Tankless but not thankless

By ditching our electric-powered 50-gallon water heater for this propane-fueled tankless gizmo, we've cut our winter electric bill in half! So far the propane bill is minor for 3 months of use.

Pavers the way

Work has started on our driveway!

When we found our hillside hut, there wasn't even clearance enough for a small car to make it up the driveway (archive: First Projects).

I can already visualize the finalized project, but I'm guessing it will be three times as good looking in reality. Work includes:

• widening the driveway to 11 feet so that the fire department will finally (in the entire history of the house) grant approval and permit for habitability. Strange, I know, but I'm told by the county that it was never acquired, not that it really matters to them. But it will lower our insurance premium.
• adding more than 200 feet of retaining walls. Neighbors told us the previous owners would park in the turnouts below the house because they feared a landslide trapping them in during the rainy seasons. A bit extreme, but not unwarranted considering the driveway's condition.
• grading the entire parking area and driveway and adding drainage for optimum water redirection and management.
• repairing and repaving the 1/10 mile driveway with asphalt.
• installing up to 2,800 sq. ft. of paver stones for the parking area, which I'm told last longer, require less maintenance, environmentally sound drainage, and even allow access to our utility lines buried underneath without major issues. 

Santa gnomes

Near daily, I trek through the small community of Zayante as I head toward Felton for lunch and supplies. Since the Christmas holiday season, two neighbors have had predominately situated Santa gnomes on either side of the road I travel.

It started causally enough. At first they were merely tacky decorations. Then one neighbor started to dress up their gnome. And then the other. As Valentine's Day approached, one was the specter of death. The other, with giant heart on sleeve, eventually wooed his friend into a make-out session on one side of the road for a few days. St. Patrick's Day was fun with the gnomes dressed in green goggles, mugs, hats, and scarves. Admittedly, driving through Zayante has become an anticipated highlight to my day so that I may see the next metamorphosis.

So today I decided to contribute anonymously.

Contributed the hat with rabbit ears, but I'm still waiting for the strap-on nose to arrive.

The chicken outfit

My "thank you" note to the neighbors for the entertainment

Slow news period

Much has been in the works, but there's little of great interest to report. The focus is mostly on the details, while waiting for the various shipments; for example, the last of the kitchen cabinets is en route. The next major indoor project is the complete reworking of the unfinished hearth in the living room. Outdoors, the solar power system and backup generator.

Hopefully, and I'm feeling positive about this, we'll be ready for our first long-term guest: family for the holidays!

Cooked

The underground line to the house failed, and it nearly cooked my entire house. I started flipping breakers when I found a surge suppressor boiling black smoke as it burned into the title flooring. However, I fear it was too late for some appliances. Hope the PG&E claims department is ready for me!

Posting a image of the hole PG&E dug in my driveway so that I track its location.

The nightcrew dug this hole on Monday between the hours of 11pm to 4am. I'm grateful, but wish they'd return and finish the job. I have a temp. power cable running around my car and front doorstep.

When the lights began to intensify, I started hearing popping noises throughout the house. First, I yanked the plugs on all my work PCs. I was on my way to the circuit breaker box when I saw the black smoke pouring from behind the sofa. The "chalk mark" was a surge suppressor.

hiatus

Pardon my posting hiatus. It's been a busy month of moving out of and dealing with my rental of the past 5 years. As boxes are unpacked, and this house becomes our home, the tone and content of this blog may be modified.

For example, I've added a series of new pages for each of the rooms or areas being renovated. Currently posted and new photos will be added to these pages to better illustration the progression of work involved. I figure this type of visual history might amuse visitors during the housewarming, and be critical when planning future repairs and modifications.

Officially moved in!

As of this morning, with an offering of fruit to the house spirits, James and I officially moved in to our hillside hut. It's been a long voyage, and we're only partly there. Despite a few minor glitches, the place is magnificent for habitation.

Tonight especially, marked by a blue moon, I appreciate James, my friends, family, and personal experiences that has led me here. As a precocious child rooted in a family's dairy farm's red dirt of Oklahoma's "Green Country" region, I stretched my imagination to believe my current life was possible.

Sweet dreams, almost

Nearly had in hand James and my master bedroom furniture. The replacement nightstand arrived to replace the one that arrived with a broken drawer. However, the headboard that arrived today had a 6-inch chunk splintered apart in one upper corner. Hopefully its replacement will be swift!

Chest of drawers; loving the patterns in the wood grain!

Dresser; we still need to flip the drawer handles, they are shipped with the handle in the drawer.

The end and side boards, and Loki photo bombing me.

One nightstand...

Cleverly designed little stools/tables; you can lock them together like puzzle pieces, or use them individually.

Things a foot

We are narrowing down the needed details to make our hillside hut feel like home. Can't help but love my new rug, even if it's not an original.

As you might have noticed, for various reason I intend to reduce the amount I'm revealing on this blog. Nothing personal, of course, but if you wish to see our (nearly) finished (perpetual work-in-progress) project, you'll have to appear in person at our of our house-warming or dinner parties.

Two steps forward, two steps back

Our new sectional arrived today!

However, they sent the wrong sections... Note that the armrest is on the wrong side.

Also news, I purchased our dining room table today, and it's scheduled for delivery tomorrow. And, the office desk I purchased a month ago should be shipping tomorrow.

Lastly, the living room floors didn't pass our charismatic contractor's quality standards, so she was power sanding even deeper today to remove some annoying scratches. I'm guessing a wannabe carpenter used a handsaw to cut 2x4 boards, and didn't care about the oak flooring underneath.

Testing the bench with Loki

Kyle (right) and Loki testing the newly assembled bench.

Because I had a day off, it was spent making our new house more home-like. My 15-plus-year-old bonsai, Palo, has now taken roost on the patio. Palo is a San Jose juniper I adopted shortly after moving to California.

Also noteworthy, the body sprays and hand-held shower heads should arrive onsite on Thursday. The only remaining plumbing piece is the thermostatic trim for the downstairs guest bathroom. At last, the last of the sheetrock can be installed, and the holes in the wall finally concealed!

Today is grouting day for the freshly finished tile flooring!

Crack

Excluding the tiny patch behind the wet bar in the family room, the flooring is nearly laid. It would have been one tile closer to completion, except I stepped on the transition between the hallway and master bedroom, and cracked a corner of a tile.

Devilish details

It's said the devil (or god) is in the details. The last few days has been chockablock with details. Details include:

• The travertine tile purchased from Home Depot was returned, and our lovable contractor tracked down the precise make to the existing tile.
• Granite has been sourced that perfectly matches the existing island in the kitchen, which is needed around the cooktop.
• The leaking roof over the master bedroom has been reshingled; perfect timing since it's now raining.
• Push plates arrived today, which are a hopeful match to the current door handle. 
• Exede satellite Internet service ordered, and will be installed on Friday.
• Solar array installer returning to inspect the upgrades, and revise his quote on Monday.
• Starting the laborious task of changing my address with every organization, system, and tree in the universe.
• The new stairs and handrails in the entryway are coming together beautifully. Presently, the main wood support posts are being installed, and next the handrails. The new stairs and existing oak flooring in the living room will be stained darkly to match the cork flooring's color.
• Radiant heat wire and another thermostat ordered for the master bathroom and the family room heating systems.
• Move-in day might be down to a week or two!

Floored

The cork flooring and travetine tile finally arrived. However, the tile is being returned because it was darker than desired. The goal is to match the existing tiling in the kitchen and dining room, and extend it into the adjacent family room and around to the entryway.

With the parts finally arriving, and it's easier to determine how to install the tub and shower's walls, decisions have been made. Hopefully we can match the existing marble to finish around the tub!

Hang ups

After several failed attempts, we finally got AT&T to the house to install the land-line phone connection.

First, they claimed the address did not exist. Then they claimed service was enabled at the house, and needed to talk to the former owner. Well, formerly it was bank-owned, so I had to pop that bubble. Even more ludicrous, the "service" was DSL, which they no longer provide or support in my area. Then they forgot to provide the gate code to the field rep...

When the appointment finally occurred, the true challenges started to surface. The line had be cut before it made it to our phone box outside the house. Also, a fallen tree had yanked much of the overhead line from the pole, leaving it droopy and damaged. A tree trimming contractor will be sent out by the phone company to clean up the mess. Potentially, a new line will be run to the house to replace the older one.

Another challenge: FedEx Home Delivery. There's several things wrong with their moniker.

1. There's nothing 'express' about their service in the mountains.
2. They didn't even try to find my home.
3. Instead, their 'delivery' ended just inside the gate on the private road.

At least the sun was shining on me today. The rough-in valves FedEx left at the base of a tree were still there.

UPDATE: The AT&T rep just called. Another problem: my former contractor hacked up my phone line when he dug a trench for outdoor lighting along the driveway. Now I get to chat with the AT&T claims department... not even sure what that involves.

Slow, but progress nonetheless

Haven't been reporting much lately because there's little progress to report.

We experienced a minor setback with the necessary termination of our former contractor. Considering the nature, and potential direction, our relationship will take, it's best I don't dwell on the subject.

We hope to have our new contractor started soon, and be back on track. To that end, the bathtub for our master bathroom shipped today. Some of the shower fixtures are on back order; however, everything should arrive by the end of this month for installation.

May I take a moment to acknowledge how expensive bathrooms are. Yikes!

Also, I would like to once again acknowledge the superior service and assistance we've received from our realtor, Janeen Reavis.

Water tests

Initially ran the test on my water well, but decided to test the water at my rental, too.

The results are in! Our water well provides safe drinking water, even though it is a little hard, and comes with a little unwanted powdery sediment. Not sure what the sediment is yet, which becomes visible after boiling water, but we hope to wipe it out with a series of inline filters.

I ended up running the plethora of tests twice. The first time, the pesticide test result didn't produce a valid result. Actually, I ran the tests three times. Since I was on a roll, I decided to test the well water at the rental at which I've been living.

The kit includes:

• a bacteria test
• lead and pesticide test
• copper test
• iron test
• nitrate and nitrite test
• pH test
• hardness test
• chlorine test

Luckily, the water well at our new place passed all the tests on the second round!

The water well at my rental on Thompson Rd. in Los Gatos, however, didn't pass the bacteria test... as seen in the above photo. I warned the landlord, George Green, about my being constantly sick until I switched to bottled water, and he dismissed me. According to him, it cost too much to ensure the safely and health of renters, and even himself and his household (he supposedly drinks from the same well), to pay for the water tests. This was after the tap water turning brown after every rain. I now suspect the water might be the reason why both the dog and cat are having seizures.

Folks, let this be a cautionary tale. Don't dismiss your health, or ensuring your well being.

Terminating termites

A last step before sealing up the house has been performed: termite extermination. According to the report, we had the trifecta of pest in the walls and burrowing underground. However, the main hive has been discovered, and treated.

Testing, smoking, and hoping

Ovens installed! As instructed, I ran both ovens at 500F on the convection roast setting for an hour. As a result, I inadvertently tested all the smoke detectors in the entire house. Then I got to test all the ceiling fans...

Other than tweaks to the cabinetry, and the wires for the island light fixture, the kitchen is relatively complete. 

I can finally see the end to this phase of the renovation. The only major item remaining is cork flooring for the bedrooms, and tile flooring for the family room and entryway. After I move in, phase II kicks off (which includes the solar panel array, re-shingling the roof, patio repair, and driveway modifications).

Kitchen, hearth progress, other homey details

While inspecting progress on my house's renovation, tunes from an iPod purred throughout the in-ceiling speakers. Everyday, the place feels more like home.

Excluding a breaker upgrade from 30 to 50 amps, the cooktop, down-draft, and dishwasher are installed! I've already taken an induction-capable pot for testing.

Lighting fixture is nearly installed over the island. After James has a chance to weight in on hanging height, the excess wire will be trimmed and tucked.

Fridge in place, but its height required some minor modification to the cabinets above. Also, where you see a white ice chest, the double ovens are to be installed... after they arrive in 2 weeks.

The hearth in the living room is halfway there! This section is drying so that it can better support the next layer of stone. Once finished, the wood-burning stove takes stage.

Hung, but not yet wired, the last ceiling fan, which is in the master bedroom.

Other details include:

• Moisture barrier installed on nearly all the floors, including the stairs.
• Paint details throughout the entire house.
• Moisture barrier and exterior for the chimney nearly finished.
• Radiant heat pad ready to install, and then we tile the family room and entryway!