Day Forty-Five: Not Quite Dieu et Mon Droit
Soon after I arrived at work this morning (so a little after 7:30), I called George's office and asked them to have George call me right away. And he did, which was good since I couldn't wait until the afternoon to talk to him about the floor in the kitchen.
George says that the "work schedule's" wording ("Install pre finished hardwood flooring to entire new kitchen floor area, color to be selected by homeowner.") didn't mean the entire kitchen floor would be covered with hardwood, only that the part of the subfloor not covered by cabinets would be covered with hardwood. George said the cabinets will be raised even with the flooring with additional plywood and that everything will work out well. Given that, and that I have no need to increase the price of this project, we are set to go.
So I asked George if tile will cover the entire bathroom floor. Strangely, this sentnece in the work schedule ("Install high density 1/4 inch Hardy board to the floor of the bath with new ceramic tile in a square pattern all grouted in place."), which I think is much more ambiguous about what will be covered, means that the entire floor will be covered with tile. Strange. George is very exact when he speaks, but much less so with the written word.
I ended by asking George when Chris the electrician would be returning to the house. George wasn't sure but said he would find out. With this information, I asked George to tell Chris to add an outlet to Tim's room, so that there'd be an outlet by his desk. This way, Tim can get rid of all the wires leading across the floor. (The one problem with this is that we took Tim's computer away from him yesterday because I discovered him playing a videogame he's not supposed to be playing. It took up too much of his time in the past, and we needed to make sure he had enough time for homework.)
In the latter part of the afternoon today, Dave the heating guy called me back. He reported (as we always knew) that the chimney was clean, so we have to assume that the heat exchanger of the boiler still has carbon withint it. The good news is that the machine can now put out 200 BTUs (instead of 180, but still short of its full force of 240 BTUs). And Dave thinks 200 is plenty to heat our house. But he says they can try a water cleaning. It's messy, he claims, but it's our last chance, so we'll go for it. I also asked Dave about the heating problems in our house, and he says there's no need to move the radiator. When he comes to do the water cleaning, he'll see if some high-speed vents he has will do the trick and get the cold radiators to warm up. All good news, until I see the bill.
George dropped off some siding samples today, but in the fast fading light and without much time we couldn't make a final decision. And I thought it would be easy because Nancy started out by saying how obvious the right choice was.
George also came by today, and while he was here he picked up the toilet paper holder that was the wrong style. Later today, someone from the bathroom supply place dropped off the right toilet paper holder. It's almost enough to make one optimistic.
The Reconfigured Back of the House
The back of the house, with the new window, now has all the pieces of its new look. Instead of half of it being a long blank face, the whole side of the house is brightened up with two extra windows. The door has been moved, and the roof on the new back door adds a little visual interest. Best of all, the back porch looks dilapidated.
The New Window of the Bathroom, from the Front Chamber of the Bathroom
The new window in the bathroom adds light to the bathroom as a hole. But the wall between the two chambers of the bathroom traps much of the light on the other side.
The New Back Bathroom Window from the Laundry Room Half of the Bathroom
If you go back into the laundry room section of the bathroom, you can find all the light sitting in this tiny room.
The Hardibacker around the Bathtub
The guys put the waterproof Hardibacker around the tub. According to my discussion with George, Hardibacker will be going on the bathroom floor as well.
The Now Hanging Wire of the Old Electrical Service
Today, we discovered that the wire to the old electrical service is at least starting to come down.
Coat of Arms of George V in the Local Ruby Tuesday
After walking around the house for a bit, examining the day's progress, we went out to dinner. We're too tired and lazy to cook all the time. Tonight, we went to Ruby Tuesday, which is the restaurant we've gone to the most. I took along the camera, so I could get a picture of this coat of arms for George V. Note that it includes the two most common mottoes of British royalty: Dieu et mon droit ("God and my right") and
honi soit qui mal y pense
George says that the "work schedule's" wording ("Install pre finished hardwood flooring to entire new kitchen floor area, color to be selected by homeowner.") didn't mean the entire kitchen floor would be covered with hardwood, only that the part of the subfloor not covered by cabinets would be covered with hardwood. George said the cabinets will be raised even with the flooring with additional plywood and that everything will work out well. Given that, and that I have no need to increase the price of this project, we are set to go.
So I asked George if tile will cover the entire bathroom floor. Strangely, this sentnece in the work schedule ("Install high density 1/4 inch Hardy board to the floor of the bath with new ceramic tile in a square pattern all grouted in place."), which I think is much more ambiguous about what will be covered, means that the entire floor will be covered with tile. Strange. George is very exact when he speaks, but much less so with the written word.
I ended by asking George when Chris the electrician would be returning to the house. George wasn't sure but said he would find out. With this information, I asked George to tell Chris to add an outlet to Tim's room, so that there'd be an outlet by his desk. This way, Tim can get rid of all the wires leading across the floor. (The one problem with this is that we took Tim's computer away from him yesterday because I discovered him playing a videogame he's not supposed to be playing. It took up too much of his time in the past, and we needed to make sure he had enough time for homework.)
In the latter part of the afternoon today, Dave the heating guy called me back. He reported (as we always knew) that the chimney was clean, so we have to assume that the heat exchanger of the boiler still has carbon withint it. The good news is that the machine can now put out 200 BTUs (instead of 180, but still short of its full force of 240 BTUs). And Dave thinks 200 is plenty to heat our house. But he says they can try a water cleaning. It's messy, he claims, but it's our last chance, so we'll go for it. I also asked Dave about the heating problems in our house, and he says there's no need to move the radiator. When he comes to do the water cleaning, he'll see if some high-speed vents he has will do the trick and get the cold radiators to warm up. All good news, until I see the bill.
George dropped off some siding samples today, but in the fast fading light and without much time we couldn't make a final decision. And I thought it would be easy because Nancy started out by saying how obvious the right choice was.
George also came by today, and while he was here he picked up the toilet paper holder that was the wrong style. Later today, someone from the bathroom supply place dropped off the right toilet paper holder. It's almost enough to make one optimistic.
The Reconfigured Back of the House
The back of the house, with the new window, now has all the pieces of its new look. Instead of half of it being a long blank face, the whole side of the house is brightened up with two extra windows. The door has been moved, and the roof on the new back door adds a little visual interest. Best of all, the back porch looks dilapidated.
The New Window of the Bathroom, from the Front Chamber of the Bathroom
The new window in the bathroom adds light to the bathroom as a hole. But the wall between the two chambers of the bathroom traps much of the light on the other side.
The New Back Bathroom Window from the Laundry Room Half of the Bathroom
If you go back into the laundry room section of the bathroom, you can find all the light sitting in this tiny room.
The Hardibacker around the Bathtub
The guys put the waterproof Hardibacker around the tub. According to my discussion with George, Hardibacker will be going on the bathroom floor as well.
The Now Hanging Wire of the Old Electrical Service
Today, we discovered that the wire to the old electrical service is at least starting to come down.
Coat of Arms of George V in the Local Ruby Tuesday
After walking around the house for a bit, examining the day's progress, we went out to dinner. We're too tired and lazy to cook all the time. Tonight, we went to Ruby Tuesday, which is the restaurant we've gone to the most. I took along the camera, so I could get a picture of this coat of arms for George V. Note that it includes the two most common mottoes of British royalty: Dieu et mon droit ("God and my right") and
honi soit qui mal y pense
posted by Geofhuth at 9:15 PM
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