My next big project

[greatbear]

Finally. After postponing this for years due to health issues, money issues, time issues, timing issues or just plain procrastination, I finally ordered up a new front door for La Casa Mayhem, and I picked it up today. I had to convince the people at Homo Despot that I had a nice big truck, and the wonderful shipping pallet it was delivered to the store on was ideal for me to get it home with the least chance of additional damage. The material handlers, obviously walking around with "Loading..." graphics floating over their heads were having problems processing this. The forklift drivers were out to lunch, and the guys rolling the door around the store seemed to be colloquially in the same place. Both me and the cool gal in the millwork department I had been dealing with were basically saying the same thing. Finally one of the forklift operators returned and all of us humped the thing onto the truck, where I tied it all down and headed home. Jeff came home soon after I did, and the two of us wrangled it off the truck and onto the carport where it will sit safely until I begin work. I'm glad I had the pallet to keep the thing safe and upright, if anything were to knock it over before I installed it I would be fit to be tied. I took a couple quick shots of the thing still cloaked in plastic.





In addition to taking out the original door/sidelight assembly, I might have to resize the rough opening slightly for best fit, plus reroute the doorbell wiring. I also plan to affix a hidden alarm switch as well as I am doing the work. This should complete the basic door installation. While I am focused on that part of the house, I will also take out a small section of an adjacent wall where the light switches are in order to consolidate some of the outdoor lighting controls as well as prep it all for ongoing home automation. ALso, for over 25 hears, my OCD has been bugging me because of a small electrical hack hidden in that wall. After the house was built and all the electric hooked up, I found there was no power to the outlets in the front part of the living room. Turns out the electricians who wired the house forgot to run a branch to the five outlets there. To fix it, they popped a hole in the one living room outlet box and the outside lightswitch box in the entryway, and connected the two with a piece of ratty UF cable. I discovered this when I changed a light switch in the entry years ago. It's been bugging me since, because the composite boxes have large pieces missing, and this also puts those outlets in a lighting circuit. While I have the wall apart I will replace the boxes, reroute the branch feeder to a different circuit, and put in a larger device box for added controls for the outside lighting along the walkways and the two post lights. All four of these circuits will have automation-/remote control-ready switches installed. My janky motion sensor setup for the outside front door light will be replaced with a setup that integrates with the lighting control system. I will also install the little dome camera in the ceiling outside the front door, part of an extended remote monitoring system I am putting together.

If my body survives the exertion and labor needed for these projects, I will hopefully be able to complete the living room skylight project that's going on four years now, and the sunroom, which, sad to say, been on hold for eight years. Neither of these are really backbreaking work, but involve working overhead for extended periods, something that was impossible for me for a long time. Not too long ago, I refitted several light fixtures in the Mayhem Lab with new ballasts and bulbs, and I found I didn't have a single problem or flash of pain during or after. The lighting project was a test for this, as I could've simply done one fixture at a time or dropped that project temporarily had it become an issue. Go me!

When I headed outside to snap the pics of the door, I discovered Jeff had quietly come home and was sitting in his new car, airconditioning on, grooving to Pink Floyd and answering messages on his phone. I realized I didn't take any pictures of the car for LJ, so I did, and also snapped one of Jeff in his work duds, hat, and his beard, which I remodeled a little while ago. :)





I took some time tonight to poke around the MVA website, and I discovered that the personalized plate text I had come up with for his car is available. For kicks I also checked to see if another was available for one of my cars, and I was surprised to find it was available too. Sooo, we might have a pair of cool vanity plates in the near future if all goes well.

Comments

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I've never been afraid to tackle projects, even things I never did before (Build my own house? Sure, why not?). My only gripe lately is not being able to do what I used to, and my independence in those sorts of things is something I rely most heavily on. I hear constant horror stories from people trying to have work done and it gets screwed up, and quite often I can't relate to it. When I was completely out of commission during the last few years, I tried to get people to come do some of the work. Most didn't bother to answer, some made a commitment but never showed, and in most of the cases where outside people came in, I did a surprising amount of the work. This still boggles my mind. In some cases, it was like life playing a cruel joke. For the first time ever here, the sewer backed up. I couldn't do anything, so I called a local plumber. The guy didn't show up at first when they said he would, but showed up the next day. When he did, he had back problems almost as bad as I did, and, guess what. I was disconnecting the toilet and moving it as much as he was. Fortunately, it was all fixed rather quickly, and only cost me about half of what buying the equipment and doing it myself would've cost.

Then there was the time I had the GE factory people come and do warranty work on my Geospring heat pump water heater. Guess who not only lent (several) hand(s), but who was the one that knew how to enter into all the factory service modes and tests? Hint: it wasn't the guy from GE. The damn thing has broke down again and has been running like a plain old electric water heater now for two years, I couldn't deal with it back then, and I really don't want to bother anymore. We paid 1600 dollars for the thing. It was wonderful for the first year or two, then the really stupid problems started. It's a great idea that failed miserably in practice. Do NOT buy one even if your life depended on it.

Okay, end of rant. :)