It's so nice to have laser-like purpose. That can often be fleeting in house remodels...and life! Dad said he needed to be home by noon today to can tomato juice. So we had a deadline!!! Just four hours of work this morning with him! And I had a flight this evening, so I needed to be home by 4:45 P.M.! And we had PLENTY of work to do!
Well, today we hit the ground running at 8:00 A.M. (after a quick stop at Subway for coffee, of course. Mom is out at home!). I was going to clean and install air vents while Dad wrapped up the electrical work. His first goal was to replace the lamp wire that we had found inside one of the walls by running new Romex.
I vacuumed up all the junk and dust I could see in the vents and then installed new vent covers. It's nice to be tackling multiple projects at once! It still boggles my mind what a difference something so simple can make. These floor vents are just $7.97 but completely alter a room's appearance. The floor goes from "meh" to "looks clean" with just a simple install. I love it.
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| Before...dirty and rusty. |
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| After...white and clean! |
I then started cleaning the heat pump slant coil. Last night, we tried to determine the cause of the water leak in the unit, and I had read that I needed to have a properly-sized filter (mine didn't) and a clean coil (mine was FILTHY). I didn't/don't know much about air-conditioning units, but this has been pretty fun to learn about. I brought a tooth brush to clean the coil, and wow, how filthy it was. Dark black water drained into the drain pan, and I pulled out plenty of dirt, dust, hair, and even a moth. Seriously, I don't know how ANY air was able to pass through the coil! I know the terrible performance that is had when a dirty air filter is on a motorcycle or lawnmower, so I kind of equate this to the same thing! My heat pump was NOT operating efficiently AT ALL!!!
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| My slant coil before cleaning. Ewwwww!!! |
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| Slant coil as I was cleaning...just scrubbed it with a toothbrush. |
Here's to hoping! Well, sadly, the unit still leaks. But everything seems to operate perfectly! Hmm...more research is needed.
Dad wrapped up the master bedroom wiring job, and then we both tackled the new thermostat. Once again, after some research last night, we determined that we had all of the material we needed! For whatever reason, I/we read the manual wrong, and we just didn't know. But each of our old wires had a place to line up on the new one. So we tried it out. Aha! Success!!!
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| The previous thermostat. |
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| Replaced with new programmable thermostat. Easy to use. |
I love checking items off of the list!
From there, we both decided to tackle the last of the ice maker project. We had run lines for it in the crawlspace yesterday, but today we hooked up the actual line. It was a cinch. The water flowed freely out the end. Another success!!!
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| Tapping the icemaker line in below the sink. |
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| Water flowed freely! Woo hoo! Now all I need is a fridge! |
Since we were in the kitchen, Dad suggested I try out the electric oven that I had never tried before. I turned on the oven. Ziiip ziiip. I quickly turned it off. "Dad, did you hear that?" Of course, he said no. ha! I turned it back on. Zzzz zip zip. I quickly turned it back off. "Did you seriously not hear that? It sounds like arcing inside the stove...from this corner." I showed him. He heard nothing! ha! Well, I turned it on one more time with his ear next to the corner I thought I heard it from, and POP! Pop pop! "Whoa, whoa!" Yup, he heard it that time. :)
We pulled out the stove only to find that I had an electrical short at the plug! Sigh. For whatever reason, the previous owners didn't properly install the receptacle...it was completely missing the back cover. Well, one of the prongs had completely fried itself in the receptacle. Not good. Another project to add to the list! I tell you, the more that we check off, the more that we get! A heat pump leak, a dangerous wire, a shorted stove, a dysfunctional garage door...
What's next?!
We didn't have the parts to fix it, so that project would have to wait.
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| The reason for the "zzz zzz" I was hearing! |
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| A fire waiting to happen. |
We decided to try and tackle the garage door for our last project together...for the day. I had researched some about this last night, and we learned that the flashing red light on one end actually gives you a code as to what the problem is. We determined it was either improper alignment of the sensors...or a faulty sensor as Dad had suspected. Well, through much sleuthing, we were able to determine that the wire that ran from one wire to the other was broken somewhere! So we cut out the part that we thought was broken and tested it up to there. It worked! We also swapped the green sensor out of the sun per the manual and placed the red in the sun.
We spliced the wires back together (in three places, mind you) only to figure out that we didn't have power again! Agh, the wire was broken somewhere else! We'll just buy new wire...it's not worth trying to salvage this old one! But we took encouragement in knowing that we had found the problem...and in knowing that both eyes DO in fact work!!!
Yay!!!
I took Dad home so he could start on his tomatoes, and I grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed back. I decided to tackle a few more projects while here...I had about four hours of work to offer towards the house.
So I...
Installed the dryer vent hose. Of course, even a simple project like this couldn't be simple!!! I ripped off the tape on the inside of the laundry room only to find that a little creature had made this his home for the past however many months/years. I pulled out a huge nest!!! But the hose is now hooked up.
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| Surprise! A bird had enjoyed a nice, comfy home for some time. |
Cut new vinyl to replace underneath the vanity. It had exposed wood before that.
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| Before... |
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| After! |
I cleaned up the mess that we had left in every room of the house. I installed another new floor vent. What a difference!!! I'll be buying more. No need to skimp on these little guys when they brighten up a room so very much.
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| The old vent... |
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| Replaced with the new! Completely changes a room. |
I headed to a store and picked up a paint brush, handles for the kitchen cabinets (another whim of mine!), another air register, a lightbulb I had forgotten yesterday, and headed back home. That cost me an hour, but I REALLY wanted to paint the main bathroom pieces of wood so that that project can wrap up soon. I needed to get a first coat on.
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| Wood-filling and sanding down the bathroom towel rack holders. I then added a coat of paint. |
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| Adding the first coat of paint on the wood trim. Love it. |
I also replaced my kitchen cabinet handles. It's easy work, though tedious, but what a difference. I like the new style. These were the ONLY handles that would fit from the store...not my first choice, but I wanted to get it done. I replaced sticky white plastic handles with metal polished silver. It looks much better, but I am not 100% sold on them. Still too plain for me. Agh, Andy! I can already tell I'll probably buy ones that I actually like. It's a $50 remodel project that goes a long way. The cabinets can be transformed without being replaced!
But seriously, do you know how hard it is to find 4-inch handles?! They are mostly 3-inch or 196mm!!! AGH!!!
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| The old plastic white handles. I didn't care for them from Day One...and several were sticky due to the plastic! |
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| Replaced with metal silver handles. Basically the same handle, but it looks much sleeker. |
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| A tiny bit of contrast now. I am pleased. |
I cleaned up our whole house mess and decided it was time to call it a day.
But how fulfilling!!! So many more items to check off the list. These aren't overly difficult projects, but they certainly take time. And I'm learning day-by-day about how small details really make a difference. I shoot for the "wow" factor on all my homes, and this is slowly being transformed from a functional building to a "Hey, I can see myself living here." THAT is the ultimate test for me. Would I live here?
It's getting closer and closer to that point every day. And it's getting exciting!!!
I'll come back for four days of work next week. I'm hoping to wrap up EVERYTHING, including the much-needed outside work. If all goes well, all that stands between me and a tenant is a few more days of work and a great job by my contractor on the siding, windows, and doors.
Could it be possible that I'll have a home ready to rent in just three weeks?!
October 1 is the goal! Let's do it!
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