Day Thirty-Eight: Gasline to Dreary Cold

Here's the story with the boiler. I decided not to get it fixed right now, because I'm afraid there will be more dirt and dust soon, and that that will merely bring the boiler to its knees again. For instance, I still have to remove quite a bit of plaster from the old bathroom sink in the basement. But the problem we're facing now is that that weather has turned cold again, and wet, and heat might be something enjoyable. Also, a cold damp house will slow down the drying of the joint compound on the wallboard. So I'll probably call a heating specialist tomorrow to take care of the boiler.

Two other big pieces of news today: One, I got a new job, which I'll officially start on Thursday. For the first time in a decade and a half, I won't be a union member--and the freedom from paying dues will be my only pay increase when I take this job. Of course, I've been doing the job for two thirds of a year already, so this won't be much of a change. Two, when I called Dave today (back from his week's vacation), he told me that he discovered there was no gasline going into the second floor bathroom. This might seem unnecessary, but the gasline is pretty essential if we want to run our gas dryer. Tom came by today and put the line in, I understand.

While I was on the phone with Dave, I asked him to be sure to baffle the rest of the drain pipes. Those above the second floor bathroom didn't get wrapped, so the sound of water draining is pretty loud. Lucky for me, Dave and John hadn't put in the ceiling in the bathroom yet, but only because they were waiting for Tom to put in the gasline to the second floor.

Bad news, though: I don't see a gasline to the kitchen. Maybe it's there and I'm just missing it, but we sure need one for the gas range.


The New Kitchen Ceiling
The new kitchen ceiling looks pretty good, and we can now see how the new recessed lights will look.


The Kitchen Ceiling Encroaching into the Dining Room
Dave and John pushed the kitchen ceiling out far enough to surround the single recessed light in the dining room. The ceilings of these two rooms are actually the same ceiling, so we expect more wallboard to make its way to the dining room ceiling soon.


the New Insulation in the Old Doorway
Just in time for the cold that has come our way, Dave and John put insulation in the old back doorway to the house.


Doorway Insulation Unfolding into the Basement
And this insulation continued down into basement, where the guys needed to move a few trunks to give themselves space to work.


Fiberglass Batts in the Basement, Awaiting Placement
They even laid out the batts of insulation on the floor to make them more convenient to reach.


Where Some Plaster was Removed over the Bathroom Door
Here's the one change from today that I can't quite figure out. They removed some of the wallboard from over the bathroom door. I suppose the reason for this will become clear soon.

honi soit qui mal y pense