Saturday, April 26th, 2008
Well, we went back to our house in New York today to do a final cleaning and get some stuff we left behind in the kitchen. On moving day, I thought it was just a few things. Today, I realized it was a full car load. When I say car load, I mean, trying to find a place to squeeze a wine bottle in full. Again, it was a full car load. I even had to leave my two red gas tanks behind. These were five gallon plastic tanks that I used to fill up the lawnmower. One of them was full, so I poured the gas into my car and then gave them to my neighbor, Tim (who by the way missed us very much already. We miss him too.). I didn’t think Laura would appreciate me making her carry them on her lap. I am such a gentleman.
We cleaned up all the rooms and mopped the floors. I did a little touch up painting throughout the house and cleaned all the windows. When I took all the curtain rods down, there were small screw holes left in the walls. I filled the holes and painted over them. I thought that would be a good idea since the house is empty. We cleaned the kitchen and bathroom very, very thoroughly. It never looked so good. When it was all done, I took a step back and realized the amount of work I actually put into the place. Someone is going to get a very good deal…the house looks brand new.
I really think the big sellers are the huge screened in back porch and the brand spankin’ new kitchen. The wood mixes just perfectly with the floor and the walls. I am going to miss that kitchen. If you remember back, that was about a month and a half of eating on the couch and washing dishes in the bathroom. I never even peeled the protective plastic off the face of the dishwasher. Brand new dryer and semi-brand new washer. It’s the whole package. The new floors and vaulted ceiling in the living room help, but it’s all about the porch and kitchen.
Ok, enough selling. I just thought I would tell you that the house officially goes on the market tomorrow. We were going to wait until Tuesday, because we were going to do the cleaning on Monday, but Laura reminded me that there really was nothing to wait for. The sooner we list, the sooner someone can purchase.
I will tell you this…it is a little weird seeing a real estate sign hanging in front of the house you were just sleeping in a few nights ago.
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Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
When I put the new dishwasher in and gave it a trial run, I noticed a few drops of water coming out of the main seal in the bottom. The seal goes between the whole dishwasher tub and the sump unit. I am not sure that’s what it’s called, but what I mean is the big round unit that attaches to the dishwasher underneath the whole thing. It’s about a foot wide and the motor connects to it.
I really wanted to ignore it, but I just couldn’t. I called the appliance store and they sent a guy out. We determined that the actual plastic of the sump unit was warped slightly. He ordered a new one.
Today, he came out with the new part and we put it in. We tightened up all the screws and ran it a run. No water to be seen. I am quite happy with the results.
As we were installing the new part, we kept on saying how it’s a shame that a slight warp in the plastic part can make the whole thing bad and have to be replaced. Oh well, I guess that’s how these things turn out.
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Monday, February 4th, 2008
Today was a good day to install a new dishwasher. Good thing too, because our new one showed up this morning. I would say this has been a long time coming and almost didn’t happen. Luckily, while we were in the kitchen place in December, we made the decision to get one. I think it was the right choice. The strangest thing is now I feel like I’m living in my mother’s house. The kitchen feels so “legitimate.” I mean, we are so used to washing dishes by hand…I guess I just feel spoiled, that’s all. Even the sound of the dishwasher feels like when I was growing up. You know the feeling…having a conversation while wiping down the counter tops at night, listening to the hum of the dishwasher. It’s weird.
Ok, so here are some photos of the installation. I would first like to say thank you to Rob and Paul who both offered to come over and help install this beast. It needed to be wired and plumbed, but when I found out how easy everything easy to do myself, I just couldn’t help it. Onto the pictures…
This is the Frigidaire dishwasher we got. It is a no frills model. We got it for $230, which was the cheapest one in the store. I asked the sales guy what the difference was between this one and the others and he told me basically features and sound dampening. I told him we would take this one. I don’t need the thing to scratch my back, I need it to clean the dishes.
This is the hot water feed that comes from under the sink right next door. This fitting came with the dishwasher installation kit I bought from Home Depot.
This is the rest of the kit (braided hose) after it is all together. Sorry for the blurriness.
This clear hose is the drain hose that goes up and over the dishwasher and then attached to my drain hose I bought last week. I clamped the two together with a fitting.
This is the wiring I ran from the breaker box, under the house and up through the floor in back of the dishwasher. The wires just attach to the two wires that come with the dishwasher. The ground gets screwed right to the dishwasher. The wiring is attached to a 20AMP circuit breaker in the box. It’s very simple.
Here is a nice view of underneath the dishwasher, if anyone cares.
This is the fitting I got the other day. I talk about it in this post.
This is the almost finished product. All I have to do now is to put the base plate back on and peel the protective film off the black door. We already ran two loads in this bad boy and are very pleased. For a dishwasher with virtually no sound insulation, it’s fairly quiet. It doesn’t use much water at all and does a great job cleaning the dishes and silverware.
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Monday, January 28th, 2008
Ever since I went out this past Saturday and purchased a new dishwasher, I have been preparing for its delivery and installation. The appliance store will be doing the delivery and I will be doing the installation.
Setting everything up is actually pretty fun. This post is about the plumbing part of it. Here are a few photos to get things kicked off. It’s simpler than one might think…
The first thing I did was to drill two holes in under the sink in the wall facing the dishwasher. In this photo, you see four holes. That’s because I drilled the two upper holes first. Then, I thought for a little while. I figured that I had no idea what the back of this new dishwasher was going to look like and how tight the fit was going to be. Those two first holes may be too high and go right into the side of the dishwasher “tub.” I then thought that it would be a better idea to drill two holes in the floor of the sink cabinet and then out the side down below. I know the tub part sits up a few inches, so this should clear everything. For now, these two hoses don’t go to anything, since the dishwasher isn’t here yet, but just in case you were curious, the fat hose is the drain hose and the braided one is the hot water feed.
This next picture is of the drain hose hooked up to the sink drain. This was pretty simple to install. Lowe’s and Home Depot sell these pieces of pipe with the drain spout sticking out. All I did was to remove the existing pipe and trim the new one to length. Then, I popped it in and hooked up the hose with a hose clamp. On the inside of the pipe is sort of a “shield” so the water will only go in one direction. Pretty nifty.
This is a photo of the hot water feed that is currently connected and the new braided hose with the “T” connector. Lowe’s and Home Depot sell these connectors especially made for this. I am going to connect the white hot water hose in the back to the top part of this T. That will also give that white hose some slack.
That’s about it for the plumbing part of the dishwasher preparation. All that’s left is the electrical and the actual dishwasher installation. I will share when they are finished.
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Sunday, December 2nd, 2007
I got thinking today. Perhaps I should measure the kitchen up and bring the measurements down to Lowe’s. I read, on their website, that if you bring your measurements to them and pick out what you want, they will give you a price right there. Then, they will send someone to your house to measure again. I think that visit costs around $100, but they apply that money to your total purchase. I think that’s a pretty good idea.
I am having this battle in my head…it’s between using Lowe’s or the local place we have up the road. I have to keep telling myself that we have only two more years in this house. We just need to fix the kitchen and plan for the next people to make it their own and not necessarily be in love with our design. Again, we can only get so much for a two bedroom, one bathroom home in this area. That, I believe, calls for something other than granite for the counter tops, if you catch my drift.
So this is the quick diagram I put together. The measurements are accurate, give or take a quarter of an inch. We still have to pick out a stainless dishwasher to match our refrigerator and stove, but that shouldn’t be hard.
I am going to give Lowe’s a call tomorrow to get the scoop. Then, Laura and I will plan for a visit on Wednesday. Hopefully, then I will have some photos for you.
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