House: interlude 1 (out with the old)
Mar. 4th, 2008 11:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glaurungLess than two weeks into the renovation, Shawn called me:
Which is reason number 2 of why we are very, very glad we hired Shawn, and which is the origin of these odd additions to the pile of junk on our lawn:
In a similar vein, we did away with the nasty kilowatt-sucking electric water heater that was probably responsible for the lion's share of the previous owner's $60 per month hydro bills:
And instead got ourselves a spiffy tankless hot water heater:
Which, you may note, is now completely covering the furnace room window. Since that window opened directly onto the neighbour's power vented furnace exhaust, losing it was no big deal.
Naturally moving the hot water heater from one end of the basement to the other entailed redoing all of the hot water pipes. And while the plumbers were at it, they appear to have done all the cold water pipes as well, or at least most of them. Sadly I appear to not have any decent pictures of the lovely new plumbing.
The gas meter was located behind the garage originally (over at the left hand corner):
Moving it cost a fortune, but it had to be done; now it is in front of the house:
As mentioned before, the house came with thrice-damned budget-busting knob and tube, which had already come close to burning the place down:
(those dark marks on the floor joist are charring where the knobs had been attached)
The wiring that had been upgraded or added since then was, well, messy:
And the panel, where you'd think things would look neat since it's the part people other than the contractor can see, was no great shakes either (the panel itself is just out if sight below this picture):
Now we have all new wiring:
And and all-new panel:
New ducts, new wiring, nearly all new plumbing: in short, Shawn gave our house a total gut transplant.
Shawn: U has old, tiny ducts in stupid places, iz putting warm air away from cold windows. Iz bad. Inspector will laugh at ur ducts. U need new ducts.
Me: This not in budget. OMGsoBroke.
Shawn: Iz not so bad. I tell my HVAC guy ur story, he offers u special deal. Instead of 7 grand, he sell u all new ducts for 5 grand. Iz only 2,000 over quote, includes air purifier, costs 1 grand, and everything.
Me: Gulp.
Shawn: O, did I say, ur ducts are full of poizin dust. I suck down lots of dust no problem, ur duct dust make me sick for week.
Me: OK, we upgrade. We find money somehow.
Shawn: My HVAC guy, he buy u fancy special HEPA heat recovery outside air exchanger thingie, top of line. Iz OK?
Me: [researches] Iz nice of him, but no thanks. We have chemical sensitivity, need whole house carbon filtration. Plain HEPA no good for smog alerts.
Shawn: [checks with HVAC people] Sorry, U have to get that. Ducts alone will be $4 grand.
Me: OK, we buy it.
Which is reason number 2 of why we are very, very glad we hired Shawn, and which is the origin of these odd additions to the pile of junk on our lawn:
In a similar vein, we did away with the nasty kilowatt-sucking electric water heater that was probably responsible for the lion's share of the previous owner's $60 per month hydro bills:
And instead got ourselves a spiffy tankless hot water heater:
Which, you may note, is now completely covering the furnace room window. Since that window opened directly onto the neighbour's power vented furnace exhaust, losing it was no big deal.
Naturally moving the hot water heater from one end of the basement to the other entailed redoing all of the hot water pipes. And while the plumbers were at it, they appear to have done all the cold water pipes as well, or at least most of them. Sadly I appear to not have any decent pictures of the lovely new plumbing.
The gas meter was located behind the garage originally (over at the left hand corner):
Moving it cost a fortune, but it had to be done; now it is in front of the house:
As mentioned before, the house came with thrice-damned budget-busting knob and tube, which had already come close to burning the place down:
(those dark marks on the floor joist are charring where the knobs had been attached)
The wiring that had been upgraded or added since then was, well, messy:
And the panel, where you'd think things would look neat since it's the part people other than the contractor can see, was no great shakes either (the panel itself is just out if sight below this picture):
Now we have all new wiring:
And and all-new panel:
New ducts, new wiring, nearly all new plumbing: in short, Shawn gave our house a total gut transplant.