House maintenance

[sonia]

silveradept invited me to post about "A thing you might enjoy talking at length about, but that you haven't been sure the audience wants to see."

(If you want to make topic suggestions for public December posts, please comment!)

I've been thinking about the suggestion. For me, part of the enjoyment of posting is the hope that someone out there will enjoy reading it. If I don't think anyone wants to read it, I can write in my paper journal. Or I go ahead and post, but with a flinching sensation that is not enjoyment.

Things I tend not to talk about because I think people don't want to hear them are complaints, bitterness, depression, and social struggles. I actually have less of the first three lately, and the last isn't for public posts.

I think the best fit for the prompt is home maintenance, so here you go!

One of the nice things about living in a house for almost 15 years is that I can fix things to suit me better, and the fixes accumulate over time. I'm still pleased with the back door I had replaced a few years ago, especially since someone had used an interior door for the back door, and it was cracked through.

I got the outside of the house painted this past spring, a nice soft blue that looks bright in cloudy weather and muted in sunny weather. There was a whole lot of putting up paint samples and clearing brush around the house and getting the garage repaired and worrying about paint fumes and dealing with scheduling vagueness and noticing that the painters used interior paint for the trim, so it was a huge relief when that project was done.

More recently, I had the kitchen faucet replaced. About ten years ago I had a plumber in who suggested replacing it, but I had it repaired instead. It had been dripping again every time it's shut off for a couple of months, and so was the adapter to the countertop New Wave Enviro water filter. When I looked into new faucets, I realized I could get an undersink water filter with its own faucet and the whole thing would be much more uncluttered. I had lived with the cluttered situation for years, but once it crossed my mind that I could change it, I was done.

There was unexpected drama in acquiring the New Wave Enviro undersink filter (package never arrived, Vitacost gave me the runaround about a refund, local co-op completely failed to cope with a special order, other companies were very slow to get back to me), but I did finally manage to get one. (From here, if you're curious.)

I got this Delta faucet with a pull-down sprayer at a local plumbing supply place where they were very patient with my questions. I chose it by looking at their displays and picking one I liked the looks of, mid-range in cost (less than at the Delta website), and they said it was reliable. I did a bit of internet research to make sure people weren't entirely panning it, but mostly didn't worry about the choice too much.

The sink was going to have an extra hole available, so I got a soap dispenser too. Even less clutter!

I talked to the plumbing company I've used before, and their estimate was higher than I expected, so I went with time and materials. I was nervous about that, but the gamble worked out. The plumber was great, an older guy who said he was "11 months from retirement." Everything went smoothly and the total for his labor was half of the original estimate.

The upshot is, there was a lot of fuss and trips to the plumbing supply store and phone calls about the lost package, but I'm really pleased with the spaciousness and functionality and no intermittently dripping faucets in the kitchen.

I just got a contractor who has done other small jobs for me to re-do the caulk around the bathtub and seal the grout between all the tiles in the bathroom. There was some logistics around that too (and it's still off-gassing), but I'm really glad it's done now. Hopefully no more drips down to the laundry room below, and no more blackened caulk around the tub. There is so much more water-related maintenance in moist Portland than there was in dry Oakland.



To be fair I should take another after pic with the dish drainer and sponges and hand soap back in place, but this one really emphasizes the spaciousness, which is still there even with a few more useful items scattered about.


All three of those projects quiet a recurring, "I need to do something about that." It's good to have lived in this town long enough to know people to hire, and also to trust my own sense of what I want.

Comments

[amethyst73]

It looks lovely! Congratulations.

[sonia]

Thank you! I'm enjoying it.

[silveradept]

Thank you for posting about this. Having just done some maintenance around water myself, I can appreciate the continual need for it.

The sink pictures are giving me broken images, though, so I can't fully appreciate the work.

[sonia]

Thanks for letting me know! Should be fixed.

I hope your maintenance went well!

[silveradept]

It seems to have gone well so far! And was an inexpensive fix, it looks like.

And the sink looks lovely!

[sonia]

Glad to hear it was an inexpensive fix. That’s always nice.

And thanks! It’s nice when something comes out the way I visualized it and I like it as much as I thought I would.

[rosefox]

What a big difference! That's so great!

[sonia]

Thanks! :-)

[elainegrey]

Your sink looks lovely. I hope to hear sometime how the in sink soap dispenser works out. We have one we don't use.

[sonia]

Thanks! So far so good with the soap dispenser. They're pretty simple in design, a bottle hanging below and the pump with a straw above. This one even came with a funnel for refilling. You just pull out the pump and pour soap in.

The only downside so far is that I like to put a little soap in the frying pan when I'm letting it soak, and the pan doesn't fit under the dispenser! I have the original bottle of soap under the sink and I just get it out for that.

Lovely blue color!

[jesse_the_k]

Did you choose a contrast for the edges of things?

We've had that faucet (well, probably its ancestor) for *squints* 11 years. We have super hard water (Wisconsin's ground water filters through an ancient sea bottom) so we pull the head out and dunk it in a glass of warm vinegar monthly to keep the spray going. The wide spray is great for generating foam and washing vegetables.

It's great to be able to fill a pot without lifting it in and out of the sink.

I wish someone would make a faucet where I could control the head and the flow with one hand at the same time. Like a pot-washer faucet but not hideous.

Re: Lovely blue color!

[sonia]

How cool that you've had that faucet (or an ancestor, like you say) for so long. Sounds like it's done good service. I don't think our water is hard, but I'll keep the vinegar soak in mind.

For the house I used bright white trim. The door is still red, because I haven't replaced it yet (see other post). I'm happy with how the house turned out, and so glad that project is done!