8/31 New Stove

Being a Saturday I decided to take on a significantly larger project. We had a built in stove top with a separate oven unit. My wife wanted a single glass top unit. We finally were able to acquire a decent one last week, and thus this weekends project was to rip out the old unit and cabinet, and replace it with the stand alone unit. This turned out to be a much larger project then I was planning. 

First was the demolition. Unfortunately it was not your standard smash and tear demolition. I had to be careful to only take out the pieces I wanted without breaking up the attached cabinets. This required that I go and purchase a new jigsaw. Luckily I was able to get a decent one for only $16.  After some careful cutting, and a significant amount of hammering I was able to tear out most of the cabinet area that I needed removed. 

The next major obstacle was the electrical. The old unit was hardwired in, meaning there was not a plug built into the wall. I therefore had to buy some 220 wire attach it to the old stuff. Run it inside the wall, connect it to a new plug, and mount all that back onto the wall. The part that was the hardest was running the wiring behind the wall. 

The rest of the demolition was then completed, and we moved the new stove in from the garage. By the time clean up was all done most of the afternoon had passed. I spent the rest of the day doing random electrical work throughout the house. At some point I will get to tearing out the separate oven unit that is still installed. 

8/30/13 - Wood Pile

My work sponsored a family night at a local amusement park. So my wife and I were there till very late. Because we got home so late I decided to do a very small project. There is a large pile of wood behind our house from the basement demolition. I moved some of the worse, non-reusable pieces to the burn pile. Not much but it is better than nothing.

8-29-13 Bathroom Light

Today on the way home I stopped at Home Depot and bought a light for over the bathroom sink. The light box is already installed so I needed to wire it. I am planning on tying into the main light switch for the bathroom so both lights will come on at the same time. So I measured the distance of the light box from the wall (17"), climbed into the attic, and drilled the hole. I then took some wire and shoved it down. After some finagling, some mutilation of the light box, and lots of help from my wife, we were able to get the wire positioned correctly.

One Project a Day

I am changing the tune of this blog completely. My wife and I bought a true blue fixer upper. Thanks to a ton of help from various family members it is no in a condition suitable for habitation. However, there is still a ton of work to be done. I know that if I try to sprint through all of the sundry projects I will end up getting tired of it, and thus just give up for a while until I feel another boost of desire. Those kinds of waves will take forever to finish this house. Thus I am going to adopt a more "slow and steady" approach. I am going to do one thing a night for the house. Sometimes it will be a two minute project, like attaching a light switch cover. Sometimes it will be a hour long project. Every night after I am done I will get on here and put a quick post of what I did. Mainly it is a way to keep myself accountable, and so when I feel like nothing is happening with this house, I can look back and know that I have actually done something.