Aug 15: I am super handyman
I was off from work last week and the first two days of this. We were planning to go to a cabin by a lake in Maryland for the week, but that didn't work out. So, I decided that I would spend the week getting some stuff I've been putting off for a while done. My plans included finally launching my web-hosting company, adding some new music to the pAved earth, and writing up some of the more serious political blog entries I've got sitting in my drafts.
Instead, I've been working on a metric ton of home improvement/repair projects.
First off, the repairs:
Our heating/AC compressor unit has been having problems for a while. The fan on it would sometimes stop spinning, or would spin slowly. This would cause the compressor to overheat and turn off, which would cause the house to be hot. Of course, this typically happened on the hottest days. It now doesn't spin at all. So, wanting to avoid having to replace the entire unit, I dismantled it and decided that the problem was that the fan motor is dead. I have obtained a replacement motor ($150) and will attempt installation tomorrow. The only problem I can see is that the new motor has about 7 more wires than the original, so it should be an interesting session of trial and error. For the moment, there is a box-fan sitting on top of the unit that handles the job nicely.
Up next, the rotted section of the front door's door jam. I was originally planning to hire someone to replace this, but have decided to do it myself. I believe this is because I am an idiot. This looks to be the hardest project and will probably end up with my house being door-less causing me to hire someone at an exhorbitant emergency rate.
As far as the improvements go, we decided (obviously, when I say we, I really mean Cyndi) to paint the living room and hang crown moulding in the kitchen. And we decided to start it all on the same day.
Our living room used to be a nice shade of green. Then we got some new furniture, and the green lost it's sheen. So, out with the green and in with red and beige:
It actually turned out really nice. We added a huge bookshelf to the room which somehow turned the room from this big awkward space into a much more comfortable, cozy space. In the picture above, you can see one of my previous projects. The little half-wall by the door used to be a railing, but we decided that a wall would be nicer there.
The crown moulding got pushed to the back burner, since we had family coming in for the weekend. So, only one wall of three has it now. It'll probably get done today, I guess.
On reading back, this isn't a very interesting entry. And yet, here I go, hitting the publish button...
I was off from work last week and the first two days of this. We were planning to go to a cabin by a lake in Maryland for the week, but that didn't work out. So, I decided that I would spend the week getting some stuff I've been putting off for a while done. My plans included finally launching my web-hosting company, adding some new music to the pAved earth, and writing up some of the more serious political blog entries I've got sitting in my drafts.
Instead, I've been working on a metric ton of home improvement/repair projects.
Instead, I've been working on a metric ton of home improvement/repair projects.
First off, the repairs:
Our heating/AC compressor unit has been having problems for a while. The fan on it would sometimes stop spinning, or would spin slowly. This would cause the compressor to overheat and turn off, which would cause the house to be hot. Of course, this typically happened on the hottest days. It now doesn't spin at all. So, wanting to avoid having to replace the entire unit, I dismantled it and decided that the problem was that the fan motor is dead. I have obtained a replacement motor ($150) and will attempt installation tomorrow. The only problem I can see is that the new motor has about 7 more wires than the original, so it should be an interesting session of trial and error. For the moment, there is a box-fan sitting on top of the unit that handles the job nicely.
Up next, the rotted section of the front door's door jam. I was originally planning to hire someone to replace this, but have decided to do it myself. I believe this is because I am an idiot. This looks to be the hardest project and will probably end up with my house being door-less causing me to hire someone at an exhorbitant emergency rate.
As far as the improvements go, we decided (obviously, when I say we, I really mean Cyndi) to paint the living room and hang crown moulding in the kitchen. And we decided to start it all on the same day.
Our living room used to be a nice shade of green. Then we got some new furniture, and the green lost it's sheen. So, out with the green and in with red and beige:
It actually turned out really nice. We added a huge bookshelf to the room which somehow turned the room from this big awkward space into a much more comfortable, cozy space. In the picture above, you can see one of my previous projects. The little half-wall by the door used to be a railing, but we decided that a wall would be nicer there.
The crown moulding got pushed to the back burner, since we had family coming in for the weekend. So, only one wall of three has it now. It'll probably get done today, I guess.
On reading back, this isn't a very interesting entry. And yet, here I go, hitting the publish button...
Our heating/AC compressor unit has been having problems for a while. The fan on it would sometimes stop spinning, or would spin slowly. This would cause the compressor to overheat and turn off, which would cause the house to be hot. Of course, this typically happened on the hottest days. It now doesn't spin at all. So, wanting to avoid having to replace the entire unit, I dismantled it and decided that the problem was that the fan motor is dead. I have obtained a replacement motor ($150) and will attempt installation tomorrow. The only problem I can see is that the new motor has about 7 more wires than the original, so it should be an interesting session of trial and error. For the moment, there is a box-fan sitting on top of the unit that handles the job nicely.
Up next, the rotted section of the front door's door jam. I was originally planning to hire someone to replace this, but have decided to do it myself. I believe this is because I am an idiot. This looks to be the hardest project and will probably end up with my house being door-less causing me to hire someone at an exhorbitant emergency rate.
As far as the improvements go, we decided (obviously, when I say we, I really mean Cyndi) to paint the living room and hang crown moulding in the kitchen. And we decided to start it all on the same day.
Our living room used to be a nice shade of green. Then we got some new furniture, and the green lost it's sheen. So, out with the green and in with red and beige:
It actually turned out really nice. We added a huge bookshelf to the room which somehow turned the room from this big awkward space into a much more comfortable, cozy space. In the picture above, you can see one of my previous projects. The little half-wall by the door used to be a railing, but we decided that a wall would be nicer there.
The crown moulding got pushed to the back burner, since we had family coming in for the weekend. So, only one wall of three has it now. It'll probably get done today, I guess.
On reading back, this isn't a very interesting entry. And yet, here I go, hitting the publish button...
or, 'Ben's anti-Bush enthusiasm nearly ends in horrible fiery traffic accident' Yesterday, as I was driving into work for my first day back after my week-and-a-half 'vacation', I saw the following license plate: I decided that it would be great
Tracked: Aug 18, 13:56
So, last week we decided to buy a new house. We've been running out of space in our current house (3 bedroom townhouse), so we've been talking about it for a while. But, we had basically decided to wait for a year or two when I drove by a couple houses f
Tracked: Mar 27, 09:02