Light it UP

kca reporting again:
This time on a topic of house remodeling that I know well: Lighting.  Ha.

Like everything else, working on lighting has been quite the project at our little Sunkisty, as we know call it (I believe SLL came up with that one, in all fairness.)  As a lighting designer, I would describe the home when we moved in as Dingy.  Dark.  Dim.  Gross. 

(Dingy, dark, dim house before new lighting)

(Typical recessed square ceiling fixture)

Unless the sun was shining hotly and brightly through one of the big windows, you couldn’t see a damn thing.  Each room was lighted with an 8” x 8” recessed square fixture.  Each room’s fixture had a different kind of glass lens that effectively cut out any light you might have used to see yourself in a mirror, see what you’re making for dinner, or see what you’re eating for dinner.  We plugged in lots of lamps and worklights to supplement our lighting until I began tearing out fixtures and replacing them. 

I replaced all of our outlets, installed GFIs where required, and put dimmers in to replace the previous light switches that felt like circuit breakers themselves and were nicely plated with tinfoil.  Seriously, tin foil.  Leftover-DIY-Job #2,457.  Onto light fixtures themselves…

You’ve seen the bathroom fixture conversion – hot little chandelier and sconce numbers.

(Getting up in the attic)

(Good arm workout: hanging a fixture)

(Finished!)

(Vanity sconces too!)

The guest bedroom got another cute little fixture.  Eli has knocked my patchjob, which I agree is kind of poor.  It’s hard going from a giant hole to a little one just big enough for a 4” junction box.  Maybe I’ll sand and re-texture at some point (it’s at the bottom of a very long list.)

(Securing j-box)

(Fixture hung)

The kitchen fixtures were quite the task – three large recessed fixtures became three surface-mounted fixtures.  Again, tough j-box-installing and drywall patching jobs for someone who’s new to that.  We’ll come back to these when the kitchen is done (someday.)

The master bedroom lighting project was the biggest yet.  First, notice the placement of the not only ineffective but also large recessed hole in the ceiling.  Not centered.  Not relating to anything.  Just in a weird spot.

(Weird recessed fixture location)

I spent a few hours up in the attic pulling out the existing fixture housing, junction-boxing the wires from the existing fixtures, and running new wires to a new junction box in the CENTER of the room (my center was done more haphazardly than Eli’s would have been done, but Eli doesn’t know that until reading this.) 

(Cutting the CENTERED hole in the ceiling)

And we got another fun little fixture that does a great job lighting the room and is on a dimmer (lovely.) 

(New Bedroom Fixture)

This is the first project on which I thought: “Wow, that took less time than I anticipated it would (when does that ever happen?!)” However, I thought too soon.  As I was wrapping up, poor little Dude seemed to re-paralyze/injure himself post-hernia surgery.  We spent the rest of the weekend at the pet emergency hospital.  Update: the sweet little guy is doing great.  The ugly square drywall patch has yet to be mudded and sanded.

 (Patch to be worked on)

“Maybe this weekend”…most commonly-used statement around these parts.

KnockOuts

The wall between the kitchen and living room has been permanently knocked out!  Without full knowledge of codes and inspections, I had gone to town at knocking out this wall back in November when my dad was helping with the kitchen.  Sadly, we learned we had to re-drywall what I had just pulled out for an inspection.  Talk about a waste of time and materials.  But we passed inspection and now the wall is down and finished out for good!  The best part will be our view from the dining room table we’ll have out onto the deck and beyond – to the beautiful Bay.  Mmmm.

To see what was mostly Eli’s vision, see the OLD and NEW floor plans to understand which walls were knocked out and how it will change things around.

(Old Floorplan)

(Old Wall - View from Living)

(KnockOut in Progress)

(New Open Floorplan)

(New View from Dining)

 (New View from Living)

(New View from Kitchen)

It's Getting Hot in Here

We have heat!!!!   And a thermostat that lets you turn the heat to whatever temperature you so choose.  And warm air that blows out of each and every register.  AND a differential between the way outside and inside air feels.  Amazing.  I’ve said this before (and recently): If you ever want to appreciate something, live without it for a little while.  Or be thankful you live in California instead of Colorado when you don’t have a furnace during the Winter.  It took a new furnace, but it was worth it.

Anyone Want a Big-Giant Mirror?

We decided it was time to take the Christmas decorations down. Oh, and the giant mirror above the fireplace while we were at it.  Now THAT was a project, imagining all the things that could happen if we dropped the 5foot by 8 foot mirror, or what would happen if…we dropped the giant mirror.  With only a small chip out of it, we got it safely down to the basement and wondered who might want a big giant mirror.  Then we decided it will become our future home-gym mirror.

(Mirror here)

(Mirror gone)

We’ll update you as we prime and paint and as we continue work on the living room!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

Aforementioned heating issue still not solved.  Current outside temps: high: 52, low: 34.  Brrrrr.  And…we have five guests arriving tomorrow.  Maybe this last HVAC guy will have a solution.  Even if he does, the issue(S) are not likely to be resolved within 48 hours.  Good luck, Eli, I’m heading to Colorado for a few days for Christmas, where the outside temps will (strangely) be even warmer than here during the holidays!  Four space heaters, six adults, three dogs, and three days later, I hear two things: 1.) We have to get a new furnace and the soonest they can be here is in twelve days, and 2.) It has been COLD.

Never Buy an Old House

Eli can probably tell this story better than I can (from me, it’s just heresay)…but…

We’re getting a little desperate to have heat for our guests, not to mention for ourselves after all this time.  Because MC really is a handyman jack of lots of trades, he and Eli headed to the basement to troubleshoot the valve that was replaced (refer to yesterday’s post), troubleshoot the pilot assembly (refer to yesterday’s post), check things out (refer to yesterday’s post), etc (refer to yesterday’s post). 

Hours later, they came upstairs but we still had no heat.  “What’s the update?” I ask Eli.  Eli says, “MC says never buy an old house.”

How many HVAC guys does it take to fix a furnace?

Our furnace has become the ultimate puzzle... To make a long story short... When we had the house inspected a house inspector checked it out... he said it was fine. When we first moved in and were doing work it was hot so there was no need to run it, but the few times we tested it, it ran fine.

A few weeks after moving in, we called PG&E to come out and check all of our gas appliances just to be safe since when we first moved in there was a certain fleeing smell of gas. Although they didn't find anything major, they did recommend we fix the venting on the furnace, and the filter, but that other than being kind of old, the furnace was great.

When winter hit around November, we decided we would try out our furnace. We had gotten the new venting cleared, and it was supposedly in great shape.

Well, we turned it on... no heat. This was alarming as it had worked several times and now when we needed it... nothing. So we decided to mess with it a bit, but much to our dismay, it never produced hot air.

So we called PG&E and had them come out again. This time it was a different guy. He went down and inspected it and said that the gas valve seemed to have a small crack and for safety reasons it was best to fix it, but that it would be a relatively simple task that any handyman could do and that it wouldn't be too expensive. He assured me that after that it would run great. I asked him if we should just replace it in his opinion and he said "no way, it's great. It's old, but it will definitely last for a few more years. All it will require is normal basic maintenance".

I scour the Internet for about 2 weeks after that in search of a Honeywell gas valve that would be compatible with our 1971 Day & Night furnace (yes it's from the 70's and it's powder blue color is proof). I found the part and we ordered it and had MC install it.

Once again, it was all set up, we turned it on annnnd... the pilot light went out. The pilot light would not stay lit. I decided to look online about possible causes. MC and I then spent the next 3 hours in the basement trying to troubleshoot it. No matter what we did the pilot light would not stay on.

Finally we decided to turn to the HVAC guys (although we feared it would be expensive).

After 4 different HVAC guys I am now more confused than when we started. To sum up the whole experience here is what they said.

1st guy says: $300 to repair it, and it'll work, then calls back and says "he talked to his friend" and he was wrong, it's actually $800 and he wont guarantee it
2nd guy says: he won't work on old furnaces, so our only option is to get a new one for at least $2000 (does not include installation or removal of the old one)
3rd guy says: he won't work on furnaces so we have to get a new one for at least $1500 (also not including installation or removal of the old one)
4th HVAC guy says: totally broken and cracking need a new one... or he can retrofit our old one for $1200 (but once again NO guarantees)

Basically I think it's a bit fishy that they all have economic interest in fixing our furnace and all have a completely different take on our furnace. There was actually not one consistent remark about our furnace from any of them.

Then you take the guys who look at heaters every day for a living, are the ones in charge of clearing furnace safety for real estate purposes and a major gas company... and they all have consistent stories: the furnace is fine.

In the end however, all of this only amounts to one thing:

NO HEAT