About a year a go … one of the group buying sites had a deal to get the HVAC inspected and cleaned.  I bought it.  [...]]]>

I live in an old house.  About 70 years old.  The furnace is old.  Not sure if it is original… don’t think so since at point the house used Oil Heat.

About a year a go … one of the group buying sites had a deal to get the HVAC inspected and cleaned.  I bought it.  Since it expires in 2 weeks… I finally scheduled the inspection.

They guy arrived today and the cleaning took about an hour… he even changed my filter! (Good thing I had extra on hand…. i look like such a responsible home owner )

Conclusions…. My furnace is older than all get out… this I knew.  But he said nothing is cracked and its in good working order. Luckily he didn’t try to go into the hard sell for other services….. He did recommend changing the thermostat to get rid of the mercury – and I want to do it… and actually I did try to get a programmable one installed by Pepco for free about a year ago… Also recommended…. Yearly service agreement – Pass for now… and Duct Cleaning… which I do need to do and have been wanting to for a while.  Will probably wait for a group buying deal for that … as I have seen a few in the past.

I finally replaced the gutters last fall and was finally ready to replace the lightbulb for the floodlight that the old gutters had been blocking.

I trotted out my trusty 6 ft ladder, [...]]]>

When I first moved in (almost 2 years ago!) The gutters were in horrible shape.  In fact one was hanging off the rear addition…

I finally replaced the gutters last fall and was finally ready to replace the lightbulb for the floodlight that the old gutters had been blocking.

I trotted out my trusty 6 ft ladder, and while holding onto the side of the house I climbed up to the top step that is recommended for standing and screwed in the lightbulb… YAY!  Too bad the floodlight isn’t really attached to its base anymore.  Must have been knocked off its base when the old gutter came down.  Looks like another project for someone that is taller …. like my Dad

Then in the fall of 2009 my sister and I [...]]]>

When I moved into my old but new to me house back in Summer 2009…. the upstairs bathroom was painted a Minty Green.  Not horrible.  I could live with it for the short term… I even had a shower curtain and towels that would match.

Then in the fall of 2009 my sister and I took one of our semi-annual trips to the Lancaster outlets… where I picked up a new shower curtain and towels for the bathroom. Red Polka Dots was the theme of the shower curtain…. With leaf raking and other things that needed to be done, I slacked on transforming the bathroom.

December 2009… I finally ventured to Lowes to pick out the paint…. but a snowstorm started up on my return trip home (shocker!) So I didn’t want to start painting in case something happened and I needed to run out for something. So the supplies sat. And sat. And sat some more.

Until this weekend I taped on Saturday. And Monday I did the painting. Turned out pretty well…. if I do say so myself. I think though I need some red towels… for more pop!

I went with option 1.  Today [...]]]>

A few weeks ago I enrolled in Pepco’s Energy Wise Rewards program.  Basically there are two options…1) you can choose to have a programmable thermostat installed to cycle the AC or 2) choose to have a small device installed directly on the outside AC unit which will force the cycle.

I went with option 1.  Today the Pepco  installation person arrived.  First he asked to see the Thermostat, then the outside AC unit, then the furnace.  After seeing the thermostat…. the heavy sighing began.  It only got worse after going outside.  I knew this wasn’t looking good.  Then after seeing the furnace he told me that the transformer on my furnace would cause the thermostat to blow and vice versa.  So it couldn’t be installed.  He did offer that the small device could be installed on the outside AC unit.

I declined however, because a co-worker who does HVAC work on the side told me that the devices installed directly on the AC units cause the AC units to die faster than normal, and since my AC unit is relatively new for my house (only about 3 years old!) I don’t want to have to replace it any sooner than I need to, with all the other work I need to do. Also, I suspect the actual furnace will need to be replaced sooner than later and that will take care of the transformer issue.

With the help of my parents and my awesome lopper, I got some major yard work [...]]]>

After I first moved in to my old-but-new-to-me house last summer I busted out of the gate pretty quickly with picking and getting my first major project completed (replacing all the windows and venting the clothes dryer to the outside). 

With the help of my parents and my awesome lopper, I got some major yard work taken care of- complete with my first (and hopefully last) case of poison ivy. 

I fixed a leak in the basement (well I didn’t fix it… I paid someone to fix it ).

And I had the fireplace converted to gas (well actually my parents did… housewarming/birthday/xmas gift combo).

I moved in June.  All of the above was completed by late October I believe. 

Next on my list was to paint the upstairs bathroom.  I went and bought all of the supplies… on one of the Snow Days right before Xmas… but didn’t start painting because I didn’t want to start and run into a problem where I needed to go out and wasn’t able to due to the weather (This is all mainly linked to problems I might encounter from having to remove a painted over heat register – I am nervous about prying it off the wall without causing much damage).  And so the supplies sit where I left them last December.

I have a list of projects I want to do.  But I am having a hard time prioritizing.
I want to either paint or replace the siding.  Can’t decide which…just when I think I have made a decision I change my mind.  The gutters and downspouts all need to be replaced, but that shouldn’t be done until I get the siding situated.  I want to remove the metal awning over the front porch and build a proper portico, then replace all the main entry doors. I also need to do some re-grading on one side of the house and I think build a small retaining wall on one side of the driveway, so I don’t need to mow one part of the lawn on a very steep (for me) angle – seriously I think I am going to fall and get mowed over one of these days

I did make some progress this past weekend… I bought some plastic shelves and straightened up the garage.  Now I need to look into running power to the garage and replacing the garage doors… so I can finally start parking my car inside

I also have some minor projects like install a programmable thermostat (Pepco is coming next week to do that… for FREE!! ), install a garbage disposal, and paint the kitchen.  Oh… and I want a new sofa.

I hope I win the lottery!

Overall the front and back yard are pretty basic rectangles with out any fancy landscaping. [...]]]>

I have spent the first year of Single Family Home ownership learning how to use a lawn mower, a weed wacker, lopping tree branches, raking leaves, and shoveling 100 million feet of snow (well not quite…. but you get my drift).

Overall the front and back yard are pretty basic rectangles with out any fancy landscaping. Fancy landscaping is waaaaaaaay down on my list.  My first project was ridding the front yard of clover.  I am happy to report…. I have been successful!  No clover has spouted at all this season.

I started my next project today.  The area between my driveway runners is pretty much dirt and weeds (more near the front of the house… closer to the road has some grass).  So today I used my steel rake to break up the dirt, pulled some weeds, overseeded…….and watered.  I am hoping the next three days of expected rain helps with the watering………

I’ll keep you posted!

And apparently Madison has a winter litter box and a summer litter box.  When we first moved in Madison was relegated to having her box in the 3rd bedroom because I wasn’t sure how she was going to react to 3 floors and I knew I didn’t want a litter box on the 1st floor.  [...]]]>

And apparently Madison has a winter litter box and a summer litter box.  When we first moved in Madison was relegated to having her box in the 3rd bedroom because I wasn’t sure how she was going to react to 3 floors and I knew I didn’t want a litter box on the 1st floor.  Once we were in the house for about a month I started letting her into the basement because my ultimate goal was to get the litter box moved to the basement for good.  So Madison would go into the basement when I was doing laundry and cry when the basement door was shut so she couldn’t get in…

Once the crying started … I opened the door for good and she was basically living in the basement (I guess because it was the coolest place in the house) and the upstairs litter box was abandoned.    FF to November and Madison gradually stopped going into the basement… and was once again an upstairs litter box cat.

Imagine my surprise when I was in the basement last weekend and glanced at the litter box …. Lets just say it was ready to be emptied   At least the lack of business in the upstairs litter box now made sense

Now that the 5 million inches of snow that we have recieved this winter has finally started to melt, everywhere that is not sidewalk is a mushy, muddy mess. (Especially no fun in high heels )

The biggest casualty of this is my driveway.  As you can see in the picture above, my [...]]]>

Now that the 5 million inches of snow that we have recieved this winter has finally started to melt, everywhere that is not sidewalk is a mushy, muddy mess. (Especially no fun in high heels )

The biggest casualty of this is my driveway.  As you can see in the picture above, my driveway consists of  “Runners”  aka paved tracks for the tires only, with grass between.  I think they are cute and fit with the overall look and style of an older home.  The concrete for mine is in bad shape and eventually needs to be re-paved.    I had planned to get the driveway re-paved as runners, however the snow of this season has caused me to rethink my plans. 

First, shoveling grass is not fun, because there is a tendency to remove some grass.  Second with all the melting the lawn is muddy/mushy and trying to drive on it if you don’t get your tires aligned to the runners  creates awesome tracks in the lawn.  Right now I have a 3 inch deep rut

So in order to avoid this in the future, I think I have decided to re-pave as a fully paved driveway………….. but that project is a ways down the list…. after Siding and Doors.

And over the last few weeks I have not been sleeping well, usually I wake up a few times, turn on Nick-at-Nite, with the sleep timer amd roll over and go back to sleep.

But last night … I [...]]]>

If you are in the DC area you know we are in the middle of some crazy wind…

And over the last few weeks I have not been sleeping well, usually I wake up a few times, turn on Nick-at-Nite, with the sleep timer amd roll over and go back to sleep.

But last night … I slept awesome. Until about 5AM…. when I heard a big crash! Then I realized it was very windy outside… I figured maybe a shutter had blown off the house… but then I got up and checked outside….my trash can had blown over

So I went back to sleep for about 20 minutes….

The morning continued as normal… Madison messing up the bed making process, hair drying, etc…

Then I went downstairs…. to get ready to leave…. something didn’t seem right. I have gas logs in my living room, and I can usually hear a small hiss from the pilot light. So I went to look for the blue flame. No sign of it! I thought Oh No! Pilot Light is out! Is gas streaming into my house?? Um no cause I didn’t smell it….. Weird I thought…. is gas out to the whole house??
I didn’t think so becase the heat had been running all night, but I ran downstairs to check the furnace. Everything seemed normal.

Ran back upstairs, figured out how to turn off the pilot light from the main controller. Then sat down to think about next steps. I was still confused why gas wasn’t coming into the house. I called the place that installed my gas logs. Not open until 10am.

Then I remembered “Google is my Friend”

I googled “Pilot Light Blows Out” and found a site that explained all about how pilot lights work… Basically when the flame blows out there is a mechanisim that shuts off the gas flow… YAY for Safety Features!! Now I just need to remember how to re-light it when I get home