649 6th

day 5: hitting the reset

What started out as a day to move some stuff around to get ready for the new dryer and freezer turned into an all day cleaning extravaganza. There are a few points that I'd like to make:

1. I've said it before I'll say it again, keeping a clean job site makes life worth living.

2. Boy am I glad I listened to everyone (well... me, Michael and Ivy) and finished the demo of the bathroom before moving on to finish everything else. I didn't realize how dirty it was.

3. NEVER interlace your metro shelving together to save on posts unless you are absolutely sure you won't need to reconfigure it in the future! After 8 solid hours in the basement I can attest to how tricky it can get and to how many wayward tools needed to find a home.

4. Had the best distance swim in months.

5. Moved crap all day and didn't hurt my back. Learning to pick things up responsibly really helps.

Tomorrow learning to cut with the Dremel tool.

dryer repair

We keep saying "this weekend" we jump back into the renovation fray, but the S-days just keep ticking past. Which isn't to house has been neglected. Our dryer died a couple weeks ago. Circuit had been tripped and wouldn't reset, which we intuited meant it needed to be replaced. Yeah, we're that sharp. But replacing circuits (a multi-part saga in itself) didn't do a thing for the dryer. Fortunately the you-fix-it guide has plenty to say about diagnosing and repairing dryers.

Step 1: make sure there's electricity at the outlet. (Told you we were sharp.)
Step 2: remove cover plate where cord enters.

Charred inside of the cover plate and melted terminal block were pretty obvious problem. Remedying that situation was a bit more of challenge. After a couple false starts, I finally found an online supplier of GE dryer parts and ordered the replacement terminal block. Then I got to thinking I should replace the dryer cord too. No sign of damage on the prongs or at the box, but the terminal end was a bit charred. I got a bit turned around testing and retesting current, and I finally decided replacing the cord couldn't hurt. Couldn't find one at the depot, which didn't seem particularly odd; beginning to anticipate what they don't carry. Thought the cord would require another Internet order, but then I chanced into what I think is a new local hardware store (that's oddly right across the street from the established local hardware store) and they had one.

Depot did come through on the large female connectors I needed to complete the new wiring, and deluxe wire cutters came through with a crimper that I'd barely even noticed before. Et voila!

If you're reading this and you have an electric dryer, do yourself a favor and check the screws at the terminal block. My reading on the Internet says this is one the most common dryer problems. When a screw gets loose enough the electricity will arc. Got the impression it's a gradual process where you may smell burning while dryer is running. I don't remember any smell; for all I know it happened all at once. Also can't swear in hindsight whether the terminal connection that melted down was loose. I didn't read about commonality of this problem until after I removed the old terminal. And there was the slag to chip away. And the caution of poking at something that under slightly different circumstances could kill.

Sort of spooky, but also reassuring that various safeties did what they're meant to do.

hatched

fall cleaning

Bet you were looking for an updated picture of the exterior siding. Though progress HAS been made since last post, I think the as-yet-unexplained absence of work on Friday and Saturday affected our enthusiasm. Will try to remedy first thing in the morning so we have a record of each (agonizing) step. Hopefully we won't have occasion to post more "no progress" reports...

Could be a pre-mature move, but we started restoring basement to a proper work space rather than a surrogate bedroom. Added shelving to laundry room in a bid to make some breathing room in the otherwise packed-to-gills storage room. Biggest motivator: the stench of death. It's amazing what a dead animal will do to make you want to break out the bleach and get all your shit off the floor.

Mini-landing at bottom of steps is further enhancement to basement. Great opportunity to use multiple tools and skills on a low-profile project. And most importantly: injury-free!

packing in the old year

We spent a great deal of time in the basement today. I'm hoping we're starting at the bottom to create a base of operations for the renovations to come. Conversely, I could just be creating my lair of tools, toys, and training equipment from which I may never emerge.

Basically everything was set-up (read: not set-up) badly. The tools were in the small room and there were crates of books and various other hoo ha all over the main part of the floor.

We packed all of the things we thought we would not need until much later into the small room and got all of the tools and house keeping stuff a little better organized.

This is all in preparation of us dealing with the enclosure around the water main and how we will reconstruct that to match the work the mason has been doing.

the longest day

If I weren't so tired I could tell you the whole story. which hopefully over the holidays I will. But for your reading pleasure I give you this:

How did the worlds of these two objects collide over the past 48 hours?

The Hair Dryer

And the Steam Valve

Come on give it your best shot.

happy anniversary

The appliances are in! The mason came yesterday to clear back a bit of the rubble to widen the door to get them in. Sadly it was just not quite enough. However, I was bound and determined not to send them back again, nor put them on the frst floor (coming in the front door).


To be honest it was kinda fun to smash things up a bit. The (what I have taken to calling) fieldstone crumbled a bit more than i would have liked and for a spilt second I thought the entire basement wall might crumble. In the end I smashed out enough of the rocks to get clearance. Next I got to use my trusty new reciprocating saw. You will note in the picture (as I know there are a few newbies out there today, click pic to enlarge) that the door has been removed, and I basically sawed off the door jam at just enough clearance to get the washer and dryer in.

Thought we were good to go-- but no. We get to the small passage into the laundry room and realized it is a half inch to narrow. We stripped away the drywall, did a bit of futzing, and they slid in barely. The delivery guys hooked them up and turned them on and presto! The one thing that was a bit concerning is  I think the people who had the house before us vented their dryer into the basement. They must have had some sort of closed vent thingy that uses water or some such to pull out particulates. Anyone ever heard of such a system?

As you can see Michael is... hmm I'm not exactly sure what he is in this photo. Ah, the domesticity of having a washer and dryer delivered on your anniversary

steamed

We have a bolier issue. When Charlie helped us light it a few weeks back it appeared to be working fine. I was a bit skeptical about the accuracy of the thermastat but we figured that could be dealt with.

Basically, we have a gas furnace that functions as a boiler to make steam that is sent to radiators which subsequently heats the house.

Over the weekend it appeared that the furnace wouldn't come on at all. On closer inspection last niight Micahel discovered (with charlie again participating by phone) that the water level was low hence the furnace would not light (at least that precaution works). He filled it to the proper level and it lit right up.

Now here's the big question. The water was at the proper level when we lit the pilot a couple of weeks back. Where did the water go? It wasn't intensely steamy nor do any of the radiators appear to be leaking (well no obvious signs of water damage).

On the up side, once it cranked back up it heated the house in no time at all.

The plan is to monitor it over the next few days and see if we can figure out what is going on. Eventually we need to have work done on it to install the new low profile exhaust so that we can remove the chimney on the second floor (gets in the way of the proposed stair run). Additionally, the inspector said it only had another year or so on it tops, and with the new square footage we may need more BTU's. Although, if were only adding another 15x24 room it seemed to be PLENTY of heat in our test run last night.

well, almost

All week long I was quite excited about getting our new washer and dryer (who would have thought). When the delivery came today there was a bit of a problem. The door to the basement was not quite big enough to get them in. It's 26" and it needs a minimum of 27".

Now for those of you who have  been following along, if the mason would have been done by now this would not have posed a problem. The new door is 29" plenty of room to get them into the basement. Sadly, that is still not installed. The appliances were put back on the truck and sent away.

The plan is to try again in a week or so. [sigh]

rubble

As promised here is a shot of the basement repairs mid-rubble. I'm still a little unclear of the "steps" involved in completing this job but, I'm fairly certain it won't be done before we move in. No biggy, the metal grate is still around and it will only be short term.

Most of the packing got done today.