![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Storm Cleanup
What we call a "winter storm" here in the Bay Area wouldn't impress anyone from the Midwest or East -- some wind, some rain, big deal. But here at Chez Overman-Scott our lovely backyard, with its bamboo, overhanging Monterey pine, and pool takes a hit in the first storm of the season, since the tree has been collecting dead needles and dirt through the rainless summer and much of that comes down and lands in the pool with the first rain. The water is a dirty brown, the filter is clogging, and I just spent 20 minutes fishing needles and crap off the water's surface with a little net on a pole.
Meanwhile, our second window bidder arrived an hour late, begged off on replacing the major fixed glass areas, and in general seemed like a waste of time.
The kitchen remodel plan is coming along -- the bid is about $13K and we have to get our own sink, faucet, and cooktop. I've ordered the sink and faucet online, since the local big-box stores only sell the cheaper stuff (like 21-gauge stainless steel sinks instead of the much thicker 18-gauge.) Meanwhile, after a full day of research on cooktops, I went back to the plan to reuse the original Thermador stainless steel one when I discovered none of the major manufacturers make one thin enough to be installed in place of the current one without eliminating at least two drawers below it -- typically they are 4" thick as opposed to the current 2.5". BUT THEN I discovered a German manufacturer, Gaggenau, which makes a 2.3" glass-ceran cooktop with cool digital controls, so there is nothing to get in the way of cleaning it. Alas, it is almost $2K. And yesterday's trip to the appliance store that carries it here was a bust -- they were closed on Mondays, damn them.
Just another slice of life here. Sorry to be so boring.
Meanwhile, our second window bidder arrived an hour late, begged off on replacing the major fixed glass areas, and in general seemed like a waste of time.
The kitchen remodel plan is coming along -- the bid is about $13K and we have to get our own sink, faucet, and cooktop. I've ordered the sink and faucet online, since the local big-box stores only sell the cheaper stuff (like 21-gauge stainless steel sinks instead of the much thicker 18-gauge.) Meanwhile, after a full day of research on cooktops, I went back to the plan to reuse the original Thermador stainless steel one when I discovered none of the major manufacturers make one thin enough to be installed in place of the current one without eliminating at least two drawers below it -- typically they are 4" thick as opposed to the current 2.5". BUT THEN I discovered a German manufacturer, Gaggenau, which makes a 2.3" glass-ceran cooktop with cool digital controls, so there is nothing to get in the way of cleaning it. Alas, it is almost $2K. And yesterday's trip to the appliance store that carries it here was a bust -- they were closed on Mondays, damn them.
Just another slice of life here. Sorry to be so boring.
no subject
Is 13K a good bid? Because living here is so iffy now, and my kitchen is so much smaller than yours, all we have to do is tear out the existing cabinetry and appliances, hang new cabinets, buy new appliances, and install a new sink. Fortunately a friend of mine is going to take care of the sink and plumbing, so most of the expense is going to be the purchases rather than the labor.
no subject
Yours should be lots cheaper -- if you buy cabinets at IKEA (which is fine if you like a modern, white look) you can assemble and install them yourself; I did two for our laundry room and it was easy.
no subject
Really won't matter, though, in the long run. If I won't be using them for 20 years, who cares!
no subject
18-gauge stainless is far preferable to the standard 21-gauge. Good call.
The appliance store is likely open this week. If I could, I'd volunteer to go with you.
no subject
Unless you call a "pineapple express" that comes up from Hawaii and hits Washington state insignificant, with winds of over 30 mph, heavy rains, sometimes thunder and lightening, power outages, flooding, you name it, oh, it'll hit as high as 60-65 Degrees when one of these storms hit- usually in the fall and winder months. Now, you talk about debres all over the place. :-) Oh, let's not forget the "artic express" cold front from Alaska that sometimes collide with the warmer, wetter air off the ocean and voila, snow that is sometimes over a foot in the Puget Sound area, and lasts for days, with extreme bitter cold sunny days that follow and it'll last almost a week before warming up.
But all that aside, it's really pleasent here. :-P
Sounds like you are coming along nicely with your house updates.
No, you are not boring, just documenting your life is all and that's interesting in and of itself. :-)