Furnace Fun

Cats are locked away in the guest "suite,"  and I'm stuck hanging out around the house while a bunch of guys do work.  It sure beats CO poisoning, but dang it makes for a boring day.

We called in a guy because the blower fan relay crapped out and the fan was running constantly.  He fixed that, but in his checks discovered the heat exchanger had a crack in it, which would do a great job of pumping exhaust fumes into the entire house.  Thankfully we were already planning to be out of town all weekend, and it's only chilly enough to just toss on a sweatshirt and be fine (50°...)

So... only replacing the furnace 5 years ahead of planned. Yay?

Busy

The contractors finished up their end of things today, and we started mudding the drywall and staining the giant window. Busy weekend ahead!

Oh yeah... we're also getting a dog on Sunday...

Need... More... Coffee.......

Coming off two nights of 11pm-7am shifts, and (fingers crossed) the window guys get to the house around the same time I do.  Regardless of noise, I doubt I could sleep with a couple strange guys wandering around the house, so I'll just be powering through the day.  Awesome sauce.

Also of note, it's currently 37F outside... happy May!

In cool gun related news, there's a company making steel mag catches for M&P pistols.  The OEM part can be kind of slick and blends almost too well with the frame of the gun.  I stippled mine when I did the rest of the frame, but I am liking the idea of their offering the more I think about it. The serrations look nice and sharp, giving you a good grip in the right direction, while providing a good contrast to the rest of the frame texture.  Might be a worthwhile upgrade for $27.  Offered in both standard and extended versions.

Tonight's Entertainment

Hooray home ownership!

ETA: Heh, I didn't realize I took a picture of the Spanish side of the box.  It's a fancy humidifier that mounts to the heating ducts and taps into the water line, so you don't have to fill it.  Supposedly it'll handle our house plus another 500 or so square feet, and if all goes according to plan I won't have horrible sinus issues for the rest of the winter.

House Stuff

I set the living room on fire.

New chimney liner, cap/damper combo, and finally one of the reasons we bought this house is usable again.  Good day for it too, being the first "serious" snow of the year.

New Home Fun...

New stove and fridge are due tonight, so that's a plus.  Had the chimney guy in last week to look at things (figured it'd be a good call to make before actually lighting a fire in the living room...)

Turns out it was a good call.  I guess nobody told the former owner what a "rain cap" is, and why it is insanely important to a chimney.  If you don't know, it'll let all the rain and snow come down, getting the inside nice and wet, and when it freezes up here in the north, the ice cracks apart all the mortar holding the firebricks in place.  Loose a brick, and it's like having a blowtorch going against the structural bricks.  Good times.

Thankfully the structure is still fine, so all we need is a stainless alloy liner dropped in.  Price is per linier foot, so for the first time (of what I'm sure will be more than a few) I'm glad it's a short ranch style house.  Still $1200 that could have gone to the bathrooms or kitchen rebuilds, had somebody simply stuck a little piece of metal up on the roof.  On a positive note, we will be required to burn "a 2-log fire" every day until the mortar and insulation cures.