What about the cow kitchen?
We are finally getting a new boiler. The guys are hard at work putting the pipes in! The system looks gorgeous. The installer who put in the old boiler had created such a messā¦ even I could see that there were pipes leading nowhere and improperly connected componentsā¦ surprisingly, that mess (sorta) worked for 12 years! IMO, August is the best month to do this kind of work because it is not a problem to be without heat for a week. We have a separate hot water tank in the garage, so no hot showers were not an issue, and blue Dawn dish soap works great with cold water. 
I liked the toilet room that was exactly as wide as the toilet. Iām not sure I could turn around in there, if have to back in. :lol
OMG!
now I understand that some people really could use interior designers!!
I have never seen so many cockamamie ideas !
That toilet room gave me the worst case of claustrophobia!! How the heck did they get the toilet in there? I guess the side walls were built afterwards or maybe they used a tiny plumber to hook it up? ?
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Interesting read. Remodel with aging in place. Not sure I like their TV mount designā¦
We are getting estimates in place for our next projects. I have the fireplace guys coming Saturday to quote converting the wood burning fireplace to gas. (For you purists out there, Iām sorry, but there is no way Iām going to ever use the fireplace if it remains wood burning). Iām beyond excited about the prospect of having this done before the winter so I can enjoy it. It would go along way to making the first floor more comfortable which was the coldest place in the house last year.
I also have the name of the window restorer. We have a few original leaded glass windows with cracks that need repairing. We are also going to replace the in 1950s era sunporch windows. That will go a long way in making the porch usable most of the year.
Very excited to be getting through some of the āsmallerā projects!
You will love your gas fireplace! We had a wood burning one in our very first apartment, and we only used it twice - once with a clean burning log and the other time we disposed of our confidential papers before we moved. We quickly told the builder of our first house to put a gas log into the wood burning fireplace he already put into that houseā¦
There are squeaks from our Seattle City Clowncil about banning gas in all new constructionā¦ get yours before more municipalities begin to ban gas.
Speaking of gas, we finally got our new boiler and loving it so far! If anyone living in the greater Seattle area needs a boiler, I know just the company. The city inspector was amazed that there was nothing for him to pick at in such complex installation (it is a hydroair system with 2 zones and DHW).
We already have gas service to our house (gas appliances and gas fired hot water heater). Thankfully I havenāt heard anything about gas bans in our area!
Weāve always had a gas fireplaces in all of our previous homes except the first one. We also maybe lit it once or twice. In my last house, the gas fireplace was on nearly daily in the winter. Canāt wait to make the switch!
We are moving forward with the gas fireplace conversion. Iām beyond excited!
We just put in two gas fireplaces - a ventless gas log, and an insert. Over $5k combined for the two units, and another $5k for the installation labor. Theyāre pretty nice though.
Spent the weekend power-washing my deck, which doesnāt sound like a big deal except my deck is around 750 sq ft. 
Ow wow, @notrichenough! I hear ya on deck washing! Ours is about 1,000 sftā¦ it was quite neglected by the prior owners. So about two years ago I scrolubbed and brightened it and then stained with top of the line Sikkens. I cried when we paid for that bucket of stain, but good god I am glad we did. Scrubbing that deck was a thankless job!! It looks like the stain would be good for another 2-3 years, and then we will go synthetic.
Iām so excited. I picked out shower tile, accent, floor etc. a couple of months ago, and I was quite stressed about it. It took me many hours to pick an accent tile. (Floor was done in less than 15 minutes).
Itās now all sitting in my garage waiting for installation next week. I love the combination of tiles (and flat pebbles for the floor).
Now I just hope Iām this excited when the job is done
Our fireplace conversion is done, just in time for the first forecasted snow fall later this week! :).
Next up, the windows.
Finally got the new washer/dryer hooked up at the cape house ($350 washer rebate from the utility company, pretty sweet), and started converting the old laundry room into a storage room.
I popped the floor moldings off, and discovered the drywall behind the the molding had mold on it. I cut out the bottom 4" where the mold was and discovered that there was mold behind the drywall as well.
So I opened up the entire wall, and discovered that the drywall and plastic over the insulation had mold up to about 5ā high, and the floor plate and bottom foot or two of the wall studs is rotted out. Thereās a water pipe that runs in one of the bays, and apparently it sprang a leak at some point (it probably froze, itās on an outside wall), and water was getting into the bottom for who knows how long. They patched the leak but never checked for water damage (or ignored it).
Now I have a fairly big repair job on my hands.
Old houses, such fun. At least the mold is out.
Oh no @notrichenough!
OMG what a pita - hate water issues. Glad you discovered it and nipped the mold in the bud.
Help - My shower and floor were just redone this week. Last night I took my first shower, and noticed a chip in one of the tiles. The contractor is trying to tell me itās part of the tile, but itās not. As I was inspecting the chip, I noticed a crack in another tile. You donāt notice this crack unless youāre very close to the tile, but itās there, and itās probably 4-5 inches long. He acknowledges that. This morning, I noticed that one tile in the floor āsticks upā a slight amount. (You can notice it without much effort.) Itās a tile that we will walk over every day, not a tile in a corner. My entire kitchen and foyer are tile, and all bathrooms are tile, and none have any tiles Iāve noticed sticking up this much.
QUESTION - What should I reasonable expect to be done about this situation? I donāt want to be a complete jerk, but I paid a hefty amount for this to be done. The contractor came well recommended, and heād done my vanity area prior to the shower and floor. Thanks for any advice.
My expectation would be that the damaged tiles would be taken out and replaced.
Hopefully you havenāt paid in full yet.
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