uh oh

One of my goals this weekend was to set up the office and my computer so I can apply for jobs, post pictures to this blog, etc. When I was hooking stuff up to the computer I noticed that the heat sink on the cpu was totally blocked with gunk - dust, etc. I started to clean it and accidentally dislodged a clamp that holds the cpu on the board. When I was trying to manipulate the lever to put it back on it popped off. Uh oh. Since it was off, I cleaned it thoroughly, and managed to get the cpu on the socket on the third try, but nothing happened when I powered it on. Tried again, same thing. Uh oh. A friend is coming over on Tuesday after work to see if he can help, otherwise I will have to buy a new computer, something I can't really afford.

More update - no photos

It turns out that Louis bruised his right lung, and has fluid build up in it. He will be out of commission for at least a week. He has to be careful he doesn't get pneumonia.

I've been working on a bunch of little things upstairs - paint touch-ups in the ensuite, unsuccessfully trying to put the fan covers on (spring is too springy and not long enough), painting the wall inside the ensuite vanity, priming the wall in the office/bedroom, and starting to put in a plug in the entrance (before the walls in the basement are closed up!).

David came over last night and helped me take down the last of the walls in the basement. I still have a couple of pieces of panelling to take down, but that is IT for the demolition. YAY! Now I just have to get rid of the junk that is under the carport. I will have to cut it up and put it out in the garbage over time.

David and I also framed in the last wall in the basement, and it is almost ready for drywall. Discovered that I needed a couple more electrical boxes.

Getting stuff done...

My friend Louis (who is helping me with the renovations) hurt his ribs when he was skating on the canal on Sunday, so he is out of commission for a while. Hoping I can dragoon someone else to help in the interim,

Today I did some more work on the patches on the window wall in the office/bedroom. I hope it is ready for priming tomorrow.

I cut and installed the cover for the electrical panel. It looks a lot neater now!

I also did the first drywall sponge sanding in the basement, and then did the 2nd coat of the mud. As I'm only doing 2 coats of mud in the basement level, the next coat will be the primer and the paint.

I picked up the sink yesterday, and the counter guy came and cut the opening today. Called the plumber but no callback yet. Called the glass shower guy and he is going to come on Tuesday morning to install the shower.

Another update

Freda found the camera but I still can't post photos as my computer isn't set up. Hopefully in a few days.

We ended up taking down the one wall that I intended only to replace the panelling with drywall because some of the wood was rotten (was in direct contact with the concrete and there had been a water leak at some point previously. All of the basement now has R-25 in the walls - and something like R-30 in the floor headers. The R-25 is achieved at by 1" of foam glued to the concrete (R-5) and then R-20 fiberglass batts in a 2x6 wall on 24" centers. I didn't actually need 2x6 for strength so I just used 2x4s.

It is very cold again today, -18C now.

Update on things

Not sure where the camera is but can't post photos anyway - sorry!

We now have an almost complete kitchen. The cabinets were installed before we moved in, the counters came in last Wednesday, the washer/dryer came on Friday and the plumber came on Monday to unplug the drain and hook up the kitchen sink. Yes, we did one load of laundry and discovered the drain didn't, well, drain, so had to wait for the plumber to come and snake out the drain. Because of that, he wasn't able to hook up the laundry vanity (ran out of time and he had a Valentine's Day thing to get to).

But that's okay, because they will have to come back to hook up the master bath ensuite sink. The counter guy couldn't cut the hole for the sink because we didn't have it, but then we discovered the sink was too big. The faucet is just over 7" tall, and the faucet deck on the sink was almost 3" tall, and that made it too tall so we wouldn't be able to open the medicine cabinet. So we had to find a smaller sink - found one by American Standard but it's 4 week delivery here in Canada so had to order it from the US for a 1 week delivery.

I have installed most of the door handles and some of the bathroom accessories (towel bars, paper holder, etc). Still have more to do. Have to repaint one wall in the ensuite before the shower doors come.

We took down almost the last of the panelling in the basement and discovered pathways and dens and food storage places in the insulation, obviously carved out by the mice that had lived here. We half-expected to find a dead mouse or two in there but didn't find anything.

Thursday update

The furnace guys came and did the switch over to natural gas, taking the old furnace out and mostly installing the new furnace. (They still need to hook up a line for outside combustion air.) I installed our new touch-sensitive thermostat.

I picked up the grout from Lowe's and that was installed.

I picked up our bathroom faucets, accessories, and the kitchen faucet.

My friend David came over and completed the prep work then helped Louis install the kitchen floor.

I painted the bathrooms. Colour is Sandstone Cover (Behr paint from Home Depot).

Furnace

Forgot to mention - the furnace didn't get replaced yesterday as originally stated by the HVAC company. They were too disorganized to bring everything needed with them and with the winter storm that we had, it was too late to get started by the time they did get everything. I told them that they needed to add some heating oil to the tank then since I would run out - the tank was almost running on fumes.

Finish electrical and flooring lay down.

Today I installed the breakers in the panel, and most of the finish electrical. This photo shows that:

• the lights were on a new circuit that is now energized
  
• the lights/plugs have the Decora wall plates on them
• Trimmed flooring to fit kitchen (not installed yet)

We are moving in on Saturday. What's happening to enable that:

• Kitchen cabinets are being delivered on Friday morning and installed starting on Friday afternoon.
• Kitchen appliances are being delivered on Saturday.
• The bathroom floor has been grouted, as has the ensuite shower walls and most of the main bath walls (I didn't have the right grout for the main bath walls so have to get that this morning).
• Still have to fill and sand the screw holes in the kitchen so the flooring can be laid down - must be done today so the cabinets can go in on Friday.
• Still have to paint the bathrooms so the finish plumbing can be done on Friday afternoon.
  

Yeoman service - last night for old furnace

This is the kitchen floor. I had planned to install the new flooring (it's the long tube rolled up by the vacuum cleaner), but we couldn't get the old floor off cleanly. Since so much of the flooring was just lifting off, I thought it would all lift off, but no such luck. I ended up taking off the old subflooring (3/8" plywood) and will replace it and screw it down properly, so hopefully there are no squeaks.

This is our old furnace. It is the last night for the old lady because the new gas furnace goes in tomorrow.

Good timing too, as the oil tank is almost empty! (It's below E on the gauge!)