My adventures as a new homeowner

Today is halloween and being in the spirit we have put up some decorations including: driveway lights, pumpkin leaf bags, a sound activated moving spider, cobwebs and more spiders, and various other pumpkins. Last year we had about 60 kids.

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What a crazy night! After 2 runs for refills for hordes of witches, ghosts, skeletons, brides, devils, aliens, rabbits, football players, hockey players and who knows what another halloween is over. I thought the best costume was a mailbox with its own builtin loot bag. In the end we had 120 kids and one very cute kitten. Yes, the kitten was real and was very friendly and wanted to be petted. I hope it was not lost.

Labels: trick or treat

Daylight savings time is now over and all my clocks have been reset. I wonder what will happen next year when we get those extra 4 weeks of daylight. I would expect that most computer systems would be updated with the new rules, but what about all those other things that automatically adjust for DST (VCRs, thermostats, ... ) Will we need to update the firmware for all of those? How?

As with the time change, I checked all the smoke detectors and of course the batteries had run dry already. Since I didn't know how old the detectors were I decided to replace them. This is pretty straightforward - drill a couple of new holes for the new mount and screw them in. I decided to go for the battery operated ones. I'm not sure if the power supplied ones with battery backups are that good an idea. Batteries tend to lose the charge over time. What if you had a fire when the power was out (perhaps from an unattended candle) and the battery was dry? It seems like too much to test whereas a regular testing rhythm of every time change makes it less likely that something is missed.

Labels: clocks, daylight savings time, smoke detectors

It's snowing today. It was a good thing to get the bathroom fan done yesterday.

In all, I spent $226 on parts and tools that I didn't already have. Some things ended up extra or unused such as the 2nd set of kneepads, an extra piece of flexible duct, most of the screws and most of the electrical wire. The plastic adjustable clamps were useless, but they were only 80 cents.

The installation and cleanup took about 5 hours plus an extra 2 hours of preparation and 2 hours of shopping and asking questions and only 5 trips total to the home reno stores.

It's not too bad, I might starting thinking about some other project.

Labels: bathroom fan, costs

I am done with a very big thanks to my girlfriend's dad. I could not have done it without him. We started outside. He cut the soffit and through the board to install the soffit ventilator. I then crawled up into the attic and pushed the pipe through to him. There was only a 3 1/2" gap between the roof and the frame of the house. We had to squish the pipe a little. After connecting up the pipe to the soffit vent we went back inside.

The next part was the electrical work. We had to drill another hole to thread the electrical wire down. Whoever previously did the electrical work in the house decided that they would use the box for the light fixture as the junction box to who knows where. That was no big deal, but we had to go fishing for wire. It took some time, but we finally got it. One thing I learned was that when fishing for wire, it helps to make the wire as straight as possible. The wire is rigid enough making it fairly easy to direct it to the hole for the junction box.

Now we had to cut a hole in the ceiling for the fan. I drilled several holes for location and my girlfriend's dad cut the opening in the ceiling. Next we connected up the wires. After we installed the mounting bracket we ran into another snag. I think we got it backwards: we should have mounted the fan first and then connected the wires. Oh well. We had to move the mounting bracket to get everything to fit. We then sealed up any gaps in the opening with duct tape.

Now the rest was up to me. I crawled back into the attic to install the pipe insulation. It was not easy sliding the sleeve over the duct work, but after a bit of wrestling on a bed of insulation it was finally in place. I tried to attach the pipe to the fan using a plastic tie, but no such luck so I sent my girlfriend to buy a metal one. She came back with a 5" one because the store was all out of 4" ones. Once again, I went back up into the attic and connected everything together. Then a little bit of duct tape to seal things up and we were done.

The final thing to do was to restore all the insulation. This was quite a chore as there were mountains of insulation in some spots and bare patches in others. Whoever was up there before didn't bother cleaning up after they were done. Moving around in the attic was like playing twister with a bunch of 2x4s but if you make a mistake you get jabbed by a roofing nail. This was the messiest part of the whole project. I finally had a relatively level layer of insulation but I was covered in insulation fuzz.

After a bit of cleanup and showering I was finally done. My skin still feels some minor irritation from the insulation. It feels like thousands of very tiny pin pricks. I probably breathed a bit in and swallowed some too. In the end, it was worth the satisfaction of taking that shower and having the fan on instead of the window open.

Labels: attic, bathroom fan, electrical, insulation

So it begins. Today is the day I am going to install a ventilation fan for my bathroom. I think I have all the things I need and I am going to get some help from my girlfriend's dad. I am excited, but still apprehensive about the whole project. I can visualize the fan going in and the ductwork. However, I am worried about connecting up the electrical and venting out to the outside.

First, a little about me. I do not consider myself to be handy at all. I have changed the odd leaky washer and replaced some light switches before, but that is pretty much it. Prior to this project, the biggest thing I may have done was install a door jamb. I'm not so big on getting my hands dirty. It's not that I am totally inept. I do the change between winter and summer tires by myself, and I know the difference between a Phillips screwdriver and a Robertson screwdriver. I just have never been big on doing any home renovation like work.

I am a software person. I am very good at troubleshooting things related to software. As complex as the interactions may sometimes be, I am much more comfortable in that domain. I have always loved cooking. I usually improvise and hardly ever completely follow a recipe. (And I don't think I have killed anyone yet). I have recently learned the joys of gardening despite most of my plants are inherited from the previous owner.

So, why start? Well, I figured that one of attributes of humans is the ability to shape their environment. My house is my environment. Therefore, I would like to be able to shape it.

My bathroom currently does not have a ventilation fan. It does have a window, but I am getting tired of having it open in the frigid months of winter. I am also seeing some mold and mildew forming. Initially, I was waffling between doing it myself or hiring some else to do it. So, for now, I am going to give it a shot.

The plan is to cut into the ceiling of the bathroom, screw in the mounting bracket, snap in the fan, attach the ducting, cut a hole in the soffit, install the soffit vent, slip on the duct insulation, attach the duct to the soffit vent, connect up the electrical to the bathroom switch et voila! Easy, right?

Well, there is a bit of a challenge. The attic has a combination of the pink fibreglass insulation and the blown in stuff. When the previous owner(s) went up there to do electrical work for some lights, they left the place in quite a mess. There was also a mice infestation earlier on this year (more on that some other day). I have cleared enough space (I hope) for the work. That was not fun as insulation is very dusty and itchy and I have to crawl around a lot. I am concerned about the electrical connection. I'm not sure how that is going to be done without tearing out a bit of wall. But my girlfriend assures me that her dad will be able to figure it out. The other big concern I have is connecting up the ductwork to the soffit. There is very little space there and I'm not sure if I can reach it even if I'm lying flat on my stomach. We'll see.

Labels: bathroom fan, insulation, mice