the old cracked seal between the front wall of the house and the porch itself and then resealing the cracks.
Tomorrow I will use some cement crack sealer to patch up some cracks in the middle of the porch.
Then next week (I hope) I'll be using a patch kit (or so I call it) to build up the low spot. Then I'll reseal and repaint the entire porch. It sounds like a lot of work left to do, but I felt pretty happy about having finally gotten off my ass to handle the leaky seal. Step one finished. Step two tomorrow. Oh, here are a few progress pictures:
These pics are of the old ugly leaky crack before I did anything:
This is after I stripped away the old cracked seal:
This is after I applied the silicone to the cracks (it will be painted so it's ok that it's stark white):
This is the one obligatory pic of the kids since they were there watching me work every step of the way:
With helpers like those, how can this project not go perfectly! I'll make sure that they are there for ever remaining step!
I posted a while back (or at least I think I did) about one of our newest house problems being a leaky porch. Basically the porch has settled such that the portion nearest the house is the portion that is now lower. What that means is that any rain water that falls on the porch drains toward the house....and though the cracks in the porch, causing wet wood!!! Not Good! Normally the settling of the porch would not be a huge issue, but our roof line stops too soon, leaving half the porch uncovered. Thus, much rain water pools on the porch.
Back to my progress. To fix the porch, we had options. We could pay a contractor to rip out the porch and pour a new one or fix it ourselves. We priced the contractors. It was more than we wanted to pay, so I figured I've five it a shot. I bought some items at Lowes to fix the problem. Rather than rip it out and pour a new one, I thought it would be worth a try to seal the leaks and change the angle of the porch. The first part is much easier than the second. Today I knocked out step one by ripping out the old cracked seal between the front wall of the house and the porch itself and then resealing the cracks.
Tomorrow I will use some cement crack sealer to patch up some cracks in the middle of the porch.
Then next week (I hope) I'll be using a patch kit (or so I call it) to build up the low spot. Then I'll reseal and repaint the entire porch. It sounds like a lot of work left to do, but I felt pretty happy about having finally gotten off my ass to handle the leaky seal. Step one finished. Step two tomorrow. Oh, here are a few progress pictures:
These pics are of the old ugly leaky crack before I did anything:
This is after I stripped away the old cracked seal:
This is after I applied the silicone to the cracks (it will be painted so it's ok that it's stark white):
This is the one obligatory pic of the kids since they were there watching me work every step of the way:
With helpers like those, how can this project not go perfectly! I'll make sure that they are there for ever remaining step!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Where's My Desk?!
Five weeks ago I posted about our house improvements, which included the purchase of a new desk. It was on order From Ashley Furniture and was to be picked up in 4-6 weeks. In case anyone missed the local news story about Ashley Furniture, they're closing both Columbia stores and stores in Georgia and Virginia. Local TV coverage made it sound pretty dismal for people like us that are waiting on furniture. Their stories were about people who spent tons of money and were in the limbo of not receiving the furniture they paid for nor a refund. Of course I heard this and started calling...
Local numbers - no answer
Corporate number - there is a special message for people that used the Columbia store specifying that we should call this other number for help
The other number - on hold, after 2 minutes there is a message about a difficulty and it hangs up.
I tried the other number off and on for a few hours. I was beginning to become concerned that the local news story was correct and we were screwed. Finally I was able to get through to a real person and she told me that all Columbia files are being uploaded to another store and each outstanding order will be filled and the buyers will be called one by one to have this explained. I was relieved, yet no fully. I'll be more relieved when I hear from that other store and even more so once I have my desk!
Local numbers - no answer
Corporate number - there is a special message for people that used the Columbia store specifying that we should call this other number for help
The other number - on hold, after 2 minutes there is a message about a difficulty and it hangs up.
I tried the other number off and on for a few hours. I was beginning to become concerned that the local news story was correct and we were screwed. Finally I was able to get through to a real person and she told me that all Columbia files are being uploaded to another store and each outstanding order will be filled and the buyers will be called one by one to have this explained. I was relieved, yet no fully. I'll be more relieved when I hear from that other store and even more so once I have my desk!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
House Projects
As I posted earlier we are redoing our dining room. We ripped the heat registers out of the walls. We ripped the existing floor molding out. We taped and painted a base coat of yellow (3 coats), with the intent of rag rolling a light color over it. Well, we didn't plan well. After starting the rag roll, we realized that the light color is supposed to be first, and that was evident by the result. So after getting that coat on with some yellow showing through the champagne fizz (off white), we realize that we have to treat that color as the base and re-rag it with yellow. So we do that and it turned out really well. Now we have to clear coat it to seal it up, so that we dont inadvertently wipe off the color when we inevitably spill something on the wall. Anyway, that is where we stand on the dining room progress. 5 coats of paint on, and one to go! Then we will put down the new floor molding and repaint all of the molding along the floor, ceiling, doorways and windows.
In other rooms we made some good progress as well. We decided to get a desk for our laptop to sit on in the living room. We looked at 6 different stores before finding the perfect desk today, and we order it. In a month or so it will be in. Also, we purchased 2 very nice rugs. We were looking for a rug for the living room and were considering a regular rug from Lowe's or Home Depot. On a whim we decided to check a few of the nicer places, assuming that they would be very expensive, but hoping to catch some sort of deal. Much to our surprise we stumbled on to one heck of a deal at Cogdill. They have a special sale going on all discontinued rugs, clearing out space for the new stuff. We ended up not buying 1 rug for the living room, but buying 2 rugs; one for the living room and one for our middle room. It was an incredible deal and we're lucky to have outfitted our house so "cheaply". By cheaply, I mean that we paid about 25% of the retail price. More than we'd have paid at Lowe's, but much, much better quality. I'm very happy about it. If you're in the market for a new rug, talk to me and I'll give you more details.
A house is always a work in progress. Right now ours is improving by leaps and bounds and it's a good feeling. It is really coming along. Although I'm sure we'll never be "done" with house projects, I'm very happy with the progress as of late and hope that it continues to go so well.
In other rooms we made some good progress as well. We decided to get a desk for our laptop to sit on in the living room. We looked at 6 different stores before finding the perfect desk today, and we order it. In a month or so it will be in. Also, we purchased 2 very nice rugs. We were looking for a rug for the living room and were considering a regular rug from Lowe's or Home Depot. On a whim we decided to check a few of the nicer places, assuming that they would be very expensive, but hoping to catch some sort of deal. Much to our surprise we stumbled on to one heck of a deal at Cogdill. They have a special sale going on all discontinued rugs, clearing out space for the new stuff. We ended up not buying 1 rug for the living room, but buying 2 rugs; one for the living room and one for our middle room. It was an incredible deal and we're lucky to have outfitted our house so "cheaply". By cheaply, I mean that we paid about 25% of the retail price. More than we'd have paid at Lowe's, but much, much better quality. I'm very happy about it. If you're in the market for a new rug, talk to me and I'll give you more details.
A house is always a work in progress. Right now ours is improving by leaps and bounds and it's a good feeling. It is really coming along. Although I'm sure we'll never be "done" with house projects, I'm very happy with the progress as of late and hope that it continues to go so well.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
A House is a Work in Progress
We paint more than anyone I know. If a few months have gone by with no major project, we fill that void by painting or repainting a room. The most recent (and current) painting project: our dining room. Previously, we had painted the room a deep shade of red. I really liked the color, but the room was always a little dark, so I was up for change when Stacy mentioned the desire to repaint. We picked out a yellow from lowes, that is actually a dual color. The plan is to use rag rolling; which entails one solid base of one color of yellow and a lighter shade rag rolled over it. I cant wait to see how it turns out. Currently we are one coat away from being done with the base color.
Before painting, I decided to make the project a little bigger than most of our painting jobs. Since the day we first saw our house, the one thing that I hated was the ear sores that are our non-working heat registers. Many of our rooms have these things along 2 walls. I hate them. They take up room, keep furniture pushed away from the wall, the look awful and in my mind are perfect homes for millions of roaches!
I chose to rip them out myself. I was a little concerned because those heat registers are typically of two types. One type is electric and I dont like the idea of messing with wiring. The other type is heated by water. It turns out that our house contained the water variety. You could see the water pipes going into the floor. I crawled under the house (which I hate doing) only to find out very good news. I had intended to do some plumbing to cap off the pipes and cut them off to remove the eye sores. What I found was that at some point over the years, someone had already removed the part from underneath the house. The pipes going into the floor just ended hanging halfway to the ground, not connected to anything. That was great news. I climbed back out of the dungeonous crawl space of my house and went up stairs and ripped the registers off the walls, exposing a mix of plaster and wood....mainly wood. Then I used an entire gallon of spackling preparing the area for painting. As I already mentioned, we are now in the painting phase. Still to go are the rag rolling phase and then laying the base and toe molding.
So far, it has gone really well. Hopefully the project will continue to go smoothly.
Oh, and now that I have removed the registers from one room, I only have 6 rooms to go.... ugh, not fun to think about but taking it one room at a time wont...or shouldn't be that bad. Wish me luck!
Before painting, I decided to make the project a little bigger than most of our painting jobs. Since the day we first saw our house, the one thing that I hated was the ear sores that are our non-working heat registers. Many of our rooms have these things along 2 walls. I hate them. They take up room, keep furniture pushed away from the wall, the look awful and in my mind are perfect homes for millions of roaches!
I chose to rip them out myself. I was a little concerned because those heat registers are typically of two types. One type is electric and I dont like the idea of messing with wiring. The other type is heated by water. It turns out that our house contained the water variety. You could see the water pipes going into the floor. I crawled under the house (which I hate doing) only to find out very good news. I had intended to do some plumbing to cap off the pipes and cut them off to remove the eye sores. What I found was that at some point over the years, someone had already removed the part from underneath the house. The pipes going into the floor just ended hanging halfway to the ground, not connected to anything. That was great news. I climbed back out of the dungeonous crawl space of my house and went up stairs and ripped the registers off the walls, exposing a mix of plaster and wood....mainly wood. Then I used an entire gallon of spackling preparing the area for painting. As I already mentioned, we are now in the painting phase. Still to go are the rag rolling phase and then laying the base and toe molding.
So far, it has gone really well. Hopefully the project will continue to go smoothly.
Oh, and now that I have removed the registers from one room, I only have 6 rooms to go.... ugh, not fun to think about but taking it one room at a time wont...or shouldn't be that bad. Wish me luck!
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