Regular readers will recall that in November last year, we suffered a not-so-minor flood event at our home. It's taken a long time to dry out the house, then repair the damage, but yesterday the final repairs were completed, and the job is done at last.
Now comes the not-so-minor job of restoring all our furniture and fittings to their rightful places, installing new shelves in our pantry (the old jerry-built ones had to be removed to install new flooring), and generally put the place to rights. I've been hard at work re-sorting and re-shelving all our books over the past week - the old chipboard-and-veneer shelves, bought more than two decades ago and having been through several interstate moves, began to buckle when moved after the flood, so we've replaced most of them. Between us we own several thousand books, so re-shelving them is a big, slow job, but we're getting there. Today will see us erecting new pantry shelves, moving the contents of the kitchen back to where they should be, and rearranging the dining area. There'll be plenty of that over the weekend, and more to follow.
Looking back, it's taken us about two and a half months from discovering the problem to getting the final repairs done. That seems unconscionably long if you're accustomed to suppliers, vendors and workers who have all they need to get the job done, but a big part of that time was taken up in ordering and waiting for supplies. The supply chain crunch is far from over, and a surprising amount of stuff is still not freely available locally.
On the other hand, we're enjoying our new dishwasher, bought to replace the old unit that began leaking uncontrollably and caused the mess. We bought a Bosch unit, largely on the recommendation of readers who commented, and are very satisfied with it. It takes longer to wash up than the old unit, but does so using less water, and cleans better, too. Our cats are still wary of the red spot it shines on the floor while running (because it's so quiet that without the light, you might not realize it was operating). They're used to red lights being something they chase around the house. One that sits there for two hours and does nothing is very frustrating to them!
Oh, well. Back to work!
Peter
I had my hot water heater go out a week or so ago. Right at the time we started having a normal winter (it had been rather warm), so it took a few days to get a plumber over as they prioritize keeping peoples heat on (I have forced air). I checked what I could (elements, breakers, thermometers, etc.) but it turned out to be the control unit and it was old enough a replacement wasn't an option.
ReplyDeleteHad the plumber over yesterday and went ahead and had him just replace it, they have gotten a lot more expensive since I replaced the last one, I've also gotten about a decade older and don't feel like trying to hump one down into a pit in the crawl space anymore so I just paid the extra to have him do it. ~$4k, pretty much my whole paycheck, been seeing articles on how something like 80% of Americans don't have even a grand in the bank, so something like this would really put a hurt on them.
Still, very nice to be able to take a hot shower in the morning when it's -44 outside.
Our dishwasher disaster happened in 2016, and that took 6 weeks from discovery to finishing the installation of new cabinets. (We also took advantage of the problem to upgrade cabinets that weren't destroyed. My wife is happier...) That was with no supply chain issues, though all the cabinets were custom made by a local shop.
ReplyDeleteFWIW, the culprit was a no-lead brass fitting that broke after a couple of years. Hairline crack, and it sprayed water for a long time before we caught it. The part that replaced it (also no-lead brass) died after a year, but we caught it the same day. The final part is stainless steel. That's been good for 6+ years now. The local plumbers hate the no-lead brass. (Glares at European no-lead regulators...)
We have a couple of water alarms in use. One is in the catch tray for the water heater, and another under the kitchen sink, also in a catch tray. Home Depot sells (last I looked) them, and they were running $12 or so. Mileage may vary, but it's cheap insurance.
Yay???
ReplyDeleteWhich Bosch unit did you go for?
ReplyDeleteRCPete:
ReplyDeleteI suspect the chinesium brass plumbing parts are also lead free.
A u-tube bus mechanic had one of those new parts fracture on his 70 Y.O. traveling bus a few years back, and barely made it to a highway shoulder before the air brakes locked up the wheels for lack of air. Brass parts should not break like that.
The F'ing EU Green idiots lost one or more expensive satellites due to using lead-free solder in the electronics. That stuff grows whiskers, which proceeded to short out vital systems. Hah!