Toronto Money Pit

In hot water over morEnergy scam

2011-10-11T22:05:00.003-04:00

A man wearing a hardhat, yellow reflector vest and carrying an official clip board knocked on the door this weekend. He told me that he needed to check my rental hot water tank because of a new safety regulation passed by the Federal Government. He handed me his business card from morEnergy, declaring himself a "Hotwater Tank Specialist". In the bottom corner there was a small Canadian flag, similar to the Canadian government logo, making him appear more official.

I was skeptical but he led me to believe that this was some sort of government program to verify that we all have a safe hot water tank that meets the new safety regulations. But once I let him in the house, I realized that there is no way such a program would be launched without a public awareness campaign and at least one written announcement by mail. I realized that I had a salesman in my house, but he was already walking down the basement stairs. I was not surprised when he confirmed that it needed replacement because the government was phasing out all pre-2010 hotwater tanks. My hot water tank is only 5 years old. Obsolete already?

At that point, the sales double talk got worse.He asked if I was the type of person who cared about the environment & wanted to save energy. Suddenly I'm the bad guy for not saving the environment? I asked him for some written materials about the program, saying that I'd like to think about it and call him later.But he didn't have any brochures. He said that we could talk again when I was in the mood to listen. That was warning sign #2.

I did a quick Internet search revealing that this scam is not new. An Ottawa woman signed a contract thinking that she was getting a free replacement tank that was necessary due to safety, but then she noticed the small print revealing an increased price of 30%.

According to an online article, water heater fraud is common. If somebody comes to your door, do not sign anything! You will most certainly be left with extra fees and higher rates. The only good news is that you have 10 days to cancel the contract without penalty. But be warned: they will not make it easy for you to cancel. They will try to talk you out of it, but stick to you plan and INSIST that they cancel your contract. I know because Direct Energy tricked me into signing with them for gas delivery. They told me on my stressful moving day that I would not have gas delivered to my home unless I signed, despite the fact that I had arranged the gas hook-up with Enbridge in advance. There are several companies that use these underhanded tactics to trick homeowners into switching services that unfortunately are not usually better.

I called morEnergy to complain and it was no surprise that one of the main menu options was the legal department. How often do you hear that with other companies you call. Makes you think! So please be careful and do not fall for the morEnergy scam.

Harvest Time

2011-10-10T20:02:00.000-04:00

It is hard to believe that such a small lot can produce so many tomatoes. The Early Girl's didn't turn out so well this season, but the Sweet Millions lived up to their name. However, fall temps bring frost. While it was warm this weekend, we're not sure how long that will last. So, I got to canning the green tomatoes -- pickled actually.

Not sure how they will turn out. I love dill pickles but hate sweet pickles. I found this recipe online: Green Cherry Tomato Pickles-Easy to make pickles. I'll know in three weeks.

At the first sign of frost, I will need to make another batch cuz there are still lots of green tomatoes out there. Let me know if you have a better recipe.

How to Install a Front Door Lock

2011-10-09T21:16:00.002-04:00

If your money pit comes with ugly door hardware (like mine), you can update it yourself and go from tacky to terrific in no time. Just follow my easy steps:

Buy a new handset at any hardware store.
Let the box sit in your kitchen for 21 months. Don't forget to fret about it every few months.
Remove the old hardware from the door, reveling an unflattering pattern (like racer back tan lines with a formal strapless gown).
If the replacement peep hole door viewer is 9/16" and the hole in your door is 1/2", do not try to widen the hole. Return to the hardware store & buy another one.
Sand the bumps that outlined the old ugly hardware. Wash door. Prime. Wait 1 hour. Paint. Wait 2 hours. Paint again. Wait 4 hours. But, if it is getting dark and you want to lock your door, proceed to next step sooner but be warned that paint can buckle & peel if you are not very very careful.
Open the box and attempt to follow the illustrated directions with scant written instructions. Resist frustration due to extra unnecessary parts in the box.
If the deadbolt does not turn, check to see if the existing hole in limiting movement. If so, use a chissel & hammer to widen the opening.
If the machine screw to fasten the bottom of handle seems too long, don't try to cut it. Use a fine hack saw & make sure that you have a file. Or, save yourself some time and just go to the hardware store and buy the correct length. Take the handle with you to ensure you get the correct thread and length.
When you finally get the damn handle installed, take a photo & be thankful that you're done... until you realize that you still have the back door to do.

Heating up on a cold weekend

2011-10-02T18:22:00.000-04:00

Our oven has been broken for a few months, but with the summer BBQ season, we've easily avoided facing the repair. I wanted to make some kael chips and it seemed too cold to go outside and use the BBQ. My other half suggested buying a new stove, but really that seemed excessive, so I looked for repair info.

As it turns out, replacing the element in an electric oven is very easy - once you find the correct part. I phoned a few local hardware stores to see if they carrier the correct element, and they all said yes (except Downtown Lumber, which is a Home Hardware store, but the woman on the phone said that they specialize in building supplies.) Rather than drive up to the stockyards to the big box stores, I went to the neighborhood places. After visiting four stores with the burned out element in hand, I concluded that they no longer make the one I needed so was going to modify the one I found. There seem to be two types of connectors: slide-on or screw-on. Mine was the older slide-on type so I was just going to cut off the connectors, strip a bit of wire and connect it with the screws. Inspecting the product packaging more closely at home, I discovered that they are classified by numbers in a yellow circle and that ideally I needed #2. Rather than cut off the slide-on connectors, I called yet another hardware store asking for the #2, and they had the elusive part in stock. Near complete victory.

This easy Saturday project dragged on a few hours too long but replacing it took all of 5 minutes and now the oven is clean too. After restoring power, I tested out the oven and the element glows red. Now I can try the baked kael chips!

How to install a dryer lint trap

2011-03-27T16:43:00.002-04:00

My neighbours have been very unhappy with the amount of lint coming from our dryer vent, so I wanted to install a secondary lint filter. Initially I couldn't find any in Canada and the shipping costs from the US were more than the product itself. But then I found the LT-180 manufactured by Reversomatic, in Woodbridge, Ontario, just north of Toronto. Fortunately, I know somebody who works near there and they picked one up for me.

Installation is quite simple if your dryer vent is accessible. Removed one piece of the dryer vent, cut 6.5" off and then put the LT-180 in-line as a secondary filter. Before closing up the duct, take a moment to clean out all excess dryer lint as it is a fire hazard. Tape up all the joints with aluminum duct tape, but not the sticky all-purpose duct tape (because it cracks when it gets hot, breaking the seal). The LT-180 is designed to fit behind drywall, but our basement is open concept/loft style, so there is no pesky drywall to worry about.

Hopefully this will cut back on the amount of lint that ends up in the neighbour's back yard, bringing peace
to the neighbourhood again, at least until we start doing our waterproofing job.

The miracle of hydraulic cement

2011-03-06T15:03:00.000-05:00

If you ever find water literally pouring into your house as we did (see video), I suggest hydraulic cement. I called Enbridge gas, the genius people who drilled a hole through my foundation below grade without filling the space, (we never had flooding before that) but they would not be able to see me until Tuesday or Wednesday. I tried two other people and nobody called back. So I called my uber-knowledgeable brother-in-law for advice on what to plug the hole with and he suggested hydraulic cement. He suggested to wear two pairs of rubber gloves, not to get it on anything, and to work fast because it sets in a few minutes so just shove it in the hole and don't expect it to look pretty.

We mixed up a small batch because it hardens very quickly. I didn't bother with a trowel and just used my gloved hand to shove the hydraulic cement into the hole with the water pouring through it. The first handful washed away, but the second handful was already starting to harden and perfectly fit in the hole. And it stayed! It stopped the water!! It was a $9 miracle. But then we realized many smaller leaks, which were filled one at a time using my new tool, hydraulic cement.

But where was the water coming from? I went outside to investigate and noticed a crack on my neighbour's sidewalk, not too far from the front of our house and the leak. All the water running between our houses was pooling there and running down this crack. So we mixed up another batch, and in the rain, I shoved some hydraulic cement into this crack and it stayed. The water quit running down the hole and I tried to divert it to the nearby drain.

We've won the battle but the war is not over. We need to get some drain/foundation specialist in here and do something permanent about this. Recommendations are gratefully accepted.

Why so much lint?

2011-02-13T15:39:00.004-05:00

Pandora's box of lint...

It seems that the road of home ownership can never be smooth. Life in the money pit hit a speed bump about a year ago when our next door neighbour asked me: "why so much lint"? It seems that our dryer vent has been expelling excessive amounts of lint, which must be a real burden since we dry about two loads of laundry every week. Our little money pit is built right on the property line, so the walkway beside our house is owned exclusively by the neighbours, and they don't allow us to use it. Our dryer vents into this narrow three foot walkway, very close to the ground.

I live in a neighbourhood where cleanliness is very important. Hosing down your sidewalk and concrete front yard with fresh potable water is a daily ritual. It helps to "freshen it up", as my neighbour explained to me. In the summer, the issue of the lint returned, and I noticed that they'd leaned a large 12" x 12" tile up against the house, so that the dryer air would hit the tile first, possibly trapping more of this vexing dryer lint.

Last week we couldn't figure out why the clothes weren't drying, so during the super bowl game, I went outside to discover a brick blocking the dryer vent. Needless to say, this is a real fire hazard! Today I went outside before starting the dryer and the brick was back, firmly in place, keeping the vent closed. Lint. Who knew it was so much trouble? I had ignored the first complaint as it was just days after the devastating earthquake in Haiti and I though that relatively this was not a problem. However, if my house burns down because they've blocked my dryer vent it could become a more serious issue - especially the fire spreads to their house, just three feet away.

I spent some time on the internet and found these secondary lint filters. I want to install one but couldn't find any for sale in the DIY hardware stores. I will have to order one online from the US or call around to some HVAC contractors. What a hassle. But, that's what you've gotta do to keep the peace (and reduce the risk of fire) in Little Italy.

Let me know if you have any leads on where to buy a metal dryer lint trap.

Mammogram in competition at Breast Fest Film Festival

2010-10-07T21:22:00.000-04:00

Long before I was an amateur renovator, I was a filmmaker. One of my short films, Mammogram, has been selected for the competition of ReThink Breast Cancer's Breast Fest Film Festival. Starring Megan Dunlop and Mary Margaret O'Hara, the film tells the story of a young woman dealing with the memories of losing her mother to the disease while going for her annual screening appointment.

There are eight great films that you can watch for free and then vote on your favorite three. Online voting ends on Friday, October 15. The third annual Breast Fest Film Festival will be taking place November 19-21, 2010 at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada.

October is national breast cancer awareness month. Don't think that it can't happen to you. Early detection is the key to saving lives.

Red hot air conditioning troubles

2010-07-07T21:13:00.009-04:00

Homeowners often find themselves in desperate situations, at the mercy of contractors and sales people who don't return your calls for help or who baffle you with fact & fiction, leading you to spend outrageous amounts of money in the name of comfort.

Toronto is experiencing an early summer heatwave with temperatures around 40C with the humidex. While we rarely use our air conditioner, this is the time that we would. We called it into action for some cool relief but instead were assauted by hot air. It was 34C inside, without humidex. Foolishly I called the company who serviced and fixed our furnace last winter (which had broken a few weeks after the warranty expired): Air Quality One Hour. I'm not sure where the name comes from, because they gave us a 4 hour window for their visit and then spent only a small fraction of an hour at the house, telling us that the compressor was shot and would cost $1,300 to fix, but that since the unit is 14 years old, we may want to replace it instead. Then they presented us with a bill for $130, due on the spot. I completed an online request for a sales appointment with the same company as they said that they'd deduct the $130 from the purchase. But I also called a few other companies for comparison.

A nice salesman came to the house at 7 p.m. the same night, and took over our dining room table for 3 hours, where he drew a model of our house, measured all the windows and doors, calculated the square footage, and told us that both our AC and furnace were the wrong size for our house. Interesting. He pointed out many problems with our current system and quoted us $5,000 for a new AC unit. However, they were having a promotion for half price AC if we also replaced our furnace, and since the two work together, it is more efficient to get them at the same time. After more chat and calculations, full reading of all the terms & conditions, along with the warranty information, he unveiled the final price to be $10,540 but with rebates and deducting the money we had "invested" in repairs in the past year, we would only have to pay $8,950. Wow. What a deal. Also, this deal was contingent on us saying YES to do it the next day. They were offering us this special rate because we'd be able to fill an opening in the installation schedule for the next day. As desperate as I was for some cool air in the house, something felt wrong. I called a few friends and found that they paid around $6,000 for both AC and furnace for a larger house and that was BEFORE the rebate. So.... we emailed the guy to say thanks but no thanks. Time for some more quotes. After all, our current furnace is only 7 years old, less than half the normal life of a furnace. Should we really throw the baby out with the bath water?

The next day I found two other techs who could come to do quotes, however one asked about some sort of booster thing on the phone and I had no idea what he was talking about. But when I returned from work, he was already there and tried installing this device to see if it would work. We flicked some switches and hoped for the best and then... magic. The AC fired up and cool air was blowing around the house again. This mystery repair man asked if the other tech had charged for their visit and I said yes. He shook his head in disgust and asked how much. He looked at our sad old AC and said: "This unit is in good condition. It should run a few more years at least." I like this guy! He charged us $80 and guaranteed the work for a year. So, just when I was losing faith in all technicians, along comes Dan from Revolution Air. He saved us $9,000!

Don't go to Blinds to Go

2010-04-10T12:06:00.004-04:00

Trying to do our part to stimulate the economy, we ordered new blinds from Blinds To Go on January 30 and just received them today! Our order was plagued by errors and people demanding more money from us. While their website says: Blinds delivered in 48 hours, they were not able to deliver our order in under 48 days!

Our initial visit started well. I was impressed with the precision and detail taken with care by the design consultant. We went home and remeasured both windows, and called our consultant to let her know that the measurements were correct and to proceed with the order as specified on the paper that I signed. About a week later, we had a call that the blinds were ready. When we went to pick them up, we were told we owed an additional $44. We realized that somebody had changed our order for the 2nd blind from 21 3/4" to 31 3/4".

WHY would somebody change the order from the paper copy that I signed and paid for? Did somebody in the factory think that they were doing us a favour? Shouldn't have called to ask first?

A new order was placed with the dimensions specified on my original signed order form. And we waited. We called a few times and were told they were on back order. And we waited without complaint. Finally we got the call on Thursday April 8 that they were ready. Over three months after ordering and paying for the blinds -- they were ready.

We went to the store today to pick them up and guess what: they still wanted the $44 from us. It took us 30 minutes to sort this out AGAIN that it was the company who changed the order form AFTER we had signed off on the dimensions. We barely got out of the store with the blinds. Now we have to hang them. OMG. After all this, they had better fit.

Ad Free, since 2010

2010-03-23T22:21:00.001-04:00

When I set up the old money pit blog a few years back, I followed the prompt to put Google Ads on my page: what could it hurt. I found it amusing to see how the ads would change based on what I was writing about. Eaves troughs, paint, plumbing... made me feel like a real handy person. But the more time I spend on the internet, the more I feel assaulted by advertising. I think that we could all do with a break. So starting today, this blog is ad free. So enjoy!

By using this icon on my website I am stating...

1. That I am opposed to the use of corporate advertising on blogs.

2. That I feel the use of corporate advertising on blogs devalues the medium.

3. That I do not accept money in return for advertising space on my blog.

signed,

Lisa

Renovator Down

2010-01-14T18:30:00.001-05:00

I did not fall from a ladder. I was not injured in the line of duty. I was trying to enjoy winter with some outddor skating at Nathan Phillips Square when an inexperienced skater hit me from behind, knocking my feet were out from under me, and I fell back, landing on my left arm. Snap! This photo is before they knocked me out to pull it back into alignment.

We were only one week into the new year and my chances for any last minute tax credit renovations were canceled, not to mention my chances of enjoying winter.

There is a chance that the bone will shift and I will need surgery. Weekly x-rays will confirm that it is healing properly.

FYI: For you American readers skeptical of Universal Health Care, this unfortunate accident may be slowing down my renos, but I won't have to sell my house to pay for it. I received top medical care and was out of hospital in only 4 hours at a cost of nothing. One week later I was billed $45 for the ambulance ride w/ 2 paramedics who treated me to an IV and some much needed morphine (well worth the $$, although 45 is a flat rate for all). I had 6 x-rays on the night of the accident & many more on my follow-up visits, at no extra charge -- all included with my Canadian citizenship/residency. When I got my 2nd cast, I paid $30 to upgrade to fibreglass from plaster. So if I pay a little more in taxes, I know that it is well worth it! Don't be fooled by health insurance lobbyists -- universal health care is a better alternative!

How to fix a leaking dual fllush toilet

2009-11-06T19:46:00.006-05:00

I felt betrayed when our new Rona dual flush water efficient toilet started to leak after only 10 months. Every time we flushed it, water poured out from behind the toilet lid, but it didn't leak any other time. These new efficient toilets don't have a flapper, which is so easy to replace. Did the whole guts of the toilet need replacing? Where was the receipt? ARGH! With no time, we turned off the water supply and quit using the toilet, pretending that the problem did not exist.

When I finally found a few minutes to Google the problem, it was looking like I'd blown a gasket - literally! With no big plans on a Friday night, we drained the tank and took it off the bowl. Within an instant, we could see the problem. Check out that gasket and you too can see why the toilet was leaking between the tank and bowl.

We ran over to our local Home Hardware, but they didn't have the correct gasket, so a long drive in rush hour traffic to Rona and $3.49 later, we had a new gasket, and now we have a functioning toilet on the 2nd floor again. Hooray. Life is beautiful. Again.

How we did it:

Close the water shut-off to the toilet. Remove the supply hose to the tank. Be ready to catch any water that spills out of the hose.
Flush the toilet and then bail water from the tank using a small cup. Soak up the remaining water with a sponge.
Remove the two bolts that hold the tank to the bowl, lift it off and set it aside.
Inspect the gasket. If it looks like the one above, take it to the hardware store and find a replacement.
Place the new gasket over the hole at the bottom of the tank, rather than putting it over the hole on the bowl. (I think that's where we ran into trouble about 10 months ago.) Carefully set the tank on the bowl, without disturbing the gasket.
Tighten the two bolts and attach the water hose. Turn on the water supply and look for leaks. If you're a religious person, you may want to pray at this point, but I've never found it to be as effective as using the power of observation and a good screw driver.
Enjoy your newly repaired toilet. You deserve it!

Team Lorraine

2009-10-18T21:52:00.007-04:00

If you can't see the slideshow above, you can see the photos on Flickr.

My friend Lorraine was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a rare and incurrable form of cancer, just days after giving birth to her third child. Quick access to experimental treatment at Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) combined with Lorraine's positive attitude has proven to all of us that incurrable does not mean terminal. Lorraine is in 'near complete remission'. This is great news, but we need to acclerate the search for a cure, not just for Lorraine and her three girls, but for all the other people living with the incurrable Multiple Myeloma.

From CBC radio's Fresh Air: They say it takes a village to raise a child. What happens when a village helps someone recover from a serious illness? Three months ago, Peterborough's Lorraine McCallum was unable to walk because of a rare cancer. Today she takes part in the Toronto Marathon. Lorraine and two of the people who rallied to her support---Corinne Smirle of Toronto and Ann Farlow of Peterborough---talked with Mary. You can learn more about what they and others are doing to find a cure for Multiple Myeloma at their website.

Listen to the interview. (mp3 - approx 10 min.)

In the news:

"Mom walks for kids -- and hope," Toronto Sun, Friday October 16.

"Too many reasons to fight," Peterborough Examiner, Tuesday October 13.

It is not too late to support Team Lorraine. Every dollar raised directly helps Lorraine and other myeloma patients through cutting edge research; and, every donation is tax deductible. Donations will be graciously accepted until December 31, 2009.

P.S. Here is a pic of me getting the team together in the dark and one of our Team Lorraine banner on the walk.

How to kill wasps

2009-08-31T18:12:00.000-04:00

Summer is so short, I want to enjoy the back yard as much as I can before the snow starts flying again. But, our al fresco dining is often interrupted by pesky wasps. I'm not sure if the garbage strike stimulated the wasp population of Toronto, but it has been a dangerous summer for a person who swells from wasp stings.

A few weeks ago, we were having friends over for a BBQ and the yard was full of wasps. I had heard that you can create a wasp trap with a water bottle filled with a bit of sugar water or pop. I made two such traps, but used some old honey for the sweetener. We caught a few that night, but it didn't stop one of my guests from being stung. (Sorry Frank!)

The traps have been sitting in the back yard, but not idly. The bottle on the left trapped considerably more wasps than the other one. Is it a higher concentration of honey? A different bottle shape? Or does misery like company? I don't know, but I made a third trap today and I encourage you to make one and help reduce the wasp population of Toronto.

Now it is "really" done

2009-08-30T15:24:00.002-04:00

This weekend, I witnessed that a comment on a blog can inspire action, and that posting a photo on a blog can inspire even more action.

I was so pleased with my new light fixture yesterday that I posted a photo of the complete bathroom. With the photo on my computer I could see how stark and institutional the walls looked. Not impressed. This inspired me to open the package of wall tattoos that I've had resting on the back of the toilet for about 4 months.

After several hours with scissors and tape, I managed to arrange them on the wall in a pleasing pattern. I got the OK from my domestic companion, and then I peeled off the backing and rubbed the decals onto the wall with the assistance of my HBC rewards card (the most use I've ever got out of the thing). I'm quite pleased with the results and just hope that they stay on the wall. I hope that the humidity won't peel them off. Time will tell.

This post is full of hope and inspiration. Sounds like an Obama speech to me.

If you're interested in wall tattoos, check out the art supply store @ 130 Spadina Ave. They have a good selection.

The bathroom is done!

2009-08-29T18:48:00.013-04:00

Technically the bathroom has been done since February, after we installed the toilet and sink. But, I could not declare the project fully complete because we were unable to find a suitable light fixture to go over the vanity mirror. That hole with wires sticking out screamed "incomplete". It also made a bad photo.

Last night I received a comment from another renovating blogger who asked how the bathroom had turned out, and I really didn't have a good answer. That gave me the momentum to get this thing done.

After a quick glance at the big box stores, we returned to Living Lighting on King Street, determined to buy a particular light that we were considering six months ago, but then came home with this little number instead. I was so excited, I installed it immediately, and I cannot believe how much light it gives off. I was previously standing in shadows by the mirror, but now I can see all my grey hair and some new wrinkles. Yet despite that, I love the new light! Why did we wait so long for this? Nobody should have to live like that. Nobody.

Pip at 416FixerUpper, thank you for motivating me to get this thing complete!

Now that I'm looking at this photo, I see that it is time to get some art up in there. I bought some wall tattoos a long time ago. Maybe tomorrow they will be ON the wall.

Preventative Maintenance?

2009-08-28T15:26:00.005-04:00

This money pit came with a relatively new mid efficiency furnace that was under warranty, as long as we paid $100 per year for a maintenance check. Mature homeowner friends told me that it was the thing to do, so I did it too. But did it pay off? I don't think so.

Last August, on the anniversary of our purchase date, I dutifully had the furnace serviced despite the fact that the fee had crept up to $129. A friendly fellow wearing paper shoe covers vacuumed the dirt out, shone a light around, did some tests with a volt meter and was on his way. The start up made some strange noise, like rumbling bearings, but the technician said that it didn't need to be replaced yet. I felt secure in my warranty, so trusted this opinion.

Three months later, on a cold winter day, the house was strangely quiet and uncomfortably cold. Humm. The furnace was not working. Crap. I called the technician who came the next day, but bearing the bad news that the blower motor was broken and that the warranty had expired a few weeks prior. $625 later, we had heat in the house again and the harsh lesson that despite the annual service, we were not protected. Nor did the annual preventative maintenance prevent the motor from breaking after 5.1 years.

Are warranties a scam or am I just a skeptic? If I had not paid the furnace company for their maintenance visits the previous 4 years, I would have had an additional $430 towards that repair bill.

I called them this August to say that I would no longer be paying their "protection" money, which really only offered me 20% off repairs now that my warranty had expired. But then she explained that for $230, I could have the gold service plan that will cover 100% of repairs this year plus the annual maintenance check. Buying into the public fear, I caved in and bought it. What if this furance turned out to be as unreliable as Dan's Mazda 3? Thoughts of huddling around the electric heater during a Swine Flu epidemic this winter are too sad.

Suddenly I was transformed from skeptic to suspersitious and gullible fool?

What do you think? Are warranties worth the money or are they just a scam? Can I vacuum my own furnace next August and bank the $230 towards my next motor? I do have a shop vac!

Trim-tastic!

2009-08-03T20:24:00.004-04:00

T is for time consuming! But, it really does finish the room off, or in this case, the hallway. Although, three doorways, one door and 40 linear feet of baseboards takes a hell of a long time to prime and paint.

But when it is done, it is so worth it. This is photo of me pulling off the tape in the hallway revealing a crisp line between the newly painted trim against the shiny hardwood floors - priceless. (Well not really. It cost me a whole day. But I listened to some good CBC radio shows at the same time so not all was lost.)

Bring on the cull: How to rid your garden of slugs

2009-07-13T20:12:00.006-04:00

After a long winter of renovation, I thought it would be nice to just sit back and enjoy the fruits of my labour and some of the fruit of the garden. May was a bit cooler than usual this year, so I was about 10 days late getting the tomato and pepper plants in. We have not had any success growing peppers, but this year I purchased a more mature seedling and gave it a prime plot, where tomatoes have flourished in past years.

Pictured above you will see the pepper plant, which now resembles swiss cheese. Seems that somebody or something was feasting on my fruit before me. (Not fair! I pay the taxes here!!!) Unfortunately, my friend Corinne's garden was also suffering from the same affliction, several blocks away. Worried for her transplanted Brown-eyed-Susans, she took action sooner than I, and discovered that it was slugs who were fattening themselves in our gardens. Slugs. I had heard of these translucent pests before, but they'd never taken up residence in our money pit plot. It was time to fight back or risk losing all the basil.

The internet provided a simple solution. Dig a small indent in the soil and place a shallow saucer in the hole so that the rim is on the same level as the soil. At dusk, open a beer (any brand) and toast the slugs last day. After enjoying a few sips, pour a splash into the saucer. If your garden is large, you will need many saucers and more beer. I could only find two suitable saucers, so created some small slug wells by cutting the sides off some individual yogurt containers. Now this is the hard part: wait until morning. I suggest a warm bath to help you sleep, as I had difficulty nodding off due to eager anticipation.

The sunrise will reward your patience (and love of beer) with saucers full of dead slugs. Hooray. Bring on the cull. Who knew that something so delightful as beer could be so lethal to these garden pests (yet safe for pets and children). I recommend burring the drowned critters in a shallow grave which will decompose into rich compost, feeding next year's crop of peppers. It's the circle of life at its best!

Will there be light?

2009-03-18T21:05:00.004-04:00

Light shopping is hell on earth.

Our bathroom is 99% done. Our friends at Downtown Lumber (a.k.a. Home Hardware) came through with a replacement mirror for the medicine cabinet, so things are shining. But it really shows off the fact that there is a gaping hole above the mirror. We need a light fixture.

We've been up to Union Lighting, Secso Lighting, Living Lighting, Ikea, etc. etc. etc. Big box store fliers have fixtures for $45, but they are not the right style or finish. So, our search continues.

I can't remember which store had this extravagant crystal chandelier. But, if we ever move to Woodbridge, we'll know where to go.

Does anybody have any suggestions for inexpensive but nice light fixtures in Toronto, preferrably downtown?

Seven Years Bad Luck?

2009-02-17T18:57:00.004-05:00

Ontario's 2nd annual Family Day was used to get our "family" bathroom done. After grouting the tiles on Sunday, we were ready to install the sink, then toilet. This took some time, but was pretty successful. We did have to call the plumber to ask how to remove the cap on the toilet (water closet) flange. We thought that it would just pull out, but instead we had to smash it out with a hammer and screw driver. In all my reading on how to install a toilet, I never read anything about that. Thankfully our plumber is never far from his cell phone and quickly lead us in the right direction. After an 11th hour trip to Candian Tire (on a holiday) to buy longer w.c. bolts, then stacking up two flange extenders, the dual flush water efficient toilet was easily installed.

Time for the finishing touches. We were finally ready to install our fancy mirrored medicine cabinet. When following along with the instructions, ready to put hinges on the door, we discovered a devastating crack on the inside corner (lower right corner in the photo). ARGH! Does this mean 7 years bad luck if we didn't break the mirror? It has been in the box since we bought it, nestled in its protective styrofoam corners, so I don't know how we could have broken it. But the downside is that we bought it a few months ago, waiting for this moment. We've contacted the distributor and are waiting to see if they'll replace the door. Otherwise, this could be an expensive setback. Fingers crossed that this will be resolved soon, and we can declare this bathroom done!

Prefinished vs. unfinished hardwood floors?

2009-02-15T20:14:00.011-05:00

The last major part of this job is the floor in the hallway and 3rd bedroom. A week ago, it was exposed plywood, about 3/4" below the other floors. I had planned to buy some flooring and install it ourselves, but we never found the narrow hardwood flooring at the DIY stores. Our friends at Home Hardware actually carry the 1 3/8" red oak strip flooring, but we learned that they don't display it, because apparently, nobody wants it. Why, I wondered.

We learned from one of our tile quotes that the strip flooring comes unfinished, so after installing it, you have to rent a floor sander and sand it, apply two coats of polyurethane, a fine sand, and then a third coat of polyeurethane. Very labour intensive, smelly and messy. But the alternative was prefinished flooring that is 1" wider and won't be an exact match to the exisiting hallway. So we had three hardwood experts come in to give us quotes and ideas, and in the end, we decided to replace the exisiting hallway so we could take care of some excessive squeaking, and have a perfectly matched hallway. We decided that while we're at it, we should also refinish the bedrooms.

Easily said, but not that easy to do, as we had to move everything off the 2nd floor and then leave the house for a week. But is it a renovation without some pain and sacrifice? I think not. (Remember the four months of showering at the Y? I do!) Our only saving grace was the 25 square feet of space in the bathroom, so we packed it full of shelves, books, dressers, desks, bedside tables. mirrors, clothes, bedding, etc etc etc. The rest had to be moved downstairs, creating plenty of opportunity to scratch the walls. With a suitcase, our laptops, and all the dairy from the fridge, we took refuge at a comfy home on Gladstone for the week. Their floors were refinished by the same guys about 5 years ago, so we had plenty of time to admire the work, and dream of how nice our home will be.

On Saturday morning, we could see our reflections in the beautiful shining oak floors. We spent the day moving furniture back to its functional places, while desperately trying not to scratch the new floors. Now we must tread lightly and be careful not to slip on the highly slippery floors, while painting, installing trim, and more painting. Honestly, the fun never ends.

I would recommend our contractors, Peter and Bill at Beach Hardwood Flooring: (416) 699-2113. Courteous, knowledgeable and reliable, but they're a bit camera shy.

Is that the finish line I see, or is it just another mirage?

2009-02-07T13:01:00.008-05:00

Oh, we are so close to finishing this lengthy renovation. There are only a few things standing in the way of a fully fuctional four piece bathroom on our 2nd floor. But the long list of "little" things are taking forever and I feel like we'll never be done!

I made a huge mistake last week. I told RoboMike (a.k.a. the Tile Fairy) that I didn't need his help finishing up the tile and trim. I figured that he didn't need to drive 73km on his day off when I have a hammer of my own. So off we went to our local Home Hardware and picked out some trim. But in one day, all that I accomplished was some priming of trim, installing a lockset on the pocket door, and hanging the pocket door. I also did tons of analyzing/worrying about how the trim should be installed, referring to my latest library book. For somebody with experience, I'm sure this is a very easy job. My father tells me that my late Uncle Wally, a carpenter by trade, could trim a whole house in one day. I can't even do a tiny bathroom in one day.

Anyway, I didn't fully regret my decision until the next day at my niece's birthday party when RoboMike continuously teased me about "firing" him. If I'd known that he has such a deep desire to escape life with my sister for a day in exchange for some thankless hard labour at my house, I wouldn't have stolen his dream. So now I felt bad for not getting the work done myself, and for taking this joy away from a man who doesn't like to relax.

But I digress. I decided to turn up the heat and get this job done myself. So for one week, I have been leaving work promptly at 5 p.m. and changing into my work clothes and getting right to it. I nailed the baseboard trim, put up the door jams for the pocket door, and filled the countersunk holes. The next night, I put the trim around the door and window. It is important to point out that I only have a cheap plastic mitre box with handsaw that somebody leant us 2 years ago, so that slowed me down a bit. I also used the mitre box with our cheap hacksaw to cut the metal tile trim for the sink backsplash. Dan came to admire my work at 9 p.m. after his French class, and I suggested that we tile the backsplash. He didn't really agree, but next thing I knew, he was mixing up the thinset with a stick and I was slapping the tiles up (and then franticly putting tile spacers in to keep them from sliding together). The area is only 27" x 10", so how long will that take, right? Well, as it turns out, it takes a bit more time than I thought, but much less thinset. (Oops. We've got about an extra 4 litres here just hardening in a bucket.) But, the bottom line is that the tiles are up and the trim is now painted, and we are ready to move onto the next task in this fun renovation.

If I squint hard, I can see the finish line on the horizon. (Or, is that my tired eyes blurring the glass mosaic tile into a checkered flag?) When I drive down Toronto's Lakeshore boulevard, I always flashback to those last few kilometers of the first half marathon that I ran. I can remember the exact point on the road when I had that thought: "what the hell am I doing here". Every step after that became increasingly difficult. But as I turned away from the lake and ran towards the CN Tower, I could hear the people cheering at the finish line, and I just pretended that they were all cheering for me. And those last 500m were the best, because then I was done! I have only ran past that spot one other time, when I reapeated the half marathon the following year, and I had the exact same reaction. So, while I hope that this is my last bathroom renovation, I have a bad feeling that in a few months, I'll forget the pain that I'm feeling right now and get myself into this mess again. But hopefully only one more time.

Can we really renovate our way out of recession?

2009-01-28T22:42:00.011-05:00

The sight of Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the evening news in casual attire using a nail gun looked as awkard as me wearing heels. This publicity stunt caught my attention, and I had to find out more.

Touted as temporary, timely and targeted stimulus, The Conservative government's proposed Home Renovation Tax Credit came a few months too late for me! Sadly, this tax break for home renovations is NOT retroactive to Jan. 1, so I can't claim a credit for the tile work done last week, nor for all the materials I have purchased over the past few months. It is too bad because the total is nearing the HRTC limit of $10,000, which would have given me a healthy $1,350 tax credit (which could have been spent on even more renovations). This is one of the rare times that procrastination would have paid off, literally. But we had just started smashing out the floor tiles when we witnessed the first of many big crashes on the world stock markets. We could have put the renovation on hold, covering the plywood subfloor with a nice big bathmat, but I joked that my spending may stimulate the economy. And despite going over budget on this reno, one little home was not enough. So people, get out there and get renovating.

Or should we save? Am I the only one who finds it ironic that this is the same government that launched a massive plan just under a year ago to encourage Canadians to save? The Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) is promoted as tax-free money for what matters to you. Every year, Canadains can put up to $5,000 in a registered TFSA account and the gains will be tax free and there is no penalty for withdrawls. But from what I understand, this intitiative was only created to make up for the Conversative's broken campaign promise to adjust the capital gains tax. I don't think that they really care that Canadians today have the lowest personal savings rate of all time. The airwaves (and cyberspace) are littered with ads for the TFSA, either from the government or from all the banks lobbying hard to have you open your account with them. Some say that "it's worth talk". And I guess that it is good for the banks to have something good to talk about these days, when all their news of late is full of doom and gloom. Although, I can't help thinking that if I'd had this TFSA last year, maybe I really would be "richer than I think".

Both these programs remind me of when the Conservative's canceled the EnerGuide for Houses program. We were midaway through the program to make our home more energry efficient in exchange for expert advice and a small grant. Harper's cancellation made us rush our energy efficient retrofit work, from 18 months to only 8, without any guarantee that there'd be enought money left in the program to pay out the promised grant. It was a real disappointment. But when Harper launched his new program, it was vaugely similar, but rebranded with the media friendly prefix "Eco" in the title.

So, the question remains: what should I do with all my extra money? Should I save it in last year's budget surprise: the TFSA. Or should I get myself a nail gun and continue stimulating the economy? Or should I say screw it all, and jump on the next plane to Costa Rica? Pura Vida, amigos!

Welcome to Command Central

2009-01-25T19:20:00.010-05:00

I write to you from the warm travertine floor of my new bathroom. I have to sit here to enjoy the heat and admire control central. Today I wired up the floor heating to see if it would work. It is pessimistic to think that it wouldn't, but all the warnings in the package and the fact that the only friend I know who had floor heating installed found that it didn't work after the tile was finished. Hers had to be removed and replaced.

Last week, we chose to call in a pro to finish the floors. I was hoping to find somebody to do both the tiles in the bathroom and the hardwood in the hallway & back room. We had two contractors who were willing to do both jobs, but neither had a wet saw, so had to rent one, and neither had experience working with the traditional strip oak flooring currently in our home. The third contractor did tile only, and were not fazed by the travertine nor the NuHeat floor heating mat. They were my favorite already, but I had to wait for the quotes. In the end, they had the bathroom, but we had to find somebody else to do the hardwood.
We agreed on a price Thursday and they came the next day to do the scratch coat. This consisted of metal mesh covered with shiny mortar and took less than an hour. The following day, they came to do the drypack and level the floor. This is when they imbeded the floor heating mat. This needed to dry for a few days, but they were back on Tuesday to lay the tile. Wednesday they returned to grout. A finished floor in less than a week. Incredible!

But, then came the waiting. Three days and we could seal the tile. On the appointed day, I painted the walls, and then did one coat of tile sealer. A second coat of sealer today, and "light traffic" is permitted 4 hours later.

We wanted to install the baseboard trim before putting in the toilet, but sadly the paint can says we need to wait TWO WEEKS before gluing on trim. So, more waiting. (Please note: I was intending to glue and nail the trim, but have since been adviced to only nail after committing my intentions to print. Thanks to my readers!)

Feast your eyes on this beautiful sight! Tiled floor, a mirror in the vanity cutout, and our sink/vanity in place. Now, just imagine the luxury of the 31C floor temperature contrasted against the -22C temperature outside (with the windchill factor). My command central has a backlight overhead light switch, a timer for the exhaust fan, and a programmable termostat for the floor heat. And best part -- it works.

The waiting is the hardest part

2009-01-10T16:50:00.004-05:00

Tom Petty may have beat me to this phrase, but honestly, the waiting can be the hardest part. Months in the making, we thought that after the grout went in, that we'd be showering at home in a matter of days. But, the grout sealer bottle said to let the grout cure for 10 days before sealing. Everybody in my network thought that seemed like a long time, but when you've gone to this much effort, what is a few more days? Or 10?

So, we waited. And worked on figuring out how to get the floors finished. My part time tiler/brother-in-law refused to work with the travertine we'd selected and the floor heating mat. Who could blame him? I thought about doing it ourselves, but after checking out the large wet saw at the rental department of Home Hardware which rents for $78/day, I thought twice. I had visions of us trying to cut the 12" x 24" tiles on our front porch in the -24C weather with all our neighbours watching (and laughing). So, at the end of the year, I decided to call in a few pros and speed up this outrageously long bathroom reno. Right now we're waiting for quotes from our three selected contractors, recommended by our friends Max and Tino at Home Hardware.

Yesterday my tiler/brother-in-law called to say that he was coming to caulk the tub area. I wanted to do it myself, but like the grout, he said no way! Who am I to argue. Again, after the months of work to get to this point, I'm happy to have him do it. So last night, Dan and I poured out some toxic grout sealer and applied it with some sponge brushes to all the grout lines. Twice.

Mike has just finished caulking and in 24 hours, we can use our shower and tub. Hooray. This is a huge victory worth celebrating. And since I didn't do much of the work for this part of the reno, waiting really was the hardest part. But now, showering at home will be my reward!

Thanks again to Mike for all his amazing work. The shower looks amazing! I can't wait to have my victory bath tomorrow.

Grouty New Year

2008-12-31T17:37:00.003-05:00

A special visitor came to the house today to grout the tiles. I wanted to do it myself, but he insisted that he do it. As you cannot win an argument with Mike, I stayed out of his way, and worked away on my computer, listening to the whir of the 1/2" drill mixing up the grout. Dan carried up pails of fresh water and Mike sponged it down. I grabbed this photo just to document that Mike was generous enough to spend the last day of the year working on our bathroom. I need to do one more sponging of the tiles before heading off to a festive New Year's dinner.

The yukon white subway tiles with mocha glass mosaic accent are glistening in a field of snow white grout. It is good to end the year on a high note. It sets a positive tone for the year ahead.

How HGTV ruined my life

2008-12-30T12:59:00.004-05:00

For 5 1/2 years, I lived peacefully in my condo, never watching HGTV. But once I signed the offer of purchase and sale on this money pit, I immediately tuned in. I even got a subscription to Style at Home magazine. It started innocently enough with some paint, the odd piece of furniture, and making my own headboard, but then the shows made me believe that I could actually renovate the house myself. Watching real people framing, tiling and drywalling, I could see myself doing it too. So, against the sage advice of my friend Matthew, I didn't hire a contractor and began this bathroom reno on my own. This has resulted in many sacrifices, including holidays spent at home, the cancellation of my Saturday squash games, and not having a shower in my own home. Plus I've lost the ability to carry on a decent conversation, with all topics leading to renovation. I call the HGTV personalities by their first names, as if they are people I actually know. I've become a tired bore, and I blame it on HGTV. With their 24 hour programming of all things reno, my reality has been warped so that I'm not happy with anything in my home and I am in a state of inflated confidence, thinking that I can build it myself.

I guess that it could be worse. If my vice was Slice, I would be on multiple diets, planning an outrageous wedding, and addicted to plastic surgery. Or if I got hooked on Mystery TV, I would have a collection of spy tools and be registered in an online University program in forensic science. Or if I was hooked on the Canadian/American Idol franchise, I could be terrorizing the neighbourhood with my song stylings, believing that I too can be the next big thing.

Reality TV is evil. I must unplug myself from it and start living again, rather than watching other people "living" in the shadow of a boom microphone. I miss the days of good drama. Last year's actors strike gave reality TV a boost and gave me the boot. I don't usually make New Year's resolutions, but I think that I've found a good one for this year! I'm going cold turkey in 2009.

The tile fairy

2008-12-16T20:36:00.004-05:00

When I was at work today, the tile fairy came to visit, and did a mighty fine job on the tub surround. Thanks Mike!

I have to say that choosing the tile is mighty stressful. It exceeds the indecision and worry of choosing the kitchen counter top. I have a hard time seeing how the tile will look in the finished space. I love glass mosaic tile, but thought that it would be too much for the whole tub surround. So we decided to go with the basic subway tile - clean and classic. But just last night, we ran over to see Tino at Home Hardware, and to see some glass mosaic tiles. I was thinking of the Aqua (blue) mix, whereas Dan was thinking of the Seaglass (green) mix, but we both agreed that the Coco mix would be prefect to tie in the Espresso vanity (that is currently in our dining room) and the Travertine stone floor (which is currently in our spare bedroom). The tile fairy has a bit more work to do, but soon we may be showering in our own home again. Maybe before the year is out. Maybe. But the YMCA is open 365 days of the year, so a shower is always close to home, just like Home Hardware!

With this tile (in)decision settled, next up is the paint colour. Fun times. Where is Peter Fallico and his design team, when we really need them?

Help is close to home

2008-12-08T21:13:00.006-05:00

Everybody is talking about the 100 mile diet and shopping local, but the parking lot at the big box store is always full. And why? You can rarely find anybody to help you and delivery is a whopping $75. But, if you shop local, these happy men in red shirts are always there to help. They are full of knowledge, always friendly, and they speak Portuguese!

We have purchased the majority of our bathroom fixtures, tiles, lumber, drywall, etc. from our local Home Hardware: Downtown Lumber on Ossignton Ave. (across the street from the trendy and delicious, Foxley). They are the largest supplier of tile & stone in downtown Toronto, and their prices are as good or better than all the other places we've been. They have free parking in the back (2 or 3 spaces), delivery is only $25, and I can ride my bike over there in minutes, plus they give you Aeorplan points! It sure beats a Saturday in traffic to get up to the Junction. Maybe one day we'll convert this costly renovation into a trip.

I love old hardware stores, where the shelves go up to the ceiling with stock, and they have those long sticks to get stuff down. Not the best place for browsing, but honestly, they have it all if you're not afraid to ask. Plus, they can always have great advice. Call Max and Tino, the bathroom and kitchen specialists. When I call, they recognize my voice now, which is a bit embarassing. But if I had a kid, I'd ask them to be the god fathers because they are that good.

Thanks guys. It is nice to have help so close to home.

(Some) Drywall is up!

2008-11-16T21:38:00.006-05:00

Wow. I thought that the framing looked good, but now that all the vapor barrier is up and some of the drywall boards are up -- it is looking like a real room (actually, two rooms)! Yesterday we had a hired gun come to hang drywall with us. Dave is a skilled and experienced drywaller/handyman, but he is also a talented singer/songwriter in the Toronto band, The Warped 45s.

Dan woke up in the night with chills and sweats -- not good. So I got up at 7 a.m. to pull all the insulation out of the ceiling - again - because I put in too much. I replaced it with an adequate air space and started with the vapor barrier. The 22 sheets of 4' x 8' drywall arrived around 8:30 a.m. And Dave arrived right on time at 10 a.m. With Dan out of commission, it was just the two of us, and we finished up the vapor barrier and then started hanging sheets on the ceiling. My friend Chris very kindly offered to come and help out, standing in for Dan. It was great to have an extra pair of hands for the ceiling.

I learned a lot from Dave. He seemed to think that I knew more about drywalling than I really do, but since I'm good at faking it, it seemed to work out. We finished most of the ceiling and all the tub surround. At the 12 hour mark, I called it quits.

This morning I woke up with blisters on my drilling hand but a desire to keep going. Dan recovered from his 24 hour flu and together we attacked the most challenging board first. This one had six cutouts in it, plus the cutout for the recessed medicine cabinet. Dave and that DVD I borrowed from the library taught me how to properly measure and cut holes. The finished product is far superior to the work we did in the kitchen two years ago! Check out the tight fit on those receptacles and plumbing supplies. Woo hoo!

The boards in the bathroom are almost done and then we'll finish off the new office. Hopefully Dave will have some free time to do the taping and mudding, although his schedule is pretty full with music gigs and other jobs. We just may be tiling before December!!! Imagine that.

How to install recessed lights

2008-11-11T20:59:00.009-05:00

If you are in the middle of a long bathroom reno that has left you without a shower, I recommend that you embark on a side project and install pot lights in your kitchen. I mean, the whole house is already a mess, so why not wreck the kitchen too.

In my defense, the idea popped into my head when we were tearing up the subfloor in the bathroom, exposing the kitchen ceiling, which got me to thinking... while we're in there, why not upgrade the kitchen lighting. So, when my poor brother-in-law arrived to help us, or shall I say, to replace the bathroom floor, I brought up my crazy idea for kitchen pot lights, and he was very helpful. Turns out that our kitchen ceiling has been dropped 13", covering up an original tin ceiling. Quel dommage! But, there must have been a leak in the original bathroom, because the tin ceiling below the old tub is all rusted out and curled up. But the rest of it is in mint condition. Alas, we are not about to tear out the dropped ceiling now. All we want is some pot lights, dammit!!

This inspired a trip to the horrid big box stores, commencing the debate: PAR20 vs. GU10? Which type of bulb should we choose? Both are halogen. Both have a non-dimmable CFL energy efficient bulb alternatives. I read widely on the internet and could not decide which was better. (Please comment if you have anything to share on the PAR20 / GU10 debate.) It seems that the Europeans & Australians are far ahead in energy efficiency than we North Americans, due to their higher energy costs. I found out that they have a Megaman GU10 bulb that is dimmable, but have not seen these in Canada yet. Hopefully these will soon be available here.

The fixtures sat on the floor for weeks while we made small advances on the lighting each week, between bathroom reno jobs. First thing was to determine the placement of the fixtures. This required the use of a stud finder, to avoid the ceiling joists. Lots of careful measurement and finally we had the marks on the ceiling. We drilled some small pilot holes and put a fine wire up into the ceiling to make sure that there was sufficient space in each location. Only one proposed hole was too close to the joist, so we had to modify all the locations, so they were evenly spaced.

We sat on this for a week, to ensure that the placing was correct. The following weekend, we used the template to trace the proper sized circle for each fixture, and I directed Dan in cutting each circle with a drywall saw. We protected the cupboards and contents with some old striped sheets. Then we pulled some 14/2 cable from one hole to the next. We were almost out of time before sunset, but there was still time for a quick coat of ceiling paint. Robomike was here, working on the bathroom, and shaking his head in disbelief at us. Poor guy was trying to get to the table saw in the back yard, which required passing thru the kitchen/painting zone. When he was done his day of work we fed him some mediocre delivery pizza because the kitchen was covered in sheets, but he didn't complain (to us).

A week passed with no progress, but this weekend there was a big push. I did some last minute internet research to confirm that GU10 was still the way to go, and at 5 pm on Sunday, we started to put the cans in the ceiling. The electrician on Mike Holmes said that those inexpensive big box recessed lights bug him, and now I know why. They are tiny and it is hard to fit all the cables in there. Plus, they don't come with the strain release connectors, so you need to buy them separately. The instructions are very poorly written and poorly translated, so you really have to read them over a few times to try to figure out what the hell they are saying. But eventually, I figured it out, and by 10 p.m. on Sunday -- we had pot lights in our kitchen. Every morning and every night, we are thrilled with our new kitchen lighting.

Watch out. Once this bathroom is done, will the dining room lighting be next?

Let there be light!

2008-11-08T22:12:00.007-05:00

For two weeks we have been at the electrical stage of the reno. We already pulled the wires in preparation, set them in the correct rooms, and planned the electrical layout. We need six receptacles (one GFCI), one recessed shower light, three overhead lights, one over mirror light, one exhaust fan, one TV/internet cable jack, one telephone jack and several switches to control it all. (We ran the wire for the floor heating, but we won't be installing that for some time.) I've refreshed my electrical knowledge with some books from the library, but the biggest challenge has been figuring out how to use a vapour barrier with recessed lights in a flat ceiling -- mixed messages!

For some reason, I thought that we could do all this in one Sunday. But now, as I write the list of work in prose form, it does seem like a lot. On a schematic, it seemed more straight forward.

Two weeks ago, I was thrilled when I installed a GFCI receptical which would protect all the other fixtures in the bathroom. The highlight of last weekend was getting showered with ashphault soot when pulling cables for the overhead lights and switches. It seems that when the roofers replaced the flat roof 3 years ago, the ashphault sifted through the roof boards and has been sitting on the insulation all this time. When we shifted anything in the ceiling, soot rained down on us. I was wearing safety glasses and a mask, but my face still got pretty dirty (see photo). Although I cheered up when I was able to wire the overhead fixtures.

But, there is never enough time! I still didn't get the new bedroom wired until today. We sealed the plumbing stack and window sill, and replaced 95% of the ceiling insulation. Tomorrow we hope to get the vapour barrier up and everything ready for drywall.

We were prepared to call in a pro for the drywalling, but he called today to say that he's too busy to do our job. If you know anybody, let me know. Otherwise, we're gonna try it ourselves next weekend. Wish us luck--we're going to need it!!!

A good plumber may be easy to find!

2008-10-21T17:40:00.005-04:00

I found my plumber Paul at a night course that I took at Central Tech two years ago. It was a great intro to the world of plumbing, and inspired me to renovate our kitchen by moving the sink and adding a dishwasher. So when we decided to reno the bathroom, I gave Paul a call again. After spending hours in a classroom with him, he is really somebody I trust.

We removed all our bathroom fixtures on October 5, so we have been without a shower for 17 days, but the YMCA is close by, as are many kind friends with hot showers, so we've been getting by. But today was a huge step forward in "Project Bathroom": we have running water in the tub again! We can staple up some plastic and shower at home again. Exciting.

Many thanks to our plumber, Paul McErlain (left), and his trusty apprentice. Many of you have asked for Paul's contact details and here they are: 416-854-9846 and mackmechanical.ca.

Keeping up with Robomike

2008-10-16T07:21:00.012-04:00

I know that my brother-in-law Mike thinks that I'm crazy. We are exact opposites in many ways. He hates city life, can't understand why we paid so much for such a small house, and is baffled that I would consider a month in China a vacation. But, when I asked him to "help" me replace the subfloor and put up some framing in our old bathroom, he didn't hesitate. I would like to learn how to frame a wall myself, so I wanted to be involved. I have written about Mike before: he's a man of few words but many skills. He arrived at our house on Tuesday morning, just after Dan left for his first day on his new job. I decided to use a few of my vacation days for my reno-vacation, if only to buy the supplies at the store and help carry stuff in and out of the house. I grew up on a farm and I don't have any brothers, so I was raised to pitch in on any job. Nobody in my house was too small, too young or too female to help out.

When Mike arrived, I showed him the scene. He looked around, shook his head and said: "you've got a lot of work to do here". But, he got to work taking measurements and we were off to Downtown Lumber for our first of many trips. As we were struggling to get a 4' x 8' sheet of 3/4" plywood up the winding stairs in our narrow house, I'm sure he was shaking his head again, although I couldn't see him through the plywood. I had to take the oil paintings that his 11 year old daughter painted for me off the wall, so that we could swing that sheet, tilt it, and get it up the stairs. Thank god the ceilings are 10' high in here!

We only had two days to replace the floor, frame some walls and install the bathtub, because we both had to go to work on Thursday. He was determined to get it done so that we could have the plumber in again on Saturday allowing us to start bathing at home again. I appreciate his determined work ethic and agreed that I would not talk too much, nor try to hug him. For all of our differences, I think that we got along well. But keeping up with Robomike was tough! He didn't eat all day, he barely drank any water, didn't pause at all, nor did he complain. I did my best to keep up, but after three days of hauling junk out of this bathroom, I was starting to wear out at 3 p.m. But, I keep dragging my butt until 9 p.m., although I did take several breaks.

By the end of the 2nd day, we had two walls and two doorways framed. We are renovating our oversized bathroom back to its original bathroom with small bedroom. When Dan returned from work, he helped Mike carry the new bathtub upstairs, and finally the rooms are taking shape. The drills are moving forward now. But, as Mike said, there's still lots of work to do! (And lots to write about.) Mike ate a tiny bit of food, drank a thimble full of water, filled his truck with the rubble from our front porch and drove off into the night. Who was that masked robot? He looked like Mike, but he didn't seem human.

Once again, thank you Mike. These words seem insufficient, but I am truly grateful for your dedication to your work and your family. And I promise that I will never try to hug you.

Pulling Cable

2008-10-13T14:36:00.005-04:00

We spent our long weekend hauling crap out of the room that was once a bathroom. It has been two weeks, and yet the power drill is still running in reverse. When will we be putting it in forward and actually building a bathroom, not demolishing one?

We spent Friday night at the holy trinity for home renovators: Home Hardware, Rona and Home Depot. I bought myself an electrician's fishing tape - hooray. I've always wanted one. And today, I needed it, as we fed the four different gauges of wire thru the bulkhead down to the basement and to the panel. (We didn't connect it. We'll get an electrician to do that part.)

Thinking ahead, I want our new bedroom/office to be wired with coaxial cable and phone, plus we are putting a laundry rough-in as well, in the event that we move the laundry upstairs for our golden years. So this required pulling two electrical cables: a 14/2 for the washing machine and 10/3 30A cable for the dryer. That flipping 10/3 cable (the orange stuff) is heavy and expensive! Plus, the future dryer location is as far from the electrical panel that you can get with our tiny house, so we needed a lot of it. This was what I had listed as our easy job for the weekend. Relatively clean and quiet work, yet it still took us a few hours. But, I got to use my new fishing tape, and it worked like a charm.

The harder job was tearing up the remainder of the 3/4" plywood subfloor. It was a loud and dirty job, which I'm sure was even less pleasant for our neighbours. Just pepper the roar of the power saw with some colourful cursing when the head of one of the several screws popped off. The quote of the weekend came from Dan when he said: "drywall comes down a lot faster than it goes up".

After two weeks of toiling in this zone, I'm sure that Dan is happy to be starting his new job tomorrow. He's off the hook for a few day. My super brother-in-law is swooping in tomorrow to save us from this hole that we are in. Super Mike to the rescue!

Renovation is not a dinner party

2008-10-06T23:30:00.000-04:00

Chairman Mao famously said: Revolution is not a dinner party. Well last night during a candle-lit dinner party on upper Montrose, I proposed that we should make t-shirts of Chairman Mao holding a reciprocating saw with the tagline: Renovation is not a dinner party. Of course, we thought this was brilliant, but how many t-shirt wearing, renovating sinophiles are there, other than me, of course?

Well, cottage industry aside, it was time to get the floor out today. I was supposed to be off at the end of the week, but asked my kind boss this morning if I could switch with today so that I could help Dan (somebody has to remove the wiring), and my kind boss said yes! So I was free to make dozens of trips up and down the stairs with heavy loads of rubble to the almost full Rhino Bag decorating our front lawn.

After a few pilot drills, we realized that the two layers of subfloor were both 5/8" thick. Many of the screws would not come out or were hidden by tile grout. We had torn out our kitchen floor with relative ease just two years ago, so as always, I underestimated how difficult this would be. I guess that if I thought it would be hard, I wouldn't take it on. It's like some women with childbirth: they know it is going to be difficult, but they do it anyway. I guess the new bathroom is like my baby. I just hope that it doesn't take 9 months!

After several passes with the circular saw, and many hours later, we had an opening 16" across and about 24" long. It allowed us to see the ceiling below and the bulkhead in the kitchen, where all the plumbing passes. After about 30 minutes of gawking at the damage and admiring how strong and sturdy the existing floor is, we thought that we should leave it at that and let the plumber tell us if he needed more floor removed. It was time to walk up the street for a shower and to vote at the advance polls. I may be a sinophile, but I also enjoy the benefits of democracy, so it was my honour to exercise my civic duty.

I think that Chairman Mao would have been proud of my three days of hard labour. It has certainly reformed my thoughts about civil society, but I had the luxury of a hot shower at the end of the day, after a short march north, so it wasn't really that much of a revolution -- just the start of a long renovation.

Bathroom renovation begins

2008-10-05T23:12:00.001-04:00

Dan starts a new job after Thanksgiving and had a miraculous two weeks off. I thought that we should celebrate with either a trip to New York, or by renovating our over-sized and hideous bathroom. For better or worse, we have chosen the more expensive but more permanent option: the bathroom. New York will always be there, right?

A few years ago we made a temporary fix by removing the wallpaper and giving it a neutral coat of white paint, but we just couldn't get beyond that pink tub and toilet, the waste of space and the fact that the shower dribbled like a water pick. The whole room was disappointing. This is our time for revenge.

Our main bathroom is possibly the largest room in our tiny house. It is the same size as our kitchen and main floor 2 piece bathroom. It was originally a tiny bedroom and a tiny bathroom. Alas, we are going to undo that modification and return it to it's original configuration, but hopefully it will be much nicer.

We started last week by removing the closet and cupboards. Dan began chipping away at the ceramic floor tiles on Wednesday and Thursday, and finally finished this hideous task by Saturday. We bought a Rhino Bag from Home Hardware and put it on our front yard and started to fill it with debris. Any usable pieces were re-gifted to strangers on Craigslist. (Will somebody really want that giant pink bathtub?) Things were looking pretty bare on Saturday night when we used the pink shower for the final time. A little bit more water pressure would have helped my aching muscles, but why would it change now? People and bathrooms do not change.

With this giant task complete, all we had to do on Sunday was remove the fixtures and then tear up the subfloor. We got an early start, but like most things, I underestimated how time consuming these tasks would be. I spent about 30 minutes laying under the toilet as rusty water dripped on my head, trying to loosen the tank bolt. Finally we decided to leave the damn tank on, and Dan carried the whole thing out and placed it proudly on our front porch. A few hours later, we brought the sink/vanity outside as well. I checked my email and somebody had responded to my craigslist posting and wanted all three pieces. Hooray. We had to have the tub out by 6 p.m. because that was when they were coming. This led to the video at the top of the posting, where Dan smashed the hell out of the tiles while I cowered by the windows, and pieces of shattered tile flew through the air. (We both had our safety glasses on.) I got into the action as well. I took my turn with the hammer, and pulled down quite a few pieces of cement board covered in tiles, but we just didn't get any photos of this.

A pink fiberglass bathtub that measures 70.5"x35" is not that heavy, but it is very awkward. We called our good friend Matthew in a panic to see if he could help get it down the stairs, but luckily for him, he was on Highway 407 at the time, and with the new owners coming soon, we had to do it ourselves. Surprisingly, it only took us a few minutes to negotiate it down the steep stairs and over the hand railing, to the front porch, where we leaned it against my bike.

Now it was time to cap the copper pipes so that we could turn the water back on. There are now showers in our house now, but we do enjoy the simple pleasures like washing our hands, or a cool glass of water. Renovators cannot live on beer alone, can they? I pulled out my "plumbing shoe box" of tools and accessories from the course that I took back in 2005 at Central Tech. With an aluminum cookie sheet as a shield, I fired up the torch and managed two good solders on my first try. I was as pleased as Dan when he finished the floor tiles.

Alas, we had run out of time for the day and the floor would have to be done by Dan the next day. So off we went to dinner & showers on Upper Montrose, a civilized way to end a busy renovating weekend. It's not quite New York, but still very nice.

Men's Work

2008-09-01T20:15:00.004-04:00

As I was scraping the peeling paint and rust off the wrought iron fence at the front of the house with the blazing sun beating down on me, I couldn't help but think that this fence will likely be gone in a year's time. The dream was to have some landscaping done this year, replacing the wall/fence. But when the quotes came in much higher than anticipated, it got moved to the back burner. When we had the house painted, I foolishly didn't have them paint the fence since a fear of heights was the only thing keeping me from painting the house myself. I tend to underestimate the amount of work that such a job entails. Exterior painting is much more challenging than its interior counterpart. It has to be over 10C with no rain forecast for at least 48 hours, which this summer has been a challenge. The paint purchased in early June has been sitting in the dining room waiting for a good stretch of weather when I had time to do it. Since the downpour on Friday, we've had blue skies and sunshine all weekend, so this was my chance.

We have been in our house for three years now, but rarely have we spoken to the neighbours other than those on either side of us. I recognize many of them, and I'm sure that they know us too. But what do we really have to talk about? They are mostly retired Italian & Portuguese couples who hold court on their front porches, keeping the pavement freshly watered every day, and chatting in languages that we don't speak. We are not married and we don't have any children, so it is hard for them to relate to us. They call us the Canadians. We're the newcomers who are changing their neigbourhood. I discovered that the best way to get to know everybody is to do some yard work. When you use a bucket of water and sponge instead of a garden hose to wash the fence, people take notice. My water efficient technique really turned some heads. And why was I doing this work, and not the man of the house? Painting is men's work.

I was careful to catch all the paint drips on the curly patterned wrought iron fence as the men of the neighbourhood shuffled by, admiring my handiwork. They all took the opportunity to comment and encourage, and to get a closer look at this freaky woman who was doing men's work. I'm a novelty. Dozens of cars circled the block for parking spaces close to the street fair on College Street, as I moved on to the brickwork, covering up the last of the pink. Three men close to my own age were making their way to their parked car and couldn't help but comment on what a strange sight it is to see a woman with a paint brush. I just laughed it off. The wives were straggling behind, and the one guy waited for them to catch up so that he could show his wife that women can paint. They too marvelled at my skill and talent with the brush. Clearly the division of labour in their house must fall along the traditional gender lines. If she wanted the bedroom repainted, she'd have to convince her husband to do it. But not here. I'm too independent to let gender hold me back from doing what I want.

The truth is that I've always been attracted to the more male activities: painting, putting out the garbage, plumbing and math. I was one of only a few women in my university engineering classes so I'm accustomed to standing out. But in my family, there were no gender lines. I thought that it was because I have no brothers and because we lived on a farm, so we all had to pitch in to get stuff done, inside and out. My sister and I piled wood, drove the tractor, trapped ground hogs, and spent hours weeding the garden. When I was four years old, my parents dug out the basement by hand. Watching my mom carry buckets of soil and rocks up the stairs must have had an impact on me. Clearly, women can do anything that men can do. She painted and wallpapered, and cut the grass. My Dad took me with him to cattle auctions. My grandmother would not hesitate to grab the riffle to get rid of a pesky ground hog. But there is one place where gender lines remained: cooking and cleaning. That was always women's work in my family. Women could do it all, and then some.

I feel bad for Dan. I know that all the neighbours look at him and wonder why he doesn't do his duty. But they don't see him cooking dinner every night or vacuuming. Truth is that I won't let him paint, work in the garden or do the laundry. I think that I'm better at it, and it drives him crazy. But, he lets me do all the men's work that I want to do. He grew up in a house of boys with two working parents, so he's not afraid of a little women's work. Plus, he's a much better cook than me. He brought me glasses of water every 15 minutes today, to make sure that I wouldn't dehydrate in the sun. And when I was done painting, he served me a bowl of home cooked chili and opened a beer for me. I'm sure that it's hard for the neighbours to understand, but at least the painting got done. And they can all appreciate a clean and tidy front lawn.

Should I switch to VoIP?

2008-08-24T10:25:00.006-04:00

I am fed up with my current telecommunications "solution", as it is riddled with problems and frankly, I feel that it is overpriced. Deregulation of the telephone industry has made everything more expensive. I like competition and feel that we should benefit from it, but really all I see are expensive (and often annoying) ad campaigns combined with confusing marketing packages leaving consumers baffled by choices so that they just pick some phone plan without fully understanding the features and costs, and then when they try to make a change, they find that they are locked into a 3 year contract. When doing some comparison shopping, it is impossible to compare apples to apples, so you just end up going with the company who's commercials annoy you the least.

I have often thought that I'd like to get rid of our land line and just rely on a cell phone. I work from an office all day where I have my own land line (although it startles me when it rings since it happens so seldom), and I don't make that many phone calls on the evenings and weekends, so why have both a cell and land line? Plus, I can supplement the long distance calls with Skype. But, I don't really like talking on a cell phone -- reception is not great and I don't like the ergonomics. I always feel like I'm talking into a tiny spy device that sounds like a tin can, so I haven't made that bold move yet.

My latest telecommunications problem forcing me to make a change is that my voice mail does not work for long distance calls. This is particularly annoying since both our parents live outside our calling area, and all they ever get are three beeps and then it disconnects. I have reported it four times and Rogers still has not fixed it nor followed up with me! I was just going to cancel my voice mail plan and buy a new phone that has a built-in answering machine. We'll save $5 per month and have a "solution" that actually solves the problem. Plus, we need a new cordless phone anyway. But when I was in the store, I saw a Vtech set of two cordless phones that works with Vonage, a local VoIP provider. It was the same price as the other set of phones, BUT it comes with tons of nice features, and the monthly charges are half of my current bill. Humm. Getting away from one of the monolithic telecoms and saving money is very appealing to me.

I had considered going with VoIP three years ago when we moved here because Bell screwed up our order and we were not going to get a land line for 5 weeks. But Dan needed the land line for his job at the time and I could not guarantee that the VoIP line would be reliable. With all the other decisions that need to be made when you've moving to a new house, deciding on a new tele technology was just too much. So we did what Bell recommended and went with the competition. Rogers was happy to set us up with a land line in the newly created 647 area code and has been charging us about $45 a month for it ever since.

Yesterday I did a live chat with a Vonage rep and found out that I can get 500 minutes of long distance plus all the call features (voice mail, caller ID, call waiting, phone messages emailed to you, you can retrieve your message anywhere that there is an internet connection, etc.) for $19.95 per month. That includes the 911 charge and there is no additional charge for system access, etc. Plus, I can still use my fax machine on occasion without issue. So, it seems like I'm ready to take the plunge but a few questions remain:

Which service provider should I use? Vonage sounds like the most established but there are plenty of others that I don't know about. My friend Andrew uses broadvoxdirect.com so I should look into that. Does anybody have any suggestions for me?
Should I use my old analog phones with an adapter or buy IP phones? One FAQ that I was reading says that using your existing analog phones saves money but then you don't have all the features like transfer, hold, etc. Since I'm not running a business out of my home, I don't really need those features. I can set the phone on the table if I need to put the call on hold. I just need to know if there is improved reception and service by using the IP phones?
Can I use a mix IP phones and analog phones with adapters? Or if I do go with the IP phones, will my fax machine still work?
Can I set it up so that all my existing jacks and analog phones will work with VoIP? Right now I have Rogers digital home phone, which is VoIP, but at the price of conventional analog phone service. (No wonder they can afford to bring the Buffalo Bills to Toronto and give away $545 tickets to hundreds of people.) The technician set it up so that all the jacks work. Can I just set up the new VoIP system to the existing wiring? Or will I be limited to only one phone in the house? (Or a set of handsets that are grouped to one base unit?)

Hopefully I will find answers to all these questions soon so that our families and out of town friends can start leaving us messages. We were really starting to think that we were no longer message worthy out here in the 647s.

How Bell Canada lost a customer for life - will Rogers be next?

2008-08-20T21:43:00.000-04:00

Bell Canada dropped the ball. I tried to stay with them when we moved but they drove us away. I have heard that it costs more money to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing customer, but how much does it cost to drive one away? Bell wastes their money by calling us every 10 days asking what it will take for us to switch back. We always tell them our sad story but unfortunately their script cannot answer our questions nor offer us what we really need to repair this damaged relationship. I often ask them to pass this info onto their supervisors, yet we get the same call again about 10 days later. If there is no feedback loop on the customer acquisition team, how can I trust that they can even provide me with service, when they let me down three years earlier?

Before I moved three years ago, I was a Bell Canada girl all the way -- so was Dan. I was happy with the service and had no intention of changing. So when we moved, I called all my service providers and arranged to take them with me. Days before moving, I thought that maybe we could get a dedicated phone number for Dan's home office and that's when I discovered the problem. Our phone would not be connected until five weeks after we moved due a labour strike and the earlier customer service person gave me the wrong information. If I had not made this call, we would not have learned about this error until the day that we moved. And unfortunately, there was no recourse. I was tempted to kill the landline and go mobile, but Dan needed it for work. Our only landline alternative was to go with the provider of the previous homeowner's telephone provider: Sprint (which had been just bought out by Rogers).

The problem extended into our internet service provider (ISP). We were both with Sympatico DSL provided by Bell and were planning to take it with us too. After being slapped in the face with the five week wait for the Bell landline installation, we found out that we'd have to pay an additional $10/month for our DSL since we would not have Bell as our TSP. And since we didn't cancel with 30 days notice, we'd have to pay for an additional month. They did not offer me a special rate for a few months until I could switch back to Bell. Instead, they told me that my only choice was to cancel Sympatico or pay the higher fee. This was the nail in the coffin for Bell.

Will Bell's current re-branding save them? They have gotten rid of those horrible beaver commercials. They've abandoned all the other brands such as Sympatico. I'm not sure what the blue "er" is all about, but the new print campaigns have an "er" suffix like faster or sexier. Are they implying that they are better? I am not fooled by the crisp and clean aesthetic even if I do like the casting choice in their latest commercials. I'm curious to see what the Teacher's Pension Plan is going to do with Ma Bell after the world's largest leveraged buyout. But I do know that a new ad campaign is not going to pull me back.

Am I happy with Rogers Home Phone? I was until June 2008 when I was told that I had to switch to the Rogers digital home phone or cancel my service. They were forcing me into the arms of the competition. I wanted to keep an analog landline because it will work in a power outage. I guess that we're all frightened after the big blackout in the summer of 2003. I've learned to stock drinking water in the basement, get a solar powered radio, always keep a healthy supply of beer, and keep an old analog phone that will work in case of power outage. But VoIP & Rogers digital phone will not work when the power is out. So I have played it safe and kept the landline. But this aggressive action on Rogers side has made me take a look around and I'm realizing that I'm paying far too much for this service. A traditional VoIP service offers much better features at lower prices. Sure, there may be issues with quality of service, but if I'm paying about 40% of what I'm paying now, it will be worth it. I can supplement the bad times with a cell phone.

It is the lesser of all evils - instead of going with the best, I'm settling for the service that bothers me the least. It makes me wonder that if I'll be looking to switch in another three months or even three years. What new technology will temp with? But will their marketing and advertising turn me off? Only time will tell.

When blogging goes offline

2008-08-20T18:54:00.000-04:00

Last week I came home to something very different: fan mail - delivered by Canada Post.

The handwritten envelope was addressed to "Occupant". The only thing that comes handwritten by mail these days are greeting cards, but this was a standard size envelope. Plus, whenever I get a card, the sender usually knows my name! I hesitantly opened the letter, wondering what it could be.

The typed two page letter started out with the words, "you don't know me, but I believe that we have something in common". This heightened my concern, so I quickly scanned the pages, trying to find out what this person wanted. It is terrible that I assume that somebody wants something, but in our accelerated society, people rarely use snail mail for personal greetings (except for my friend Chris, who lives on my street, yet regularly sends me post cards by mail, just to say hi.)

Scanning the letter, I couldn't find the pitch, so I re-read it slowly, enjoying the fact that it was simply a letter full of nostalgia for my neighbourhood. This man had lived on my street in the 50's and his friend lived in my house. He went on to tell me about the way things were back then: collecting green stamps at the mom and pop grocery stores, the listening booths at the original Sam the Record Man location on College Street at Crawford, his friend doing bike deliveries for the old Capp's Pharmacy, going to the Italian barber shops, etc. He fondly remembers the people, the sights and the reassuring sound of the College Street car rounding the curve at Grace Street.

He asked if I had checked out the Toronto Archives website, telling me that there are lots of great resources online. I had already heard that there was a bridge spanning a ravine just south of us, on the north edge of Trinity Bellwoods Park. The bridge is still there, but the ravine was filled in, bringing the street level up to the bridge. It is close to the location of the Trinity Bellwoods farmer's market on Tuesdays. My new pen pal confirmed that this bridge does indeed exist and that there are photos of it online. He also reminded me that Montrose was formerly called Sully Crescent. One of these days, I need to visit the archives.

I'm always surprised when I have comments on my blog from people that I don't know, but I guess that when you put your stories out there, it can happen. I just never expected that I would get snail mail from my blog, but I'm happy that I did. It gives me a whole new perspective on my home and neighbourhood.

There's no place like Holmes

2008-07-31T22:50:00.010-04:00

You may have seen it on TV, but tonight, I saw it in person: the house that Mike Holmes built in his special two hour show, Lein On Me. It just happens that the homeowner is a colleague of mine, and during our United Way fundraising campaign, she auctioned off a tour of her house. Myself and two colleagues were the highest bidders, which allowed us and our significant others to take a behind-the-scenes tour of this amazingly modern eco home. We got to ride in the elevator to the green roof, see the two solar systems, and the awe inspiring 1" copper plumbing that feeds the flexible water supply system. (I can only imagine what their water pressure must be like!!!)

I must admit that I'd never watched Holmes on Homes until the day after I bought this money pit. Three years ago, I was living in a condo, and the whole HGTV network had no appeal to me. The biggest repair jobs that I did there in 5.5 years was replace the toilet flapper and re-tape the dryer vent hose. But the day after I signed that agreement of purchase and sale on a very old house, I switched over to channel 46 for the first time. We both sat silently on the couch watching Mike Holmes discover appalling construction errors and then swoop in like a super hero and "make it right". When I closed my eyes that night, all that I could see was a black hole sucking up all my savings and future earnings. The $400 we paid on a home inspection gave me little comfort. I felt like Jimmy Stewart in Vertigo -- a swirl of worry about the roof, the foundation, the wiring, the plumbing, ...you name it. The more that I watched the show, the more terrified I got. The more scared I was, the more I had to watch. My only salvation was to watch Holmes on Homes -- like a train wreck, I couldn't look away.

Sometimes Mike Holmes comes off as a bit too self-righteous on TV, although I'm glad to see that somebody is there to help homeowners like Christina & Joe. They have been through a tremendous ordeal, and while they are now the proud owners of an amazingly modern brand new home, being homeless for four years has taken its toll on them and their family. Being there and seeing it first hand, I was amazed by the design, architecture, and technology. I'm jealous of the environmental features and the amazing plumbing system that they have. But, I'm glad that my tiny little money pit has not revealed any of the problems that they've seen. I hope that if I meet Mike Holmes that it will be at a book signing or a cocktail party. But seeing his work in person was really fascinating.

To see photos and learn more about the house that Holmes built, visit the website. Or if you're one of my contacts on Flickr, you can see my photos there.

Great beer + amazing customer service = one happy customer

2008-07-28T22:24:00.006-04:00

Last week we attempted to refill the fridge with delicious Mill Street beer. Dan is quite taken with the Stock Ale, while I prefer the Tankhouse Ale. As of late, our local beer store is often out of Mill Street. The last two times we've had to drive to a few different stores to find any in stock. When they were out of stock this week, with the price of gas and all, Dan decided to just buy his old brand. When he got home, he wrote an email to Mill Street to ask why they never have it in stock. Within an hour, they got back to him saying that they have been having production problems keeping up with demand, but that they'd ensure that our local retail outlet receives more product. Then they asked for his address so that they could drop off a case of his favorite beer. The next day, a full case of fresh beer was delivered to our house. Now that is customer service!

Compare this to Dan's experience with Mazda and the worst dealership: Dufferin Mazda in Toronto. Phone calls, letters, emails -- to the dealer, owner and Mazda HQ, yet all they said is -- that's normal wear and tear. Check out Second blown clutch on 2004 Mazda3: do not buy from Dufferin Mazda! Their record speaks for itself.

Coincidently, I was checking my web analytics today and saw the 4th most popular post on this blog is the one about the blown clutch. Seems that a lot of other people have had problems with the clutch on their Mazda 3. Coincidence? Humm.... you decide. I think not!!

Dan drives his Mazda every day for his job, visiting customers and retail outlets. He spends his day talking to people. Today, as he was getting out of his car, another motorist asked how he liked his Mazda as he was thinking of getting one. Dan told him his story of bad product coupled with appaling customer service, and this potential customer converted immediately against the Mazda move. Yes, word of mouth can also be bad for sales.

What I know is that Mill Street Brewery could teach Dufferin Mazda a lesson on customer service. They have a customer for life, whereas we will never buy another Mazda.

Pink Palace, R.I.P.

2008-06-13T19:16:00.006-04:00

The other night, I was sitting on my front porch, well hidden by the cedars, when I heard one of the neighbours telling her toddler that he was not allowed to go past "the pink house" on his tricycle. But the next time, he pedaled right on past, so she came out to scold him. He said: "what pink house?" She pointed up at our house and said: "This one. Right here. The pink one, with the white door. See." But the kid was still confused. I guess that salmon does not look pink to a toddler. He was likely looking for bubble gum pink, or possibly the raspberry, that our trim had been painted previously, probably before this kid was born. You see, our house was known as the Pink Palace -- the house that others used as a landmark, as in "we are two houses past the Pink Palace."

I thought about warning this mother that it wouldn't be the "pink house" much longer, but I didn't want to blow my cover behind the cedars. Plus, I wasn't sure when the painter was going to be available anyway. Who knows -- maybe we would be pink all summer.

When the snow melted this spring, I knew that it was finally time to get rid of the last of the pink. We had painted out the hideous trim two years ago, and now it was time to be rid of the less offensive salmon. We called College Pro painters, completely unsure how much it would cost. I would paint it myself but I'm afraid of heights. Anyway, the house is very narrow and it is only the front that needed painting, not the side or trim. The existing paint was in perfect condition -- no peeling or wear. Therefore there was no need for primer, just two coats of paint. So I didn't figure that it would cost too much.

One day our young College Pro Franchisee finally came over and after several long speeches from a perfectly memorized script and many measurements, he presented us with his written quotation, encased in some glossy corporate College Pro marketing crap. Seeing photos of students who look similar to Brad Pitt did not make me want to go with College Pro. Nor did the fact that he quoted us $800 plus GST for this job. We told him that it was higher than we'd expected, and that we'd look for other quotes before deciding.

Finally I remembered a friend of a friend who I had not seen for awhile who is a professional painter. Why not call him? But instead, I emailed him with a photo of the house and the fact that the house is only 13' wide. He replied that he'd "paint the pink" for about half of the other quote, and just fit it in when he had time. Sounded like a good deal.

A few weeks later, I arrived at work a bit early and checked my email. A new message arrived from my painter friend saying that this was the day. And when I rode up on my bike that night, the house was a new colour. Hooray! Bye bye salmon. Hello Nantucket Gray. The neighbours were full of compliments, and now finally I can hold my head high as I walk out the door. Who would have thought that half a day and 1 gallon of paint could make such a difference?

Where I went in China

2008-05-14T21:20:00.011-04:00

With the devastating earthquake in China so soon after my return, I have had about a dozen people e-mailing to ask if I was close to the affected area in Siuchan or Chengdu. While I wasn't in Siuchan province, I spent two weeks in the neighbouring provinces of Yunnan and Hunan.

View Larger Interactive Map

The maps of China on Google and Yahoo are very limited, so the map in my travel journal couldn't find the places that I visited. So, I made this map using the satellite versions to help find the "smaller" cities that were not marked on the maps. The red cross on the map is Chengdu, about 60km south of the epicentre of the earthquake. Places visited during my most recent trip are marked in red, my 2004 trip is marked in blue, and my visit to China during my 1992 trip to Asia is marked in green. You can click on the coloured markers and an info bubble opens up with some details. If you view the larger map, there is a table of contents on the left, listing all the places I visited, which is also clickable.

Photos from my travels are on Flickr which also has a map showing the geographical location where the photos were taken. It is a great feature, but it won't let me add other markers to the map, so I couldn't add a marker for Chengdu.

The Google / Yahoo war rages on. I live in two worlds that just can't get along. I like Picasa (Google) for offline photo organization, but I use Flickr (Yahoo) for online photo storage. They don't work together. This blog is in Google, but my travel journal was on Yahoo, for easier integration with my photo site. The map couldn't locate many of the places I visited (despite populations of a million or more), so I had to create a Google map too. I guess that I just have to face that I'm a blogging geek and should just enjoy the fact that I have choices. It is like my friend's recent dilemma: she regularly went to two different gyms - one for squash and one for fitness classes. She couldn't pick just one gym to join, so she continues to go to both. I have learned from her that accepting this is half the battle. But will Google win the war?

The carport of my dreams

2008-05-02T17:33:00.004-04:00

After a winter with near record snowfall, it is natural for one to dream of a carport. Watching Dan shovel all that snow out of our uncovered parking spot really exhausted me. If I build him a carport, we won't have to worry about snow for the next four years. We will be guaranteed to have record low snowfall if I invest in such a structure.

Spring was in the air last week, and I felt that it was time to get moving on some quotes. I canvassed friends for landscaping recommendations and came back with only two names. One is coming tomorrow to do a quote, and the other one is considering if he has time to do the job at all. I then joined the Home Service Club, who guarantees the work of their recommended contractors or you don't pay. They promised me calls from three contractors within 48 hours to arrange quotes. We are getting close to 46 hours and still no calls. The jury is still out on this club.

As I wait to hear back from contractors, I started researching, and found this great carport plan online. It looks simple enough. Isn't it something that Dan and I could do on our own? It is kinda like building a fence, with a roof -- do I really need a building permit for this?

I called the City of Toronto, just to be certain, and discovered that their bureaucracy really is as bad as people say. I looked on the website and found a definition of a carport but could not find out if a permit was required to build one. So, I called their info line. After listening to several menus and making several choices, I was routed to a voice mail for the help person, who is away this week. The message said that somebody else would return my call, but then the mailbox was full, so I couldn't leave a message. I called back a few more times, trying to get a live person, but with no luck. My suspicion is that you do need a permit, so I have registered myself for an info session on May 13. At this rate, I may have a carport before the first winter snowfall. That is, if I can even afford it!!!

Take it outside!

2008-04-24T21:39:00.000-04:00

Spring has arrived and it is time to expand our lives outdoors. Sadly, the hardscaping in our exterior spaces need some major work. Every time I step outside, the bottom of the door scrapes across the patio, not clearing the door jam. Even when I try to focus on the garden, all I can see are the pitted and sagging patio stones and gravel "zen" garden. I find it challenging to remain calm in my "zen" garden, when I can't even put a chair on that gravel. Our outdoor space is reduced to half the size because of the gravel. I cringe every time I take it outside.

My dream: unify the space by bricking the whole surface with a nice stone - all the way to the laneway. We could remove the back fence and build a carport with a transparent roof, doubling the backyard when the car is not there.

I went to an open house last summer and saw my dream carport. It shelters the car, when is it there, but keeps the space open and light. It is modern and zen, but doesn't make me clench my teeth. What a dream. Maybe one day....

Around China in 460 Photos

2008-04-22T16:21:00.009-04:00

I know... it sounds like a lot of photos, and it is, but when you consider that I was away for 31 days, that's only 14.8 photos per day. To see all these exciting photos of China 2008, visit my Flickr page , or for some tales from the trails, visit my travel journal.

It was nice to escape Toronto in late March when it was still blanketed in snow, to hike around the spring flowers and trees of Hunan & Yunnan. But it was even better to return to Toronto a month later to blue skies and 22C weather. Good thing that I didn't have a stopover in Alberta. They had a huge snowstorm this weekend!

Where in the world??

2008-03-17T20:56:00.005-04:00

Moneypit fans, I am hitting the road. I'm hanging up my tool belt for a money belt. I'm not collecting Air Miles at the hardware store, but by flying. Bad for my carbon credits, but good for my karma credits.

Try out this fun geography quiz as a warm-up for tales from China. I made it to level 8 and scored 255,505 on my first try. My traveler IQ is 100.

Stay tuned for details on my new travel blog.

(On my third try, I got up to 269,868, but did not get past level 8. Must consult a map of Africa before trying again. Better yet, time to travel to Africa!)

What is Obay?

2008-02-26T13:54:00.004-05:00

After fourteen days, the Obay mystey has finally been unveiled. It confirms what we all believed: that Obay isn't real.

I loved the campaign, but the reveal was quite anticlimactic. I think that they took too long to get to the next step. People have been blogging about it, and even the Toronto Star wrote an article about it. This led me to an even better discovery: Torontoist.com. (Why have I never heard or seen this website before! They have such amazing photography!) Torontoist.com doesn't just write about stuff they've seen, they actually do some investigating, and they got to the bottom of the Obay story

I was somewhat disappointed, but the line: "pushing them to do what you want isn't right", redeems the whole campaign, in my humble opinion. It ties in directly with the creative, and it works. I was just surprised that Ontario Colleges even needs to advertise. Other than Universities, aren't they the only game in town? But when reading today's Toronto Star story, I see that this is the point. While far more practical and successful for most students, Colleges still suffer from an inferior view. Hopefully this will get people talking about the 30% of parents who would be embarrassed if their children went to College instead of University. Now that is shameful! Why? Because I said so!

OBay - From the makers of WhyBecauseISaidSo

2008-02-14T19:07:00.002-05:00

I was walking to work the other day and I passed a bus shelter with this ad which really caught my attention. Despite the freezing cold winds and blowing snow, I stopped to take a second look. Could this be a real drug? What the hell! Uncertain, I continued along my route. Then I saw a second version only a few blocks away. Humm. Well, it made me laugh out loud, and after a coffee, I realized that this couldn't be a pharmaceutical ad: 1) because we don't advertise pharamceuticals in Canada (may cause anal leakage, dizzyness, dry mouth, watering mouth, etc.) and 2) because it is just too harsh.

Back at my computer, I googled this thing, and I couldn't find anything, except somebody else's post on Yahoo Questions. And for the first time in my life, I replied to one of those Yahoo Questions. (Guess which one is me.) There are several other replies now, but nobody knows what it is all about. It must be a progressive ad campaign, yet I have only seen four of these ads so far.

Stepping Out

2008-02-02T16:30:00.002-05:00

I have not been very motivated lately to start any major work in our Money Pit, so instead I have been "Stepping Out". I satisfy my reno cravings by helping out friends or by lounging around the MP, enjoying the fruits of our labour. (Not a day goes by that I don't praise the reno gods for the dishwasher in our kitchen. I can't imagine life without it!)

Last weekend was very busy though. I painted at Ally & Ian's new place on Havelock on Saturday and Monday evening. The 3rd floor office is now a tasteful Benjamin-Moore beige with Cloud White trim. Very smart. And on the Sunday, I took a stroll to Upper Montrose with my painting pole to help Denise paint her bathroom a fresh pale blue. (Truth is, I borrowed the pole from Denise, so I was finally returning it!) And as luck would have it, we got a major dump of snow on Friday and my office closed early, so I used the bonus time to help Denise install a new light fixture in her hallway. It looks marvelous (if I do say so myself!)

On the road again...

2008-01-04T19:43:00.001-05:00

To get my mind off renovating, it is time for me to hit the highway, or actually the airport, and set out on a foreign adventure. 2007 was a pretty good year, with trips to Paris and New York. I figure that 2008 is the perfect time to revisit Beijing, and see for myself how the Olympics preparations are coming along, and spend some quality time with my good friends Zerlina and Lennox. They've been living in Beijing for years and are planning to move after the Olympics. So if I want to see Beijing again, this is likely my best chance.

I will spend thirty days in China, which seems like a lot of time, but when you're traveling in a country as vast and as populated as China, it is almost insignificant. This time I will go to Hunan, Yunnan, Beijing, and Shanghai - a good compliment to my 2004 adventure in China. I want to go to Mongolia and Tibet, but that will have to wait for another trip. I hear that the sand storms this time of year are not so pleasant.

If you want to read about my travel adventures or see some photos, check out my new travel blog. I'll be updating it from the road. But I'm not leaving until March 20.

Divided We Live

2007-11-12T20:48:00.007-05:00

Major first time home buyer error: don't think that you can easily change the floor plan. You can change some small things in your home, like removing a wall, but it is DIFFICULT to move your stairs. For some naive reason, I thought that we could change the stairs to make the space more open if we wanted to. Of course we can change it, but it will be very expensive!

The first photo shows a view of the dining room towards the living room and front door. The stairs are a nice feature in the room, but wouldn't it be nicer if you could see through to the living room, both above and below the stairs? Check out the second photo which is a reverse shot of the living room, towards the dining room and kitchen.

The wall with the cow painting is hiding the stairs. You can see all the way down to the kitchen and sunroom, but the dining room is hidden. It would be great to showcase the stairs on this side too, and allow the light to shine through, and really open up the space.

But this is just a dream. There is no way that we'll be able to change the stairs at this point. So for now, they will remain on the wish list, like getting rid of the pink bathroom. For now we will continue to live divided.

Stepping Up

2007-10-24T22:52:00.000-04:00

One more look back: the stairs. When we bought the house, we thought that we'd just pull off the stained grey carpet and paint the stairs. Boy, were we wrong!

First we had to remove the "peel and stick" tiles, which ripped off the finish on the stairs, leaving a lumpy mess. Pulling up the dirty carpet seemed vile, until I spent about 45 hours stripping the layers of paint with a heat gun, and then with lovely scented paint stripper. How much of the paint was leaded, I wonder? And then painting with oil based paint. I did the second coat on Christmas day, before going to my sister's house for dinner. But it is funny how I had forgotten all the work, until I looked at these pictures.

Looking back a bit more

2007-10-24T22:30:00.001-04:00

So the front hall was a success, but the dining room with the hand painted Klimt mural - what can you do with that? Four coats of Fresh Start primer, followed by two coats of Manchester Tan. The result: a dining room that doesn't give your guests indigestion. Another success story.

The kitchen: before and after, which has been well documented in this blog.

It's always good to take a look back now and then

2007-10-24T21:47:00.000-04:00

It is easy to get down on yourself, thinking that you haven't done enough to your house. But take a look back at some old photos and you'll see the impressive transformation. Take for example, the front hall, which is now part of the living room.

Mint green paint, knotty pine wainscotting, and DARK. We tried to lighten it up with paint, but that wasn't enough. So we tore down the wall, drywalled the stucco ceiling, some fresh paint, and voila... a room that you can live in!

Now I don't feel so bad that I haven't finished painting the kitchen yet!

The pink did not stop on the main floor. It continued up the stairs and into the hallway, bathroom & "master" bedroom. We removed the "rushing rivers" mural on the closet doors, pulled down the pink pinstripe curtains & burgundy mini blinds, and then gave it a couple of coats of paint. The old futon looks pretty shabby in this photo. It is a work in progress-the room is not done yet.

The Best of New York (in my humble opinion)

2007-09-29T12:19:00.000-04:00

We are now at the airport waiting for our flight home. I've already downloaded my photos and we have a few hours to kill, so I've decided to make a list of the places that we liked, for our next trip to NY. It seems very anal to write it all here, but figured that this way I can tell all my friends (and possibly some strangers) without having to look it up all the time.

When we weren't in New York's awesome museums (MOMA, Guggenheim, etc.) or shopping with the Canadian dollar worth more than the US (for the first time since 1976!) we were walking, eating and drinking. We had a rule that we wouldn't eat at the same place twice and that we'd always try something different if possible - especially all the micro brews that they have. Bartenders were generally very helpful in describing the various beers and would often let you sample it before committing to a pint. And with so many different restaurants to choose from, making a decision was usually the hardest part. That and finding something affordable in the more upscale neighbourhoods. Here is our list, by neighbourhood.

Restaurants:

Lower East Side

Russ & Daughters - 179 E Houston St., just east of Allen. - the BEST selection of smoked salmon and any smoked fish anywhere. The store is over 100 years old and quality is amazing. Best place to get a bagel with cream cheese and lox. Yummy! My only regret is that we didn't eat here more.

Katz's Deli - 205 E Houston St, at Ludlow St. - Traditional and crazy big New York deli that's been there since 1888. The best corned beef that I've ever tasted, and I was full for 12 hours. Sandwich comes with a big plate of pickles and pickled green tomatoes. Very fresh and fun to see the photos of all the celebs who have been there.

Pink Pony - 176 Ludlow St. (between Houston & Stanton) - Large and airy place with interesting decor and a great menu. Went for breakfast one day and would have liked to try their evening menu. Delicious. They list all of their purveyors on the menu, and most of the ingredients come from the neighbourhood. Great local feel.

Sugar - corner of Houston & Essex - not in the guide book, but we thought that we'd give it a try. Dan thought that it was the WORST of New York, and I guess that compared to everything else we'd had, it was. But, it was really not that bad. I'd recommend it for a coffee and a snack if you're in the area, but not for a meal. They do have free wifi.

Little Vesleka - First Ave between Houston & First - Strictly takeout and a few outdoor bistro tables for breakfast and light meals. A mini version of the well known Ukrainian place on Second Ave. Good coffee. It is across from Sugar and we wish that we'd gone there instead. Next time for sure.

El Sombrero - 108 Stanton St. at Ludlow St. - great Mexican restaurant in a happening neighbourhood. We walked past it dozens of times but never at meal time. There just wasn't time to check it out, but we will next time for sure. Always busy.

East Village

Frank - 88 Second Ave (between 5th & 6th Sts.) - Great traditional Italian food. Tiny with great atmosphere and menu with lots of Italian favorites. I had the homemade ravioli with beets & ricotta. Delicious.

Cloister Cafe - 238 E 9th St. (between 2nd & 3rd Aves) - tranquil garden to enjoy a refreshing drink. I didn't try the food, so can't vouch for that.

Cucina di Pesce - 87 E 4th St. (between 2nd & 3rd Aves) - Great priced Italian food with an excellent value "early bird" special (before 6:30 p.m.) which is good for the Off-off Broadway theatres in the area. We went later and still enjoyed a good meal. Dan thought that it was amazing, but I rate it more in the good range.

Sidewalk Cafe - Avenue A around 6th Street - I don't remember the exact address, as we're not that keen on going back. I remembered eating there when I was in NY about a decade ago and stayed on the Lower East side with a friend of a friend. I was so pleased to find it, we had to try it. It was our first morning in Manhattan, and the place was packed. Sadly, the food wasn't as good as I had remembered. I would skip it next time.

Yaffa Cafe - 97 St. Mark's Place - Recommended by a local coffee shop employee, and I have also been there a few times on previous trips, but this 24 hour cafe did not measure up to my memories. Their menu is too varied. How can they do everything well? It is a good location and a cool decor, but I think that the quality of food has slipped. The moral of the story: only go to a 24 hour restaurant when all others are closed. The long hours have a negative impact on the quality.

NoLIta (North of Little Italy)

Cafe Colonial - 276 Elizabeth St. at Houston - Based on the fresh food concept of colonial restaurants in Brazil, bright with high ceilings and friendly staff. Delicious brunch, but the rest of the menu looked good too.

Cafe Gitane - 242 Mott St. at Prince St. - Small but tasty food with a French flair. Yummy and great atmosphere too. I've been here on three separate trips to NYC and still love it.

Cafe Habana - 229 Elizabeth St - it sounded good and looked packed whenever we passed by, but didn't have time to try it ourselves. I'll put it on the list for next time, that's for sure.

Midtown West

Hourglass Tavern - 373 W 46th St. (between 8th & 9th Aves) - In "restaurant row" near the big Broadway theatres. A good choice if you're in the neighbourhood, but I wouldn't go out of my way to try it. Great atmosphere and nice staff, good food too. They have an hourglass on the wall above each table and during busy times, they turn it so that you don't overstay your welcome during the pre-Theatre rush.

Upper West Side

Vinyl - 507 Columbus Ave (at 85th St.) - We went to meet a friend from Toronto who is working in NY. This is her new neighbourhood, and a place that she's been a few times. It has a great decor of vinyl records and recording artists. The menus are old album covers (mine was Bonnie Rait, but Dan's was some old musical starring a then unknown Tom Bosley) which was fun. We met quite early in the evening so it was full of tables with young children and even one birthday party. But it was still quite cool and the decor was fun. The food was delicious and reasonably priced too. They have two other locations: one in Hell's Kitchen and I don't remember the other.

Brooklyn - Park Slope

Coco Roco - 392 Fifth Ave (between 6th & 7th Sts) - Peruvian cuisine - very very good. We ordered off the daily specials menu and were extremely happy with our choices. The ceviche appetizer tray was awesome. Five different types of seafood all 'cooked' in citrus, so it is tender and delicious, like sushi. I highly recommend trying it, if you haven't already. Great service and good prices too.

BARS

Hands down, the best drinking holes are found in both the Lower East Side and the East Village. A bit more gritty and unique than other areas of Manhattan, and filled with interesting looking characters. Anything but generic. But, I guess that it depends on what you're looking for. This area is more like Toronto's Queen Street West or Parkdale, not Yorkville. I understand that Brooklyn is the place to be for that type of ambiance at even better prices, but regrettably, we only made it out there once.

Lower East Side

I don't think that you could go wrong on any place on Ludlow. There are a bunch of bars close together, and we tried a few, and liked them all. I just don't remember all the names. On weekends, it gets beyond packed with non-Manhattan-ites in their trendy outfits.

Max Fish - 178 Ludlow Street just below Houston - High ceilings, interesting decor, and local hipsters come to drink with their dogs.

Local 138 - 138 Ludlow Street, just down from Max Fish - darker, moodier place with good music and friendly service.

East Village

d.b.a - 41 First Ave (between 2nd & 3rd Sts.) - This place was below our apartment and we foolishly walked past it many times, en route to other bars. Fortunately we stopped in for a pint before going to the airport and wished that we'd gone earlier. Amazing selection of beers and bourbons, great staff and good character. It was packed most nights after 10 p.m.

Lakeside Lounge - 162 Ave B (between E 10th & 11th Sts.) - I've been here on several prior trips to NYC. Small dark place that often features bands. They have a photo booth in the bar, where I have crowded into with friends in the past. On this trip, we visited on a quiet Monday night and it just didn't have the same energy that it usually has, but I still liked it.

Beauty Bar - 231 East 14th St. (between 2nd & 3rd Aves) - An old beauty parlor with all the hair dyers and equipment now used for patrons to enjoy a cocktail. They have a manicure special: $10 which includes a free cocktail. A bit bar with a good selection of beers, but also lots of old beauty products on display. They have a big back room where I saw some stand-up comics on my last visit to NYC. This time we just enjoyed a pint in the front room, and the fact that we were two of only a handful who were not asked for ID at the door. It was Friday, so the crowd was a bit younger.

One and One - First Ave at 1st Street - Almost across the street from our apartment, it was close and had a good happy hour and great vantage for people watching on Houston. We sampled their awesome Happy Hour wings at only 10 cents per wing and washed them down with $4 pints. Yum. The pub itself was less interesting, but the location made up for that.

Midtown East

Old Town Bar and Grill - 45 E 18th St. (between Park Ave & Broadway) - Over a hundred years old, huge ceilings and huge booths, and a bar that runs the length of the place. We sat in a booth with an autographed book jacket from Frank McCourt, claiming that it is the only bar left in NY where you can talk. Good conversation levels. They serve food too.

Pete's Tavern - 129 E 18th St (at Irving Pl.) - They claim that it is New York oldest original bar. I'm not sure what the original part means, although it did look old and had lots of character. We had a beer at the bar, to fuel our walk home from the Flatiron building. It is said that O. Henry wrote his short story "The Gift of the Magi" in his regular booth here. We sat at the bar right beside this booth, and it had a "reserved" sign on it the whole time, but nobody sat there. En route to the bathroom, I saw tons of photos of various celebs eating there: Rosie O'Donnell, Bill Clinton, Johnny Depp, etc., but none were there that night.

Midtown West

Rudy's - 627 Ninth Ave (between 44th & 45th Sts.) - a dive bar with free hot dogs and cheap beer, and vintage bartenders. Reputed to be popular with the broadway performers (think cheap and close by) but the theatre was in while we were there, so instead it was full of Hell's Angels and frat boys. An interesting and potentially dangerous mix.We sat in a circular red vinyl booth that was majorly taped up with red duct tape. I wanted to take a photo but was worried about the biker guys. We had our pint and got outta there. (I had been there before and found it fun that other time.)

SoHo

Fanelli - 94 Prince St at Mercer - an old bar with a great vibe and killer location. Good place for a cool refreshment on a day of shopping, or even at night. On my last trip, we enjoyed a few glasses of wine while chatting the the bartender. This time we were left on our own to soak up the ambiance.

West Village

We walked all the way over from the East Village, just for a change of pace, but found the area to be lacking in the kind of original places we had found on the east side. We went to The Blind Tiger Ale House on Hudson St., as I'd been there on my last trip to NYC two years ago, but it has been replaced by yet another Starbucks. Boo. But we soldiered on to:

White Horse Tavern - 567 Hudson St at W. 11th St. - It's claim to fame is that Dylan Thomas had his last meal there, before going to hospital with alcohol poisoning. It is decorated with lots of white horses all over. I thought it looked kinda cool, but Dan said that it seemed as authentic as a Firkin (a chain of generic pubs in Ontario). It was full of generic white people and we were sitting too close to a loud guy who was visiting from another part of the US, and thought that everybody would want to hear his take on the characters on Leave It to Beaver. One of the most expensive pints we had in New York and definitely not the best. I'd give it a pass.

Brooklyn - Park Slope

The Gate - 321 Fifth Ave at 3rd St. - Great beer selection and a BIG patio. A great place to relax after a long walk.

Brooklyn - Carrol Gardens

The Brooklyn Social Club - I didn't get to this place because I forgot to take the address with me when we went to Brooklyn, and surprisingly, we did not walk past it on our long long march. My friends tell me that it is amazing, and I do regret that we didn't get to see it.

September Sunburn: One of the Dangers of Walking to Brooklyn

2007-09-25T16:42:00.000-04:00

This photo was taken before the sunburn, on the first or second mile on our walk to Brooklyn. For my birthday, I thought that it would be fun to walk to Brooklyn. We started out in the East Village, at First Avenue and 3rd Street marched our way to Park Slope. Without a tour guide, we may not have chosen the best nor most direct route, but we certainly saw a lot of variety. At times, Dan didn't seem too happy, especially in the discount shopping area of Flatbush Ave in downtown Brooklyn, where we really stood out. Plus, it was HOT and humid! And I mean hot. Whenever it seemed like we were really on the wrong path, we would see the red double decker tourist bus go past, so we kept going.

Finally we made it to the lush Prospect Park lined with fancy homes and filled with young mothers and their babies. Exhausted and thirsty at this point, we made out way down the slope to 5th Ave and found the welcoming pub, The Gate. Across from a smaller park full of even more children, we had a delicious pint and then continued down 5th to Coco Roco, a delicious Peruvian restaurant. (If you go, try the Ceviche - it was heavenly!) At the end of a satisfying meal, Dan looked at me and asked: "can we take the subway back?" Of course! I am crazy, but not that crazy.

Look at this map and see our route (more or less - sometimes it wouldn't let me go down one way streets the wrong way). Apparently it was 6.6 miles, but it felt longer.

View Larger Map

I can finally see the light!

2007-09-08T17:05:00.000-04:00

What would you do if your boyfriend jets off to Vegas for the weekend with his much younger work colleagues? If "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas", then "what happens in Toronto, is likely not worth gossiping about".

In keeping with that slogan, I decided that I had the physical and mental space in the house to finally tackle one of the items in the kitchen reno that has remained incomplete. I remember convincing my friend Chris to drive me across the city just before Christmas (in 2006!) to get the pot lights from Wolfe Electric, so that I would have them to show the electrician during his upcoming visit. We inched through rush hour traffic, purchased the three pot lights and transformer and I was set to install them. The electrician came to the house the next day and he ran the wires from the electrical box to the kitchen for the new microwave range hood, and the under-counter pot lights. He could not install them yet, as we had to replace the drywall, install the new cupboards, install the backsplash tiles, and all that. But he kindly explained to me how to install them, and I jotted it down on a scrap of paper, pictured below.

Nine months passed. Somebody could have had a baby in that time frame, but my lights were still not installed, and my memory of the electrician's tutorial was pretty fuzzy. But then I remembered the instructions. I pulled them out, but the cryptic scribbles didn't make that much sense.

- 2 red leads to black & white in box
- white to top screw on current outlet (white side)
- black to TOP new light switch
- jumper to black to BOTTOM of new light switch (push the jumper into back of switch)

I was baffled as the transformer didn't have two red leads, but it did have two blue leads. Then I remembered - the electrician had told me the instructions for a different transformer/pot light combo that I returned to a different store. Anyway, I improvised. And in this case, the results were not dangerous, and things worked out nicely. No arcing, no blown bulbs - just fully functioning pot lights that light up the fabulous glass tiles in our new kitchen.

So Dan returned from Vegas with stories of being in a night club where Brittany Spears had been, only hours before her botched performance at the MTV Awards. And I bragged about my handy work at home. Brittany's career may be over, but there are lots of lights that remain to be installed!!!

Spontaneous Sunflowers

2007-08-26T13:27:00.000-04:00

Our house is now hidden by a giant sunflower - and we didn't plant one. When it sprouted in the spring, we were going to pull it out, as we were unsure what it was, but when I noticed that the neighbours had one too, I thought that it couldn't be a weed.

Our garden has been dug up three times in the first year and a half that we've been on Montrose. The last excavation was this spring, when they were installing the new gas meter. All my bulbs and perennials were dug up, so we had no idea what might sprout up this year. Our bulbs were likely in somebody else's garden, along with all the compost that I'd replaced the clay with. They certainly didn't return the compost to my garden. The 7' deep hole had been refilled with clay. I had worked so hard on the garden last year, only to have it dug up again. I kinda gave up and didn't put as much effort into it, because they might just dig it up again. So when this mystery plant sprouted up, I just let it grow.

As it grew taller and taller, I had to wonder: did Dan cash in his retirement savings to buy some magic beans? Was he sucked in by returns which would out-perform the stock market? He doesn't seem like the lottery/dreamer type, but you never know. What else could explain the giant mystery plant in the front garden? Would it ever stop growing?

Finally some flowers formed when the stalk stopped growing at about 7 feet. It is too short to climb. Maybe it is an inversion of the 7 foot hole that was dug in the garden last summer? How symbolic. Or maybe a bird or squirrel dropped the seeds there. Yeah, that's much more likely than the magic bean explanation. Either that or spontaneous sunflowers.

My Love Hate Relationship with Ceiling Fans

2007-07-09T22:02:00.001-04:00

I love ceiling fans. They are energy efficient and they don't take up any space. I hate them because they are a pain in the butt to install. All those wires, and you have to stuff them into that tiny box in the ceiling. The remote control, the fan blades, the poorly written installation instructions -- it can take a few hours to put one up. Plus, the decent looking ones are not cheap. But, I have three of them. Until last night, the third one was sitting in the box for over six months. Why? Because it required moving one fan from upstairs to downstairs and the second was a new install. Plus, one had a wall mounted motor controller, while the other was remote control. But the heatwave dictated that this was the time to finally do it.

A few frustrating hours later, we had three installed and fully functioning fans. Victory. Except, when I went to turn on the circuit in the basement, I discovered that the basement lights and the dining room light were no longer working. The lack of light in the basement made it impossible to find the voltmeter with a flashlight. One step forward, two steps back. Well, at least the reduced lighting and the additional fan makes the house feel a bit cooler during this heatwave. And hopefully it won't take six months to get this next repair done.

Second blown clutch on 2004 Mazda3: do not buy from Dufferin Mazda!

2007-06-26T13:33:00.001-04:00

I just received word that Dan's relatively new vehicle has blown the clutch again. He was calling from Palmerston Blvd while awaiting the tow truck. The car had zero km on it when he drove it off the lot on September 19, 2004. It is less than 3 years old, and this is the second time that the clutch has broken. Is this really normal?

Now you might think that he doesn't know how to drive a stick? (I'm sure you'd expect that if he was female.) But, he does. With his 1991 Integra, the original clutch lasted more than a decade. As did the Honda that he drove before that. And the brakes on the 2004 Mazda3 needed to be replaced after just one year, whereas the Integra held out for over 5.5 years. Sure, city driving is hard on a car, but do the parts really expire in a year? Or is this a problem with Mazda?

Dan's phone calls to the Dufferin Mazda dealership were often not returned. He also wrote letters. And in the end, they said that it was normal wear and tear, and they would not pay for it. Nor did they pay for the tow truck up to the dealership, or for the rental car that he had to rent for five days while they fixed the clutch the first time. The level of service and customer support at both Dufferin Mazda and Mazda Canada are deplorable.

Look out Mazda. Look out Dufferin Mazda. You have a new enemy.

Now you may be interested to know that Conservative MP Wajid Kahn (who crossed the floor in January 2007 from the Liberal party) is the former owner of Dufferin Mazda. And as this clever writer says: Mississauga MP (and former Dufferin Mazda dealership owner) Wajid Khan further weakened the reputation of used car salesmen by betraying Liberal voters and defecting to the Conservative party. Switching parties mid-season? How can we trust this guy? When he retires from politics, will he be back full time at the dealership, doing television ads in a jailbird suit, a la Mel Lastman?

At Dufferin Mazda's website, they have the nerve to write: We do it better, we do it for less. Do they really???

Have you had a problem with the clutch on your Mazda? Do you have service horror stories with Dufferin Mazda? If so, comment and let me know. It is time that they learn that word-of-mouth can be negative as they witness the power of online communications.

Fighting Fires

2007-06-18T21:19:00.000-04:00

As a young girl, I wanted to be an electrician, but I never wanted to be a firefighter - not until Saturday.

I was at the Upper Montrose street festival for the annual "trading of the junk" - a street-wide yard sale. I hauled a bunch of my stuff up there, in an attempt to clear some space in the basement. I sold a bunch of junk for a loony at a time. In the end, I had a pocket full of change that added up to about $50, which I was planning to use to take my father out for Father's Day.

The festivities were just beginning: make your own cupcake, the kiddie bike parade, the adult vs. children hockey game, street dance, etc. But, I had to get going to the comedy club. En route, I passed the firefighters display at the end of the street. A pair of pants were rolled down around a big pair of rubber boots, sitting on the street beside the truck. All the parents were bringing their little kids over to have their photo taken sitting in the truck. Well, since I don't have any kids, I jumped right in there myself. I stepped out of my sandals and into the boots. It took some effort to get all those layers on, which felt great on a hot and humid day. Not only hot but heavy. With all the gear, I was carrying almost an additional 100 lbs. Yikes.

The guys were great sports, and seemed like a lot of fun, but I decided that firefighting was probably not for me. I'm afraid of heights, plus I don't like shift work. So I hung up my suit and put my sandals back on, and made my way back down to Lower Montrose, where my career ambitions return to being just an electrician (or at least until I install the new light fixture that I got at the yard sale).

Super Mom the Electrician

2007-06-06T22:03:00.000-04:00

With freshly painted walls, all those mismatching outlets and switches were bringing down the decor on Upper Montrose. So, I went up to show Dee how to rewire them with fresh new white decora outlets. Basically, you just need to turn off the power to the circuit, unfasten the two screws, pull out the outlet, loosen the terminal screws and remove the wires. Take note which wire was connected to which terminal. You will find that each outlet can be wired in a few different ways, so my non-professional advice is to rewire it exactly the way you found it. Then you need to gently push the outlet back into the box, making sure that none of the wires pop off a terminal. The only thing that makes this job difficult is that the wire is very rigid, so it can be hard to bend it and cram all the wires back into the box, without the wires coming off. But once it is in, you just just fasten the outlet to the box with the two screws, put on a fresh new cover plate and then turn the power back on to the circuit. Use a tester to make sure that the outlet works properly and celebrate!

I was very proud of Dee. She rolled up her sleeves and gave it all she had. Some of the screws were caked in paint or had been in place for decades, making them difficult to loosen. Sometimes it took two hands, but she completed her first outlet, just in time to feed the baby. Now that's tough work. She has to feed that little guy every two or three hours. On our first night on the job, we completed the living room outlets and got started on the master bedroom, until it got too dark. So, we called it a night and put little Skittles to bed.

How does this super mom juggle a baby with an electrician apprenticeship? Slowly, but with increasing skill. And she'll have the satisfaction of knowing that she was the one who rewired the outlets herself. Or maybe she'll become my personal shopper in exchange for some handy work around the house. It remains to be seen as neither of us in a huge rush. After all, it is summer!

If you want to rewire your own outlets and need some tips, check out this article or grab a book from the library. Be careful that the power is off and remember what I learned in my high voltage class in University: most people who get electrocuted die from the fall, not from the voltage itself. So just make sure that you're on the ground, or put some pillows around to break your fall.

The Painter Paints

2007-06-03T22:06:00.000-04:00

Ally is one of my friends who can paint. Really paint - like pictures that you'd hang on the wall kinda painting. But here she is helping out our friends on Upper Montrose, painting the trim and shelves in the new living room. When she was done, the room looked fab but her hands were caked with latex paint. She kept rubbing her face, but she didn't notice. I guess that's the way that artists react to paint. They embrace it. I was painting ceilings at the time. I reacted to the paint by becoming speckled, like a rare tree toad.

It is hard to believe that I didn't have any experience painting until the past two years, when we moved into our little pink house. Of course, I had painted before, but not that much. The pink demanded that we learn to paint quickly, or hire somebody who could do it. I was prepared to hire somebody but Dan thought that we should try it out ourselves, so we did. So, he has only himself to blame for all this DYI stuff we do on weekends.

Anyway, Ally and The Duke are looking to buy their own Money Pit. Ally confided in me that she hates painting. Hopefully she either finds a place that was recently painted, or else I can give her the name of some great painters. But if she asks nicely, I'll come over and paint her ceilings, if she wants. Let's just hope that there isn't any wallpaper!!!!

Don't Welcome These New Neighbours

2007-05-29T22:11:00.000-04:00

The last person that you want to move into the house next door is this guy. It is even worse if he takes to sunbathing on your back fence!!!

Sure, baby raccoons are cute but they are also very very destructive. And when you see one baby raccoon, you know that a whole family is close by.

Dan came home at lunch and found this guy being chased out of our neighbour's yard, so he set up shop on our fence. His sibbling was trapped between the compost bin and our fence. Dan went back to work and was surprised to find they hadn't moved in 4 hours. We had to make them feel unwelcome or they would take over, so we pulled out the garden house and sprayed them away. It worked. This guy moved over one more yard and sat there. Later that night, I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye. We turned on the light and saw a big mamma raccoon with SEVEN babies on our neighbour's garage roof. They were on a rescue mission to fetch the two that had camped out in our yard all day. Just to make sure that all eight of them felt very unwelcome, we got the hose out again for a late night shower. They got the message and ran.

I know that a family of raccons live in the attic of our near neighbours - about 4 houses down. They love garbage night and all come out to sample the Montrose buffet. We put our garbage out in the morning, but most of our neighbours have a garbage phobia and insist on setting it curbside at the earliest possible moment: 6 p.m. in winter and 7 p.m. in the summer. It's like putting out raccoon bait! But I doubt that I can change their behaviour. They love to hose their sidewalks down daily and they love to put the garbage out early. What can I do? So for now, I put hot sauce on the back fence, to keep the raccoons remembering that they are definitely not welcome at my money pit.

You need to have the right tools!

2007-05-19T20:31:00.000-04:00

Have you ever stripped wallpaper?

It is not fun. My house had one wallpapered bathroom and two wallpaper murals. My friend Chris removed one of the wallpaper murals for me, and then he helped me strip the bathroom, over the course of two days. TWO DAYS. It came off in little strips and gouged the wall to shreds.

Hours after the newest residents of Upper Montrose took possession of their new house, Chris rushed in to strip the wallpaper off the upstairs bedrooms. He finished one bedroom in 10 minutes. The other bedroom's wallpaper would not strip. Not at all. So that's when Chris said: you need to have the right tools. He got on the horn and found us a steamer. Ian ran out to get it, and then we got to work.

It took forever to get the flipping thing working. Then the heat and steam poured out. And we got to work - stripping, and sweating. The smallest bedroom in the house, which was only half papered, took us 3 hours to do. We finished around midnight, then cleaned up, and called it a day. We went back in the morning only to discover that the wallpaper in the mainfloor powder room was equally stubborn. So two of us crammed into the smallest room in the house and got steamy. I cannot imagine how long it would have taken to do this without the steamer. It just goes to show you that the right tools make all the difference!

New Kid on the Block

2007-05-18T12:12:00.001-04:00

Obviously this house is not new to the neigbourhood, but the occupants are. Today, my friends and their 3 month old baby take possession of this lovely 3 bedroom home on "upper" Montrose, just up the street from my own money pit. This will be handy when they require a babysitter or a handy woman. A wise move on their part.

After my day at the office, I will stop by and help out with the mini-makeover that a home needs when its occupants of over 20 years move away. I plan on spending the May 24 weekend there, removing wallpaper, scrubbing walls with TSP, and painting. I am looking forward to the painting and the physical labour. We haven't done any work on our house for about two months, although there is a long list to do. For some reason it seems easier to get work done outside the house. (Although, I have not yet done anything...)

It won't really be like spending a weekend at the cottage. I think that it will be better: we won't spend any time in the long weekend traffic, no bugs, and I won't miss my Saturday morning squash game. Plus, we will have some great new neighbours.

From all of us Monty's: welcome the three newbies. We'll meet you in the back laneway at dusk for a dance off.

Bathroom Envy

2007-05-12T21:50:00.000-04:00

I never thought that I'd have bathroom envy, but here I am, coveting my neighbour's powder room!

Maybe you had to see the 'before' shot to truly appreciate this remarkable transformation, but this cloud white dream has absolutely no affiliation with it's former self. Talk about extreme makeover. And, just like on TV, they did it in record time. The demolition began on a Saturday and the transformation was revealed at a huge house party only 6 days later. The work was completed by two savvy men who were also juggling full time jobs at the time. How the hell did they pull this off? "No sleep", was one comment that I heard.

I was called in on day 2, when the shutoff valve was not really shutting off the water. Having completed a 9 week plumbing course at Central Tech, I am the most logical person to call in this situation. I got out my propane torch and plumbing supplies and rode off on my bike, to see if I could help. I cut the pipe and tried to solder a cap on it, so Matthew could tile the floor without water dripping onto it. But, it kept leaking. Just a slow drip leak, so we tied a rag around it and he carried on. The plumber came a few days later to install the new toilet and sink, and he informed us that you can't get the copper hot enough if there is any water in the plumbing system. We did turn off the water and drain the pipes in the basement, but our fatal error was not draining all the water upstairs too. Lesson learned, if I am ever brave enough to do more plumbing!

My favorite part of this story was that Matthew rented a paint sprayer so that he could cover the spray foam insulation and the ceiling joists. Major overkill for a room that is only 4' by 3'. I was told that a gallon of paint was sprayed in a matter of minutes. The whole room was raining white. Imagine that.

Just as a reminder, the homeowners have placed a framed photo of the former bathroom just outside the door, so you can really appreciate the transformation. Maybe they'll send me a copy to post here!

A Renovation Vacation

2007-05-04T16:17:00.000-04:00

It is always nice to get away from home and stop thinking about the little repairs that remain incomplete. But it turns out that home renos can follow you on vacation. While in Paris for two weeks, I was graciously invited to stay with my former neighbour Melanie and her husband Jerome. They moved into a charming house just steps from the Paris city limit in the village of St-Ouen. Both are interior designers by trade, so they are working on one majorly cool home renovation, already five years in the making. The house is deceptively small looking from the street, but beyond the pseudo-Mediterranean exterior hides a four bedroom, three bathroom home with a private sunny garden, a huge workshop, and a garage that currently parks three cars. A house this size in Paris is exceptional. And so are their building plans.

Melanie and Jerome are not only expanding their home, they are also expanding their family. Melanie was 5 1/2 months preganant when we arrived. I was there when she had her 2nd ultrasound and found out that it will be a girl. Exciting! But baby needs a bedroom, so the push is on to get the main floor done by September. Jerome completed the subfloor during our first week there, and they had a few different tradesmen in during my visit. I thought that they would have the inside track on all the best contractors & tradespeople in the city, but in fact, they said that good contractors are hard to find in Paris, just as here in Canada. So, they are in a holding pattern, waiting to get work done.

It seems that on either side of the Atlantic, home renos can be equally frustrating. Yet also equally rewarding. The work that they have done so far is very impressive, so I can't wait to see the next phase. Just one more reason to want to go back to Paris -- as if I need an excuse!!!

I've Lost My Cool

2007-03-15T17:47:00.000-04:00

My nieces used to think that I was really cool. But that was back when I lived in a cool loft and I was single, so I spent all my time with them. But now I have a house that needs my attention. Walls to paint, tiles to grout - that sort of thing. At Christmas, I took them to see Wicked, as well the bright lights of Dundas Square. But it is always the unexpected that impresses them the most. We had about half an hour to kill, so we went to the Eaton Centre to unthaw. Alas, the girls had never seen our urban mall before, as they live out in Clarington Township, east of Oshawa. They were amazed by the giant christmas tree covered in sparkling crystals and the dancing fountains. They were also dazzled by the Disney Store. (The culture of consumerism is growing!)

As part of their March Break activities, the girls came to visit with their mother and dog on the weekend. We went to the ROM and the AGO -- all the cultural places that you should visit. But I can tell that they are just not as impressed with my small west end house as they were with my cool loft. I know this because Jessica tells me every time she walks through the door. She flops onto the couch and says: "I liked your old place better." She's very direct. What can I do to win back the cool? Is there anything that I can show them that can impress them, or are they already jaded at ages 10 and 12?

Saturday night we went to their favorite restaurant: Swatow. Sometimes I think that is the only reason they came for the visit, was to eat at Swatow. They love the "real" chinese food, the kind that you can't get out in Oshawa. But again, it is always the little things that impress them more. En route to the restaurant, Jessica spotted a rat. Now, we were in Chinatown, but it is the last thing that you want your little niece reporting back to her suburban relatives and classmates about when she boasts about her time in the big smoke. But she thought that it was cool. I know this because she kept saying: "Cool, my first street rat." Well, she quit saying that when she saw her first group of rats - 3 or 4, feasting on a mound of unprotected garbage. Then she said: "Cool! More rats." And she ran towards them. Her older sister did not think it was cool at all. She was suitably disgusted, as was I. Despite the fact that this was only blocks from my former cool loft, I have never seen a rat in Toronto. It was my first street rat too.

Well, with one youth adequately satisfied that a visit to their rapidly aging Aunt is still cool, I had to find a way to impress her older sister. I took her to Mitzi's Sister in Parkdale to see the lovely and talented Rhonda Strackit perform during Canadian Music Week. I have to admit that even I thought that was cool. Top that off with a ride home from "The Duke", and it was certainly a cool weekend to remember -- I hope.

The Trouble with Trim

2007-03-04T20:33:00.000-05:00

Like all jobs, it is the little finishing details that can drive you crazy. Have you ever tried to operate a mitre saw? Well, it is enough to drive you insane.

We planned to do the trim on Saturday, but the power was off in our neighbourhood for over 36 hours, which makes the mitre saw even more difficult to operate. Instead we went to Rona to buy the trim. With electricity at all outlets the next day, we were ready to begin cutting, except that the new trim was too tall for our borrowed mitre saw. We had the choice of buying a sliding compound mitre saw which retails at $1000, or we could exchange the trim for a shorter version. We chose the latter.

One more road trip to Rona and we were finally ready to get cutting. It seems pretty straight forward: 45 degree angles, inside corner, outside corner -- that kinda thing. But one wrong cut and then you get even more confused. Finally we sorted it out and got all the trim cut and nailed it onto the wall using this archaic tool called a hammer. It seems that people can only use those power Brad nailers these days, but we managed to get the trim in place using old school technology and some glue.

I'm sure that it was a thrill for our neighbours and their guests to have their Sunday dinner accompanied by the roar of our power saw and the soft percussion of our hammer. But with each finishing nail, I silently told them that if we get this done tonight, our loud renovation may soon be finished. Soon. For their sake, and for mine!

A Different Kind of Labour

2007-02-25T20:54:00.000-05:00

On Saturday morning, I woke up at 6 a.m. I hate waking up early on days that I don't have to work. Eventually I got up and got to work putting a 2nd coat of paint on the kitchen wall. But my mind kept wandering to my friend Denise who was labouring away at St. Mike's hospital. Around 9:30 a.m., with a paint roller in my hand, I heard the exciting news from Ally, the labour co-coach, that the baby had finally arrived! William (Liam) Elliott Brodie Brown was born around 6:20 a.m. to proud parents Denise and Ian. Weighing in at 7 lbs and 13 oz, he's a healthy little baby who took his time arriving.

I got to see Liam when he was less than half a day old. I was there for his first bath, first feeding and also took his first movie. I was there to help out but also to get some details to report to the world. After two days of labour, the new family needs a rest and requested no visitors. So, I am very honoured to be the family spokesperson. It is such a joy to be the bearer of such wonderful news. Everybody loves to hear about a new baby.

Child labour -- it is quite something. It is hard to believe that women keep doing it. You see the new mom's in the hospital and they all have that weary look of shock on their faces. I am a proud Aunt, but I am BBC - Barren By Choice. (I must credit my friend Kara for coming up with this term. We're planning to get t-shirts too.) And there are a few BBCers in Denise's circle, which is quite handy, cuz that adds up to more well rested babysitters and errand runners. I've even offered to do light housekeeping. Heck, anything but pushing out one of those kids. Yikes.

I'd like to dedicate this post to Ally, Denise's birthing coach. Denise was fortunate to have her on the team and stood with her thru the days of excruciating labour. Ally likes it when I blog about something beyond my kitchen which I think she finds boring. So now I have little Liam to write about and photograph, which is good, since the kitchen is almost done and Ally loves babies.

Mayhem on Montrose - The Ditch Witch

2007-02-22T11:51:00.000-05:00

I think that it is a bad sign to come home from work and find an abandoned trailer loaded with a roll of yellow pipe sitting in front of your house. It makes you wonder what the city is up to now.

Our short time on Montrose has been rife with construction. The day that we moved was the day that they decided to tear up all the pavement and dig around in the sewers or water main. I'm not entirely sure what they were doing, but I did have to pay my movers for an extra hour while they sat at the end of the street watching the construction, since the could not get their truck past the work. The de -pinking of the door and pillars was delayed while waiting for the street to be repaved. Then the day before I left on my canoe trip, they dug an 7' deep hole in my garden, destroying all the back breaking work I'd done cultivating and planting. So you can imagine my worry when I see spray painted lines all over the sidewalks, and now this!

I was shuffling off to work this morning in a near blizzard, listening to the roar of machines in the near distance. There were 8 big trucks parked at the south end, all of them up to different destructive behaviour. One machine was drilling holes in every body's yard and then the guys covered it with a plywood square. Then a backhoe passed by. All this to replace the gas lines, I guess. Right now they are working on the east side of the street, so my tulip bulbs and lilac bush are safe for a few more days, but will they survive this next attack?

I got to the end of the street to see the biggest and meanest looking machine in their crew: the Ditch Witch. I wanted to take a photo, but I was intimidated by the half dozen men standing around it. So I went online and found this image which is even better. What does a construction crew need more than a shapely woman perched on a shovel, flying past an orange moon? Maybe the fellas were staring at me wondering where my shovel/broom was, not because I had a camera. But better than the name and sexy logo is the fact that they offer a platinum card for their customers with 3 months at no interest. I mean, how many people actually buy this equipment?

I am scared of the Ditch Witch and what it might do to my garden. Lord only knows what they are up to right now. All that yellow pipe may be in the ground already. Only time will tell. Let's just hope that their isn't a gas explosion like there was last week up at St. Clair and Mount Pleasant, where a house was destroyed and a woman lost her life. Compared to that, losing a few plants is not really that big of a deal.

Grouting: It is like learning the Cadbury Caramilk secret

2007-02-21T19:51:00.000-05:00

I previously looked at tiled surfaces with very little interest. I had no idea what grout was or how it was placed so neatly into the spaces between all the tiles. Was it put on when you install the tiles to keep them evenly spaced, or was it just the extra adhesive stuff that oozes out when placing the tiles? Well, I can tell you that finally learning the grout mystery is akin to learning how Cadbury gets the caramel into the Caramilk bar - enlightening but trival.

My friend the internet taught me how to grout. I purchased the powdered grout and mixed it up in my own kitchen, then spread it on to fill the spaces using a basic tool called the "grout float", which is nothing more than a rectangle with a handle. Then you wipe off the excess with a damp sponge and wait for it to dry. Yes, it is that easy. But, it is time consuming, as my 24 square feet of glass mosaic tile represents 3,456 individual tiles. So we had to smear the grout between all 3,456 tiles and then wipe each one off a few times, to make sure that the grout does not ruin the sparkly appearance. I must say we because Dan got into it pretty heavy with the grout float, ensuing that each and every crevace was filled, giving himself with a nasty blister.

So with that mystery solved, I decided to ask my all-knowing friend the internet what it knows about the Cadbury Caramilk secret. Alas, I found a posting from 1996 with a simple yet cool animation and full explanation that unlocks the mystery, and has a wonderful artist's rendering of a Mikrovert ™ chocolate shell moulding plant. This is all very cool but it would be better if I could do it myself, like grouting. Now since the Cadbury plant is only a few blocks west of us, and our neighbour's son works there, maybe a trip to the factory is not really beyond grasp. But will they let me put the caramel into the chocolate shells myself? Doubtful.

Installing Glass Mosaic Tiles

2007-02-11T21:23:00.000-05:00

Step 1: Buy 50 lbs of white thin-set and 9.48 litres of mortar admix, because that is the smallest quantity that you can buy it in. (This will cover 120 square feet - we are covering 24 square feet. I think we'll have a bit left over if anybody needs some!)

Step 2: Measure the amount of powder thin-set that you think you'll need by weighing it on your bathroom scale. (We opted for 10 lbs.)

Step 3: Put on your dust mask, goggles and rubber gloves, pour the toxic liquid admix into the power and stir like mad. Avoid inhaling deeply. (note: goggles provide better protection when they are over your eyes, not your hair!)

Step 4: Using a putty knife, smear the thin-set onto the wall where the first tile should go. Using a v-notched trowel, scrape the thin-set so that it creates ridges.

Step 5: Try to steady your shaking hands while you grasp one of the 12x12 tile sheets (that's 144 little tiny tiles per sheet) and place it on the designated spot. Slide it gently to get it level both horizontally and vertically. Press it down gently so that each little tile makes contact, but not too much so that the thin-set oozes between the tiles. (Thin-set between tiles is bad, because that is where your grout is supposed to go.)

Step 6: Repeat steps 4 and 5 until the surface is covered in tiles. Use tiny plastic spacers in attempt to keep the sheets uniformly spaced and level.

Step 7: Throw out the remaining thin-set before it hardens in your bucket. Wash off your brand new counter top and sink, removing all the stray thin-set, and wash all your trowels and tools.

Step 8: Marvel at how good it all looks while enjoying a victory beer. Worry about the next step, when you have to peel the plastic layer off the surface of the tiles without pulling the tiles off the wall (but do not attempt this for several days, when you believe that the tiles are permanently adhered to the wall). Also worry about the upcoming grouting process.

For detailed instructions, read this website. This is where I learned everything that I know about glass mosaic tiles.

How to Cut Glass Tile

2007-02-10T19:48:00.000-05:00

Do you know how to cut glass tiles? Well, neither did I -- until today. In the tile store, they told me that all I needed was a glass cutter, which I have. I figured that it couldn't be that hard, until I was standing there with a ruler and cutter in my hand and an inventory of priceless tiles. Despite my internet research, I had no idea how to get started. After two failed attempts, and a few fruitless phone calls to hardware and tile stores, we hit the road looking for the ultimate tile cutter.

Everyday on my way to work, I pass by a small store on Dundas St. W at Manning Ave. (just west of Bathurst) that does Mirror and Glass. Why not try there? An unassuming storefront full of tacky mirror is just a front for a busy back room, buzzing with activity. A very friendly woman greeted me and then taught me how to use the glass cutter. She took out a scrap of glass and showed me to score and then snap the glass. Humm. It really was as easy as it looked on the internet. But, she took it to the next step by getting me to try it myself. She corrected my technique, showed me again, and then it was my turn again. After four tries, I pulled out one of my coveted mosaic tiles, and she took a try at it. The key to cutting a tile that is smaller than one square inch, is in the pliers. She had these great 1" pliers, which worked perfectly, but she would not part with them. I offered to rent them for the day. I explained that I pass by there every day on my way to work, but she refused to part with her #1 tool at any price. While I already had the exact cutter at home, I thought that for the lesson I should buy something. So, I settled for the glass cutter which set me back a full $3.50.

Armed with my new technique, I returned home ready to cut those glass tiles. Just like she said, I dipped the cutter in vegetable oil and then did a quick firm score, and then snapped the tile with pliers. Much to my surprise - it worked!!!

I spent the rest of the day marking off the horizontal and verticals for the tile sheets, and cutting the tiles for the edges and around the outlets. So, we are ready to go. Tomorrow will be the day - the day that we stick the tiles to the wall. Will it be as low tech and nerve wrecking as the tile cutting?

#1 recommendation: if you need any glass or mirror cut, go to the place on Dundas West. She was very helpful and extremely affordable.

Montrose Ave: The Movie

2007-02-07T12:45:00.000-05:00

Do you ever walk down the street and think that you're in a movie? You look around and you find yourself surrounded by characters brimming with life, and you think - hey, isn't that one of the guys from the Soprano's? It's like taking a walk through central casting on MGM's backlot. Or better yet, like being in Nanni Moretti's film, Caro diario. Moretti's movie is a whimsical love letter to Rome, containing three vignettes from his own life. It inspires you to book a flight to Rome, or to try making your own film.

Today it is -15C, so neighbourhood life is stunted to a brief hello when you're out shoveling snow. But I remember back to those warm summer evenings, when the ice cream truck would roll by every night at exactly 5:10 p.m., blaring that ice cream music that delights children, yet gives adults shuddering memories of horror movies. My front porch was like a movie screen, where I could sit back and watch the drama unfold. It is like a drive-in without the car. Neighbours stand at the end of their walkways and chat with one another, or shout take it ease from their front porches to passersby. But since this movie has no subtitles, I'm not really sure what's going on, because all the dialogue is in Italian or Portuguese. So, I just make up my own version of what's going on.

Well, you can only imagine my delight when I recently discovered that there already is a film called Montrose Ave, and it is all about my Montrose Ave. A friend saw a post card for it at a film festival and grabbed one for me. I checked out their website and see that there are two people in my neighbourhood who love the street even more than me. They have created the most charming hommage to the place that they've called home for over nine years. I just love it! The pictures on the website are reminiscent of my front porch summer drive-in. You can visit the Montrose Ave webpage to read all about the film, the filmmakers, and even better, to view a clip. (www.tincanforest.com)

How cool is it when your Money Pit is located in such a great neighbourhood that somebody has gone and made a film about it - a time capsule of the Montrose Ave before full on gentrification takes over. I can't wait to see it.

(Photo Credit: Montrose Avenue ©2006 Pat Shewchuk, Marek Colek)

Is the Kitchen Done Yet?

2007-01-31T07:50:00.000-05:00

If I had a glass mosaic tile for each time that I've heard this question, I'd have a complete backsplash by now!

OK. The kitchen no longer looks like this, but it is still far from finished. I have quit running home from work at 5 p.m. to get banging on the floors and walls to get stuff done. Afterall, if you have running water and a stove, do you really care if you have tiles on the backsplash? We now use the kitchen for cooking.

But one of these days we need to do the following:

Install the glass mosaic tiles.
Grout the tiles.
Install the under cabinet lights.
Remove or repair the wainscotting.
Replace all the trim.
Paint the whole room.
Move the power tools out of the mainfloor bathroom and return the majority of them to Matthew.
Plan the kitchen warming party.

Friends, family and loyal readers, the kitchen is still not done. But we already have the tiles, so one of these days, the room will actually get done.

Tiles and Tribulations

2007-01-30T21:43:00.000-05:00

It seemed like a good idea to tear down the old backsplash tiles and replace them with new glass mosaic tiles. They do it on TV all the time. How hard could it be?

One month ago, we went to the mecca of tile stores, Olympia Tile, to choose some tiles for our backsplash. We selected some nice glass mosaic tiles at their outlet store at a greatly reduced price. The clerk set us up with the adhesive and grout too. I asked an installation question and she replied – “I don’t know, I’ve never installed tile”. Well, I’ve never given birth, yet I give parenting advice all the time. So, I guess that I should trust her.

Finally it is time to install the tiles. On Saturday, I found this great mosaic site with a photo tutorial, and I studied every word of it. This is how I learned that you should not use mastic adhesive on glass tiles under any circumstances. They even explain the danger of ignoring this advice: mould, discolouration, etc. Well, I don't want that! I looked at the stuff that Olympia sold me, and guess what - it is mastic. Well, maybe this website is over cautious? I know that you can’t trust everything that you read on the Internet. So, I called the store, and they confirmed that indeed I cannot and should not use this product to install glass tiles. Without apology, he repeated that it was the wrong product and that I should exchange it.

We trek all the way up to Lawrence Ave on a snowy Sunday, noticing en route that we were charged for two tubs of mastic, yet only received one. We walk into the showroom, and there is our sales rep, who flatly denies that it is not the wrong adhesive. Her attitude sours, so instead of an exchange, I request a refund, deciding to shop somewhere that the staff has experience installing tile. She made me wait for some other guy, who after a few glances at the crowded showroom, decides that they don’t do refunds on Sundays. That is when I lost it. I had one of those out-of-body experiences when I realized that the shouting person demanding a refund was actually me. Next thing I knew, I had the princely sum of $10.41 in my hand and we were out the door.

While Hardware shopping, we discover that ThinSet with the additive is a whopping $60 and comes in HUGE quantities. But what can we do now? We have the damn tiles, and we need to stick them to the wall somehow, so we lug the powdered thinset and liquid additive to the cash and with the swipe of a plastic card, they are now ours. A few days have passed, and they are still sitting in the same spot on the floor. Now all we need is a big bucket, a mixing paddle and the courage to start cutting those glass tiles. I’ve got to stop over thinking it and just do it.

Don't Give Harper Too Much Credit For the New EcoENERGY Program

2007-01-22T09:33:00.000-05:00

I was sitting next to the programmable thermostat in my dining room when I heard the news: the Harper government announced that they were investing $220 million over 4 years to help Canadians retrofit their homes to make them more energy efficient. I am a huge supporter of energy conservation, so I was very happy to hear that they had finally brought back the program that Harper had cancelled on May 12, 2006.

In December 2005, I wrote all about my introduction to the EnerGuide for Houses program. It is a brilliant way to incent people to invest in making their homes more energy efficient. The initial evaluation, partially subsidized by the program, was the biggest education that I've ever had as a homeowner. We learned what improvements would give us the best overall efficiency, so that we wouldn't waste money. Plus, we learned how to do it properly. Needless to say, I was crushed when the Harper team announced the program's demise. I had vowed to write to Stephen Harper and tell him exactly what I thought of his short sighted plan for the environment. But while rushing to get my retrofit work done before the deadline to qualify for the rebate, I realized that of course, they quietly cancelled the program (along with the One Tonne Challenge) so that they could relaunch a similar program and re-brand it with a blue Tory stamp. This way they can have a big press launch and tell everybody what they are doing for the environment. But, they don't tell you that they simply took the program from the Liberals and renamed it.

Yes the EcoENEGY program is very similar to the ENERGuide program, with one major change: they are no longer subsidizing the initial evaluation. I read online that the Tory's are not funding it because it "devoured" the program's budget, since only 30% of people who underwent the initial evaluation went on to apply for the retrofits rebate. I paid $175 for my initial evaluation, which was a very thorough 4 hour consultation with an energy efficiency expert. There is no way that his time is only worth that for four hours! I was happy that the government subsidy for the objective evaluation was subsidized. Had it been $300, I likely would not have done it. And in reality, the $2000 that we spent on insulating our house, and then the $50 final evaluation, will not be covered by the $605 rebate that we will be getting this year. It does not even come close. But it was a good incentive for us to do something about the energy efficiency of our house. Yes, we will save on energy every year which will slowly pay off the investment in the house. But even better, we are saving 1.5 tonnes of green house gas emissions every year by reducing our home's energy consumption. It is a win-win situation.

I am thrilled that the Tory's brought back the program. I'm even happy that it is making the news, because hopefully more people will hear about it as a result and they will jump on the retrofit bandwagon with me. But it annoys me that they have to trash one program and rename it, just to make themselves look good in the eyes of the voters. Imagine the wasted money on administration. They had to fire all the competent people who were running the old EnerGuide program, giving them generous severance packages. And then they had to hire new people who need to be trained to understand all about running such a program. Maybe they are even hiring the same experts back, so those individuals will be paid both the severance plus their new salaries. And I don't even want to get started about all the paper materials that were printed with the EnerGuide name and logo. I received numerous pamphlets and books that explain how homes are heated and insulated, all produced for the EnerGuide program. All the leftovers will be sent to recycling while graphic designers and copy writers will get to work preparing all the printed materials, with the new logos and name. Get those presses rolling. Is this really saving the environment?

All programs are riddled with overhead costs that eat into the program's real goals. I guess that is a fact of life that I need to accept. I just hope that when the Liberals take over from the Tory's next, they don't continue the waste by cancelling and renaming the program again, just so that they can hold a press conference. I really hope that the next government will create and fund a truly unique initiative that they can be proud to call their own. Hopefully Stéphane Dion and his dog Kyoto can come up with a program that justifies the overhead investment and expensive press conferences, and really makes an impact on energy conservation in Canada.

Size Does Matter!

2007-01-05T16:17:00.000-05:00

When it comes to simply replacing the doors of your old upper cabinets with some new doors, one size does not fit all. Maybe we should have just painted out the pine strip on the old doors and then rehung them with new handles. I've seen that done on TV. But I thought that it would be easier to get new doors. What I learned is that most people don't want to sell you just doors, or at least that's what an IKEA staffer told me. Their doors are all just slightly off, so we couldn't go with their line. We tried both Rona & Home Depot for the DIY options. I wanted to go with Rona to support the "Made in Canada" option, but unfortunately, they did not make the near-useless 6" base cabinet that we needed. After many trips to measure, I had decided that the HD doors would fit our existing upper cabinets, although I did realize that the round countersunk hinge holes were in a different location from our current doors, so all the hinges would have to be moved. As usual, I figured this was no big deal, and as usual, I was wrong.

At first I planned to reuse the old hinges, but they wouldn't line up with the pre-drilled screw holes on the doors. So, we went to HD on Xmas Eve morning to get a whole bunch of hinges, thinking that they were the exact same ones that came with the Mills Pride cabinets. Bad assumption. They were not. And the new hinges did not line up with the pre-drilled holes either. In fact, they were just millimeters away, so it was very easy for the screw to shift into the neighbouring pre-drilled hole making the hinge crooked! Not fun. So we devised this method with a square and some clamps to keep the hinge square with the door while we drove in the screws. Then we had the same problem with the cabinet side. The new hinge needed to be placed a few inches lower, but one of the holes was only a few millimeters from the old one, so again, same potential for crooked hinges and crooked doors. Sigh.

Like all parts of this kitchen project, once it is complete (see photo on the left) it didn't seem that difficult afterall. With all the cupboard doors on last night, I spent today moving all the dishes and food from the dinig room table into the cupboards - a much less cluttered look. We just have one more upper cabinet to hang but it is a custom job, as we have to cut out a wedge for the heat duct to pass through. That we shall leave for another day. There's been enough swearing for one week!

Open Concept Shelving: You will also note that the centre cupboard does not have a door. This is because the door was 3/16" too wide. HD does not make a door that is 14 1/8" wide, so I'm afraid that we are out of luck. So, until I take that woodoworking class at Central Tech and learn to make my own doors, I guess we'll have to live with this open shelving idea. And if asked, I will explain that it was all a part of the original plan.

Oh yes, and the dishwasher is now working. We did a test cycle tonight and no more drips.

My Current Nemesis

2007-01-04T11:18:00.000-05:00

Pictured here on the left is my nemesis. It is the one thing standing between me and a functioning dishwasher. It is a brass elbow fitting and for some reason, it keeps leaking. Curses!!!

I spent most of yesterday on my stomach on the kitchen floor. Installing a dishwasher is not as easy as I thought - which seems to be the same as all the other projects on this kitchen project. I read the installation manual a few times and it seemed pretty straight forward. I installed the electrical supply that the electrician had roughed in. Then I ran the water supply and drain, as per the manual. I tipped the dishwasher onto its back (with the help of Big Bad) and inserted the copper fitting as instructed. Then I spent about an hour trying to fish the electrical supply, water supply and the drain hoses under the dishwasher, and then installing them in a space only 8 inches tall. Trying to get my wrench in there was a challenge. But finally I did achieve the goal and everything looked great. When Dan returned from work, we turned on the hot water and instead of rejoicing, I spent about an hour laying on the floor, watching water drip from this copper fitting. I turned off the water and tightened it some more, but it still leaked. More tightening, more cursing, and more leaking. Argh!!!

It was such a pain getting everything connected that I didn't want to disconnect it all, pull out the dishwasher, put it on its back and try putting the elbow in again. So, I spent another hour laying on the kitchen floor, watching the elbow leak. Then I thought that none of our projects have gone right the first time. It took three tries to get the kitchen sink in properly. The microwave range hood - three attempts too. So maybe the third time is a charm. Should I even bother trying to get it right on the 2nd try?

Finally I admitted defeat, disconnected it all and tipped it on its back. With a clear view of the copper elbow, I could stand above it and really give it hell with my wrench. (Although it deserves more of my aggression.) And in the end, still a tiny bit of moisture is felt on the fitting once it is all back in its tiny opening and reconnected. I admit defeat again. I will deal with it later. For now I will relish the success of having the sink working properly and I'll go make some coffee using the water coming from the new faucet. Hopefully the third time will be a charm in this installation as well.

Who Needs A Plumber?

2007-01-03T22:52:00.000-05:00

In October, I took a 9 week plumbing course at Central Tech. Looking back at my blog entry after the class, I see that I barely mentioned the kitchen, except for the installation of a dishwasher. Yet here I am, under the kitchen cabinet, installing the faucets and drain. Good thing that I can fit under there.

Plumbing itself is not necessarily that difficult. Working in a small space with bulky tools, that's often the biggest challenge. How do you get your hands in there? Not to mention firing up the propane torch under your newly installed counter top. Well, I decided to go with compression fittings so I left the torch in the basement, and the counter top is still intact. But I must admit that there was a considerable amount of cursing as Dan can testify.

In the class, our teacher Paul was very encouraging and often told us to just do stuff. I would take him photos of various plumbing questions and he would tell me what parts I needed and an overview of how to do it. We also did two projects: copper soldering and ABS waste plumbing. So I do have about 2 or 3 hours of hands on practice, so why shouldn't I be able to do this project myself? Paul did discourage me from doing the rough in plumbing myself, so I did hire him to do that portion. But the finishing was all up to me.

Yesterday I went to the library en route to Home Hardware. I picked up the Illustrated Guide to Plumbing (which I had previously borrowed for 9 weeks) and then re-read that section for the fifth time. But as my friend Matthew says: the only way to really know how to do something is to try it yourself. So by following the directions in the book and on the various product packages, I put the sink, faucet and drain together. We turned on the water and alas, only a minor leak on the hot water supply. So I got out the wrenches and tightened it up, and no more leak. And better than that - running water in the kitchen. Oh joy. You know, it really is the little things that can give you so much joy.

Countertop Victory

2006-12-31T18:14:00.000-05:00

It is safe to say that I've been a bit preoccupied by the kitchen counter top lately. But it is hard to ignore it when it is leaning against the wall in the living room. I can't even watch TV without the damn thing taunting me. The one thing standing in our way was a belt sander. I asked everybody I knew if they had one to lend out, but none materialized. My father had one that he inherited from my Grandmother's boyfriend. Unfortunately it was a table mount one, so not the correct tool for this job. Yesterday I was going to go rent one from Stephenson's Rentall for $35, but thought - why not try the palm sander first? We put the counter top in place and made pencil marks in the places that needed to be sanded, so that the counter top would meet the wall better. I got out the #60 grit sandpaper, and away we go. Alas, it worked just fine. I'm sure that it was more time consuming, but it did the job. It was hours of putting the counter top up, marking, taking it down, sanding and repeat. But, I think that we're finally ready to bolt that sucker down. Just a few more hours with a variety of levels and some shims, and hopefully we'll be done.

But wait. What about the sink? I guess that now is the time to really use that jigsaw that I got for my birthday last year. We got some special laminate blades, and re-read the internet instructions. I traced a practice curve onto a scrap of counter top and got Dan to try his hand with the jigsaw. I figured that I'd get him to do it so that I could take the photos. He did pretty well, so we figured it was time to move on to the big leagues. So, I traced the template for the new single sink on the counter top and then drilled a 3/4" starter hole. I'm sure that the neighbours were happy to hear us firing up the saw at 5 p.m. on New Year's Eve. The photo gives away the ending of my story, but I have to say that Dan did a fab job staying inside the line, and the new sinks fits in perfectly. Now it is my turn to put that plumbing course to use and get us some running water in that kitchen. That and get that dishwasher running. And tile the backsplash, install the under counter lights, install new doors on the cabinets, move the dishes back into the kitchen, and paint the wall. Yeah, I guess that we are not almost done. Oh well, for now I will celebrate the victory that the sink hole was cut out on the last night of 2006. Happy New Year!

Gender Bias at the Hardware Store

2006-12-28T13:04:00.000-05:00

The only thing still keeping our new range hood/microwave off the wall is a toggle bolt. I told Dan that I would run to the hardware store to pick one up, because I know that he never will. I can tell that my comment offended him, but it is true. He's not that great at getting hardware. He often comes back from such an errand saying that they didn't have it. When I enquire if he asked the staff if they knew where it was, he says no. Why is it that men can't ask for driving directions and they'll rarely ask for help in the hardware store? Is it a sign of weakness to admit that you don't know where the 1/4" x 4" toggle bolts are? Are you admitting failure when you ask which silicone caulking can be used below 10C? Instead, you save yourself time and often money. If I browse around the store looking for the correct caulking, I end up buying all kinds of extra stuff that I didn't really need. (But I do like that circuit tester I got a few weeks back. It is just like the one home inspectors use!)

Maybe it is easier for women in the hardware store. Maybe the gender bias works in my favour. When I walk into my new favorite Home Hardware, they ask me right away if I need help. Is it assumed that as a woman that I wouldn't know what I'm looking for, or is it because I'm always trying to make eye contact with them, so that they will help me. Or is it that they just want a break from all those contractors? I find that they also share all kinds of useful tips too. Are they as willing to share their knowledge with another man? Does a female customer give them a chance to show off their handyman knowledge?

I have to admit that I do love hardware stores. I particularly like the old ones with a slight musty smell and the warped wooden floor boards and big boxes full of screws that you buy by weight - not an electronic scale, but a gravity scale with the little sliding weights. And I love the smocks that they wear, and how everything is so organized. Bolts, copper pipes, light switches, big spools of chainlink, slug poison - all neatly stacked up to the ceiling. I love it. I can spend hours in there, just looking at all the stuff. But usually I'm in a hurry and want to make sure that I am getting the right thing, so I take their help whenever they offer it. Now I know this is a generalization, but why can't men do that too, rather than coming home claiming that they didn't have it?

I'm starting to get to know all the staff at my fav HH, at least by face anyway. And today, while waiting at the cash, I noticed a poster in the window. Attempting to read it backwards, I slowly figured out what it said: Apply Today. It was a Home Hardware recruiting poster. It showed four different people in those red smocks and with big smiling faces. They ranged in age from 20s to late 60s. There was even a grey haired woman. And then I realized that when I'm supposed to be retired but forced to keep working because I don't have a pension, maybe the Home Hardware would be the perfect place for me. It would keep me out of trouble, and I'd be able to ride my bike to work. Sounds perfect! I worked retail in high school and hated it, but maybe I'll soften to it in my older age. Afterall, by then, the gender bias should be almost completely gone. And I can help young men figure out which silicone caulking would work on day like today, even if they don't have the courage to ask.

All We Want For Christmas...

2006-12-25T14:00:00.000-05:00

Installing an over the range microwave/fan seems like it should be easy enough. I read over the instructions twice. I assembled together all the necessary tools. We were ready to go. Over a month ago, I had an electrician run a dedicated wire from the panel to the correct spot in the wall. I bought the necessary supplies at the hardware store and put in the outlet at the correct spot. We cut a hole in the back of the upper cabinet for the outlet. We taped the template to the wall and cabinet to drill holes as described. The harder part is finding studs for the metal bracket to be afixed to. (Is there a stud finder that really works?)

The range hood ships as a top vent, so we had to convert it to back venting. This involved some sort of vent adaptor to be attached with two screws that were not included in the kit. 1:45 p.m. on Christmas Eve, I head out on my bike looking for two #4-10mm screws. We had started our day at Home Depot getting hinges and cupboard doors, and I just didn't want to drive up there again for two tiny screws. Five hardware stores later, I had found the screws -- no charge. (Three stores were closed, one didn't have them.) I picked up some veggies in Kensington market and was home about an hour later, only to discover that they were the WRONG screws. So, we jammed in some that were closer to what we needed, and everything seems fine. But at 4 p.m. we realized that we needed a toggle bolt for the upper cabinet, so we are stuck with the microwave still off the wall, as there wasn't time for another hardware store trip.

For christmas morning, we cleared away most of the power tools to whip up some waffles with fresh strawberries and some coffee. Yum. Sadly, the new dishwasher (pictured here, behind the white chair) is not yet installed, so I had to schlep the dishes downstairs and wash them up in a red plastic bucket. Good exercise, I guess.

Just think how much fun the plumbing for the sink and dishwasher will be, if the microwave is proving to be this much of a challenge. Too bad that Santa doesn't deliver gifts to big kids too.

The House That Christmas Forgot

2006-12-21T15:21:00.000-05:00

Unless you consider drywall scraps and old kitchen cupboards as Christmas decorations, then our house is pretty much the only one on the street that has been overlooked by Christmas cheer. Christmas lights illuminate all the walk ways. The city could save some money and turn off the street lights until Jan. 1. Some of our neighbours even have little electronic songs playing at their front doors. I have seen some illuminated snowmen, and even a few polar bears - despite the 11C weather we had last Sunday. Candy canes, Santas, and nativity scenes are also very popular. Our next door neighbours have so many strings of lights that we don't even need to turn on our living room light in the evening. I wonder what the neighbours think of us. "What, you no like Christmas??" It is almost as bad as the time that I was weeding the garden on Easter Sunday.

I thought that I'd seen it all, until I saw this on my bike ride to work. (click on the photo for an enlargement) Only a few houses down is this festive, inflatable merry go-round that actually rotates. Santa, and some cold weather animals (penguin, polar bear, etc.) are spinning around inside their weather protected plastic dome.

I'd like to blame my lack of festive spirit on the renovation, but I cannot. Beyond the Swiss Chalet Festive Special, the holidays are not that special to me. Although, I do love the parties and getting to see all my family. Tonight, Dan & I are going to the Home Depot/Rona/Canadian Tire Super Centre at the Toronto Stockyards where we will pick out each other's Christmas gifts. I am going to get him a stainless steel sink and he's getting me a washerless faucet. So maybe Christmas hasn't forgotten us after all.

Point Counter Point

2006-12-20T08:48:00.000-05:00

The countertop has got to be one of the most stressful parts of this kitchen reno, despite my belief that it should be so simple. I keep thinking of the Aldous Huxley novel that I read in high school: Point Counter Point. The intellectual characters in this novel would never worry about something so banal as a countertop. I'm sure that none of them have ever even been in a kitchen, let alone soil their hands doing manual labour. Yet I manage to have long, Huxleyesque conversations with all my friends about this damn countertop, as if we are debating human nature, like the characters in Huxley's novel.

Problem #1: Choice. I can easily become paralyzed by too many options. I spent a lot of time looking at the different surfaces available: granite, marble, engineered stone, etc. I would love to go with the high end stone, but it is at least 4 times the cost of laminate, plus you can't install it yourself. In my urban reality of a small kitchen, I assumed that a new laminate countertop would not be too expensive. I budgeted the $17 per linear foot that the Home Depot quoted me, but alas, I was foiled. That figure does not apply to the corner sink. (Damn the corner sink again!!) The cost doubled because we had to get "flatworks" or else have two seams next to the sink. So now stone is only about 2 or 3 times more expensive, yet still a ton of dough. For me, more options = less decisions. Argh. If I were living back in Huxley's 1920's novel, the choice would have been easy, but not in our modern world.

Problem #2: I decide to keep it simple and just order through the Home Depot. Dan & I made another appointment specifically for this. We were both sick with colds, but kept the appointment, with dreams of a new countertop before 2007. Unfortunately our guy at the HD is not that experienced with quoting countertops - he has never quoted a corner sink. And since it is a Saturday, he can't call the supplier. Nobody else there can give us a quote. We leave defeated again. He promises to call on Tuesday with a price. We never hear from him again. Enter the Internet. A Google search leads me to two companies: Triplast and Norwill. I fax them my sketch with dimensions and they fax me back quotes. Triplast seems very professional and they have the best prices. They tell me that my order must be in by December 1, or we won't get it before their holiday closure. We go to Triplast before work to choose the laminate, place the order and make a deposit. Decision made!

Problem #3: On the way out of Triplast, I ask to confirm the delivery cost. They do not deliver. WHAT?!?! Everybody else that I called delivers for $50. How did I overlook this question on the phone? Triplast usually works with contractors and installers, not the uneducated public. Hence the factory direct prices. They ask who my installer is, and laugh when I tell them that it's me. They can't help me. Finally I get the name of an installer. He agrees to deliver my countertop for $60 (a rip off, but am I going to take time off work and rent a truck?). He tries to talk me out of installing it myself and offers to do it for $200. I decline. I review the installation instructions on the web, reassuring myself that it won't be that bad. Now all that I need is a belt sander.

Problem #4: There are too many types of laminate. I was confident in my decision until my coworkers started to question it. "White shows stains", etc. "Even Dover White", I ask? But that was it. I was doubting our decision. I called Triplast & they had not yet ordered the materials, so I put it on hold. We made a late evening trip to HD to look at the Formica samples one more time. I spend hours talking to friends and getting their opinion on all the samples. The results are inconclusive. In the end, we must decide on our own. On the morning of December 1, the absolute cutoff date, we go with Pionite's Rock Of Ages, despite being a premium laminate and costing $100 more. I know, it is a crazy name and the song is stuck in my head too!

Problem #5: The installer goes to the wrong house. He calls me and it turns out that he's off by 100 in the address. He asks me what to do. It seems obvious to me: drive around the block and come to the correct house. I'm sure that I didn't tell him to go to #26 since I live at #126, yet he is blaming it on me. I remind myself that I must be nice to him or maybe he will scratch my countertop. When he finally arrives, he says: I hope you know what you are doing. If you make a mistake installing, it is a very expensive mistake. Well, at least it is in the correct house. I re-read Rona's website instructions which say: Installing kitchen countertops is quite an easy project for most do-it-yourselfers. Maybe I will write this on the wall for encouragement.

Some friends came by last night and they admired the countertop resting against the wall in the living room. We had lengthy conversations about countertops and backsplash tiles, which from a distance likely sounded like the deep, intellectual debates that Huxley's characters droned on about in Point Counter Point. Can kitchen renovations really be good fodder for fiction? HGTV: what have you done to drama?

Cabinet Maker

2006-12-18T10:09:00.000-05:00

By now you must be tired of seeing my kitchen from this angle, but when you live in a narrow house and you don't have a wide angle lens, your options are very limited. But this picture holds the proof that 1) the drywall is finished; 2) the wall is primed; and 3) our first base cabinet has been assembled and installed. That new corner unit will eventually house our new sink. Very exciting.

I feel that there is not that much being done cabinet-wise in this project. We are just changing a few base cabinets, and changing the doors on the uppers. Although, we did have to modify the old pantry cupboard to make it a base with upper, creating an additional 18" of counter space next to the stove. So on the theme of "not much", I decided that we should assemble & install ourselves. As usual, I have seen people do it on TV and I think that I should be able to do it too. I love to read instructions and assemble stuff, so this is actually turning out well. So far. What I did not count on was the leveling. I do have a box of shims, and they are currently one of our fav tools.

While the cabinets are on holiday, all of our dishes and glassware is vacationing in our dining room. It is quite handy because you can select your glass or mug on your way into the kitchen, only to discover that there is no running water in there still. Oh well, it is all part of our Christmas decor: garage sale shiek. You should try it.

And speaking of Christmas: all of these holiday parties are keeping us from making any real progress on this project. But at least the martini glasses are always close at hand.

Kitchen Unplugged

2006-12-15T11:29:00.000-05:00

For some reason, the Nirvana unplugged album seems to stick most in my memory, but it seems that every musical performer gets into this style at one point or another. Sadly, Kitchen is not a new band. It is our woeful kitchen. Unplugged for 26 days now. Well, the stove that is. And the sink. And what is a kitchen without running water and the cooking machine? It is just another room. In our case, a room that looks like a tool shed.

Last Saturday, after the sub floor was replaced, Dan was so excited about the return of the stove that he took a pork tenderloin out of the freezer. He did not realize that we needed to finish the drywall first, or else we'd be pulling it out again and again. Tired of the takeout food scene of late, last night he pulled together a gourmet feast of glazed pork tenderloin with green beans - cooked in the toaster over & microwave. The carving was done amongst the tape measures & tools, on top of the new dishwasher box. And since that newest appliance is also still unplugged, I took the dishes into the basement and washed them in the laundry sink. I know that I'm not the first, nor the last to do this, but it still makes me laugh.

I have to say that I'm quite pleased with the drywall project so far. It did take a considerable amount of time for us to do all the cutouts for the plumbing & electrical stuff, but they fit together well in the end. As for the taping & mudding: it wasn't that bad. The green plastic tools that Matthew lent me, along with the tape & mud, plus the instructions that I read on the internet - it all worked fine. Dan did have to make a late night dash to Canadian Tire buy more mud. The biggest surprise was the amount of mud reqired for the job. Maybe I used too much and have a hellish amount of sanding to do. Hopefully not. Tomorrow morning is operation sanding. Can't wait to get that dust all over the house again. But even more exciting is that very soon, our stove will no longer be unplugged. Another leap forward in this crazy project.

Learning How to Install Drywall

2006-12-12T14:13:00.000-05:00

When I made my kitchen reno plan, drywalling wasn't even on the list - or the budget. But, when I removed the backsplash tiles, the wall came out in chunks, which I was planning to simply patch. I went to my plumbing class that night, complaining about my predicament and a fellow student said: don't scrape off all that old adhesive. It's not worth it. Just replace the drywall.

Easier said than done. But now is the time to learn how to drywall. My friend Matthew says that the best way to learn something is to do it. He's right.

Another kind classmate at plumbing turned out to be a drywaller, and offered to bring me some scraps from his job site. He followed through and actually delivered them to my house. We kept the drywall screws from the damaged sheets that we took down. And I bought a little drywall handsaw, which was only $4.99 at Home Hardware. Now we are left trying to figure out how to do it. Measure twice, cut once. Instead I measured three times - but it still didn't work out the first time. We tackled the large sheet that goes around all the plumbing pipes first. It was definitely the hardest and made the other rectangular pieces seem easy. But tonight we must cut out the drywall on the exterior wall, replace the perforated vapour barrier and then replace the drywall with a few smooth sheets. (Oh yes, and install the electrical box for the rangehood microwave and move the rangehood vent by 1/4". Installing the bloody rangehood is another adventure that I wasn't expecting!)

Putting up the wallboard is one thing, but what about taping & mudding? People talk about it and I just go along with them, like I know what they are talking about. I've used plyfiller, but not mud. The aforementioned friend Matthew has offered up some leftover tape & mud, so we are doing very well in the material cost of this part of the project. But technique, we're just making that up as we go along. Fortunately, all this drywall will be hidden by new backsplash tiles and cabinets, so it doesn't need to have a perfect finish. I guess that what I should be worrying about more is how to install cabinets and tiles. But, that is a worry for another day.

Top 10 Ways To Tell That You're Renovating

2006-12-11T18:57:00.000-05:00

10. The shop vac is always plugged in and ready to use.

9. All your clothes are covered in dust or paint.

8. The only TV you watch is on HGTV.

7. You buy Ibuprofen in the "value pack" size.

6. You're really excited about the launch of Mike Holmes new book.

5. You quit wearing your contact lenses (since glasses double as safety glasses)

4. You go to bed exhuasted at 9 p.m. -- on the weekend!

3. Your bedside reading material is published by Black & Decker.

2. Your gift wish list contains only power tools.

1. You keep "Deep Cold" on your night stand.

Could there be a Mike better than Mike Holmes?

2006-12-09T18:56:00.001-05:00

My brother-in-law Mike is the handiest guy that I know. He has a huge air compressor in his rural garage, every power tool you can imagine, and he drives a pickup truck. He is also the quietest guy that I know. A man of few words, he works hard and gets the job done right. When he first met my sister back when I was in University, he was keen to make a good impression, and he moved me several times without complaint. Twenty years later, I know that I should not take advantage of his kindness, so I save him for when I really need him. So far, he has not been involved in the Money Pit, except for naming it that. He always teases me about giving up the carefree condo for this time waster we call home.

When we started this kitchen reno, I thought that if we got into a situation that we couldn't tackle ourselves, we'd just call our handyman Ben. When I did call him, I found out that he has gone to Spain for several months. So, we've been trying to do it on our own. But replacing the subfloor -- how the hell are we going to do that?? Even all the illustrated reno books from the library don't give me enough information to really handle this. Now that the insulating, electrical and plumbing roughins are done, we are eager to get the floor back in, ... but how? Alas, Mike to the rescue.

Mike worked a midnight shift at General Motors last night, where he is a Millwright. He finished work at 6:30 a.m., drove to his house to load up the truck and then drove the 1+ hours to our house. He arrived at 9 a.m. without sleeping. While he was here, he did not eat a bite nor drink even a drop of water. But he had his photo taken more than on his wedding day.

Mike cut 2x4s to reinforce the pieces of plywood subfloor that we had cut out to allow for insulating the crawlspace. Then he really impressed me by going UNDER the floor in the 22" crawlspace to secure the 2x4s in the inaccessible spots. We laid down some old bath mats and down he went. The photo above shows him lowering himself into that tiny space, while the one on the right shows him "in the hole". Now that is dedication. Just like Mike Holmes, my Mike likes to do it right, but he's much less self-righteous.

It wasn't enough for him to borrow a portable compressor, bring it here with a pneumatic stapler, a compound mitre saw, the coolest angle drill that I've ever seen, and many other cool tools. He also drove me to Home Hardware to buy the 5/8" plywood & 1/4" Luan sheets. There was a CRAZY amount of hammering to try to get the one big sheet of plywood to fit the tongue into the groove. Mike & Dan hammered the crap out of a few 2x4 pieces while I was jumping up and down on the adjacent sheet of plywood, trying to get the sheet to move even and 1/8 of an inch into the groove. Three tries and we did the best we could. (I should have bought the neighbours a chocolate factory. That box of chocolates seems insufficient now.) We secured it all down with dozens of #8 1-1/2 inch screws and then moved on to laying down the 1/4" smooth layer.

Mike didn't leave until 4 p.m. We now have a secure and level subfloor, plus he fixed our eavestrough! Renovating is full of highs and lows, and this day is certainly a high. Being able to walk on the floor again is a huge step forward. Mike, I love you. You have made my year. When I asked him how I could repay him, he said that this is the way it should be: people help each other out, but we are all too busy. So, I guess that I'll help him out by taking care of his two daughters. I look forward to taking them to the ROM and the Art Gallery, etc. But does that repay him for crawling under my kitchen floor and climbing on the roof of my house? Probably not, but it is a good start.

---
For more on the other Mike, read my post on the house that Mike Holmes built.

What Happened to Friday Night?

2006-12-08T22:09:00.000-05:00

I remember when Friday night meant going out and having fun. Now it is an opportunity to prep for the home reno projects that need to be done that weekend. Often it involves a trip to Home Depot or Ikea. But not tonight.

My brother-in-law, Mike, is coming tomorrow to help us put in the subfloor, so we need to finish a ton of little things. Replace the dry old duct tape with the proper heat resistant metal stuff, install proper hangers for the ducts, fish the coaxial cable thru for the sunroom, fish the speaker wires thru the crawlspace and up the wall, move an electrical outlet box, and fish the dishwasher cable thru the crawlspace and up the wall, etc. It is our last night with an open crawl space, so we have to finish everything.

We weren't planning on replacing any drywall. That was until I removed the backsplash tiles, which removed the drywall in chunks. So, gotta go to the library to get a book on how to drywall. Then tonight, when moving the wires, we realized that we had to remove even more drywall to fish the wires thru. Fortunately a guy in my plumbing class is a drywaller and he gave me a little over a full sheet of drywall for free.

All the little stuff like this that has no impact on the overall visual appeal of the home takes a lot of time but hopefully we will enjoy the rewards with a warmer, more energy efficient home, and one that is wired for sound! One day we may return to our former Friday night glory and host some parties in the money pit. But for tonight, after all this, I'm just happy to grab a bite to eat in Little Italy and watch another episode of the Sopranos.

Keeping the Peace (When You Can't Be Quiet)

2006-12-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

I often think of the right thing to do, yet usually don't find the time to do it. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, as I always remind myself. When we started this latest renovation, I thought that it would be a good idea to give our neighbours some flowers or a plant or something, as a token to acknowledge the inconvenience and noise. Sadly, I didn't get around to it.

Last night, my plumbing teacher, Paul, came over to rough in the new sink in the kitchen & move the hose bib. He was supposed to arrive at 6 p.m., so Dan & I started ripping out the old sink & cabinets right after work, at 5 p.m. Lots of banging and sawing, but it was early. We finised right at 6. Paul arrived a bit late, around 7:15. We finally got to work and realized that ofcourse, there were lots of weird things that made the job more difficult and time consuming. To move the hose bib, for the outside garden hose, involved drilling a hole thru the exterior wall of the house. Paul forgot the correct drill bit, so he got part way thru, and then he took an old piece of 1/2" copper, that he banged thru the rest of the wall. It worked, but LOTS of banging. Then he wanted to secure the copper supply lines so that we wouldn't have pipe hammer. He once again took scraps of copper and hammered the end flat, so that he could wedge it between the wall studs. Then he sauldered the two copper pieces together ensuring that they would never move. As he was hammering the copper pipe flat against the floor joist, we heard a bang on the party wall of the house. Paul stopped instantly, thinking that it was an echo. But no, it was our neighbour, banging on the wall. He hammered again, and they started to bang again. Humm. Yes, I really regret not getting that poinsetta over to them. Dan went over to make the peace with them, but all their lights were off -- even their Christmas lights! It was after 10 p.m. and they were trying to sleep. I understand. I felt bad. They are quiet and friendly neighbours. How friendly will they be now?

Paul had to be on the job site at 7 a.m. the next day, but he was in no hurry to leave our house. 11 p.m. and he was still chatting away and tossing his tools around. (Good thing that we'd agreed on a flat rate.) Dan & I were carrying his stuff out the car, trying depserately to make the noise end faster. Paul pulls up his Firebird, the kind that revs really loudly. He doesn't realize that all our neighbours are retired. We load the tools and wave goodbye.

This morning, I rode my bike over to the only store that was open at 7 a.m. and bought their nicest box of chocolates and a pretty gift bag (I never buy gift bags), and wrote a card dripping with sincere apology. I selected a bag with that icon of Christmas: the dove carrying an olive branch in its mouth. I dropped the bag off on their front door on my way to work. When I came home, it was gone. So hopefully they got it before the squirells or racoons did. And I hope even more that they accept my olive branch. Afterall, I plan to be neighbours for long long time.

Insulation: The Day Has Finally Arrived!

2006-11-21T09:03:00.000-05:00

Eleven months ago we had our first energy audit done by Greensaver. We had a work plan with recommendations to make our house more energy efficient and more comfortable. We followed that with quotes from contractors but before we could begin work, we had to have any electrical work done first. When we were finally ready in August, I called Greensaver, and their first available appointment was Nov. 20 & 21. So we waited. It got colder. The Conservative government cancelled the EnerGuide for Houses (EGH) program. (Thank you Mr. Harper! The environment and future generations who must suffer the consequences of our energy wasting ways really appreciate it.) But finally, the day arrived.

The work consisted of sprayfoam insulation in the headers of the crawl space (which required removing the sub floor) & basement, blown cellulose insulation in the front wall of the house (both floors) and blown cellulose insulation in the attic. They also recommended filling the north wall of the house, since it is a hollow frame, but the previous owner put rigid foam insulation on the exterior wall before he had the siding installed.

The guys came in and did the spraying yesterday and the blowing today. It was extremely disruptive as we had to tear up the kitchen floor and move all the furniture away for the exterior walls in all the spaces that were going to be insulated - on all 3 levels. And to blow insulation into the wall, they had to drill a bunch of 2" holes into the plaster & lathe, every 16"or less, to access the cavities. But they guys patched them all. We are left with the task of sanding and repainting all the patches in the living room & upstairs bedroom. Plus now we can put everything back against the wall in the basement.

But what are we going to do about that kitchen floor? For now, we are covering the holes with pieces of the old kitchen cupboards and scraps of plywood. We need to get the floor in so that we can plug the stove back in. While we are making do with the toaster oven & microwave for now, it is not a long term solution. It is hard to believe that my desire to insulate the front wall has lead to a full on kitchen reno. I'm still exhausted from Sunday, and I'm freezing from being in an unheated house for two days.

We have our final energy audit on December 6. Hopefully our efforts will be rewarded with a better EnerGuide score a maybe even some $$ from the now defunct government program.