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The Handyguys Podcast Young House Love The Lettered Cottage All Bower PowerApparently the delivery of the drywall for my bedroom project was a big enough spectacle to draw my neighbor to her front yard with camera in hand. Here’s the view she saw:
The boom truck lifted 24 sheets of 4′ x 12′ sheetrock up to the bedroom window opening on the second floor where workers pulled them into the room to be ready for the install crew next week. There will be some exciting progress here in the coming days– stay tuned!
I had just finished hosting a dinner for friends. Our guests were on their way home and I had just begun to wash the dishes. But the hot water tap was delivering nothing but cold.
Going down to the utility room to investigate, I discovered a disaster: the water heater tank had failed and water was leaking out all over the floor and into the adjoining carpeted play room.
Ms. Bungalow and I were so busy running around with the shop vac, mop and towels that I didn’t take any pictures of the mess. When the initial puddle was under control and I had calmed down a bit, I realized I could connect a garden house to the water heater and drain it to the sink or floor drain in the laundry room.
Fast forward to the following afternoon. The plumbing contractor sent by my natural gas utility was putting the finishing touches on the installation of a new 12-year tank water heater. There goes the tax refund!
It looks good sitting next to my 87-year-old boiler, don’t you think?
During the installation, the contractor also determined that a couple code compliance upgrades were necessary. Specifically, I needed to replace the gas shutoff valve for the water heater, and close the current chimney vent instead connecting the exhaust ductwork to the chimney liner serving the boiler. These are definitely items I wouldn’t have caught if I had attempted to install a water heater myself.
Water Heater Tips
Tags: basement, utility, water heater
In the two months since I finished stripping the paint from the radiator for my bedroom project, I have had some time to work and reflect.
First the reflection: chemical stripping a radiator was tedious, laborious, odious, noxious; in short, a massive pain. I chose chemical stripping after determining off-site paint removal wasn’t feasible in this case, and because– if the stripping was happening indoors– I wanted a low-dust solution. That is still sound reasoning, but for my next radiator I will look much harder at using some form of abrasive paint removal, whether indoors or, ideally, off-site.
Priming and Painting
My work since completing the stripping has been fast and easy. Before refinishing began, I washed the bare metal with water, wiped it dry and brushed out any remaining debris or dust. A flexible, wand-shaped short-bristled radiator brush is essential equipment that I had no trouble finding at a local hardware store.
To prepare the radiator for repainting, I covered the floor and walls of the surrounding area with overlapping cardboard or plastic sheeting. Then, after masking the bleed valve and connecting pipes, I applied an even cover of Rustoleum Professional primer. It took two spray cans of primer applied lightly in three sessions to fully prime the radiator.
I followed the primer with a finish paint in a dark bronze metallic color. This is a close match to the finish of the original door hardware throughout the house, though probably darker than the original radiator finish. This color is actually pretty close the color of the unpainted cast iron before priming and painting. Like with the primer, I tried to use several light coats to achieve full coverage. The finish took three cans of spray paint– and that was with light coverage on the wall-facing side of the radiator.
Will this paint job last?
Because I was able to prime and paint over bare metal, and because the paint is applied in thin spray coats instead of brushed, I expect the finish on this radiator to last a long time. Although I have read of others using high-heat paint intended for ovens, grills and engines on their radiators, the hot water in my heating system won’t get nearly hot enough to give this finish a problem. Finally, my choice of color is deliberately intended to extend the longevity of the finish. Beyond my personal preference for metal to look like metal, the bronze color which deliberately doesn’t match the walls or trim shouldn’t require future repainting in order to maintain the match when wall or trim paint is freshened.
Now the radiator will have to wait until the rest of the room is finished before it can be returned to its place and be reconnected. In the meantime, I will wrap it in plastic to keep away the drywall dust and try to find an out-of-the-way spot for it to sit until then.
After installing all that new insulation this past fall, I’ve been curious to track how my natural gas usage might change for the better. A few other bloggers I follow have charted their energy bills lately and that seemed like the thing to do for me, too
I made a spreadsheet of the past three years of bills for both natural gas (boiler, range, and clothes dryer) and electricity. For each bill, I charted both the cost in dollars and the amount of energy consumption– therms for gas and kilowatt hours for electricity. Due to price fluctuations, the consumption figures are more useful for tracking any trends or changes in real energy usage.
The gas usage chart above includes only one bill from after the insulation was installed, so I’ll have to return to this in a few months to a year when I have more data for comparison. However, the chart already shows some significant variability during the winter months that I attribute to temperature fluctuation.
When I charted the electrical usage, I was surprised to find a 23% reduction in usage for 2009 compared to the previous year. I made the switch to compact fluorescent lightbulbs years ago and was stumped for an explanation for the decrease. Then it hit me: at the end of 2008 we started using a low-power netbook as the primary computer in the house and kept our old desktop pc turned off almost all the time.
Based on the cost savings for this reduction in kWh, the netbook has already repaid half of its purchase price– and it performs much better than the computer it replaced.
When I have more data collected on gas usage through this year, I hope I’ll find a similar cost-saving story about my new insulation.
Tags: chart, electricity, natural gas, utility
I’m pretty sure the last time I used a sewing machine was my 8th grade home economics class. That class must have made an impression, though, because I still remember sewing a nylon duffle bag, cooking “broiler burgers,” and nervously working alongside a female classmate whose body had developed more quickly than my self-confidence.
So with those dusty old home ec skills–and visions of homemade curtains–dancing in my head, I gave my new-to-me vintage sewing machine its first run.
My machine is a White De Luxe automatic sewing machine model 674. I can’t find a date on the machine or the owner’s manual, but it’s old enough to be all metal, heavy, and made in Japan. They really don’t make ‘em like this anymore, and if they did you couldn’t buy a new one for the $60 I paid the guy on Craigslist.
For this first adventure with Ol’ Whitey I just wanted to get familiar with the parts and functions, and do some maintenance. I oiled the lubrication points indicated in the owner’s manual and removed grime from nooks and crannies with cotton swabs dipped in alcohol.
Then I filled a couple bobbins and learned how to thread the machine to practice stitching. After making some adjustments to the thread tension, bobbin thread tension and stitch length, my practices stitches were looking very promising. I’ve still got a lot to learn about the sewing machine’s basic and advanced features– not to mention re-learning what I’ve forgotten about sewing since 8th grade, but an actual sewing project doesn’t feel that far off.
Are you a seamstress/seamster? What advice would you give someone with modest goals just starting out?
