Inspiration: Small Dining Room

December 20, 2012 by

In searching for “ideas for small dining room” (because we have a small dining room) I found this awesome bookshelf on bhg.com – where or where is it from?!  They don’t cite a source, unfortunately.

I love it because:

  • It’s painted white, yay painted wood!
  • It’s got open areas for nice stuff and doors for hiding storage stuff (you can never have enough storage)
  • No glass doors to open/close to get to the nice stuff.
  • Bonus shelf on TOP!

 

No one ACTUALLY eats in this room.

I also love the rug, but I’m still debating whether we’re too messy for a rug right under our eating table.  I think we might be too messy for it.  We’ve already proven incapable of keeping placemats and tablecloths clean, I doubt a rug is going to fare much better.

Filed Under: Decorating Tagged With: ,

Happy Birthday to Me: Emergency Hot Water Heater Replacement

December 18, 2012 by

Of several facts I was already aware:

  • The hot water tank was tired and old, already past its “natural lifespan” of 9 years by about 5 additional years
  • The hot water tank’s pipes were crusted and gross
  • We have bad luck with hot water tanks
  • We have bad luck with plumbing in general

 

Right about when the main water line disaster was wrapping up, I started the process of replacing the tank.  Seems wise to replace the tank BEFORE it explodes, right?

So I picked out a few well-rated candidate tanks, put in a couple calls for estimates, and prepared psychologically for yet another major household purchase on our shoestring one-income budget.  I was about to leave town for 10 days, but I figured the tank had been sitting there fat and happy for 15 years, what was 10 more days?  I left for Illinois.

BOOOOOOM

On the evening of December 12th this tank (or its pipes?) sprang a huge leak from the top.  The spray soaked the furnace, elliptical, most of the stuff stored nearby, and ruined my workout area carpet.  Of course by this time I was 3000 miles away in Florida, so Jim deserves a medal for being home and hearing the water spraying in the garage (and also for being up until 2am getting a handle on the flooding).

Well, all that research about getting The Perfectly Researched Tank went out the window and I called my favorite plumber (Top Gun plumbing woot) and took the only tank they offer – a 6 year Rheem model for $1350 (minus $100 for being such a recent customer, sweet!).

They did a great job – the job was done the same day I called, the install was clean, the new tank looks sturdy and high quality.  Seriously – if you live in the Puget Sound area, give Top Gun Plumbing a call next time something in your house is spraying water out of somewhere it shouldn’t be.

Process photos:

Laters, tank.

Does this empty platform and earthquake straps not look like something out of an S&M dungeon?

New replacement tank!!  And it’s better geared than the last one – behold the sweet temperature dial!

Also note the gold gift bow – this tank arrived the day before my birthday.  Hot water is a pretty sweet gift.

 

Lessons learned?

Plumbing can screw you whenever it wants, and it’s going to be messy and expensive.  All you can do is be prepared.

  • Keep a few gallons of water on hand so you have something to drink while your water’s turned off
  • Keep your stuff out of the the way
  • Have a few thousand dollars on hand (thanks Past Mandi, you’re a true friend!) for emergencies, because this shit will wait until you can least afford it

The only real casualty of this mess was my workout carpet, but that was old and filthy anyway (it was from one of this house’s bedrooms).

I hope this is the end of plumbing emergencies for a LONG while.

 

Filed Under: Home Improvement Tagged With: ,

2-Minute Home Improvement: Cleaning a Faucet Aerator

December 3, 2012 by

Here’s something you probably never think about: your faucet’s aerator!

If you’ve ever tried to look into (or put your finger into) where water streams out of your faucet and found a little screen instead, you’ve encountered an aerator.

Why would you want to remove this thing and clean it?  Maybe …

  • You recently turned water off to your house and dredged up a bunch of grime from your hot water tank and/or repaired water line
  • Your faucet is really grungy (and perhaps old) on the outside – maybe it’s gross inside, too?
  • Your faucet’s water pressure (flow) is lacking
  • You’re simply grossed out reading this post and now you need to clean it right. now.

I was inspired to clean mine out when the water pressure suddenly dropped for no particular reason.  I thought perhaps we had another water main leak, but my dad suggested seeing if the aerator was blocked.  That seemed simple enough, so removing and cleaning the aerator is where I started. I was able to do this whole process without any tools, but you may need a wrench if yours is particularly stuck on (be careful, don’t force or break anything).

Step 1: Put a towel or something over the drain of your sink.  If you do the towel step, you won’t drop anything.  If you skip the towel step, your chances of dropping something increase by about 1000%.

Step 2: Unscrew the aerator by turning it clockwise

Step 3: If there are multiple pieces to your aerator, take note of what order they go in.  When you reassemble your aerator, you’ll need to put it back exactly as it was.

Here you can see mine is loaded up with tiny rocks and metal bits.  This is pretty gross, but what’s even grosser is this is my favorite faucet to get drinking water from.  All my drinking water has been passing through these little pebbles and this filthy plastic piece! Eww!!  This ends RIGHT NOW!

Step 4: Clean your aerator pieces!  There are multiple approaches here depending on how dirty your aerator is and how much time/money you want to invest in this project:

  • Shake and scrape the dirt off with your fingers
  • Scrub the dirt off with a toothbrush or similar
  • Soak the parts in a calcium / lime-dissolving solution
  • Replace it entirely

In the interest of not spending more than a few minutes on this project, I opted for the first option.  I knocked the pebbles out of the aerator and scrubbed the white plastic part under running water at another sink.

OMG, I’VE BEEN DRINKING WATER FILTERED THROUGH THIS SHIT!!

Step 5: Reassemble the aerator and screw it (counterclockwise) back into the faucet

There, now you have one more thing to be obsessive and compulsive about.  You’re welcome.

 

Filed Under: Home Improvement Tagged With: , ,

Yard Leakin’ No More!

November 30, 2012 by

This is the fifth (and hopefully last!) post in a series about our front-yard water line emergency that occupied much of the Thanksgiving holiday and the week that followed.

Our new water line is complete!  It passed inspection this morning and cleanup was completed this afternoon.

If you were wondering what it’s like to have a new water line installed, well, here you go!  Some photos of the installation process:

Here you can see the old copper line (perpendicular to the viewer) and the new Pex piping coming in from under the driveway.

Total damage: $3300 and just a little bit of sanity. Top Gun Plumbing did fantastic work and cleaned up the job site nicely, especially considering that it has rained virtually non-stop and mushed up the ground real good.

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