All Soul's Week Begins
Monday, October 30th, 2023 12:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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A chilly 38F and sunny today heading for a low of 24F tonight!.. first low below freezing since April.
I'm calling this, All Soul's Week, because we've got Halloween, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day, which is also Day of the Dead... on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
So there's no point in transitioning to Thanksgiving until Saturday.
Tim called last night, so I ended up not doing any laundry. I took my shower this morning and had clean clothes up there, but I'll need to catch up on laundry over the week.
This is what the front looks like today... already looking better than ever, but it'll be great when I get those side panels around the AC painted.
I do need to drill a hole though one tonight to get the extension cord back down there for the Halloween lights.
Finishing the AC install is gonna be a bit tricky... insulating around it and closing off the sides on the interior.
One of the accordion fold wings of the thing tore in two.
I'm wondering if I can replace them both with some other material.
I feel like getting the upstairs rear windows next weekend should be the priority, however, because the AC window is at least to a stopping point.
They should go faster, because all the sectionals are glazed and painted already. But I'll still need to pull the sashes of both windows and refurbish them as well.
I figure it'll be one on Saturday and one on Sunday, with hopefully a bit of time left to deal with the AC.
The next phase of the Global Window Restoration Project (GWRP) I assume, would then happen over the winter as I begin to spend more time in the studio, and set up the good computer and desk here in the back room.
The studio north window needs that glass in the upper sash... and the west facing window needs a new storm. But I can reuse the glass panes from the old storm.
Here in the back room, both side windows need storm solutions. They too have missing sectionals, and there's an AC in one window.
But there's also a window in the laundry closet behind the stack unit that completely rotted away, and is currently covered with tarp and duct tape outside, and cardboard inside.
I need to just block that one off with plywood and somehow cover the outside with aluminum or something. That one's gonna be very tricky and will require some careful planning.
I'm gonna need to disconnect the gas and water from the stack unit and wheel it out of my way, just to see what exactly I'm dealing with.
But here in the back room, I also need to get the wall mount gas heater working again.
Sheesh!
Then, of course, next summer, assuming I can afford to go part time again for June and July... I'm gona redo the south enclosure of the side porch.
And after that's done... there's still the kitchen storm... and then I need to create little nesting storms to fit inside the screen frames of three small casement windows and the wake up window.
So... wow! I'm getting a good start on GWRP right now, but I'm sure I'll still be working on it this time next year.
But right now the focus is on the bills... as November begins on Wednesday.
And after that I need to immediately get the ball rolling on a mortgage, because I'll be running on fumes by December.
Kevin did explain to me how a modern HELOC works.
Basically I get a huge line of credit against the house, which I can dip into for the next ten years. Then at that point, however much I've used becomes the mortgage, and there's no more dipping in... I just pay it back over 20 more years.
But he said I should stand a good chance of qualifying because of not only my credit score, but the fact that I have a ton of equity in the house right now. It's worth way more than I owe on it.
Still, I need to get that loan soon... before I start having to run up balances on my credit cards... which will bring my score down.
If I can pull it off, and consolidate the PNC loan, and the BMO debt into a monthly that's under $1000.00... I should be fine.
Another thing that absolutely must happen in the spring is getting the new breaker box installed!
Those new circuits have to be available before I start redoing bathrooms, bedrooms, etc.
Refurbishing the upstairs windows is a good start up there, but that bathroom needs an update badly.
The shower stall up there is made of steel with a terazzo base, so it's gonna be a BIIITCH to replace! It's gotta be cut apart with a sawzall and... the pieces thrown out the window, I think!
The base will have to be broken up with a sledge hammer and thrown out the window too.
It's gonna be a big job, and I want to build a kitchenette outside of it.
There also needs to be air returns upstairs... which has been one of the most vexing problems of the house.
The easy solution would be to simply cut holes in the floors directly above the floor returns in the livingroom and studio. But then privacy goes out the window forever, in that whole part of the house.
But ducting through the walls would be difficult, because of all the load bearing beams, and preexisting wire runs, and other ductwork.
I may have to end up running ducts outside the walls... say between the livingroom windows and down the hallway's end wall.
The latter of those two would be fine, because it'd be hiding behind the open door of the studio most of the time.
The former, in the living room... could be done half decently without looking too obnoxious.
Then below the floor, it would just have to make a quick right to join the livingroom's air return duct.
But listen to me going on and on about all the million things that need to get done around here!
This all really will take ten years!
Okay, that's it for this morning. Soon I'll be off to work to start another week.
I've got a hole to drill in a panel tonight.
I've got candy to put out tomorrow.
And I've got a new TP holder and towel hooks to put up in the downstairs bathroom during the week.
Also got those bills!
And I've gotta get the ball rolling with Discover for a HELOC.
Quiet night at work.
It's 25F out there right now.
After walking and feeding the pets tonight, I cut a notch in one of the AC side panels and dropped my extension cord through.
The bush lights are back on, and the front stoop bulb was changed back to a white one.
I also brought in the cat food shipment and put a load of laundry in the washer.
So all I have to do is print up a sign tomorrow and we'll be ready for the trick or treaters.
I made an Amazon order today for; glazing compound, caulking cord, foam board, duct tape, and hunk of foam rubber.
I'm hoping to get the AC insulated without having to use any duct tape, but I am out of it, so I do need more for whatever.
The rest of that stuff is for the AC, except of course, the glazing compound.
I was looking at the kitchen window on the security camera today and realized that the existing storm is easily refurbishable with just glaze and paint... maybe some wood glue.
That's my Monday.
Tomorrow I'm gonna try to start hitting the bills.
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