Solar

I found a site that has a lot of info on going solar, as well as finding contractors to do the work for you.

I will probably going for the lease option. Why lease?

1. Low initial cost
2. Can upgrade to new technology in a few years as it improves
3. No time for return on investment

If you are considering Solar, and want to find a great price, from a company who know the ends and outs check out this LINK

Floor Layout

The moment a few of you have been waiting for, the general layout of the floor of the house we will have:

 

No, I did not include the diminsions of the rooms, because I do not have exact numbers for the floor. The grey areas are the swing of doors. Yes, there are windows too, but I did not include them here. And I forgot to label the space between the bedroooms, which are 2 closets. There is also rumored to be a door between the living room and bedroom. But I have not stepped foot beyond the area of where the stairs are. 

Diminsions floorplan

I took a lot of measurements of my inlaws floor. It's the same basic layout as below. Was trying a couple things to make a floor plan, but I'm sure there is something better than what I was trying. 1st was using a spreadsheet, to make boxes, then using Open Office Draw, but being I've not gotten familiar with all of it, didn't see the way to modify ruler. I'll find something, unless someone has a better idea. Sometimes I miss the programs from days of old, i.e. Clarisworks, BBE, and occasionally windows 3.1. The one that ran from DOS. What? Some of you don't remember booting to a dos prompt?  I bet you don't remember 300 baud modems either. I can just imagine using such to do a simple task as checking email with it. We've come a long way.

Oh, a note, there is about 20 square feet of 'mystery' space, where there use to be a dumb waiter (No, not that guy fired from Applebys who couldn't find apples on the menu).  I'll have to ask my wife about what this house is rumored to have been.

No Workshop however..

After working late last night, I had trouble getting up in time for the workshops. I did watch a couple shows on HGTV, and saw something that reminded me of an issue, and how to fix it. Issue: Ventilation in the bathroom. The bathroom is in the middle of the house, with the outside wall millimeters away from house next door. Inspiration: A poorly installed ventilation system in a bathroom. Hose not connected, an empty beer can used as a connector, and a wadded up sheet of plastic in the hose. Plan: Put a vent in the bathroom, above the toilet, on the inside wall. Fan too. Have it run along the top of the closet next door, into the kitchen and out the back. Secondary idea, we were planning on making that closet our laundry area. Also hook up the vent out for the dryer to this vent out. Of course, add a 'box' to hide the hose, both in the laundry closet and the kitchen. Add a couple access panels for cleaning (particularly considering the dryer)
Also, will do something similar for my wife's parents. No, they don't have a dryer (yet... maybe) but the moisture in their bathroom is an issue. Tomorrow, I'm going to get some measurement, so I can make at least a rough sketch of things. Will be another page, labeled "Pictures, diagrams, and drawings"

Learning more what to do

My Dad said, while we were atop the roof of the addition he was adding to our home, "I wish I paid more attention to what my Dad did when he was building things" I too can say that. No, not that I didn't learn a lot from him, expanding our house, but there were plenty of steps I didn't pay much attention to, nor get my hands 'dirty' to try it. I do have a very basic knowledge of how to do a lot of different things, but doubt I could make much money as a handyman. So, it's time to expand my knowledge. In case you didn't know, Home Depot offers free workshops on how to do all sorts of things. So, I'll be expanding my knowledge this way. 1st workshops are tomorrow. Interior painting (My wife will tell you I really need this one), Installing a vanity and faucet, and flooring are the 3 we will be attending tomorrow. I've changed faucets before, but when it comes to those pipes at the bottom, I've not considered doing anything with them, besides pouring draino in it if there is a clog the plunger doesn't get out.
One of the things we would like to do, is put in bamboo flooring. We've seen enough shows on HGTV to know it is a good decision. Very durable, looks great, and inexpensive.
Now, as far as painting, things just haven't looked very good. Okay, I'll be honest, down right horrid. So I definitely hope I'll learn a thing or 10 to help me with that.