Making Progress

We've finally started to push through the log jam. I accomplished two things last night that will help in reducing our current work load.

In a previous post, I commented on the tile situation of the shower. Repair to the tile and plaster in the shower has meant that our one shower/tub has been unavailable pretty much since we bought the house at the end of August. This has meant that since we moved into the House of 42 doors a week and a half ago, we've had to go back to the house we're renting for showers and baths. By the time we bundle up the kids, drive over to the rental, take baths and showers, drive back and unbundle the kids, I figure we're losing about 45 minutes to an hour every night. That doesn't include bath time, since we'd lose that anyway.

Another time drainer for us has been no Internet at the house. The severing of the phone line set us back a good 30 to 45 minutes a night as Ms. Huis has taken part in NaBoPoMo. No Internet has meant trips to the library in the evening so that she can post. If it weren't so darn close to the end of November, I think she would have given up by now.

Add into all of this the inefficiencies of moving ("Have you seen my socks?", "Where does this dish go?", "Do we still have a finger nail clipper?", etc.), and you have chaos and lack of productivity possibly not seen since the Fall of the Roman Empire and the Dark Ages (maybe a little hyperbole there).

But last night was a stellar night. Not only was the tub caulked, and now available for use at the House of 42 Doors, but I also hooked up the phone and therefore, the Internet. It isn't pretty. A phone wire connects to the Network Interface outside, runs along the side of the house and under three doors before terminating in a hacked on RJ-14 phone plug. I'll do it properly later on, when the basement isn't a disaster.

We're still holding steady at 40 mice. We haven't seen hide nor hair (literally) in weeks.

The plumbers finished plumbing in the basement. They replaced the existing soil pipe, toilet drain and floor drain. They added another floor drain (for the boiler), a sink drain (for the new laundry sink and the original, 1920's pedestal kitchen sink, which may end up being used for making beer) and another soil pipe (for the someday future bathroom on the first floor).

I have several channels of mud in my basement. The plumbers did a reasonably good job of hosing everything down and scraping off bits of mud, but I'll still have to clean up when they are done. There's still mud on the walls and in some cases the windows.

I'm not happy with the way the exterior work was done, but after a conversation with the plumber coordinating all of this, he said he'd take care of it, once I figure out what I'd like done. Actions speak louder than words. We'll see.

Tomorrow they'll be in to finish up concreting the floor and connecting the two sinks. All the existing plumbing is working though!

The work definitely needed to be done. At one point in replacing the soil pipe, the pipe from the kitchen sink literally fell to the ground. We knew that one was bad though. It had stalactites.

The electrician is still working away. He's been concentrating on the second floor and the attic with all the mess in the basement, although he's not working today. He's saying maybe another two weeks to finish the job (if you've seen The Money Pit, you know how funny that is).

We tried to use modern lamp wire to rewire the original light fixtures, but it was a no go. Not only is it ugly brown plastic, put it's too thick to fit through the light fixtures. I did some digging and found gold colored, rayon covered light fixture wire. I ordered some today, so hopefully it will work and arrive soon.

Now that we have Internet, I'll see if I can get pictures posted soon.