Last Saturday, we were extremely fortunate that Dan's Uncle John (along with Jen) came to help us out with our HVAC. He spent five hours helping us make some repairs and leveling the A/C unit in the back of the house (which was an extra nice thing to do considering that he had to go under the deck and be assaulted by drainage and mosquitoes). He also helped us take care of the sump pump drainage pipe so that it actually goes out into the yard and not under the deck!
We are so grateful for all the help we've received, whether it be help from friends with moving, some financial help from our parents, an upcoming trip that my mom and stepdad are making to help us with repairs, housewarming gifts, congratulatory cards, lots of good advice, or just kind souls listening to us wax on endlessly about our house projects. We are so blessed to have so many supportive family and friends willing to help us out and to celebrate with us. It might take an entire village (and a lot of patience and hard work), but we'll get this place how we want it soon enough!
In addition to playing around with paint colors and getting some help from Uncle John last weekend, Dan took care of a few minor repairs.
One minor annoyance in the basement was the door to our laundry area, which would not latch closed. It could be latched on the outside with a latch at the top of the door, but this was not much help if we were inside the laundry area and wanted to close the door behind us to keep the cats out. Dan took a metal file to the opening of the strike plate and. . . voila!. . . we can now close the door using the doorknob, inside or outside, no additional latch required!
While he was at it, Dan also made the same repair to the door of the basement bathroom, which would close but not very well. It also has an outside latch at the top of the door; in fact, we learned from the seller at closing that all of the basement doors have these outside latches because a previous owner used to run a daycare out of the house. Yet another interesting tidbit about our new home!
In the master bedroom, Dan took down all of the wire shelving in one of the closets (which left no room for a closet rod). It left behind a huge mess of nail holes, but last weekend he got all the nails and hooks removed and everything patched up.
One thing that's been annoying me since the day we moved in is a slight drip from the faucet of our kitchen sink. Dan took care of that on Sunday. It took two trips to Home Depot to find the right replacement part, and we had a scary moment there where the cold water wouldn't turn off at all(!), but all's well that ends well and we now have a drip-free kitchen sink.
This weekend, everyone here is holed up anticipating the approach of Hurricane Irene, so we're hoping it will be a good chance to get some more work done. Dan's making a run to Home Depot now to pick up some paint. We're hoping to get started on some painting in the bedroom and the dining room. I'm very excited to get started on something that has more to do with decorating than with fixing or cleaning things!
You guys are really working hard! Can't wait to come and see it! Hope you made out ok w/ the storm! Barb E.
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