Day Seventeen: Of Radiators and Pipes
I was home for much of today, so I got to see much more of the day's work than usual. Dave and John spent the day preparing the floor in the second-floor bathroom, and Tom and his assistant Chris spent the day removing the old and putting in the new drain pipe. These projects took hours but had less of a visual impact on the house than many other days have.
But we began the day trying to figure out why there was no electricity in the third-floor bathroom, which is now the only bathroom still in operation. Dave called Chris the electrician, but his ideas didn't pan out. Then Dave followed the wires in the place until he found the wire that was disconnected. A good start. Not until later in the day did I realize tha power had been cut from the garage as well. At the end of the day, Dave temporarily solved that as well.
Tim's Radiator, Disconnected
But the big news of the day was radiators. Yesterday, Tom has disconnected three of the radiators from the system: third-floor bathroom, third-floor bedroom, and Tim's room. Until today, I realized only that the Tim's had been disconnected, but today I found out about the rest. The pipe that feeds these three radiators is being moved. It used to feed up through the far end of the kitchen, but that climbing pipe is now gone and it will climb up the three floors from the basement from somewhere else.
Above is Tim's radiator with a new valve. Strangely, I've no idea when this radiator will be reconnected.
Disconnected Radiator in the Third-Floor Bedroom
This is the radiator in the bedroom on the third floor. To the left of this, Tom had to remove part of the wall so he could redo the plumbing in the bathroom. The plumbing inspector is requiring that we make a few changes to the plumbing in that bathroom. For this reason, Tom and Chris had to spend part of the day disconnecting the toilet in the third-floor bathroom and repiping it.
One of the New Radiator Vents
I decided to buy new vents for the five remaining radiators today. After I bought five others last week, I discovered that the remaining radiators had old worn-out vents. So I returned, bought the new five and set them up in the rest of the radiators. My goal was to try to set the knobs on the vents so that I could better control the heat in the house. I'm still trying to get Erin's bedroom and two of the radiators on the third floor to warm up. In the middle of the afternoon (before I could work on setting the vents), I realized the house was quite cold and that all the radiators were dead cold. Tom figured out that a wire in the boiler had somehow become loose. Once he fixed that, the radiators came clanking on and kept heating up and heating up until I realized the thermostat was set at 80.
At that setting, even the only radiator still connected on the third floor was hot to the touch. But I had to turn down the thermostat and also reset the radiators to try to get all the radiators warm. I'm still fiddling with the settings, but I've been able to keep Erin's room toasty warm for hours, so I have a bit of success. The third-floor radiator is cold again. And I have to work on the settings to keep the TV room warm enough too.
Repair of the Rotted Wood and Some of the New Joists over the Kitchen
This is the work that Dave and John focused on today. It might not look like much, but cleaning up the old wood, replacing it with new wood, and leveling the whole endeavor was a long job.
The New Drain Pipe Chased alongside the Fireplace
Here's another project that took forever yet changes the look of the place only marginally. Tom and Chris didn't finish this until the very end of the day, so I couldn't use the toilet for most of the day. But now the third-floor toilet is back in play.
Pipe for the Toilet in the Second-Floor Bathroom
While putting in the drain pipe, the plumbers also put in this pipe for the new toilet in the bathroom.
The New Drain Pipe in the Basement
Here's where the new drain pipe leads to downstairs in the basement. This is the only pipe left in this part of the basement. Enormous quantities of pipe have left the basement, there's very little pipe left, and almost nothing new has been added. It's a much cleaner look in the basement now.
An Unconnected Piece of Iron Pipe Awaiting Removal
Maybe the only pipe waiting to be removed from the basement now is this big pipe over the old half bathroom. So far, the improvement to the basement has probably been the best part of this renovation. By the end, though, it won't be the best part.
The Pile of Pipe Enlarged by Debris
The pile of pipe from yesterday wasn't shrunk at all by the end of the day today. Instead, it's been increased by the addition of debris from today's project along the back wall of the kitchen. I should point out that that back wall insulated at all anymore, and today is quite cold (high in the mid-twenties), so huge quantities of cold air seep in through this part of the house.
Temporary Connection of the New Electrical Box to the Old Electrical Service Line
I forgot to include this picture yesterday. This is how the new electrical box is temporarily attached to the old electrical line and meter on the back of the house. A crew from National Grid (still "NiMo" to us) will be coming here sometime next week to switch the line. Then Chris the electrician will be able to remove the old line and meter from the back of the house.
The Basement Kitchen in Use
In case anyone doesn't think we actually cook in the basement, here's a photograph of our kitchen in use this evening.
At the end of the day, George came to check on things and he told me how much the unexpected carpentry work would cost (replacing rotted wood and redoing the support structures around the kitchen), which was a huge surprise. The project is way over budget now, so I think we won't be getting new windows, siding the back of the house to cover the holes on the back of the house, or redoing the fireplace in the dining room. I will probably have to give up my idea of upgrading the wiring as much as possible when the walls are open, since that would be an extra expense. And I'll ask George how much money we can save by eschewing tile on the bathroom floor.
The good news from George, though, was that the back door will be going in on Monday. This will be one piece of tangible renovation that we can appreciate right away.
honi soit qui mal y pense
But we began the day trying to figure out why there was no electricity in the third-floor bathroom, which is now the only bathroom still in operation. Dave called Chris the electrician, but his ideas didn't pan out. Then Dave followed the wires in the place until he found the wire that was disconnected. A good start. Not until later in the day did I realize tha power had been cut from the garage as well. At the end of the day, Dave temporarily solved that as well.
Tim's Radiator, Disconnected
But the big news of the day was radiators. Yesterday, Tom has disconnected three of the radiators from the system: third-floor bathroom, third-floor bedroom, and Tim's room. Until today, I realized only that the Tim's had been disconnected, but today I found out about the rest. The pipe that feeds these three radiators is being moved. It used to feed up through the far end of the kitchen, but that climbing pipe is now gone and it will climb up the three floors from the basement from somewhere else.
Above is Tim's radiator with a new valve. Strangely, I've no idea when this radiator will be reconnected.
Disconnected Radiator in the Third-Floor Bedroom
This is the radiator in the bedroom on the third floor. To the left of this, Tom had to remove part of the wall so he could redo the plumbing in the bathroom. The plumbing inspector is requiring that we make a few changes to the plumbing in that bathroom. For this reason, Tom and Chris had to spend part of the day disconnecting the toilet in the third-floor bathroom and repiping it.
One of the New Radiator Vents
I decided to buy new vents for the five remaining radiators today. After I bought five others last week, I discovered that the remaining radiators had old worn-out vents. So I returned, bought the new five and set them up in the rest of the radiators. My goal was to try to set the knobs on the vents so that I could better control the heat in the house. I'm still trying to get Erin's bedroom and two of the radiators on the third floor to warm up. In the middle of the afternoon (before I could work on setting the vents), I realized the house was quite cold and that all the radiators were dead cold. Tom figured out that a wire in the boiler had somehow become loose. Once he fixed that, the radiators came clanking on and kept heating up and heating up until I realized the thermostat was set at 80.
At that setting, even the only radiator still connected on the third floor was hot to the touch. But I had to turn down the thermostat and also reset the radiators to try to get all the radiators warm. I'm still fiddling with the settings, but I've been able to keep Erin's room toasty warm for hours, so I have a bit of success. The third-floor radiator is cold again. And I have to work on the settings to keep the TV room warm enough too.
Repair of the Rotted Wood and Some of the New Joists over the Kitchen
This is the work that Dave and John focused on today. It might not look like much, but cleaning up the old wood, replacing it with new wood, and leveling the whole endeavor was a long job.
The New Drain Pipe Chased alongside the Fireplace
Here's another project that took forever yet changes the look of the place only marginally. Tom and Chris didn't finish this until the very end of the day, so I couldn't use the toilet for most of the day. But now the third-floor toilet is back in play.
Pipe for the Toilet in the Second-Floor Bathroom
While putting in the drain pipe, the plumbers also put in this pipe for the new toilet in the bathroom.
The New Drain Pipe in the Basement
Here's where the new drain pipe leads to downstairs in the basement. This is the only pipe left in this part of the basement. Enormous quantities of pipe have left the basement, there's very little pipe left, and almost nothing new has been added. It's a much cleaner look in the basement now.
An Unconnected Piece of Iron Pipe Awaiting Removal
Maybe the only pipe waiting to be removed from the basement now is this big pipe over the old half bathroom. So far, the improvement to the basement has probably been the best part of this renovation. By the end, though, it won't be the best part.
The Pile of Pipe Enlarged by Debris
The pile of pipe from yesterday wasn't shrunk at all by the end of the day today. Instead, it's been increased by the addition of debris from today's project along the back wall of the kitchen. I should point out that that back wall insulated at all anymore, and today is quite cold (high in the mid-twenties), so huge quantities of cold air seep in through this part of the house.
Temporary Connection of the New Electrical Box to the Old Electrical Service Line
I forgot to include this picture yesterday. This is how the new electrical box is temporarily attached to the old electrical line and meter on the back of the house. A crew from National Grid (still "NiMo" to us) will be coming here sometime next week to switch the line. Then Chris the electrician will be able to remove the old line and meter from the back of the house.
The Basement Kitchen in Use
In case anyone doesn't think we actually cook in the basement, here's a photograph of our kitchen in use this evening.
At the end of the day, George came to check on things and he told me how much the unexpected carpentry work would cost (replacing rotted wood and redoing the support structures around the kitchen), which was a huge surprise. The project is way over budget now, so I think we won't be getting new windows, siding the back of the house to cover the holes on the back of the house, or redoing the fireplace in the dining room. I will probably have to give up my idea of upgrading the wiring as much as possible when the walls are open, since that would be an extra expense. And I'll ask George how much money we can save by eschewing tile on the bathroom floor.
The good news from George, though, was that the back door will be going in on Monday. This will be one piece of tangible renovation that we can appreciate right away.
honi soit qui mal y pense
posted by Geofhuth at 10:24 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home