L'herbe

As I mentioned last week, my yard, or yards, or relatively small patches of grass, were getting a little too big for their britches and I had designated this weekend for taking care of it.

I got up this morning and after digging around online for a bit went to Aurora Lawnmower. A really old guy (I'd give him 70, easily) in a mechanic's jumpsuit helped me out. He walked around at about half a mile an hour and took 15 minutes to write out my invoice, but I have a soft spot for old guys like him, so I didn't really mind.

I didn't want to spend too much money on a mower that isn't going to see a lot of use in my small yard, so I bought an old-fashioned push mower. They had a few used power mowers for $175 and up, but I decided since I don't have a lot of area to mow I'd rather get a good hand mower than a low-end power mower. I also got a line trimmer for working around trees and telephone poles.



Old fashioned


Line trimmer

While surveying the area, I realized that because I am on a corner lot, I actually have two sidewalk sections to mow. Whoops.

The line trimmer turned out to be really helpful for knocking the tall grass down to size so I could more easily push the mower over it. It is a really satisfying tool to use; sweeping back and forth slowly with it, you feel like George Peppard with a flamethrower. I evened it out with the push mower and raked the clippings out, nearly filling my yard waste container.

Compare to last week's photos:


Trimmed sidewalk (last week)


Trimmed yard (last week)

I am pretty pooped, so I probably won't get much else done today, but who knows. Last night at about 12:30am I was briefly struck by inspiration and finished plastering the area of wall next to the light switch in the dining room.

My minimum goal for tomorrow is to finish all plastering in the living room, which shouldn't be too tall of an order. The biggest plaster job remaining is a 6-8 sq ft area in the dining room, and I think I'm capable of getting all of it done tomorrow. But I want to keep my milestones small just for the sake of keeping myself unintimidated by large tasks.

The Electric Version

A weekday. Be still my heart.

I did a little more poking around with that last outlet I need to rewire. I bent a lot of metal flaps trying to remove the section of heating duct that was obscuring it and realized I could probably replace it without taking the duct down, which is fortunate, because the duct was not moving.

I don't remember how I came to realize it, but the next big revelation was that the wire leading up over that piece of duct is not in fact the outlet I need to change at all. It goes to an outlet in my bedroom and fortunately seems to be set up in an identical way to the ones I replaced yesterday (Romex to the panel, illegal knob & tube junction). So I'll be able to knock that one out for extra credit whenever I get around to it.

The corollary of this is that the wiring for The Last Damn Outlet is not coming up from the basement, it's coming from the upstairs. I confirmed this by poking around a bit with my trusty inspection mirror. This also explains why the mostly-rewired second floor has one odd outlet on this circuit: it's right above the other one.

Not sure what I'm going to do about this one. I am loath to tear the upstairs apart much more than I already have.

Dear God, please back a dump truck full of money up to my house and deposit its contents on my front lawn. At least it will keep the grass down.

Bakin' carrot biscuits

Ethan was in town for a job interview on Friday and he crashed at my place on Thursday and Friday night. I really need to get around to buying a guest bed. Right now, either the guest takes the couch or I take the couch, and it sucks. I have some friends scheduled to visit on May 20, maybe I can get it taken care of before then.

Having deadlines is good. Without deadlines my entire house has come off the rails. But onto the good news.

My mom came over today and helped me make a complete circuit map of the house. At last. This is at best an incredibly obnoxious task to try to accomplish alone. I had already made drawings of each room in the house with letters assigned to each outlet, switch, and light fixture, so I was able to walk around with my notebook and yell for her to hit breakers until we found which breaker controlled which circuit.

I just counted in the notebook; we did 86 outlets, switches, and lights.

The map served only to confirm my suspicion that the wiring in this house is completely berserk. Popular breakers in the house:

Lovely #15, spanning all three floors of the house with

• one living room outlet
  
• hall light fixture
• one laundry room outlet
  
• laundry room light fixture
• one outlet in the master bedroom

Fabulous #16, dazzling in this spring's line:

• one living room outlet
• three dining room outlets
• dining room chandelier
• one bathroom outlet
• two bedroom outlets
• bedroom closet light
• one guest bedroom outlet
• guest bedroom closet light
• one studio outlet
• one studio switched outlet

#18, saucy as can be in

• three living room outlets
• porch light
• one bedroom outlet
• two studio outlets
• studio overhead lights

And finally the immensely popular #29:

• bathroom light
• bedroom light
• guest bedroom light
• stairwell light
• two master bedroom lights
• two master bathroom lights

The two "final" (read on) outlets to rewire are on #18, so I considered diverting them to another circuit to reduce the load. Unfortunately, the only convenient circuit to send them to is #16, which has it the worst of all. So I set about replacing the knob & tube leg of #18 with Romex.

Last seen, I had left these outlets with wire that could fit through the knockdowns in my new boxes attached to the knob & tube with wire nuts:


Old wires

I pulled those splices off and yanked the knob & tube out from the basement, all the way to the junction box where it oh-so-illegally connects to the Romex going to the panel. I removed all the porcelain tubes in the joists to make room for the new cable I'd be running, and that part of the job was done.


Knob and tube carnage

That junction box had two K&T cables running into it (hot and neutral), and since hot, neutral, and ground all come in on one cable, I'd have room for both outlets to come to the junction box. Unfortunately, I was already running the cable for the porch light into that junction box in a completely violating manner, and I would need three free knockdowns to fit it all in properly.

Rather than run two Romex cables across the basement, I decided to splice the two outlets together and run one cable over to the junction box. (This is, in fact, how the knob & tube setup worked, just with sliced up cable and electrical tape.) Electrical tape is not so good here in 2005, so I ran to the hardware store and picked up a junction box.

In summary: Romex from outlet A and B both enter the new J-box where they are spliced with a cable running across to the other box, which then runs to the panel.

A whole lot of cutting, stripping, twisting, and swearing later, it was all rigged up. Two outlets on the left, exit to the other J-box on the right:


New junction box


Rewired junction box

I went upstairs, tested all the wires, put the boxes back into the wall, hooked the outlets back up, and everything worked. I was ready to declare complete victory over rewiring until I realized that there is still one knob & tube outlet in the living room. There is basement access to this wiring, but unfortunately it is under a big heating duct.


Hard to get to

I tried for a while to remove that section of duct but came up wanting. It certainly looks like it is meant to be removable, but just bending the clips down didn't do the job. It is really tempting to just plaster around the outlet with a new box and call it good, but I know I'll hate myself if I punk out just one outlet away from annihilation of the enemy.

After I figure out what to do about that last damn outlet, I can finish plastering. For the record, I have come to hate plaster with a ferocious intensity. When it comes time to do the bedrooms and the main floor bathroom, the cracking walls are coming down and drywall is going up and that is that. I am considering hiring someone to do the small amount of plaster remaining in the living and dining rooms just so I don't have to think about it.

In other news, the plant life surrounding the domicile is threatening to completely take over.


Weeds 1, Walkway 0


Grass in front getting very tall


Yard grass getting tall too

I need to buy, borrow, or steal a lawnmower and cut the grass next weekend. Actually, I needed to do it last weekend. There will be some quality time with me, the weeds, and the gardening gloves, too, but until next time...