Taking Care of Business

After we had agreed to buy Skyline, and continuing until shortly after we closed, there was a flurry of immediate project work to do, most of it in the "boring mechanical stuff" category.

For instance, Skyline had a fuse box, and three connected sub-panels (plus a fourth, for the non-functional hot tub, but we'll get there later.)  We promptly got upgraded to 200 amp service, and a large, shining new panel, with lots of room for expansion.

Here's the "before" - more than a little scary.

We also had several necessary plumbing projects, including but not limited to...

Main bathroom: fix wobbly shower arm, replace tub overflow & trap, repair lav sink supply lines

Boiler: cleaned and tuned, replaced burners

Basement: move water line to prepare for electrical service upgrade

Old well: properly cap off

There were a couple surprise projects, too - like replacing the garage door, when D broke it; acquiring and installing a new oven, after we realized that the existing one wouldn't stay on for more than 15 minutes; and of course, re-wiring the electrical for cooktop and oven, so it would be up-to-code.

We still managed to get a few fun things done, though.  The nasty blue shag carpet on the stairs, and un-padded brown shag carpet in the basement were removed - and replaced by a beautiful vintage remnant of Armstrong Crowne Corlon sheet vinyl, and thoroughly-padded Shaw Solon 20 oz carpet in Caterpillar, respectively.  We were thrilled by the products and service of Maloney Carpet One.  I mean, just look at this!

Outside, we replaced the gutters with Leaf Guard and 6" downspouts.  Always get the oversized downspouts if you have the option.

We also had several of the maple trees severely trimmed, and removed a few diseased cedars (cedar-apple rust - very gross).

S built a brick and stone fire pit for the back yard, which has been fire department approved, and consistently draws the compliment of people asking who we had build it.

As the first 9 months at Skyline drew to a close, the state was hit by an epic ice storm, which caused us to wish we'd pruned or eliminated even more trees - but we escaped with only minor gutter damage and no loss of power.

After several hours of hacking at the downed limbs.

And it was kind of pretty...