ModestGeniusXL

Sticktuitiveness

Yes, it is a word.  Ask anyone that has ever played organized ball for any length of time.  At least one of their coaches at some point during their career has used the word.  It means just like it sounds.  Sticking with something even if it's currently not working until you get it to turn out the way you want.  Otherwise known as persistence.  That's what it took for me to finally fix the thermostat.

As you can see in this lovely before picture, the old one clearly had some issues.  To say that it was on its last leg is an understatement. It had been there when we moved in a few years ago and even then it looked old.  It didn't help that because of its location, various people had managed to bump into it one way or another causing it to become more and more raggedy.  I had tried to jimmy-rig it a couple of times to get it to stay put, but you can see the result.

I decided today I had enough and set out to get a new one.  It was quite an undertaking for me because I am not mechanically-inclined at all.  I can put together almost anything with instructions, but once it starts talking about electrical things, things get a little iffy.  That's why I took a couple of pictures of the old thermostat with me to Menard's to make sure I picked out the right one.

The lady helping me was fairly certain I had selected the correct replacement based on the photo I provided.  She even recruited a co-worker, a younger woman, for a second opinion.  It appeared the only thing that would be an issue was if my house had a hydrophonic heating system?  We summed up that meant floorboard radiators so I was good.  I even overlooked the fact that I probably looked pretty incompetent having two women giving me direction on home improvements.

I got home and immediately got to work by cutting off the power to the furnace.  We happen to be enjoying some unseasonably warm weather here so that was something else that worked to my benefit.  However, once I started taking apart the old thermostat, I was stumped.  None of the wires matched up with what the directions on the new one were saying.  There was no wire that said RCH or Y or W or G?  There were just just three different colored wires.  I was clueless.

I put the new-fangled thermostat in its box and put it in the closet.  I must have sat there staring at those directions and that old one forever trying to figure out where the difference was.  There had to be something that I was missing but I couldn't figure out what it was.  I started trying to think of folks I knew that could help a brotha out.  Like I needed to look any more helpless.

Then I remembered my buddy Sam had replaced one of these joints before.  One call to Sam and I found what I was doing wrong.  I didn't take it apart far enough.  I unscrewed the second part of it and then I saw the hole in the wall with the real wires I was looking for.  Now the directions were finally starting to make sense.  Just a few minutes later and I had installed a new digital thermostat all on my own!....sorta...

As you can see, the area doesn't look the prettiest since it wasn't the same size as the last one.  Now the hallway is going to need to be re-touched to make up for that area that's mismatched.  The important thing is that it works. 

Scratch off To Do Item #33 from the list of 1,000 things that need to be done around the house.

Let There Be Light!

Just when it seems the list of things that need to be fixed around the house can't get any bigger, of course it does.  It never seems to fail.  For every one thing that I manage to get to (or even know how to do for that matter), another two problems arise.  This time around, it was the light in the laundry room.

At first I thought it just needed to have the fluorescent bulbs changed.  One day they were both on and the next, one is burnt completely out and the other is flickering.  It was rather odd that they would both go out at the same time (especially since I just replaced one of them a few weeks ag0), but I was trying to be optimistic. 

I made a special trip to Menards to pick up new fresh bulbs to replace both of them even though I had a feeling that wasn't the problem.  Sure enough, even after replacing it, the light still wouldn't come on.  It was something having to do with the fixture itself.  No doubt it was probably related to the problem we were having with water occasionally seeping from the bathtub upstairs when the water is drained. 

I double-checked the electric socket by plugging a lamp into it.  It was working so that was a relief.  It was going to be much easier to replace a light fixture than it was to fix an outlet.  I didn't know how to do either, but at least the light fixture wouldn't take me as long to figure out.  I just wasn't looking forward to having to buy a new one.  With my luck, they wouldn't be cheap.  It would probably be less expensive to just get another high-powered lamp and use that to light up the laundry room.  But could that light up the whole room as well as the fluorescent lights did?

I went to Menards again and was pleasantly surprised.  They had what was called a Shop-Lite for only 9 bucks!  And here I was thinking I would have to drop 30 bucks or more on a floor lamp that wouldn't even do the job.  The Shop-Lite was a cheaper version of the fixture that was already in the laundry room.  All I had to do was attach it to two of the beams in there and there would be light again.  I could have taken a pic to show you my final product but quite honestly, it's just too dirty in there and I'm a little embarrassed.  

After installing the Shop-Lite, I started to get a little ambitious.  Maybe I could put up another one on the other side of the laundry room to give even more light in there?  I decided against it after pondering the thought for a few minutes.  Plus, the dryer started making funny noises once I started it and that further distracted me.  Of course that will be the next thing to break down.  That's just how it goes...

Yet Another Thing I Don't Have in Common with Jesus

The plan was to start fixing up things around the house slowly but surely in preparation for Elijah and Mariah's arrival this coming weekend.  It hasn't quite worked out that way.  It was bad enough that there was already a long list of things to do on the house.  Trying to shorten it to some manageable ones in less than a couple of weeks was not helping matters.

The stairs leading to the loft got moved up on the priority list due to some safety violations.  Thanks to the boys and their friends frequently running up and down the stairs to the loft, a couple of the steps were starting to loosen.  One wrong step and a piece of wood could easily fly up and hurt somebody.  They needed carpet.

D had already laid down the pad for the carpet a few weeks ago.  All that was left was for me to do the hard part of laying down the carpet itself.  That meant cutting it to shape, getting it on the stairs, cutting it to fit, stapling it, yada yada yada.  Needless to say, I was looking forward to it, since everything I knew about carpentry could fit in a thimble.

I screwed it up from the beginning with the cutting.  I figured if I measured the width of the stairs, I could cut a long strip of carpet that length and use that as a template.  If I could cut straight to save my life, that would have worked.  Even with a straight edge, I couldn't get that carpet cutter to go where I wanted it to.

As I got closer to the end, I started getting the hang of it.  At least that's what I was telling myself.  Ironically, the closer I got to the end, the shoddier it was looking.  I'm going to blame it on the dim light of the stairwell.  Even after I put in two new light bulbs.  Now there's something I know how to do.

I have to admit that even though it didn't look the best, I was still pretty proud of my work.  It was the first time I had ever laid carpet in my entire life.  And without any instructions either.  It wasn't THAT bad for a rookie.  It could have been worse.  Not a whole lot worse, but it could have been.

D couldn't stand it at all.  Not one kind word to say about the job I just labored over for well over an hour.  Both of the boys came to my defense.  Especially G who helped me on the last stair.  It looked phenomenal to them.  Not that that's the word they used, but that's the attitude they conveyed.  It even looks halfway decent in this pic.  Halfway.

If It Was a Snake, It Would Have Bit Me

The general consensus for a good heating and cooling repairman seemed to be Lozier Heating and Cooling.  And when I say "general consensus", I mean one person offered the suggestion of a company they knew wouldn't try to shaft you.  That's all I cared about.  Although I was almost sold on this company called Ace that was founded in 1906.  It's hard to go wrong with ANY organization founded in that year.

I must have been the first appointment of the day because I got the call on my cell at 8am that the tech was on his way.  I wasn't even done cleaning yet.  Give me a break...I just gone done putting in a 17 1/2 hour work day Wednesday.  A brotha was tired.

The guy showed up and it was M. Night Shamma-lamma-ding-dong, the famous director of one of my favorite movies, "The Sixth Sense".  I guess "The Lady in the Water" really was the colossal failure it appeared to be.  He's had to resort to fixing furnaces to make a little extra money on the side.  Poor fella.

M. Night took off the face plate on the furnace.  "Is it turned off?" he asked.

I assumed he was asking to make sure he wouldn't electrocute himself.  It then dawned on me that he was doing some troubleshooting.  Well of course I had turned it off now.  It wasn't working.  The thermostat was turned to 'off''.  He wasn't talking about that.

There was a switch on the side of the furnace.  Right on the furnace itself.  He flipped that switch.  The furnace came right on.  WHAT THE HECK?!  How did I miss that?!

Here's my rationale...whoever built and/or remodeled this house came up with the ingenious idea of putting in a central vacuuming system.  There are various openings in the walls where you can plug in a vacuum hose, flip a switch and it vacuums to some container in the basement.  There is also a switch in the basement to turn on said central vacuum system on.  I thought that switch on the furnace was for that vacuum system.  Not so much.

In other words, I was a total idiot.  Something told me it would either be something extremely dramatic and expensive or something so simple that I would be kicking myself in the head.  So yeah...I'm doing some serious head kicking right about now.

It wasn't a total waste though.  He also found that the heat sensor was dirty.  That wouldn't cause it not to fire up though it would prohibit it from functioning properly.  My man E hipped me to that, but I didn't know where it was located on our furnace.  M. Night cleaned that and replaced the filter which was absolutely filthy.  Those additional two services should have the furnace behaving much better than it had previously, according to M. Night.

The change was instant.  Instead of the normal couple of hours it normally takes the house to heat up, it was warm within less than thirty minutes.  It hasn't worked this well since first moving in.  I can actually go back to walking around the house bucket nekkid again.  Yeah, because I do that a lot...

Total damage:  $104.94

Stupid switch.

Spoke Too Soon

I should have known it was too good too be true.  My luck could not have possibly been that good.  Of course something that I fixed around the house would not hold up when it matters most.  Band-aid fixes can only go so far.

Last night, the furnace stopped working again.  It has only been a week since it happened the first time.  Resetting it in that instance seemed to solve the problem.  However, something told me even then that I had not seen the last of the furnace issue.  I was just hoping that it could least hold out until the end of this winter.

Following the directions did not work this time.  I did exactly as it indicated in an effort to get it back on.  Four times.  Nothing.  The only thing left to do now is to call a repairman and take the hit.  What I am hoping is it won't come back that we need a new furnace.  I don't know who I'm trying to kid though.  I am pretty sure that is exactly what's going to happen.

In the meantime, heat was needed in this house.  It wasn't to the point where it was extremely desperate just yet.  We lucked up and got a bit of  a warm front come thru here lately.  We tilted the thermometer at around 40 degrees today.  With the sun out, it felt even warmer than that.  Snow was starting to melt everywhere.  Definitely one of the more pleasant winter days we have had in a while.  However, for some reason, it was colder in the house than it was outside.

That meant on to Plan B.  I went to Wal-Mart to see what they had for a selection.  I was surprised at how vast the variety was.  The largest one they had was an electric fireplace.  It was the size of the front of an actual fire place.  It also cost $278.00.  That was definitely out of the question, but I was interested to see how something like that would even work.

I ended up getting two heaters.  One small space heater to go in Brandin's room.  With the king-size bed in there, the boys could play and sleep in there to stay warm.  The other was a radiator-type that would go in the living room.  That one could always be moved from room to room depending on what room folks are in.

For now, the two heaters are serving their purpose.  And surprisingly well.  Especially that radiator-like version.  It's doing an excellent job of keeping the entire living room heated.  Of course the warmer weather is helping, but I'll take what I can get.  The only real problem is that the two of them are periodically tripping a fuse.  I have had to reset the fuse-breaker three times already.  I'm sure that's a sign of things yet to come too.

A quick check of the weather shows that we are going to ave a few more days of 40+ temperatures.  That will help a great deal.  Unfortunately, then it starts dipping into the 30s and below again.  Just in time for this weekend when I will have Elijah and Mariah again.  Two heaters aren't going to cut it then.

The bottom line is that furnace problem will have to be resolved.  I'm hoping that when we get a repairman out here, it is something that can be fixed without having to get a brand new furnace.  My hope is that it has something to do with the thermostat itself although I can't figure out what it might be.  I'm not the professional so no clue what it could be.  Whatever it is, just please let it be reasonable. 

If It's Not One Thing, It's Another

As I fell asleep Saturday night, I could sense a bit of a chill in the air.  What was the weather report for this evening?  Forgot once again to catch that.  It must have dipped below freezing yet again.  I wonder if we will break that Iowa record of most consecutive days with snow on the ground?  That had to be contributing to this consistent cold weather.

The two comforters were doing an excellent job of keeping me warm.  My mind had been temporarily diverted from the Iowa weather that permeates every bit of one's physical being this time of year.  It wasn't getting thru these blankets...and sweatpants...and long-sleeved shirt.  I was even warm enough that I managed to sleep thru the notorious 3am curse, waking up at a more reasonable time of 7am on Sunday morning.

The chill from earlier had transformed to a frigid cold.  It flowed throughout the entire house.  Something was definitely wrong.  The only time it had been that cold in the house is when we were gone and had turned off the heat.  Then it dawned on me why it  was also so quiet.  The furnace was not running.

My first trip was to thermostat to make sure everything was okay there.  It was set at a modest 75 degrees.  It felt more like 15 degrees.  Maybe the thermostat control was broken.  Afterall, the cover was dangling loosely on two prongs that were keeping it in place instead of the four it is supposed to have (project #87).  That still should not have had any affect on why the furnace wasn't running.  I cranked up the controls to 90 and it still did nothing.

The furnace itself was the last option.  Please let there be simple instructions for someone handyman ignorant like myself to understand.  Be something plain like having to push a reset button.  Oh, and have the reset button solve the problem because heaven knows we can't afford an $85 service call and/or a repair guy telling us we need a new furnace.

I was in luck.  The instructions on there could not have been more elementary.  They were scaring me a little though.  Every other sentence had some caution about being careful of gas.  Make sure no gas smell.  Clear out all gas.  Keep gas away from furnace.  I thought for a minute there I was on a bomb squad crew trying to delicately diffuse a detonation device.

Followed the directions to the letter.  Turned off the power to the furnace (good thing the fuse box is easy access).  Turned off the igniter switch (good thing there was no old-fashioned pilot light to mess with.  Waited five minutes (made it ten just for good measure).  Turned on the power.  Turned on the furnace.  Crossed my fingers...

Click....click...click...SWOOSH! 

That familiar sound of the furnace starting up was music to my ears.  All that remained was waiting a few hours for the house to heat up again.  That was still a much better option than waiting a few days for a repairman.  Although with my luck, I am sure that issue is just around the corner. 

Mr. Fix-It

It has been a minute since I have fixed something around the house.  There's really no excuse for it either.  There's plenty around here that could use it.  Like the microwave and washing machine for instance.  Although those are two different issues altogether.  Even though I have limited repair knowledge, those are DEFINITELY outside the realm of my abilities.

The upstairs bathroom has had a drain that wouldn't plug for some time now.  That was something a little easier for me to handle.  If I could fix the toilet in the old house, then I could certainly handle a tub drain.  As long as the instructions were in English (meaning not carpenter terms like they do for some projects), I'm good to go.

I ran into my first problem when it came time to connect the stopper plug to the rod.  There were supposed to be two cotter pins that look sort of like bobby pins.  For some reason, I could only find one.  I couldn't use one from the old drain because it was too big to fit the tiny hole.  I had to improvise.  What could take the place of a cotter pin?  A twisty from a package of bread.  It was a little project-ish (aka, "ghetto"), but it served te purpose.

I got everything to where it was supposed to be and put back together.  Turned the water on to test it and guess what?  Now the water would drain without having to hold the lever down; however, it would not stay filled up.  It acted like it wanted to but it would still drain very slowly, as if it still wasn't plugging up for some reason.

My next thought was maybe the rod wasn't long enough and/or too short.  The problem was I didn't know which.  I tried both ways and no matter which way, I still couldn't get it to keep the water in the tub.  I finally conceded and decided that I would just have to invest in one of those cheap plastic drain covers to keep the water in place.  It was better than nothing.

  The next project was MUCH simpler.  The shower head in the same bathroom was very antiquated and was due to head to that shower head home in the sky.  All that involved was unscrewing the old one and putting the new one.  The only semi-difficult part about that was breaking the grip.  It took me using a wrench to get it loose but it finally did.  Too bad the shower drain wasn't that easy.

So that's two projects out of the way.  #37 and #945 on the list of 1,000 things still left do do on this place.

Tiled

I got a little sidetracked lately and neglected to provide an update on our kitchen remodel in a while.  I'm sure everyone was just biting at the bit, waiting with heating anticipation to get the latest, huh.  Right...

Well Big Daddy finished the floor just as he said he would.  After laying down the grout, putting the coat on over it and letting it dry we finally had a kitchen floor again.  I tried taking a few pictures but they just didn't come out the way I wanted to.  This was the best of the litter and it really doesn't do the floor justice.  Although you can tell from just the photo alone how much of a vast improvement it was over the throwback floor that was in their previously.

Once the floor was finished, we had the laborious task of moving all the appliances back into the kitchen.  Okay, so it was just the table, the fridge and the stove...that was still more than enough.  I had almost psyched myself out after hearing horror stories about people that attempted to put items into their kitchen on a newly tiled floor and cracking tiles int he process.

The fridge was easy because it had wheels.  The hard part was getting it over the lip which connects the hallway and the kitchen.  It was difficult but it wasn't impossible.  D and I knocked that out with little or no problem.  The stove was the one I was fearing the most.  No wheels meant we would have to lift it and D already has a bad back.  Surprisingly, the stove wasn't as heavy as it looked.  Everything in place in the kitchen and not a single tile broke in the process.

Big Daddy knocked out the rest of his portion with little to no difficulty.  All that remains now are little things for us to do to finish it up completely.  We could have had him do those things too but that would have increased the fee.  The money tree in the backyard won't be blooming anytime soon so that wasn't an option.

Still to do:

• Staining the crown moldings and trim
• Painting around the edges where the old cabinets left their mark
• Fixing the window trim around the kitchen window
• Patching the hole in the ceiling where the old light used to be

Those last items may drag on for a bit.  Now that it's on just us and no handyman to help, there's not that much of a sense of urgency.  I'm going to set the ambitious goal of having it completely done before June.  We'll see how that works out.

Floored

We received an encouraging phone call from Big Daddy's wife the other day.  It seems he got cleared to return to work sooner than two weeks which meant he could begin the work on the kitchen floor.  It would be a three day ordeal so it was fortunate that it was just in time for the weekend.  Too bad that it was the weekend I have Elijah and Mariah but still better late than never.

The first step was removing that old nasty floor we had in there.  That left this ugly surface that you see here.  Actually, it was even uglier until BD cleaned it up a bit.  It had to be as clear as possible so he could apply the surface to apply the ceramic tiles.  That's where the process got to be a nuisance.

After the ceramic tiles are set, no one can be on the surface until they are completely dry or they run the risk of getting damaged.  Well in order to get downstairs to where the laundry room, our bedroom and the other bathroom is, you have to go thru the kitchen.  There is the other option of using the back door; however, we're also having the landing at the entrance there tiled too.

So basically, for the next three days (until Tuesday), we don't have any access at all to the downstairs.  D and I packed bags and things as if we were going on a trip and are shacked up in the loft upstairs.  Normally, that room would be reserved for Mariah when she comes to visit.  She had to be more accommodating this weekend as now it was D and I as well.  Oh, and both the cats have to stay confined to that room so they aren't also tempted to go trouncing thru the kitchen.

Today, BD's supposed to be coming over to put the grout down between the tiles.  It's a good thing because I was getting a little worried baaed on how it looks now.  I didn't realize there was still that step left.  Once that's complete, the floor will have the finished look to almost complete the remodeling.  After that, the only things we'll have left are thee crown moldings, a couple of light fixtures, a little painting, the knobs for the cabinets and we're finally finished.  Finally.

Postponed

Big Daddy was scheduled to come over first thing Saturday morning to finish the kitchen.  Different people have different perceptions on what exactly "first thing" means.   I assumed it meant around 8ish so when 8am, 9am and 10am all came and went, I was beginning to get a little worried.  He finally did show up at 10:30am, but there was one slight problem:  he was walking with a limp.

It turns out that Big Daddy injured his ankle at work.  That's when it dawned on me that I don't even know what his full-time job is.  Ultimate Fighting, maybe?  Anyway, he thought it was just a sprain at first but he found out the diagnosis was he had torn some tendons or something like that.  Whatever it was, it was enough that the doctor told him he had to be off his feet for two weeks.  In spite of doctor's orders, Big Daddy was adamant that he would at the very least get us a functional kitchen.

What it amounted to was getting the counters finished.  He fully installed them all the way around, including the end caps.  The biggest part of that job was putting the sink in.  He managed to do that and even get the garbage disposal operational again, all on one good leg.

Unfortunately, what has to suffer in the meantime is the floor.  The plan was he was going to start doing the ceramic tile Saturday and work on that the next couple of days so it would be dried, set and all that good stuff within the next few days.  Thanks to the ankle problem, the floor didn't get touched at all.  Hopefully, all will be back on course in a couple of weeks.