Wednesday, August 27th, 2008
The town inspector came by today to inspect the freshly installed pellet stove. It passed, but with a little story.
When the inspector was reading through the manufacturer’s installation manual, he couldn’t find the part that said exhaust vent clearances only need to be 9″ from windows and doors if a fresh air vent is used. The reason he couldn’t find it is because it wasn’t in there. When I realized this, I began to sweat. Then, I remembered that the updated version of the installation manual was online…that’s where I got those clearances from. I quickly went upstairs to print out the pages I kept telling him about. I ran back downstairs and gave him the paperwork. He approved the install with no more issues.
I really like this installation because we don’t need a protective layer between the stove and the floor, since it’s on the new basement tile. That’s pretty cool, as well as a money saver. Also, we used hardly any exhaust pipe. That’s another money saver.
After the inspection, I called the pellet stove place to complete the order for four tons of pellets. I wanted to make sure the stove would be operable before finishing and paying for the order. They will get delivered in mid September.
I also called the insurance company to inform them of the new appliance. They liked this and added $11 to the homeowner’s policy. Not bad…
On the way home from Home Depot today, I saw a sign that offered a cord of wood for $200. Boy, prices have gone up. Even pellets were about $2.50 a bag a few years ago. Now, they are averaging about $5 per bag. If you were ever thinking about getting into a new business, alternative energy is it. This stuff is HOT right now.
Related posts
Posted in Environment, Home Improvement | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008
Well, the guys came over yesterday to install the new St. Croix Prescott EXL pellet stove. As you might recall, our previous pellet stove was a Harman P38. I was a little nervous about switching brands because I had gotten used to Harman. Also, Harman has very good reviews. The reason I couldn’t get a Harman this time is because they are all backed up and we may not have even gotten one this season.
It took the installers about 3 hours to finish the installation. When everything was in, they fired it up to make sure everything was working properly. One of the installers noticed one issue…the auger wasn’t turning, so no pellets were falling into the burn pot. the auger motor was working fine, just not the auger itself. We made an appointment for the service guy to come out today. By the way, I could have fixed this. It was easy. I actually was almost done fixing it when the doorbell rang. That’s me beating my chest.
Today, the repair guy came out and fixed the auger issue. The small set screw on the auger shaft wasn’t tightened properly, so it wasn’t catching on the auger motor.
I must say, this unit is very nice. It has auto-light, which was very important. I am going to hook up a thermostat, so the pellet stove can shut down and start up on its own. Also, the auger and fan is much quieter than the Harman. The whole system just seems to be more elegant. For a few hundred bucks more, I am happy that I went with this model.
Here are some photos…
What’s nice is that the outside venting is under the porch. The necessary clearances are 24″ away from the porch and 12″ off the ground. Also, since we used the fresh air kit, the clearances from windows and doors is only 9″. I would say that’s one of the huge benefits of pellet stoves.
Related posts
Posted in Environment, Home Improvement | No Comments »
Friday, June 13th, 2008
As I am sure I have mentioned numerous times, we needed to replace the doors downstairs in the basement. There was some rot at the bottom of the framing. Just this morning, I realized why. Remember that big long post (directly below) about rain gutters? Well, it now all makes sense.
When it rains, the back gutter overflows. The water falls, hits the ground and splashes. Guess where the water hits. That’s right, the bottom of the basement door. Good thing I am working of the gutter project. These new doors are vinyl and the exposed framing is inside the house, so that should help things.
I had Lowe’s do the install. Actually, it was a contractor that works with Lowe’s. I was a little nervous about the whole thing because I really didn’t know how good a Lowe’s contractor could really be. I have zero experience with them. It ends up that this guy did a better job than I ever expected.
This is the old door. I removed the door knob and all the other goodies I put on it, like the automatic closer. These were French doors. I don’t really like French doors because they are a bit more difficult to deal with. There were no screens on these and I kept thinking they were going to open by themselves. I really like the sliding glass door we had installed.
This is the rot at the bottom of the door. This and the fact that one of the outer panes of glass was broken prompted the replacement.
These are some photos of the installation. A nice guy who immigrated from Poland about 20 years ago did it. We talked about Communism and Socialism and all that stuff. It was pretty fun. We talked about the ups and downs of different types of government. He said he really loves this county and there is no other like it anywhere. See, I even found a little first hand education in the process.
When you make an appointment to have a Lowe’s contractor come out to measure the job, they also take note of any extra work that needs to be done. Since this door is a few inches shy of the previous door, there was some work that needed to be done. When Lowe’s calls you the next day to give you the price on the job, they give the price for the materials, the standard installation and any extra work. In this case, the extra work cost over $500. That was more than the installation price.
When he was here, he kept telling me that he was going to make it look nice. After I got the price, I was wondering what in the world could be costing an extra $500. After he finished up, it appears that he did all the trim on the inside. He did all the caulking and waterproofing too. This stuff, plus the reframing of everything was the cause of the extra money. He even got rid of all the junk. I was pretty impressed.
Overall, the installation was a bit pricey (probably double of what it should’ve been), but it is a complete job. All I need to do it paint up the trim on the inside. I would definitely use the service Lowe’s offers again and probably ask for this installer.
Related posts
Posted in Home Improvement | No Comments »
Saturday, June 7th, 2008
Just a few minutes ago, I finished painting the basement. I feel like this is breaking news or something. Well, with the way I dread painting, I feel like it should be some sort of news.
I have been doing a little bit each day…chipping away at it. Luckily, the walls were in great shape. There were some pin-holes here and there, but no real spackling. I didn’t even have to sand, I just used a wet sponge. That is so sweet.
For this painting project, we bought two gallons of color and one gallon of white. When I began to paint, I noticed that I was going through the color pretty fast. I also noticed that I had no idea how much white I was going to use. We went back to the store and grabbed two more gallons of color and one more gallon of white. Now that the project is done, I have exactly two extra gallons of color and one and a half of white. Isn’t that funny? Not really. Now I have to decide which room gets to be the same color as the basement. I think my office may benefit.
It’s not too much of a change from what was here before. Just a slightly different color. I also changed the trim and doors to white. I love that contrast. It looks soooo HGTV.
The door guy is coming (hopefully) this week to replace the basement door. Also, the tile guy is coming out on Wednesday to give me a price on doing the floor. If everything goes smoothly, we should have a brand new basement in a few weeks. Then, I can call the pellet stove place and have that whole thing set up.
I wonder if I am the only guy on the planet thinking of a pellet stove when it’s 94 degrees outside.
Related posts
Posted in Home Improvement | No Comments »
Thursday, June 5th, 2008
I have been pretty busy lately, between working, planting plants, getting the cars registered and, oh yeah, re-doing the basement.
I believe I told you about it in an earlier post. Then, I had the floor torn up and was considering what to put on it. Now, I am paiting the whole thing up.
I realized something along this short journey. That is, I hate painting. I mean, I can do it in short bursts, but I lose interest fast. One room is fine, two maybe, three weird sections and I’m lost. I have to say it’s getting there though.
We picked out a color that looks very nice when dried. We got a little nervous when I started putting it on the walls, but got over it. I am also painting all the trim and doors white.
You may be asking yourselves, “Why, Jay, are you doing this now? Why so fast…what’s the rush?” Well, I’ll tell you. The whole reason is that we are going to put a pellet stove in the basement. In order to put a pellet stove down there, we need a new floor. In order to put in a new floor, we need to remove all the base moulding. If the base moulding is off, we may as well paint the place. Also, since the moulding is off, we might as well take this time to replace the French doors leading to outside. They need to be replaced and it needs to be done before the floor goes in.
But “why now” you ask? The reason is that you need to get a pellet stove in the summer. Things are slower and more available. Also, pellets are cheaper. We will need at least three tons.
Yeah, all this just to put a pellet stove in the basement and get rid of the carpet. I told you how I feel about carpets. I also removed the carpet from the basement stairs last night. That was fun. I really like pulling up tack strips and pulling out staples. Good thing I am proficient at this type of thing.
I am setting up the date to have the door installed tomorrow. When the install happens, you’ll know about it. I am also having the tile guy come over tomorrow to give me a price on the installation. I was going to do it myself, but I quickly lost interest in that once I started painting.
Related posts
Posted in Home Improvement | 1 Comment »
Monday, April 21st, 2008
Wow, what a long day. Driving over to the new house takes about 2 hours and 15 minutes. It seems longer than it is.
Today was the big day…not only for us, but also for the sellers. It must feel great to sell a house. I mean, your mind is most likely on your new one and all you want to do is to get the process over with. Congrats.
We are thrilled. I think it is a very good move. From what we gather, people tend to move around in the same town a lot, meaning, they like the town. That’s a good thing.
We met the realtor over at the house at 2PM for the final walk through. The house was nice and clean and everything was just as we expected. We dabbled for a bit and talked for a while and then we went to the closing at 3:30PM. Everything went very smoothly and yes, the sellers are just like us. You can almost tell by the way they kept the place…clean, tight and when something broke, they fixed it. As a buyer, I definitely appreciate that. They were actually very personable people.
Ok, enough of that, now for the pictures. I mean, who cares about the writing anyway? It’s not like anyone reads it anyway.
Here is the front of the house. I think it has a nice “Connecticuty” look.
This is the rather large kitchen. There is room for a table in there and it also has a nice island. The door that is open goes out to the garage. Also, there are doors that go out to the back deck.
This is the fireplace. I am very happy there is a fireplace. I plan on getting a pellet stove insert for this and using it as a main heating source. Since the house heat and hot water are run off the oil burner, I am going to get an electric hot water heater and solar panels. I just have to figure out a way to make the look good and fit into the neighborhood.
These are pictures of the main entryway. Do you know how hard it is to get good photos of two floors up close? Not easy.
This is the blue room, AKA, the dining room. We have no plans for this room right now beyond walking through it. We don’t have much furniture.
This is one of the upstairs bathrooms. It’s pretty big and has one of those tubs that bubbles.
If you want to come over to visit, you can stay in the guest bedroom. It has a large walk-in closet and a full bathroom.
Here’s that bathroom I was talking about. So that’s two full baths on the top floor and one half bath on the main floor.
This is going to be Laura’s office. She gets the purple room. It’s pretty soothing. The girl that this room belonged to has a nice little setup. Perfect for a young girl.
I also got a picture of the room that’s going to be my office, but it came out blurry. It’s pretty much like this room, but different colors.
Here are some photos of the master bedroom. It’s a large room with a dormer facing West. There are two closets and a cable hookup. I am starting to sound like a realtor myself.
This is the one of the finished downstairs rooms. It is really comfortable and cool. It’s going to make a perfect…something.
This is the other downstairs room. This used to have an exercise machine in it. Laura wants to use it as a Pilates room. I have to buy her one of those exercise balls.
Can you say, “garage?” It’s about time. Yes, I am going to like the garage very much. I know that almost all homes now come with them, but I have yet to have one. I am quite excited about the electric garage door openers too.
Ok, last one. This is the little patio in the back that comes out of Laura’s exercise room.
You want to hear a funny story? You know how much I have grown to hate barking dogs, right? I never used to hate dogs, it’s just been lately, since so many people don’t seem to take care of them. Actually, I love dogs, especially my old dog, Mickles. I really really love Golden Retrievers.
I had a hunch that the only close neighbor had a dog. I wasn’t sure, but I did notice a fence around the back yard. They have an in-ground pool, so it may have been for that. I didn’t think so. I kept on telling Laura that there was a dog next door. I was really hoping it wasn’t a yappy little white dog.
Today, after the closing, we went back to the house to drop off a few boxes we brought with us. We were trying to loosen the load for moving day on Thursday. I parked the car and started walking in the back yard. I noticed something moving inside the neighbor’s fence. I quickly turned around and told Laura, “THEY HAVE A DOG!!!” I turned back around to see what kind it was. My stomach almost dropped through the floor. Upon closer examination, I noticed that it was a reddish dog. I then realized is was a Golden Retriever. I am not sure how it happened, but I found myself over there petting the dog. The neighbor called me over all excited, “Are you my new neighbors?” I say yes and both Laura and I walked over to talk to her. Then, out of nowhere, three more Goldens came trotting over…all offering tennis balls. I was in heaven. I was on my knees, petting them and shaking their fur all over the place. I was really excited. They are fairly quiet with the ever so often bark while looking at the ball. In Golden talk, that means, “Hey stupid, throw the ball.” I threw the ball a few times and what a riot it was watching the four of them jump all over themselves trying to get to it.
I am really happy that both Laura and I met the neighbor so soon and got to know the dogs. Now, we can go over and play with them without actually having to own another one. That’s fine with me.
So, now we have two houses. Anyone want to buy an 1,150 square foot cape on 1.25 acres? Just remodeled…You let me know.
Related posts
Posted in Animals, Home Improvement, Spring | 7 Comments »
Friday, November 9th, 2007
This just goes to show that I will actually post anything on this blog when I have the time. Now, to the fun stuff.
Ok, since we have moved into this house, we have had this loose handle on the sliding glass door that goes out to the porch. I always said that I was going to replace it, but never got around to it. It’s been over two years now and I suppose enough is enough. I can be lazy sometimes, but c’mon. How can I expect my beauty queen to use a door with a loose handle on it? I just wasn’t raised like that.
Since I had today off, I thought it would be nice to take a leisurely stroll down to Lowes in Middletown. I had to get some deer screening, posts (which I got) and the door handle for the sliding glass door. I picked up the other stuff and wandered over to the sliding glass door handle aisle. I looked at the selection and noticed that they didn’t have what I wanted. From looking online, I knew these handles were kind of expensive at $47.50 and $29.50. I always thought they were cheaper than that for some reason. I wasn’t too upset. Also, all I needed was the outside part. I grabbed something else instead…some nice stainless steel nuts and bolts.
I compared the threads with the bolts in the other door handle packages.
Before I go any further, let’s get down to the reason the handle was loose in the first place. The two screws that hold the thing together were kind of rusted in place. There was no way to loosen or tighted these two bolts. Over the years, I guess the handle loosened up and couldn’t be tightened. (Yeah, I should’ve cleaned that)
How did I get the handle off then? I drilled the two bolt heads off. Above is a picture of the door with no handle.
When I say rusted, I mean rusted. I thought that since I had that long bolt to work with, I could just grab them with my channel locks and twist. Well, I did that and here is what happened.
Hmmmm…what the heck was I supposed to do now? I had broken both bolts. They were really weak, by the way. I thought about drilling then out, by I couldn’t do that without totally messing up the handle. Instead, I got out my handy new Dremel and started cutting.
I knew the bolts couldn’t be rusted all the way inside the handle. After I grinded the handle all the way down to the bolt, I twisted them right out.
What a wonderful achievement, if I don’t say so myself. Before I did this, I came very close to running down to the hardware store for a new handle.
Here is a photo of the handle back in place…this time, nice and tight. The new bolts were threaded perfectly. I had to use those washers because the bolts were a hint too long. Also, I cleaned and oiled the sliding glass door track, which allowed the door to slide much smoother and easier. Now, there won’t be so much stress on the handle when we open the door.
Mad peace to you.
Related posts
Posted in Home Improvement | No Comments »
