Re: Beebe -- our 1935 Bungalow on Baker Street.
Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 3:51 pm
Yesterday...Sean was home and quite sick. Either feverish or cold sweating. So I told him to take it easy because he has a lot of work he's scheduled for in the coming weeks.
We knew we'd need to move the stove further down to make room for the fridge. The fridge did arrive on time, but when we saw the box we were terrified. It looked like elephants used it as a rugby ball. By some sheer miracle, only one tiny dent was on a back corner, the rest of the surface was unscathed. One "oops", was I forgot the wall outlet where we were planning to put it was an old two prong. And...if I remember right, may be one of the few old K&T lines. So...it's now in an awkward spot to the only GF plug in that room. I need to check the wiring to see what our short term plug in options are right now.
Speaking of the stove...I did finally talk to the last remaining employee at House of Webster who knows about the stoves they no longer make. Really nice guy, I have to say. I now know the method to get the stove working, but...it didn't. We did some trouble shooting with various bits, and now I have to check all the other connections to make sure none of the wires are lose or outright fried. They did have an electrical manual with the schematics, and I bought one so I'd have it. If I can't find an obvious problem with the stove portion's wiring, the manual may help clear up with the issue is. Not sure how long it will take to get here. The sad thing is they are really trying to get away from telling folks how to make it work and selling parts for such. (Dennis did give me some part #s for some possible issues other than wiring connections which I was so grateful for as well.) I asked why, and he said that was a decision they had made, so as to my suggestion that he should teach someone else there what he knew before he retired, he said there's no plan for such. In fact, they've stopped ordering new replacements for the stoves, and are only selling off what they have in stock.
Speaking of electric...we have the washer, and now we have an appliance extension cord we got from one of our old neighbors at the apartment which may allow me to use it now until we can afford to get an electrician to run the dedicated to code line. I have to check the specs on the washer to make sure the outlet can handle the washer for certain, especially since the sump pump is also plugged into the outlet in question, but from my discussion with the washer guy he thought our washer (dead basic and smaller tub size than some) would be ok on a 15. I'm still going to read the specs on the plate so I know for certain. I just want this for a short term fix if it's safe so I don't have to take laundry back to the apartment. We'll still run the dedicated 20 line later no matter what.
Oh..and kitchen! I almost managed to pull up 1/3 the vinyl before realizing the time yesterday and running to the local electrical and plumbing shop, only to remember as I saw the closed sign that they do close at 4pm, and I arrived at 4:08pm. So I'll be heading back over there in a bit to pick up a longer stove cord so we can move the stove all the way over. I would have pulled up more, but I realized now that I'm past the edges bit, I can pull up chunks that are still in pretty good shape without it breaking up, so I was using wax paper to cover the edges of the adhesive overlay bits. I might be able to Craig's List "free" most of the flooring rather than send it to the dump, which would be great. We also still have one opened box of the planking that was overage, so there's that as well I might be able to pass on to someone who would love it rather than dump it all. The reality of keeping the lino in the kitchen rather than use it to patch in the dining is looking slim. The cloudy spot is quite large, and there is a lot of cracking--even some bits missing from the cracks themselves. Nothing too dangerous trip wise, because that spot is where we put the bee rug in front of the sink, but when I finish removing the rest of the vinyl, we'll be better able to asses its keepability for that room instead of using it as patches.
On the way back from the closed shop, I first went to the building permit folks at City Hall to make sure there really is no code about how close to a window a stove can be. Turns out, there is none for Gardner. So what we want to do is fine code wise. I also talked up the stove a storm to the point that the ladies in the office looked it up and they both love it.
After that, I swung by the apartment to pick up my garden wagon and whatever bits I could fit in there. Oh..silly me....the bag of small landscaping rocks was just a little bit too much. (40 lbs. on top of everything else I had crammed in there.) I may have mentioned this before, but the path from our old apartment to the new old house is all uphill--including the steep driveway at the apartment. By the time I got to the cross street, I was already winded and my thighs complaining, and I knew the worst hill was the last block to the house. I caved, and called Sean asking him to come pick me up. I should probably mention too that the temperature LEAPED to 85°F yesterday. So that wasn't helping either, although it humored me greatly to be maneuvering around the piles of snow still about that were blocking bits of the sidewalks too. That hot...yet there's this mound of snow right in my way. I felt really bad doing it, but he came and got me and then gave me that "no wonder" look when he went to lift the bag of stones. As soon as we took the rocks out, I realized I would have managed just fine if I hadn't been so silly. Poor Sean. He wasn't mad, though. I took extra care to baby him for the rest of the day after that. He seemed better by the time he went to bed, but I don't think he's over it yet.
One nice thing I had forgotten when grabbing that stuff was the pair of straight shaft Stanley pry bars. Perfect for lifting those concrete slabs. Remember, I had bought and was given a large batch of tools from the folks we bought the stove from, and they went into the garage for the short term, so I haven't burned them into my memory as to what tools I have yet.
One sadness is that I was unfortunately right in that the ridiculous overdosing of herbicide done by the landlady's boyfriend to the perennials I'd planted at the apartment, none of them came back--not even the day lilies. So I kept the garden tools there for a later move over for nothing. I even told him at the time that he was spraying too much, and he seemed annoyed because he thought he was doing me a favor. Yes, spraying so much that there are puddles of it on the beds? I just want to mention that this guy is a landscaper by trade.
Might post more later after I run my afternoon errands. Trying to beat the rain we might get today. Oh, and the temperature turned right around is supposed to hit a high of only 68°F today (although I just checked, and it says it's currently 71). High of 37 tonight, which is a huge drop from last night. It was actually stuffy on the second floor even well past dark last night. I should have cracked a few storms, I think. But the temp isn't supposed to be near as high for over a week again, so
We knew we'd need to move the stove further down to make room for the fridge. The fridge did arrive on time, but when we saw the box we were terrified. It looked like elephants used it as a rugby ball. By some sheer miracle, only one tiny dent was on a back corner, the rest of the surface was unscathed. One "oops", was I forgot the wall outlet where we were planning to put it was an old two prong. And...if I remember right, may be one of the few old K&T lines. So...it's now in an awkward spot to the only GF plug in that room. I need to check the wiring to see what our short term plug in options are right now.
Speaking of the stove...I did finally talk to the last remaining employee at House of Webster who knows about the stoves they no longer make. Really nice guy, I have to say. I now know the method to get the stove working, but...it didn't. We did some trouble shooting with various bits, and now I have to check all the other connections to make sure none of the wires are lose or outright fried. They did have an electrical manual with the schematics, and I bought one so I'd have it. If I can't find an obvious problem with the stove portion's wiring, the manual may help clear up with the issue is. Not sure how long it will take to get here. The sad thing is they are really trying to get away from telling folks how to make it work and selling parts for such. (Dennis did give me some part #s for some possible issues other than wiring connections which I was so grateful for as well.) I asked why, and he said that was a decision they had made, so as to my suggestion that he should teach someone else there what he knew before he retired, he said there's no plan for such. In fact, they've stopped ordering new replacements for the stoves, and are only selling off what they have in stock.
Speaking of electric...we have the washer, and now we have an appliance extension cord we got from one of our old neighbors at the apartment which may allow me to use it now until we can afford to get an electrician to run the dedicated to code line. I have to check the specs on the washer to make sure the outlet can handle the washer for certain, especially since the sump pump is also plugged into the outlet in question, but from my discussion with the washer guy he thought our washer (dead basic and smaller tub size than some) would be ok on a 15. I'm still going to read the specs on the plate so I know for certain. I just want this for a short term fix if it's safe so I don't have to take laundry back to the apartment. We'll still run the dedicated 20 line later no matter what.
Oh..and kitchen! I almost managed to pull up 1/3 the vinyl before realizing the time yesterday and running to the local electrical and plumbing shop, only to remember as I saw the closed sign that they do close at 4pm, and I arrived at 4:08pm. So I'll be heading back over there in a bit to pick up a longer stove cord so we can move the stove all the way over. I would have pulled up more, but I realized now that I'm past the edges bit, I can pull up chunks that are still in pretty good shape without it breaking up, so I was using wax paper to cover the edges of the adhesive overlay bits. I might be able to Craig's List "free" most of the flooring rather than send it to the dump, which would be great. We also still have one opened box of the planking that was overage, so there's that as well I might be able to pass on to someone who would love it rather than dump it all. The reality of keeping the lino in the kitchen rather than use it to patch in the dining is looking slim. The cloudy spot is quite large, and there is a lot of cracking--even some bits missing from the cracks themselves. Nothing too dangerous trip wise, because that spot is where we put the bee rug in front of the sink, but when I finish removing the rest of the vinyl, we'll be better able to asses its keepability for that room instead of using it as patches.
On the way back from the closed shop, I first went to the building permit folks at City Hall to make sure there really is no code about how close to a window a stove can be. Turns out, there is none for Gardner. So what we want to do is fine code wise. I also talked up the stove a storm to the point that the ladies in the office looked it up and they both love it.
After that, I swung by the apartment to pick up my garden wagon and whatever bits I could fit in there. Oh..silly me....the bag of small landscaping rocks was just a little bit too much. (40 lbs. on top of everything else I had crammed in there.) I may have mentioned this before, but the path from our old apartment to the new old house is all uphill--including the steep driveway at the apartment. By the time I got to the cross street, I was already winded and my thighs complaining, and I knew the worst hill was the last block to the house. I caved, and called Sean asking him to come pick me up. I should probably mention too that the temperature LEAPED to 85°F yesterday. So that wasn't helping either, although it humored me greatly to be maneuvering around the piles of snow still about that were blocking bits of the sidewalks too. That hot...yet there's this mound of snow right in my way. I felt really bad doing it, but he came and got me and then gave me that "no wonder" look when he went to lift the bag of stones. As soon as we took the rocks out, I realized I would have managed just fine if I hadn't been so silly. Poor Sean. He wasn't mad, though. I took extra care to baby him for the rest of the day after that. He seemed better by the time he went to bed, but I don't think he's over it yet.
One nice thing I had forgotten when grabbing that stuff was the pair of straight shaft Stanley pry bars. Perfect for lifting those concrete slabs. Remember, I had bought and was given a large batch of tools from the folks we bought the stove from, and they went into the garage for the short term, so I haven't burned them into my memory as to what tools I have yet.
One sadness is that I was unfortunately right in that the ridiculous overdosing of herbicide done by the landlady's boyfriend to the perennials I'd planted at the apartment, none of them came back--not even the day lilies. So I kept the garden tools there for a later move over for nothing. I even told him at the time that he was spraying too much, and he seemed annoyed because he thought he was doing me a favor. Yes, spraying so much that there are puddles of it on the beds? I just want to mention that this guy is a landscaper by trade.
Might post more later after I run my afternoon errands. Trying to beat the rain we might get today. Oh, and the temperature turned right around is supposed to hit a high of only 68°F today (although I just checked, and it says it's currently 71). High of 37 tonight, which is a huge drop from last night. It was actually stuffy on the second floor even well past dark last night. I should have cracked a few storms, I think. But the temp isn't supposed to be near as high for over a week again, so