Day 40: Being constructive for a change

Up until a week ago, most of the work we had done around the house was demolition that generally left the house looking like a clean slate, of sorts. So after 6 days in Ottawa for a conference and family time, I came back on Sunday to a house that definitely has the air of being under construction.

Here is a quick recap of the very productive week Garrett had while I was away galavanting through the nation's capital enjoying good food, great company and an adorable niece.

We had the ancient air conditioner replaced. The model number was illegible but we suspect it matches the other appliances in the house that come from the 70s. The HVAC contractor was also kind enough to fix up some ductwork on our HRV, chop and cap off a very annoying gas pipe that stuck out of the wall, and put in a programmable thermostat without charging any extra. We considered getting some of the other mechanical systems replaced too but the furnace is already high efficiency (2005) and the hot water tank is still a while from needing replacement (2003). While there are absolutely more efficient options out there, chucking out something that's still in good working order isn't exactly environmentally friendly either.

Our electrician has been working away since last Monday on re-wiring the house and this is the primary contributor to that "under construction" feel, what with little holes all over the place waiting to be patched and covered. He was referred to us as "the knob and tube guy in town" and this sort of job makes up about 95% of his annual work load. He seems to be quite proud of the work he does and even taught me about plastering today!

Wires everywhere! That's the electrical panel at the bottom of the stairs.

You'll also note in this photo Garrett's biggest tasks for the weekend: taking apart and then reconstructing the stairs in the basement. This allowed him to pull the stringer 5 inches off the wall and frame behind it to allow for insulating the whole wall behind the stairs.

The old staircase didn't have a stringer in the middle...ill-advised?

Another big set of changes came yesterday when the plumber came by the move the water softener, water meter, and laundry pipes off the wall. We'll now be able to frame and insulate behind these lines, keeping the pipes on the warm side of the building envelope. The water meter was previously in an awkward spot at the bottom on the stairs (seen here) and there was a wee pinhole leak so we had it moved over to the cold room where the pipe actually comes up through the floor.

Water softener moved over to the utility room - look at all that space!

Despite my guilt about abandoning Garrett, I wasn't entirely unproductive on the house front last week. Taking advantage of the free wi-fi on the VIA Rail ride along beautiful Lake Ontario, I dove into some Google Sketchup tutorials and discovered that this program is actually incredibly easy to use, though not always intuitive. I was able to quickly put together some models and plans for the basement and am excited about the potential for this to help us with planning and dreaming. Keep an eye out for the next post (coming soon!) where we'll share some screenshots.