The biggest surprise this week: learning that my kitchen has been completely uninsulated since it was built. I wonder how much money we’ve literally burned over the last 20 years heating this place, between that and the windows that never quite closed or sealed correctly.
Also, more unplanned destruction this week, as the contractor wandered the house attempting to map out the electrical circuits in the place. Previous owners took a kind of fractal approach to wiring — if they needed a new outlet or switch someplace, they just found a handy junction box and ran cable where they wanted it to go, no matter what that took. We found several examples of cabling running through ductwork. All of that needs to be cleaned up.
Good news
There’s a subfloor in the upstairs bathroom now, so less worried about anyone accidentally falling down into the kitchen. They’ve started framing things out to prepare for the rough plumbing and electrical work that’s supposed to happen this week. All of the plumbing fixtures we’ve ordered are at the dealer ready to be delivered here this week.
Kath & I spent the weekend looking at hardwood flooring samples and a stack of paint swatches two inches thick. We’re narrowing down the color choices for the kitchen.
For my vacation this year, I don’t want to go anyplace. I just want to not have to make any more decisions for a week.
Another bonus: The refrigerator has been moved out of the work zone. It’s weird to have it sitting in the family room, but much more convenient than it was before (where I’d basically not have any access to it during my work day). I’m starting to adapt a little better to this new regime of extremely limited cooking options, aided by a freakishly warm weekend for February that made grilling a good choice.