Instead of being out in the rain, lucky James has spend the past few days crawling under the house putting in the new gas line. Lucky is sarcastic because under the house is a dirty, yucky, generally unpleasant place to be. This is according to James, because I'm far too afraid to go under the house.
The previous owner had a gas line for the water heater and the furnace only. The furnace was a floor furnace (that appears to not have been functional for years) with only 50% efficiency and the water heater was a 30 gallon heater in a closet. We're buying a high efficiency furnace and installing it in the attic. We've also bought a 50 gallon water heater and moved it out to the garage. In addition, we're installing a gas fireplace, gas oven and range, and gas clothes dryer-hence the necessity for work on the gas line.
The gas is turned off during this whole process so there's no need to worry about James' safety. Also, the way to test if there's a leak in the gas line is pretty amusing. You hook up all the pipes, turn the gas on, then rub liquid soap at the connections. If the soap bubbles, you have a leak! If no bubbles, no leaks. I'm not sure why, with my fear of foam, this is so hilarious to me, but it is.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Thursday, December 17, 2009
December 17, 2009 -- Day 105 -- We've got light!
The electricians finished their work and we now have light in the house. The old electric system is a "knob and tube" system. I don't know what that is but I'm sure James does. Anyway...we had the electricians rewire the bathroom and kitchen, adding outlets and ceiling lights as needed. We have the possibility for under-cabinet lighting in the kitchen which always looks nice. Next on the list of things to do is getting the furnace up and running!
Monday, December 14, 2009
December 12, 2009 -- Day 100!!
We've officially owned the house for 100 days. =)
The plumbing was finished last week...thank you to the plumber who looked like Terrence Howard. They installed our new water heater in the garage (it was previously housed in a closet in the hallway), all new PVC pipe plumbing under the house, and all the drains for our various appliances.
We're hoping to get the electrical work done this week. Then, James will install our gas lines and it will be inspection time!
The plumbing was finished last week...thank you to the plumber who looked like Terrence Howard. They installed our new water heater in the garage (it was previously housed in a closet in the hallway), all new PVC pipe plumbing under the house, and all the drains for our various appliances.
We're hoping to get the electrical work done this week. Then, James will install our gas lines and it will be inspection time!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
December 9, 2009 -- Day 97 -- Plumbing Starts!
You can't have a fish without a fork and you can't take a shower without water. Today, (fingers crossed) the plumber will begin his work on the house. We're replacing the water heater, adding a water softener, and moving plumbing around in the bathroom and kitchen. Add this to the old pipes and we've got a lot of plumbing work. We've decided to hire a sub-contractor for the plumbing. James would be able to do the work but for the price, it makes more sense for us to hire a plumber. Wish us luck!!!
November 23, 2009 -- Day 81 -- Tiiimmmmmberrrr!!! And two special visitors
This day was a big day. Number 1, we had a large amount of yardwork done. And Number 2, Ada's parents came to visit and see the house!
Number 1: The front and back yards are large in size but hadn't been maintained well. Also, the landscaping and placement of trees was just strange. In the front yard, there was a big Yucca (the Yucky Yucca, we call it) tree about 3 feet in diameter with a huge bulbous ugly trunk. There was also a juniper shaped into the shape of a can of tuna. The picture above doesnt show the yucky yucca, but you can see the juniper tin can on the right side. As you can tell, I'm talking about these trees in the past tense. We got rid of them! James was at the house and said it took almost no time at all for the crew to cut down and grind up the big yucca. (There will be more pictures coming soon.)
In the back yard, there is a really big oak tree that will offer a lot of shade in the summer, but was incredibly overgrown. We had the crew prune this tree and we'll see how healthy it is in the spring when it starts to grow its leaves again. During the last big storm, a branch the size of a tree came off and crashed into the ground. We're really lucky how it landed and that it didn't break anything! (Again, more pictures soon.)
Number 2: Ada's parents came to visit from Washington for Thanksgiving and got to see the house! We're really glad they got to see the house before it's finished. These are going to be great before and after pictures.
Monday, November 9, 2009
November 8, 2009 -- Day 66 -- Water Weekend!
Water Heater
Remember, this house is a fixer upper. This includes a water heater that was small (30 gallons?) and at least 10 years past it's life expectancy. So, we set out this weekend to get a new water heater! James had looked at prices, sizes, and energy star qualifications and basically had the water heater picked out. We're looking to get a 50-gallon (house size of 2-4 people), gas powered, energy star qualified water heater.
We went to Lowe's and they didn't have it in stock! So, we drove over to Home Cheapo (Home Depot to some) to see if they had it in stock. They did, but it was about 30 feet off the ground up on the 3rd tier of shelves so we couldn't get it down ourselves. We asked the customer service guy to get it down for us. He then tried to convince us we should probably just get the 60-gallon water heater. It was only $100 more! Of course, we knew that he meant that the 60-gallon one is sitting right in front of us and he wouldn't have to get the lift machine out and go up to get the other water heater. I saw that a 60 gallon water heater is for a household of 5+ people and said to the guy, "There's no way we'll ever have 5 people in our household!" So, we forced this poor guy to do his job and go up and get the water heater! Hooray! We have a new water heater with a 12 year life expectancy. But, James says if you flush it out every year and replace some part every few years, you can increase the life expectancy. Thank you James!
Water Softener
One of the big differences between living at my condo in Mountain View and living in Santa Clara will be water quality. In Mountain View, we got delicious, sparkling, fresh, clean Hetch Hetchy water. It tastes like you're drinking directly from a mountain spring. In Santa Clara, we get cloudy, minerally, fizzy well water. It tastes like you're drinking directly from a piece of sulphur. Plus, the minerals leave all kinds of nasty deposits on your dishes, glasses, bathroom fixtures and tile. What this means is that we need to buy a water softener and a water filtration system for the drinking water. There's a softener for "hard water" and "very hard water". We bought a test kit then remembered that we'd turned off the water in the house! If we turn it on, there's a chance of flooding. Fortunately, the neighbor is super friendly and gave us a gallon of his tap water to test. The results were not surprising-very hard water. So, we'll buy the softener for the very hard water.
We're hoping to get plumbing done this week or next and then on to electrical!
Remember, this house is a fixer upper. This includes a water heater that was small (30 gallons?) and at least 10 years past it's life expectancy. So, we set out this weekend to get a new water heater! James had looked at prices, sizes, and energy star qualifications and basically had the water heater picked out. We're looking to get a 50-gallon (house size of 2-4 people), gas powered, energy star qualified water heater.
We went to Lowe's and they didn't have it in stock! So, we drove over to Home Cheapo (Home Depot to some) to see if they had it in stock. They did, but it was about 30 feet off the ground up on the 3rd tier of shelves so we couldn't get it down ourselves. We asked the customer service guy to get it down for us. He then tried to convince us we should probably just get the 60-gallon water heater. It was only $100 more! Of course, we knew that he meant that the 60-gallon one is sitting right in front of us and he wouldn't have to get the lift machine out and go up to get the other water heater. I saw that a 60 gallon water heater is for a household of 5+ people and said to the guy, "There's no way we'll ever have 5 people in our household!" So, we forced this poor guy to do his job and go up and get the water heater! Hooray! We have a new water heater with a 12 year life expectancy. But, James says if you flush it out every year and replace some part every few years, you can increase the life expectancy. Thank you James!
Water Softener
One of the big differences between living at my condo in Mountain View and living in Santa Clara will be water quality. In Mountain View, we got delicious, sparkling, fresh, clean Hetch Hetchy water. It tastes like you're drinking directly from a mountain spring. In Santa Clara, we get cloudy, minerally, fizzy well water. It tastes like you're drinking directly from a piece of sulphur. Plus, the minerals leave all kinds of nasty deposits on your dishes, glasses, bathroom fixtures and tile. What this means is that we need to buy a water softener and a water filtration system for the drinking water. There's a softener for "hard water" and "very hard water". We bought a test kit then remembered that we'd turned off the water in the house! If we turn it on, there's a chance of flooding. Fortunately, the neighbor is super friendly and gave us a gallon of his tap water to test. The results were not surprising-very hard water. So, we'll buy the softener for the very hard water.
We're hoping to get plumbing done this week or next and then on to electrical!
Monday, October 26, 2009
October 24 -- Day 51 -- Ready for Plumbing and Electrical!
Since we're enlarging both the bathroom and kitchen, we need to move around the plumbing and electrical ... stuff. Sorry, I'm a layAda so I don't have a better word to use than stuff. James removed all the old plumbing this weekend for a clean start. We also bought the bathtub to put in. It's going to be the same tub that we put in the condo. A jetted Jacuzzi tub from Lowe's for a great price!
We're finding that since we already did a lot of research when remodeling my old condo, we're using many of the same resources as before. That's working well so far, if it ain't broke don't fix it, right?
We're finding that since we already did a lot of research when remodeling my old condo, we're using many of the same resources as before. That's working well so far, if it ain't broke don't fix it, right?
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