The List - November update

Time for an update to The List.  I’ve been productive! 

The jobs – they keep a’comin’: 

• Hang Pictures
• New thermostat for garage heater (that goes lower than 18 degrees)
• Build bookshelves
• Figure out basement lights switches that do nothing, and lights that won’t turn on (connected, maybe?)
• Designate an area of front yard to go wild, and then plant a bunch of trees and  brush to help it along.
• Oil changes for quad, lawnmowers

In the attic:

• Install two bathroom fans (that move air, and don’t howl)

 Upstairs:

• Install baseboards in the closets
• Find a place to hang the vacuum cleaner hoses
• Fill the nail holes in all the baseboards
• New door sweeps at front door and back door
• Paint doors
• Paint ceiling at skylight
• Fix/(I tried - it’s not worth saving) Replace under-cabinet lighting
• Install curtains and/or blinds in the bedrooms
• Fix the shelves in the walk-in closet
• Fix the rod in the main entrance closet (properly, this time - I hacked it in so it won’t fall down, but the design is still bad)
• Shelves for the spice cupboard
  
  

 Outside:

• Patch stucco
• Get rid of rust stain on side of house
• Replace stairs on deck
• Hand rails at deck stairs, main entrance, garage man-doors (2)
• Level sidewalk tiles at shed, walkout
• Fix play center (and build a play house in one side of it, and install a wheel up top)
• Fix lawnmower steering
• Replace deck, as the current one is deck boards installed on top of plywood
• Paint garage doors
• Install cat doors in both sheds
• Get rid of chicken coop
• Get rid of chicken poo
• Remove old internet antenna
• Patch holes in wall from internet wire
• Fix old hot tub electrical box
• Put siding on sheds (they’re currently painted OSB)
• Fix soffits on the house and shed
• Build a shed for garbage

In the Garage

• Move garage door opener buttons
• Fix saggy cables in the garage
• Fix saggy ceiling in garage
• Fix mitre saw table
• More shelves in the garage
• Shelves under the work bench

 In the Basement:

• Run internet cable to projector
• Install at least one cold air return
• Finish drywall repairs in bathroom
• Paint bathroom
• Paint hallway
• Build shelves in the furnace room
• Deal with the hacked-in wet bar/kitchen in the basement (rip it out and start again?)
• Install projector and screen
• Build a hearth of some sort around the fireplace
• Replace stopper in bathroom sink
• Install bathroom lights
• Trim glass block feature
• Clean pencil crayon off glass block grout
• Hook up kitchenette water
• Drywall under stairs
• Clean up carpet/throw out (under stairs)  

And then, there are the jobs that I shouldn’t do and we need to get someone in for:

Electrician (or HVAC): 

• Install outlets for garage heater, water heater (currently on extension cords)
• Hook up and/or fix central exhaust fan 

Plumber:

• Figure out whether in-floor heat, and on-demand water heater are installed correctly (I have my doubts)  (We’ve had three plumbers look at it – opinions vary, but they all pretty much say rip out the plumbing between the water into the house and the water heater and start again.  Hopefully someone will get us an actual quote sometime soon)
• Thermostat for in-floor heat

Carpet layer:

• Install tack strip at kitchen, hearth
• Stretch carpet
• Fix visible seam 

  

Now, here's the good side of The List.  Eventually, the top will migrate to the bottom:

Crossed off (as of November 27, 2012)

• Make the vacuum cleaner suck (more) (Replaced the canister.  It works much better.  Nothing money can't fix, I guess.)
• Fix or replace the vacuum cleaner sweep plate (with the new canister, it just works now)
• Install garburator
• Clean main bathroom light fixture
• Organize pantry
• Shelf liners for pantry, pot drawer
• Touch up blue paint
• Touch up white paint drips
• Replace leaky dishwasher
• Weed/mow/trim/prune (It’s winter.  Call it done.  There’ll be a whole bunch more in the summer, though.)
• Organize tools
• Figure out snow removal (bought a blade to go with my quad on the day of a 12-inch dump of snow.  It works.)
• Clean garbage out of composts
• Power for garburator
• Power in kitchen island
• Touch up ceiling paint (in basement and kitchen)
• Plant trees to block off the neighbour’s shed (…maybe?  Well see if the willows live, getting stuck into mostly frozen ground)

These ones didn’t make it onto the list long enough to be posted, but they’re done:

• Get hot tub running
• Get quad starting and running well

Crossed off (as of Sept. 30, 2012):

• Organize freezers
• Replace bulb in microwave
• Move stones from scattered randomly over the yard to a pile
• Attach the bathroom fan exhaust hoses to the roof vents
• Replace bathroom baseboards (removed for tiling)
• Touch up paint at colour changes
• Clean fans in boys’ bedrooms
• Shampoo kitchen chairs, couch cushions
• Replace screens in boys’ bedrooms
• Replace weather strip at garage doors
• Replace weather strip at garage man doors
• Replace weather strip at main entrance door
• Clean kitchen lights
• Move fireplace
• Fill fishpond (with dirt)
• Level sandbox (dig into the hill) and then fill sandbox (with sand)
• Plant lilac
• Plant oak
• Finish drywall repairs in basement hallway
• Touch up red paint 

Gravel truck:

• Add gravel to driveway 

Some of the other jobs that we’ve completed are:

• Clean the old place.
• Clean the new place.
• Paint (and patch, and re-paint) the new place
• Pack and move everything from one to the other.
• Install a new kitchen faucet – the cheapest available, so that the sink doesn’t leak into the cabinet
• Replace almost every bulb in the place with bulbs that were either not dead, or put out light
• Put tiles around the ensuite shower and main bathtub
• Install another new kitchen faucet – this time, one we like.
• Find the yard, somewhere under all the weeds
• Find the garden – spray it, scythe it, and rototill it.  Then repeat a couple of times.
• Unclog the drain in the main bathtub
• Unclog the drain in the half bath sink
• Unclog the drain in the ensuite sink
• Figure out where the water pressure all went
• Fix the hot water flow
• Get internet installed
• Get lawnmower working
• Fix tire on lawnmower
• Haul truck loads of junk to the dump
• Fix leaky kitchen sink