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April 30, 2006
Further fridge confusion . . .
Dad dropped by about 45 minutes ago, picked up the keys, and went out to the other house. He just phoned us to tell us that the fridge is sitting in the middle of the driveway. Apparently the delivery company didn't feel it was necessary to attempt to contact us again. So, now Dana & one of his brothers are headed out there to move the fridge into the house, something that neither of them really has time for right now. I'm very curious as to how they figured that leaving the fidge in the driveway, at an unattended home, was a good plan . . . especially considering that part of the delivery fee went towards having them physcially move it into the house for us.
Posted by plainstext at 01:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 29, 2006
Anticipation!
Dad's on his way, with a huge load of materials for the house. Mom said that the back of his truck was sagging, he's got so much stuff. Yikes! I expect that we'll see him sometime tomorrow evening, as it's about a 16 - 17 hour drive from South Surrey to Saskatoon. I wasn't expecting him until Monday (and was hoping this term's work would have been done by now), so there's a bunch of stuff that I'd really like to have done that just isn't going to happen. End of term, combined with flooding at both houses, has meant that some things have fallen by the wayside, if only temporarily.
I'm almost finished the last ever of my term papers. So much information, so little space, and too much to say have meant that it's taken me a bit longer than I would've liked. But, I'll have a completed draft finished by lunch-time tomorrow. I've learned a lot writing it, but I really do wish that it had gone faster.
We're looking forward to having much more time to work on the new house--well, at least one of us is. Dana's got a new job, which is supposed to be a term contract, that starts on Tuesday of next week. So, we're going to lose his help during the week . . . at least for the most part.
My life as a graduate student will be coming to an end this August, but because my thesis is written, I'm just waiting for an appropriate time* to defend. So, even though Dana likely won't have much time over the next several months, I should have a significant amount, once the revisions on my thesis are completed.
I'm hoping to get the Internet up and running at the new house sometime this week. Hopefully I'm more successful at that than at ordering a fridge (which is still missing in action).
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* Having received one of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada's master's scholarships, I can't defend until the end of August, or I end up losing over $6 000 in funding. Go figure . . . they want you to finish, but punish you for finishing early. I don't get it.
Posted by plainstext at 10:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 27, 2006
Fridge?
It seems that we're finally making some progress in figuring out where our fridge, which was originally supposed to have been delivered April 13, then April 22, has ended up. We were gone only for a little while to get lunch, but seem to have managed (until now) to neglect to check the answering machine. There's an odd message on it that sounds like it's from a trucking company, with a cellular phone number for us to call. I'm really hoping that this is the fridge. Must keep fingers crossed. I'm really curious as to what happened to it and why we never heard anything--which isn't, to my mind, the best exemplar of good customer service. *sigh*
Posted by plainstext at 10:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 26, 2006
Here's the fir storm door that I bought the other day at the ReStore. There are a number of things that we're looking for, so I make sure that I go to the ReStore at least once a week, because their stock changes constantly. I'd just been to Home Depot* looking for a screen door. Having spent a few days out at the new house last week, I quickly came to the conclusion that the mud room was going to need ventilation, particularly considering that ventilation in the house, in general, is very poor because very few of the windows open. We'll have to change that . . . but that's a later project. I just couldn't bring myself to put an aluminum screen/storm door on the house, particularly when we're being so careful to keep it in historical perspective.
The only reason that I found the door I ended up with was because there was a couple who were looking at several doors, trying to decide which one they wanted. When they walked away, I promptly pounced on it, measured it, deemed it to be usable, and scurried off with it (well, as much as lugging a heavy fir door, with its original 12 glass panes, can be called "scurrying"). Stripped, sanded, and refinished, it should look pretty smart.
I wasn't as excited about the light fixture (as evidenced by my previous post, but I think it'll look just fine. It's got a rather odd texture, which appears to be almost cloth-like. *shrug* It looks paintable, but Dad'll have the last word on that . . . not that it doesn't look okay as it is, I'm just not entirely sold on the colour. Regardless, it only cost me $30, so it's not like it owes me or anything (and, it would look perfectly fine in the larger of the two main floor bedrooms).
Now, I'd better get back to my term paper, which I'd like to get finished by tomorrow afternoon. So, from one aspect of the wide topic of home improvement (house blogs), I'll go to another (the cultural politics of home improvement).
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* I know, I know . . . I don't like shopping there, but Rona's commercials drive me crazy, I refuse to shop at J&H (for a myriad of reasons that I won't get in to here), and the guys at Home Building Centre have stretched the truth a few too many times when I've asked about specific things. So, that leaves Warman Home Centre, which is much closer to the other house via the Clarkboro Ferry, and the Depot. As I didn't have the time to drive to Warman, I ended up at Depot. :-(
Posted by plainstext at 07:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Maple flooring
We've been looking for a while for hardwood flooring for the office/bathroom addition that's our next big project. The rest of the main floor has 2-1/4" x 3/4" maple hardwood, which looks to be #2 and better (nice texture and colour, but a few *tight* knots and a bit of variation in colour). The best price I've been able to find here in Saskatoon for something that'll be a close (but not exact) match is $7.50/sq ft. Dad managed to find some "rustic maple" from Goodfellas (sorry, couldn't find a link) that'll cost significantly less. The catch is that it's 3-1/4" wide. However, because the area that we're doing is connected to the rest of the house via the kitchen, which will likely need to be refloored*, we'll be able to make a good transition. I'm hoping that we'll be able to salvage most of the kitchen hardwood, but we should be able to get some to match (fairly close).
I found a fir storm door at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, which just absolutely made my day. It's in much better shape than the one that's on the front door (although, because we won't use that one as much, I'm not as concerned about it, but the greenstick fracture to the handle-side rail needs to be addressed). In addition, I also managed to find a light fixture for the dining room--it's not like the one that I really want, one of Rejuvenation's Alameda fixtures-- but, with a bit of doctoring, including new chain, a coat of paint, and (possibly) new shades, I think that it'll look just fine. I'll post pictures of these later today.
Dad's also found a couple of tubs, and will likely order one in the next day or so, which means that it'll be here the beginning of June. He's picking up the insulation this afternoon, from Surrey New and Used Building Materials. We're getting 2' x 4' sheets of 2-1/2" rigid insulation for less than what our wholesale cost would be! They've also got lots of the old cast iron tubs, feet, and hardware for them, glass/crystal door hardware, and many, many other things. As an old-house enthusiast, I can't wait for the next time I'm home to visit, as I'll definitely making a trip there, with camera in hand. There are a couple of things that we're going to need (namely more glass door handles and a large, in-floor cold air return vent) that it looks like we'll be able to get from SNU, without having to pay shipping/freight and duty to rural Saskatchewan.
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* Or, at least, we're assuming that we're going to have to refloor the kitchen in places, as the hardwood under the sink and under the exisiting bathroom is in questionable condition. It's kind of hard to tell, at the moment, because the kitchen cabinets are in the way in the one spot and the 1970s era bathroom subfloor is over the hardwood in the other.
Posted by plainstext at 03:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 20, 2006
Delivery?
About a month ago, we bought a new fridge online, as the one that came with the house, while functional, has so many broken shelf brackets and missing parts that it's not too particularly usable for anything aside from beverages; plus, it has a nasty habit of freezing produce. The new one was supposed to be delivered sometime around April 13th, but we found out that, despite the fact that there were supposedly 40+ in stock at the time of purchase, they mysteriously didn't have one. So, we had to wait for new stock to arrive. Now, it's supposed to be delivered on Saturday--my busiest day this week. The delivery company just phoned to confirm . . . and they were going to deliver it to Abernethy, not Aberdeen. That's over 230 miles away! *sigh* Let's just hope it gets to the right place.
Posted by plainstext at 02:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 17, 2006
Garage "surgery"
We were amazed that we actually got Dana's car into the garage in the fall, considering that we had about 3" to spare. And, Dana was barely able to get out of the car. :-)
So, when we decided that it was time to bring the car out of storage (now that all the salt & snow is gone), we knew that it was going to require a bit more effort. The ugly vestibule on the end of the garage was destined for the dump, regardless of what happened. So, we were completely prepared for the possibility that it would have to be removed before Dana's car could be moved.
Luckily, this wasn't the case. Lorien managed to squeak into the car to (1) put it in neutral so that we could push it, and (2) steer it so we wouldn't hit the walls. We managed to get it out of the garage without hitting either the monstrous steel hinges or the gas meter. After getting it started, we decided that, since it had to happen anyway, the guys would "operate" on the vestibule. But, this required more brute strength than finesse. ;-)
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Now we've got a very large pile of debris, and the garage is, at least at present, wide open. Over the next several days, in between writing the three term papers I need to finish, I'll temporarily frame this in and cover it with something (either plastic or a tarp) to keep the birds and other critters out, as we definitely don't want anything nesting in there when it comes time to turn it into an actual part of the house. No repeats of last summer's extremely pissed off starlings in the house, thank you very much.
Posted by plainstext at 09:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 10, 2006
Puddle jumping
Surprise, surprise, there's still water in the basement. I need to lug the ShopVac down there to suck up the last of the water, but, because there was evidence of further water infiltration, I decided it was best to work outside today. So, I spent several hours pumping the contents of a huge puddle--which had increased significantly in size--to a safer location on the opposite side of the driveway.
Using the jerry-rigged sump pump from the other day (where I pumped a different puddle from one side of the driveway to the other), I managed to substantially decrease the size of the monstrous puddle. It was over Ricky's head before I started, but only about 6" or so deep once I gave up for the day. Bascially, I just let the pump run until it shut off, which took a while, considering that it was completely submerged when I started. You can see, in the following picture, what the puddle looked like just before I left. The high water line is visible on the trees on the far side of the photo.
And, the gratuitous puppy picture . . . Ricky's quite happy with his new stuffed toy (thanks Mom!).
Posted by plainstext at 09:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 06, 2006
Receding water
Thankfully, the water in the basement appears to slowly be dissipating. There was much, much less yesterday than there was the night before. The worst of the leaks--which Dana christened the "faucet in the foundation"--has slowed to a fast seep, and no longer has enough velocity that it's projecting away from the wall. The sump pump's hole still has some water in it, but not nearly the amount it'd had the day before.
Dana & I pumped out more of the large puddle underneath the deck, and it shouldn't increase in size (at least, not that much) over the next day or so because there isn't much snow left to feed it. It's significantly smaller now than it was to begin with.
Finally, we were successful on the east side of the house in our attempt (via eavestroughing) to move water away from the house. We've got a huge pond about 8 feet from the house, but it's not against the foundation. This is likely the source of the water in the sump pump's hole, but the pump should be more than able to deal with it because, as the soil's dense clay, it's not going to be able to seep underneath the house at any great speed.
Posted by plainstext at 08:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 04, 2006
Noooooo . . . .
Damn it, I thought we'd seen the worst of the water problems for the year. I really should've gone out to the house yesterday to check the basement, but, in reality, there's not much that I could've done today. So, the sump pump's hole had 8" or so of water in it, there's about an inch of water throughout most of the basement, with two inches or so underneath the laundry room, and we've got our very own interior water fall.
The water was coming in far too fast for the Aqua Plug to have time to seal, and I couldn't stuff anything into the crack on the inside to slow down the flow of the water. While I could see the water draining from the large outside puddle, there's no spot on the exterior wall (at least that's above ground) that could see, never mind actually plug.
So, I assembled the second sump pump put it in the middle of the lake underneath the deck. I pulled the ends off two of the downspouts (no longer needed, for the moment, because there's no snow left on the roof), and dry fitted a 90 degree elbow and a 5' length of 1-1/2" ABS pipe onto the pump. In order to do this, I had to back my truck up and aim its headlights at the side of the house, as we've currently only got one light outside the house (at the back door). I'm sure that I made a mess of the already very muddy driveway, and I have to wonder what the neighbours thought of my watery escapade.
On the plus side, I managed to get most of the water pumped out of the hole, but won't be able to deal with it any further until the morning. I managed to get rather wet during this process, as I had to crawl underneath the deck and into the middle of the lake to get the sump pump at the lowest point. Thankfully, the flow of water into the house appears to have slowed, at least a bit, but I'm not holding my breath.
I can't get back out there until lunch time tomorrow, as I have to wait for the carpet cleaners to come to the rental house in the morning (to deal with the water problems that we're having there). While I'm waiting, I'll see if I can find another pump that can deal with smaller depths of water (probably one of the ones used to pump water off swimming pool covers). If I can get one of those, I'll put it in the basement and plumb it into the existing sump pump hole. *sigh*
All this is on top of the marking I need to get done tomorrow, never mind the three term papers and one short paper that I need to get finished in the next week. Oh, and there's a couple of final exams in there that need to be written. :-(
Posted by plainstext at 11:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 03, 2006
Water woes
Due to a heavy rainfall and significantly higher than average March snowfall* we now have water in the basements of both houses. Grrr . . .
Surprisingly, the water in the Aberdeen house isn't where we would've expected it. The sump pump's hole is dry, there's no water coming up through the fragmented floor, and there's just a bit of seepage in the south-east corner of the front porch (most of which was stopped with a prodigious application of AquaPlug).
There's one, and only one, significant crack in the foundation underneath the laundry room and kitchen, and that's where the water's been coming from. This is likely a combination of three things: not extending the eavestrough downspout far enough from the house; a significant slope in the ground toward the house; and, several feet of accumulated snow on the deck, which we couldn't shovel for fear we'd fall through.
Anyway, the snow on the roof is primarily gone, as is that which was on the deck, so we shouldn't have much more water migrate into the basement, so long as we don't get any significant rain over the next several days.
The house in Saskatoon, which has no eavestroughing along the front porch, also has water in the basement. This is the fourth time in the last 9 months that we've had water and/or sewer issues down there. This time, it was the result of a combination of rain, snow, and malfunctioning/non-existent eavestroughing. So, we'll get the carpets cleaned in the next day or so, then I guess we'll have to live with the quasi-permanent mold/sewer smell until things dry out. *sigh* The joys of renting, I guess. We'll both be really happy to move.
In addition to all of our water woes, we discovered a mouse in the basement at the new house. Most critters and creepy-crawlies don't bother me that much, but I'm not a huge fan of mice. Yuck. Hopefully the dead one we found was the only one, but, as that's highly unlikely, I got some agricultural grade mouse bait, which is supposed to kill them in one feeding, and laid that out all over the house.
When we dropped the new dishwasher** off yesterday, we checked the water level in the basement, and then checked the bait bags to see if they'd been disturbed, which they hadn't. So, I'm really hoping that we only had the one mouse.
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* We had the most snow this March that we'd had since 1967, not to mention the lowest average temperature in a long time (almost 3C below normal).
** This was the first of two applicances we bought this week. We ordered a new fridge, which should be here sometime after the 13th of April. The one that's there works, but the veggie drawers don't function properly (much like the ones at the rental house, which irritates me to no end) and the plastic brackets that are supposed to hold the shelves are mostly broken, so the only usable configuration means that you can only store stuff (and only short stuff) in the middle of the fridge, with the bottom shelf reserved for very tall items. The new one's almost 22 cubic feet, which is more fridge space than either one of us has ever had.
Then, I bought a dishwasher from Home Depot on the weekend. We'll have to plumb it in somewhere in the kitchen, then extend the countertops and cabinets, but it'll be well worth it. I managed to get a good deal on it, then used the gift card from Lorne & Donna (thanks!) and my growing collection of store credits (from many returns). We're so looking forward to having a functional kitchen, with new appliances (aside from the stove that the previous owner appears to never have used), and more storage & counter space.
Posted by plainstext at 08:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack