Working, post 4. Small projects

Between doing all these room renovations, we've had a few smaller projects to do.

The most difficult turned out to be replacing the range hood. The old one did not function, and so had to be replaced, so we purchased a shiny new one. We were able to get one that was the same width (36", 6" wider than our stove), but not the same height. Thus, I had to remove a little more than the top row of backsplash tile (creating an incredible amount of dust) to make it fit. If I didn't have a roto-zip, I don't know what I would have done. Next, the electrical connections were on the wrong side of the range hood, so I had to run extra wiring in the hood and cut a new hole for the wires to exit.

We had an outlet in our kitchen which was placed quite unusually: above the countertop height directly behind the range. When the range is pushed back against the wall, it is invisible. We thought we could just ignore this outlet, until it developed a short, electrocuting Charlotte, and permanently tripping the breaker for the kitchen and dining room. We had already noticed some oddness in the kitchen; it turned out the kitchen had been wired with two hot lines instead of a hot and a neutral, so 240VAC was available in every outlet box. The breaker which controlled this 240 circuit, a double-toggle type, was failing on one side only. The outlets in the kitchen were wired such that one hot wire was on the top plug, and the other wire was used for the bottom plug, so we started noticing random, impermenant failures of every bottom outlet (but none of the top outlets) in the kitchen. Very odd! We wound up replacing the breaker and removing the outlet behind the range, which turned out to also be a junction box feeding the range hood. All is now working, and hopefully all is safe as well.

Another project was completed with the aid of my dad: The landing connecting the house to the garage (several steps lower) had rotted and collapsed. Replacing the plywood would have been straightforward, except there was nothing to attach it to. Remember, this is a stone foundation. So, instead of just attaching this to the house, we had to build a more-or-less freestanding structure. Dad and I almost certainly over-engineered this, so it should last forever.

The replacement of the bottom step in the basement, which had also rotted, was fairly easy. I should have ripped the wood to reduce the overhang, but I have no power tool to do this, and I wasn't feeling like using my little Stanley crosscut saw to do the job.

The previous owners had once owned a hot tub which was in poor repair and removed before we moved in. We were left with a hot tub sized hole in our deck. I took out one of the bordering walls and cut a gap through a joist to make the concrete pad on which the tub sat accessable. It is now a barbeque "pit."

I finally finished installing all new doorknobs and deadbolts on every door. Most of the doors did not previously have deadbolts, so I had to drill holes and cut mortises. Further, many doors had old mortise-style locks (which require a fairly large, rectangular hole), so I purchased brass plates to cover the old holes.

One of our priorities has been to make our house safe and attractive prior to a party we hosted for the entire pediatric residency program, on June 30. While they were all here, I took advantage of having enough people to dead lift my piano. It is now safely indoors.