Day 16: One of the Worst Days Yet...

I woke up at 8:21 A.M.  I actually woke up a couple of times before that, but I had set my alarm for 8:30 A.M. to get a full 8 hours of sleep.  I did a load of laundry knowing that I would have to catch a flight tonight.  I checked what time…5:42 P.M.  That meant I needed to leave my house at 4:45 P.M.  That meant I needed to be back at my house NO LATER than 4:00 P.M.  That meant I needed to leave the Rochester house at 3:40 P.M.  That meant I had a decent amount of hours to work today.

I stopped at the blue house to completely clean out the garage.  I loaded EVERYTHING up, then took it over to my garage.  Now legitimately the ONLY thing left is the spring for the garage door!  I’m 99.9% done!

I headed for the Rochester house next.  I had called a hardware store to inquire about a different tub drain shoe, but the plumbing gentleman didn’t understand what I needed.  Next I called a specialty plumbing shop, and the guy said there were 56 different combinations (I couldn’t tell if he was serious or not).  He told me I had to bring the old one in (I had seriously searched high and low for it yesterday to no avail).  He then suggested that it might be easier just to take the whole thing out and put a new one in.  Hmm.  Say what?  He said it should just be mounted with a threaded piece.  No sweat.  Literally.  Or so he thought anyway.  I would have to check it out.  That was my ONE goal today:  get that tub drain complete.

Sure enough, at the house, I saw what he was talking about.  This drain literally screws into a vertical brass pipe.  I unscrewed it.  It didn’t look difficult at all.

I also worked on getting my gas stove hooked up.  I had unfortunately and mistakenly cut off the flared fitting yesterday, so I tried flaring the copper today.  After it was all hooked up, I turned on the gas.  I went back upstairs to a hissing noise and a terribly strong gas smell.  I RAN back downstairs to shut off the gas.  Well, that’s no good.

My brother showed up, and we tried to figure out the gas issue.  I tried another flare to no avail.  My tool seemed to be flaring the copper sideways.  So I meticulously cut the copper straight, then flared again.  It looked good.  We hooked it up.  Hissing gas again.  I was so frustrated!!!

My new flaring tool.  Hooking up my stove gas line.

Working on it again, I found that the piece between the stove connector and supply line wasn’t threaded on properly.  I tried again.  Nothing.  It appeared it wasn’t going to go.  I needed a new part.

Knowing time was wasting (it was 12:40 P.M.), I rushed to Menard’s, picked up a new drain shoe, and talked to the plumbing guy about my stove problem.  After describing the problem to him, he thought I was crazy.  As in legitimately.  He said there was no way it wouldn’t thread on.  He said I had all the right pieces.  It HAD to thread on if what I was telling him was true.  Sigh.  I picked up a new connector anyway just in case mine was bad.  I headed back to the house!

I tried out my old connector first, and sure enough, it started threading this time!  I tightened it up, turned on the gas, and actually used all five burners of the stove for the first time since purchase!  I still smelled a faint smell of gas, and I wasn’t sure if it was from me trying to start it initially or not, so I turned the gas back off just to be safe.  I’m really not sure if that project is complete or not!

Unsure if it's perfect or not, but the stove looks great anyway!!!

Next I tackled the tub drain.  The old one came off easily, and I told Dad I expected this new one to take about 15 minutes to install.  Simply put the new one in, screw it tight, then fit the new standard plugs into the shoe.  Easy.

I kid you not when I say I spent the next 2 hours trying to get this thing to thread in.  I don’t even know how to put it into words.  The problem was that this was a 2-person job, and it was just me.  I called my brother, but he was enroute to work.  As I pushed down on the drain piece from the top of the tub, it pushed down on the shoe and wouldn’t thread.  It was always a moving target, even though it was in the other brass pipe.  It still had enough flex.

The new drain pipe on top and the old one below.  Notice the difference in the size of holes.  No wonder I couldn't get the new standard drains to thread on originally!

After maybe a half-hour of trying over and over again, I decided to go down in the crawlspace and pry a piece of wood underneath it to hold it.  In ways that my mind can’t even comprehend, this still did not work.  I literally pushed the piece down to the threads, turned, and nothing happened.  After maybe a half-hour of trying this, I decided to remove the new shoe and see if the new drain plugs even threaded into them.  It turned so smoothly that I was shocked.  What in the world?

It took me another 20-25 minutes before the threads took.  I was ecstatic!  My day would be good after all!  The stove and this drain were my big projects!  As any good repairman would do, I headed downstairs to check my work.  I turned on the tub and headed for the crawlspace.  I was so dejected when I saw a tiny leak.  The rubber washer had moved in one spot, and it was leaking.

I headed upstairs to sadly unscrew what had taken me 90 minutes to do.  I tried to set the piece again, and after another half-hour I couldn’t do it.

I had so many words today.  At one point, I screamed one of the deepest guttural screams I had ever done.  I WAS SO FRUSTRATED.  THE one project I wanted to complete today that should have taken 15 minutes now had me at 2 hours and 0% complete.  I desperately wanted to get on that plane knowing that the only thing left to do was have my paint guy come in and paint and my carpet guy come in and clean.

This project was more than just frustration of one project.  It was frustration that I was not going to meet my goal.  That I was not going to have this house done.  That my property manager whom I told today could start showing the house was going to see an unfinished bathtub with tools everywhere.  This incomplete project represented an incomplete house.  I knew I was going to be on the road for several days, and I knew I wasn’t going to have a finished house.

I WAS AS FRUSTRATED AS I HAVE EVER BEEN.

It was maddening.  A SIMPLE project of screwing a bolt-like piece into a nut-like piece that I couldn’t do.  My eyes were telling me it was a perfect fit.  But it was not to be.

I had planned on taking all the tools out of the house and leaving nothing.  I had planned on taking all of the trash out of the house and leaving nothing.  Now I had tools everywhere, trash everywhere, and an incomplete tub.

My house that needs to be rented soon is in no shape of being shown to tenants, and I am not there to finish it.  And I will not be there to finish it.

All of those frustrations came out in one long deep scream today.

What I thought was going to be a great day ended up being one of my worst on this house project.  With the stove in unknown condition (maybe it works?) and the tub in shambles, it’s as if I did nothing at all today.

I left the house promptly at 3:40 P.M., trying to thread that shoe up until that very minute.

I left deflated, dejected, and defeated.  My house that I NEEDED to get done today is not done.

 

Day 15: What a GREAT Day!!!

I slept in until 8:40 A.M.  With a little bit of a later night, I wanted to be fresh.

I headed over to the house to wrap up the various “little” projects that were remaining.  The big ones are mostly done…now it’s time to start doing the finishing touches!

First on my list was the massive drywall holes in the garage.  One was done by us underneath the breaker panel box, and the other was me correcting the previous owner’s poor driving abilities!  These projects went rather nicely, as well.  All right!!!  The garage is now ready for paint!!!  Finally!

The large hole where a previous owner ran a car into the wall.  I wanted it fixed right!

All patched up!

The hole we created underneath the breaker box panel.

All patched up.  Needs sanded.  :)

Next on the list was the floor in the corner of the dining room.  If you remember, when I first purchased this home, there was a massive shelf that stood to the left of the fireplace.  The previous owners left it there when they put in new laminate flooring.  So after removing the shelf (I thought it made the room look smaller), I found classic 1970’s carpet underneath the shelf.



The classic 1970's carpet under the old shelf I chose to remove.

So this morning I took to pulling out that carpet.  I grabbed a knife only to learn that it came up rather nicely without cutting.  Hmm…it’s possible that this was a piece of carpet laid down under the shelf but not spread around the rest of the room.  For underneath the carpet piece was another surprise, although not really.  For I found classic 12” tiles, but I expected them to be there because I found the same tiles on the opposite end of the room underneath the dishwasher.



Look at that classic original flooring!!!

I scraped away the padding and started cutting new pieces to fit.  I had a pretty rough time finding a color match on the laminate, but I was thrilled to find that the closest match was actually from a kitchen floor in my personal house!  I had saved the leftovers, and they were put to great use this morning.

Thankfully, this project went rather smoothly.  Of course, where the two pieces meet initially (new and old), there is not tongue-and-groove, but the trim should keep it down nicely.  All in all, I am thrilled with how it turned out.  It’s an extra piece of the room available for use now!

It's not a perfect color match, but it blends in well from across the room.  Just need some trim now!

After that, I started tackling the two bricks that needed re-set in mortar on the front porch.  These two bricks were just hanging there with no joints when I bought the house.  I had set these two aside in the garage to reseat them, and now it was time!  I mixed up some mortar, then went at it.  Hmm.  I didn’t feel like I had enough.  So I mixed up some more.  Let’s be honest, I had NO idea what I was doing.  I have seen people lay bricks before, but I have never done it myself.  So I mixed up a lot of mortar, then slapped it up there.  I set the bricks on top and made sure to make sure mortar was oozing from everywhere.  I was pretty happy with how it turned out.  ANOTHER project complete!

The bricks as I bought the house.  I needed to mortar two back in place.

After!  Not a bad job, eh?!

Today was going great!

Next I tackled the unfortunate problem that we had made for ourselves.  Dad had mentioned after reading this blog that he didn’t think foil tape on the chimney flue was such a good idea…that it could possibly catch fire.  So yesterday at the firehouse, I performed a very quality-controlled test:  I took a flame right to my roll of foil tape.  It caught fire.  I knew right then and there that I would have to remove it.

The foil tape that unfortunately caught fire on my professional fire test.

So I cut out a big hole of the drywall and took it all out.  A little bit of time wasted, but only a half hour.  Safety is definitely the #1 goal when renting a home, so I’m glad it’s out.  Of course, I then patched up that hole.  Another project complete.

I tried to make the hole as unseen as possible.  But it was large so I could reach to the middle!

The flue is back to just flue.  Notice the tilt!

I made a run to True-Value to ask about tub drains, but the owner thought that all drains were the same.  I informed him that I had learned that both coarse and fine threads exist.  He looked at me like I was crazy.  “In all my years, I’ve never heard of such a thing.  I only sell one type.”  Well, ok then!

Once back at the house, I installed some carpet threshold between my entryway tile and dining room.  That was a pretty easy project, although I needed way longer nails than what came in the package!  The seam looks so much better now.

 

The missing tile and the missing seam.  Notice how FILTHY that carpet is!  Ew!



After!  So much better.

After that I tackled the mantle above the fireplace.  I had to cut it down to size, as it used to wrap around one side portion of the wall.  I had taken note when I had the large hole in the side (to remove the tape) where the mounting wood was (previous owner had put some horizontal 2x4’s between the studs).  That mantle was very heavy, but I set a level and went at it!

It took a while with the trim and getting those long screws down deep, but I was pleased to have that project done.  Until I stepped away to take a look.  Somewhere along the way my level mantle became unlevel.  Sigh.  It was pretty frustrating.  I had gone to extreme lengths to ensure it was level!  I guess that screws pulled my left mount away…or something.  I don’t know.  But for the rest of the day, every time I walked by it, it pulled my eyes towards it.  “I’m a ski slope!”  So aggravating!

The mantle is back up...and sloping uphill!  GRR!!!

Mom and Dad took off early from work and came over to help.  That was a much-welcomed surprise.  Dad worked on getting a couple of small fixes to the circuit breaker panel box (some 15-amps needed switched to 20-amps), while Mom mowed the yard.  It was tremendous help since my list of projects was tremendous.  I leave for work tomorrow (gone for 10 days), so I NEEDED to wrap all this up.

Mom and I swept up the garage, so that’s looking better.  Mom then left with a little bit of brown paint to do some touch-up’s at the blue house.  Thanks, Ma!

Dad left somewhere between 7:00 and 8:00 to call it a day.  Thanks, Pa!

I knew I had a long night ahead of me to wrap up projects, so I planned on working until midnight.

I had to make a Menard’s run to pick up some more parts, so I headed there.  I REALLY wanted to get the blue house 100% finished.  It stood at 98%.  Unfortunately, I had to wait 20-30 minutes for help at the store (I REALLY wanted the right parts).  It was maddening…that store has been so understaffed lately.  I showed him what I needed for a gas stove, and he literally chastised me for cutting it off.  “Did you cut this off”?  “Yes.”  “Why”?  “Well, I had no idea what I was doing.”  “Yeah, umm, you REALLY shouldn’t have cut this off.”  Sigh.  Story of this flip.  I now had to buy a flaring kit to redo what had already been done.  I was disgusted to see this guy unscrew the piece in front of me by hand when I couldn’t get it with two pipe wrenches.  My heart sunk.  I picked up some wood trim, water heater drain parts, and an anti-siphon repair kit for my front faucet, and headed for the other house.

Once at the blue house, I worked on the anti-siphon faucet first.  Thankfully, the repair went flawlessly.  This morning when I woke up, I first stopped to see if the parts inside were broken.  Amazingly, there were NO guts inside!  No wonder I had NO water coming out the end of my hose.  A quick $6 kit and 2 minutes later, and we were in business.  I watered the new bushes that were in desperate need of some kindness.  Woo hoo!

Next I tackled my water heater drain.  I built a drain out of CPVC and had it run to my drain.  Perfect!  Except for ONE thing…I needed thread tape for my connection, and that was at the other house!  So I had to leave my last glued piece until later.  GRR!

Next I tackled my baseboard trim pieces.  I had one long piece and four small ones to cut.  That was a bit time-consuming, and I added more blood to my repairs.  And I had ANOTHER problem:  my hammer was at the other house!  I couldn’t nail them in!  Agh!!!

That’s when I realized I forgot one thing:  a spring for my screen garage door!!!  Mom had even sent me a text about it, and I forgot it.  I was fried.

I then cleaned out the garage and took what I could to my garage and the junk to the dumpster.

I then headed BACK over to the Rochester house around 10:30 P.M. to put in a good hour’s worth of work.  I needed EVERY hour I could get.  I mounted the trim along the laminate floor I had installed today and mounted some along the ceiling above the fireplace.

I then searched for my tub drain so I could find a good match but to no avail.  I loaded up all the tools and headed for the other house.  I was able to quickly the water heater drain tube and baseboard trim pieces.  I headed for home.

The relief valve drain tube installed.  The water heater is now 100% done!  AND not leaking!  :)

I unloaded everything into my garage.  I looked at the time.  12:00 A.M.  I went to bed filthy without taking a shower I was so tired.

Day Four: The Blue House is Tenant Ready!!!

I woke up at 8:30 A.M.  I had originally woke up at 7:11, but I had my alarm set for 8:30 due to being up late last night.  Thankfully, I was able to fall back asleep and get that extra hour!  I was in dream sleep even at 8:30!

I headed over to the blue house to start my day.  And my day did NOT start well!  I opened up the dishwasher one more time to take a look...and decided to try out the unit.  It would need a new "spinny" part, but I wanted to see what I was working with.  I started it up.  I needed a tool at home real quick, so I zipped home.  I was back in a few minutes, and I found a puddle of water all over my kitchen floor!!!  I quickly shut off the dishwasher, but the water just kept on coming.  I pulled off the bottom of the unit to find water going everywhere.  I was on bucket brigade for the next 20-30 minutes.  sigh.  I KNEW I needed a new dishwasher...I just knew it!  But I figured I would give it a shot before a I dropped a few hundred bucks.

Mom sent a text right then, "Hope today goes well!"  Oh, Mom, if you only knew!

After I had most of the mess cleaned up, I pulled the unit out of the kitchen.  I was going to just get rid of the whole thing.  I heard a knock at the door.  "Hello?!  Are you my new neighbor?!"  A woman walked in and introduced herself.  She was the kindest 85-year-old woman.  I let her know all about what I was doing, and she was impressed...and a huge fan!  She kept on encouraging me and even gave me a hug!  And she LOVED the new bushes and flowers we had planted.



The new boxwood bushes!

That little piece of encouragement went a long way!  SOMEONE was watching us.  And it was nice to know that the small changes are noticed.  I walked her through the house, and she loved it!  After she left, I hauled the dishwasher outside.  I loaded up the water heater and headed for the Rochester house.

I stopped at the firehouse to get a part to try to creatively remove my bathtub drain that won't budge.  The four cross-members had broken, but I saw a trick online that I wanted to try.  It consisted of wedging a large socket down the drain and turning it.  I also tested out my tape that I had put on my chimney flue with a lighter.  Unfortunately it caught on fire!  So I have to remove that.  AGH, I created my own problem on that one!

Once at the house, I was ecstatic to learn that the socket trick worked.  I had to wedge a small piece of tin in between the socket and drain to get it to not slide, but it worked flawlessly.  Woo hoo!  That is one of the larger projects left to do.  Unfortunately, the kit I purchased did not come with the rubber washer, so I couldn't complete the project.  GRR!!!

The "cheap" trick to the $30 tool.

The piece of metal wedged in between the socket and the drain to create a tight fit.

GROSS!!!  The drain came off pretty easily!

My brother helped me load up the old dishwasher, and then I spent the next half hour loading all of the wire we had removed.  I took it into town along with the two dishwashers and water heater, and I was ecstatic to get $57.84 for my scrap!  I'll take it!

The wire we removed from the house.  What work!

Aluminum in the back, cable on top, copper on the right, two dishwashers, and a water heater!

We had to remove this foot-by-foot!!!

Quite a bit of wire.  Puts it all into perspective.

From there, I headed to Menard's and Lowe's to pick up parts.  I shopped for quite a bit.  Then it was off to the blue house to meet up with Mom and Dad to finish that house!  They both graciously agreed to swing by after working their full days!

I focused in installing a new dishwasher, while Mom cleaned.  Dad was wrapping up several various projects.  I installed the last closet doors with new hardware (woo hoo!).  After yet another Menard's run for parts for the dishwasher (I bought the wrong ones earlier), we all tackled the remaining projects.

Removing the old dishwasher (and mopping up the huge mess that it made!).

I installed the dishwasher.  Dad replaced a bulb in the front exterior light.  He also installed a new rear exterior light and battery-powered doorbell.  We hooked up my dryer vent.  And we cleaned, cleaned, cleaned.

I removed the massive light fixtures from the garage, took the aluminum ladder, and tidied up.

I am soooooooooooooo happy to say that this house is RENT-READY!!!  Mary came over with some freshly-baked banana bread.

I installed a fire detector.

I made another dumpster run and removed the tools.  I am so excited about this house!  It really turned out sharp!  I'm very proud of it!!!

C'mon, tenant!!!

I called it a night around 10:15 P.M.

Day Three at the Blue House...

Today was another full day spent at the blue house.  I headed to Menard's after church to pick up some more parts for today.  I finally arrived at the house around 12:30 P.M.  Mom showed up shortly thereafter, and Dad arrived maybe a half hour later from picking up tools at the other house.

My focus was on getting the water heater gas line hooked up.  I had finished the water lines yesterday, but we still had no hot water!  I picked up a ton of gas pipe so I would have the right parts.  After playing around with the pipes for a bit, I had a game plan.  Dad showed me how to turn off the gas at the meter, and I went to putting the gas line together.

Mom was feverishly working on cleaning the whole house.  She knocked out two bathrooms and was waiting on me to get her some hot water to do the rest!  She cooked water on the stove yesterday to heat it up, but I took away even her gas today!  So I was in full gear so that she could get back to working!  :)  She planted some petunias I had purchased today as she waited on me.

Dad was working on relocating the garage door push button.  When you walk out in the garage, a screen door prevents you from being able to open or close the door unless you reach around it.  So he moved the wire from one side of the door to the other by running it through the attic.  Nice job, Pa!

And now back to me...and my never-ending frustrations!!!  I finished the pipe work after about an hour...only to realize that my shut-off valve wouldn't turn fully because it hit the 90-degree elbow.  Agh, I was so frustrated!!!  I had to take the entire set-up apart and do it all over again, swapping out the union and the shut-off valve!  GRR!!!  About a half hour lost.

The shut-off valve hit the new 90-degree turns!!!  GRR!!!

After the pipes were back together, I turned on the gas and fired up the hot water heater!  Success!!!  Woo hoo!!!  Well, kinda.  When I arrived today, I noticed a tiny pool of water on the top of the heater.  It wasn't much but a leak is a leak!  I tried tightening down the nipples I installed yesterday, but it still leaked.  Sigh.  What to do, what to do...

I can't escape the frustrations!

The rest of the day was wrapping up all of the small (but many!) projects.  Mom cleaned the kitchen.  Dad and I worked on the finishing touches to a few closet doors.  One closet door was bowed out and needed some creative nailing to hold it together.  Another was missing a knob.  A third was missing a knob, as well.

We also tackled the sliding glass patio door.  The wheels are 28 years old and broken, so it didn't move freely at all.  So I bought some parts this morning to fix that.  The door now slides back and forth!

The old sliding glass door wheel...and the new!  Needless to say, it didn't use to slide very well.  It's the small stuff that makes the BIGGEST differences!

Mom left around 4:15 P.M. for a skate party with the church, while Dad and I stayed behind.  We cleaned out the garage.

The very clean living room.  Thanks, Ma!

The other view of the living room.

The kitchen.  Looks great!

I had called up my property manager at 2:30 to let him know I finally had another house for him.  He swung by to check it out.  With all of the tools and parts laying around, he asked when I REALLY would have the house ready for a showing.  I told him tonight!  He didn't seem to believe me!  But that was seriously my goal!  We DID have a lot left to do, but I had a half a day to work!  But the day has arrived where it's in his hands now.  Here's to hoping for a GREAT tenant!

We finally called it a night around 6:10 P.M. and headed over to the skate party, too.  I stayed behind to visit with my nieces and nephew and was dropped off back at the house around 7:45 P.M.  I made a run to the dumpster to dump out the junk from the back of my truck, then headed to Menard's again only to find that it closed at 8:00 P.M. on Sundays.  I arrived at 8:12.  Agh!  I had high hopes of installing a dishwasher tonight!  It was not going to happen.

Not to miss out on any work time, I headed home and mowed my own personal yard in the dark.  I finished at 8:49 P.M., then headed over to the house to do some more work.  I fired up the furnace that had lost its gas when I turned it off this morning (thanks, Pa, for helping on that one over the phone!).  I hooked up the gas dryer.  I talked to the water heater to tell it to stop leaking.  I vacuumed.  I cleaned up what was not done today.  I cleared out much of the garage of the junk that Dad and I had swept up.  I installed new lightbulbs in all the fixtures that needed it (lots of 'em did!).

The gas line hooked up on the dryer.

Firing the gas furnace back up.  C'mon, trusty ol' furnace!

The brand-new water heater installed.  I still need to hook up the relief valve drain line.

I also cleaned and installed the fan blades from the kitchen ceiling fan.  Mom had cleaned the bottoms of them this morning, but when putting screws on the fan this afternoon, I had to chuckle to see that Mom didn't clean what she couldn't see!  The blades were DISGUSTING!  They were full of grease.  As Dad asked, "How does grease travel through the air"?  I don't know, Dad, but it does indeed!

The top of the fan blades Mom had cleaned.  I had to chuckle to see she only got the edges!

The new tops.  So clean!

I made another dumpster run (lots of junk came out of this house!).

Finally, right at 11:00 P.M., I called it a night.  I really hadn't planned on spending this much time over here at this house, but she was much more needy than I anticipated...especially with that surprise water heater not working.  But that's what you get when you buy a house as-is.  Surprises!

I'm going to try and tackle some projects at the other house, then wrap this one up tomorrow night.  It took a couple days of my time longer than expected, but it had quite a bit of undone maintenance.

But the GREAT news is that my property manager has the key!  It's time for him to start showing the home!  He thinks he can get $1000-$1050/month.  I would be ECSTATIC to get that.  But that's why I go through all of these hassles and frustrations.  The pay-off should come in the end.  Here's to hoping!

In bed around midnight...

Day Two: An Unexpected Day at the Blue House

Mom has basically been begging me to let her into my other house so that she can clean!  The water had not been turned on, so it hadn't worked out in terms of keys and times and water and all until now on a perfect Saturday.  I told her I would meet her over at the blue house to turn the water on and then be on my way to the Rochester house for the rest of the day.

Oh, how quickly plans change on unknown houses.

I met her over at the house around 8:15 A.M.  Dad was going over to Rochester to pick up some tools, and then he met us at the house, as well.  I had one simple goal:  turn the water on!  The main water valve in the house had already been turned on, so I called my utilities company.  They informed me that they had turned it on last week when I had called and requested it.  Hmm.

So I headed down in my crawlspace to check for another valve.  Neither Dad nor I thought there would be one, but this wasn't making sense!!!  I found the water line...and no valve.  So I came back up.  We went to the side yard to see if the water was on.  It was.  But I had a hunch.  "What if the water valve out here was installed backwards"? I asked Dad.  He said that would be highly unlikely.  Well, I turned the valve from pointing TO the house to point AWAY from it, and wouldn't you know it, the water turned on!  I had water!!!  Mom could now clean!

I wanted to get her some hot water for good cleaning, so I went to fire up the hot water heater.  Nothing.  It was a gas unit, but the pilot light would not stay lit.  I tried again...and again...and again.  Nothing.  It would light, but as soon as I took it off of "Pilot," it would die.  It might have been able to just use new gas parts, but I saw that the unit was original...27 years old!!!  The Energy Guide said "1983" on the sticker, so it might have even been older than that!  I also couldn't get the shut-off valve above the water heater to fully close and shut off the water.  I decided to just replace the whole thing.

Draining the old, original water heater.

Ouch!  That was a $500 surprise I hadn't anticipated...and many hours lost on the other house!

I headed to Menard's, but they only had $600 units.  Nope.  I headed to Lowe's...$350!  I loaded one up and headed back to the house.  I had Dad help me carry it inside, and I started installing my 2nd water heater (Thanks, Cleveland house, for the confidence to do this one!).  Dad told me to hire it done, but at over $1000, I decided to save $500 and do it myself.

I opened up the box only to find the water heater severely damaged.  It had dents on top AND bottom.  AGHHH!!!  MORE hours lost!  I loaded it back up and headed to another's Lowe's to purchase another one.  So frustrating!!!

So that is how I spent my entire afternoon:  installing a new water heater.  Dad worked on various electrical projects like replacing the old thermostat with a new digital one; Mom feverishly cleaned the kitchen and bathrooms by boiling water on the stove, and I worked on the water heater.

The new thermostat installed.  Thanks, Pa!

Mom working tirelessly in the kitchen!  She boiled water for cleaning as I installed a new water heater!  Thanks, Ma!

After removing the old water heater, I quickly learned why I couldn't get the water to stop flowing.  The valve had so many deposits of HARD elements.  It simply couldn't fully close!

Those deposits are rock solid!

That gunk is as hard as metal!

I also learned today that my dishwasher is missing a VERY critical piece:  the water spinner on the bottom!  I will probably have to replace that, too.  I just took a $1000 hit today on appliances!  Ouch!  I heard over and over again today:  "Now you know why he was so eager to sell it!"  That's the risk you take on as-is and unknowns...

Problem:  No water spinny thingy!!!  Another setback!

Dad and I conquered a major project of hanging up all of the shelves in the closets again.  I'm not exactly sure why the previous owner took them down, but I'm glad to see them back up.  The house is coming together, but what surprises!!!

One of the many closet shelves we hung back up.

After the frustrations of the day, I needed a little pick-me-up.  So while Mom cleaned the kitchen inside, I planted boxwood bushes outside.  I needed a project that I could say, "DONE!"  I know it sounds silly, but I seriously needed something to get fulfillment from today!

I had BLAND landscaping out front!  This house needed something!

The bushes all planted.  We stayed late again tonight!

I also found this curious little friend as I was digging...I have NO idea what it is!

I don't think he belongs in Illinois!

I didn't get the water heater completely installed, although I was able to get the water lines fully hooked up.  Tomorrow I will work on the gas lines.

What a day.  Today was FILLED with surprises!  In no way, shape, or form did I picture myself spending the day at the blue house.  I NEEDED to be at the other house!!!  But things kind of fell apart real fast.

No water.  Then water.  Then no hot water.  Then no hot water heater.  Then no dishwasher.  A "nice" flip turns south real fast.  As I said earlier, in the course of hours, I saw nearly $1000 disappear just like that!

But I know these risks going in.  The 27-year-old water heater is now brand new.  And soon enough, the 14-year-old dishwasher will be brand-new, too.

The beauty queen had to go...

Out with the old...

In with the new.  I still have the gas lines to hook up tomorrow.

It was a good day, though.  Projects are getting finished.  And Mom is cleaning like only Moms can!  Seriously, check out these photos...the $50 stove is like new!!!  It's amazing what a little bit of elbow grease can do.

The stove as I bought it for $50.  Pretty gross!

The stove after Mom's hands got on it:  like new!!!

The stove looks brand new!  Not bad for $50, huh?!

The garage is filling back up with junk, but it will all be gone soon enough.

Out with the old...

I finally called it a night around 10:00 P.M.