The Manic Mechanic

I've been trying to make some headway into the various upgrades and fixes I had sidelined due to health issues. Trying to do the various stuff according to the weather and available time has been a fun juggling session. For instance, I recently completed work in the attic to relocate some wiring that would be in the way of installing two skylights in the living room. This was done as part of some structural fixes, where I needed to tie two sets of 16-inch beams (!) that settled variably and caused cracking of ceiling drywall which would never stay patched. I added a floor that covered a 12x48 foot area up there as well, along with some shelves for seasonal stuff that is stored in the attic as well. I had a limited timeframe to do this, since that attic gets unbearably hot to work in even during early spring weather. So, that is all taken care of, a task I had wanted to tackle for 20 years. This will give me some working space to add a pair of 2ft by 4ft skylights in the living room as well as a 'sun tunnel' light shaft in the one bathroom in the middle of the house devoid of windows. Now I just need to coordinate with whomever I subcontract to re-shingle the roofs so I can replace some bad roof decking and install the skylights before they do their thing.

Since this is my short working week, I will change hats again from carpenter and electrician to become a plumber and replace my aging, yet still serviceable water heater before it lets go. In the interest of energy savings as well as creative side benefits, I am replacing my 66-gallon A. O. Smith electric heater with a 50-gallon General Electric "GeoSpring" heat-pump water heater.



This high-tech piece should cost a little more than a third to operate compared to the current one. Since the unit uses a heat pump to heat the water, the side benefit is the system throws off cool air, much like an air conditioner, when it's heating water. This will take the place of (or supplement, during peak summertime use) the dehumidifier that I usually run in the basement as well, cutting back on even more energy usage. At least, this is what I am hoping for in the long run. While layin' pipe I will also add a utility sink in the workshop area, as well as replace two outside frostproof sillcocks (stop giggling!). Finally, technology has caught up to something I have wanted to have outside, which is hot and cold water from a freeze-resistant faucet:



This will make washing cars, pets and whatever else a much more pleasurable experience, and can be done year-round. While a means to have hot and cold water from an outside faucet was doable before, I was only able to find a very clumsy (and very expensive) industrial/institutional wall "hydrant" to do the trick. Moen has come up with a simple, single-knob unit that installs easily and does not look out of place on the side of a house. Once I do all of these installations I will give them a workout by washing all the vehicles as well as the house itself. Maybe Kodi and Jeff will get a nice warm shower outside too. I promise I won't use the pressure washer. :o)

I hope tonight I can get some decent sleep. Having the weekend allowed a sleep-in, but I avoided naps. I'll be heading to bed soon and hopefully get myself back in sync with normal time cycles and work.

Climbing on ladders all over the basement and stooping in the attic all weekend allowed me to finish all the gigabit LAN drops throughout the house plus finally wire up the beginnings of the whole (or at least a few rooms eventually)-house speaker/music system. After getting things tested it was time for the real show. I hit the power on the home theater PC and... nothing. Not good. Open it up, find the standby LED lit but nothing happens when pushing the power switch. Jumpering the ATX power connector to manually kickstart the power supply also gets nothing. Digging into it's ridiculously tight interior to sub another power supply finds success, so time for a new power supply. This is the first PC Power and Cooling power unit I've had die on me. I had planned on pulling it out for some other use and replacing it with a quiet one anyway, but this forced the issue. I ordered a 650W version of the 850W Antec Signature power supply I had gotten for the domain server. It's super quiet, highly efficient and very high quality. Being a long-time power supply nerd, I know good design when I see it, and just had to have another one of these babies. Those wondering why I didnt just use the power supply I used as a sub, it's for the same reason I excised it from the server- the thing (A PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750W EPS Quad) is a rats nest of permanently-attached cabling. Since the domain server got filled with more hardware I literally could not close up the case without quite a bit of difficulty, much like sitting on a suitcase to latch it. It was like stuffing Cthulhu into a phone booth. The new one has the necessary cabling permanently attached, with removable, modular cabling that can be changed depending on the configuration of the PC. There is no room in there as it is, I need to tidy it up, and the silent operation compared to the original will be very welcome.

While placing the order for the power supply, I tossed in a HP 24-port managed gigabit switch to finish up the LAN project. For the record, about 18 ports will be put to use right away. Yeah, I know, it's crazy. I really want to put all the PC stuff aside and move on to other things that need attention so I can simply sit back and enjoy things for a change. The house and garage absolutely need new roofs this springtime. I want to take our vacation in P-Town this year knowing I dont have to worry about bad roofs, dodgy doors and general yard untidiness. I am feeling like I am catching up not only on projects, but life in general. The last few years have been rough on me for all those reasons I wrote about during that time. I hope that I continue making good progress in this respect. I owe it to myself, Mom, Jeff and all of those close to me.