The List - March 2013 Update

Time for an update to The List.  I've been somewhat productive.  There are still a lot of days of work, though.

Newly on the list: 

• Install towel bars, TP holders, etc. in all the bathrooms (in progress…ensuite is done, three more to go)
• Re-balance the washing machine
• Re-silicone the ensuite bathtub
• Fix the leaking eaves troughs (2 places at the front of the house, but especially over the sidewalk, as it gets very icy on melt-y days)
• Install faucets that don’t get half-turned-off in the half bath and basement bathroom
• Fix stairs to the hot tub
• Fix loose baseboard installation (mostly done, but I keep finding new places)
• Re-grade under the deck and east side of walkout
• Get rid of the gravel in the shrub garden
• Take out an overgrown, ugly, pain-in-the-butt flowerbed

In the attic:

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

 

Upstairs:

• Hang Pictures (in progress – we have some up, but many more to go)
• 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
• Replace under-cabinet lighting (in progress – we need more parts from China)
• Install curtains and/or blinds in the bedrooms
• Fix the shelves in the walk-in closet
• Fix the rod in the main entrance closet

Outside:

• Patch broken stucco
• Get rid of rust stain on side of house
• Hand rails at deck stairs, main entrance and 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)
• 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
• Designate an area of front yard to go wild, and then plant a bunch of trees and brush to help it along.

In the Garage

• Move garage door opener buttons
• Fix saggy ceiling in garage
• More shelves in the garage (there’s an entire bare wall than could handle shelves for shoes, kitchen appliances, etc.)

In the Basement:

• Run internet cable to the projector
• Install at least one cold air return
• Finish drywall repairs in the bathroom (just about done!)
• 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 (got the projector up, now testing where I’ll want the screen)
• Build a hearth of some sort around the fireplace
• Install bathroom lights
• Trim glass block feature (in progress – I have the trim, now need to stain, finish, and install)
• Drywall under stairs
• Clean up and/or throw out carpet (under stairs)  
• Build bookshelves
• Figure out basement lights switches that do nothing, and lights that won’t turn on (connected, maybe?)

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 (Nope...nothing $6K won't fix)
• 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 March 20, 2013)

• New thermostat for garage heater
• Oil changes for quad, lawnmowers
• Shelves for the spice cupboard (huge improvement)
• Replace stairs on deck (well, I fixed the sloped top step, so now they’ll last until we replace the deck)
• Fix saggy cables in the garage
• Fix mitre saw table
• Shelves in the garage (built two over one side of the workbench)
• Shelves under the work bench (now I have more tool storage than at the old house)
• Fix lawnmower steering
• Clean pencil crayon off glass block grout
• Replace stopper in bathroom sink
• Hook up kitchenette water

It’s nice that this section is longer than the top section, even if it’s just by a little.

The jobs that didn’t stay on the list long enough to register

• Fix the broken glass panel in the pantry door
• Stop the deck door from binding on the frame
• Replace the expired smoke detectors, and install a CO detector
• Make the toilets in the basement and ensuite flush properly

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)
• 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 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