Got ALL the way down to Muncie this morning just to find out that school had been called off. Grrrr. I'm sure I'll get lots of apologies from the program organizer, who promised to call me BEFORE I left if there was a delay or cancellation. The apologies, though, will do little to make up for the nine hours I've spent on the road in two different trips.
Anyhoo, since I was going by Ashley on the way home, I stopped at Carter's Lumber. They gave me estimates of $2,500 and $2,200 for 95% efficiency furnace/central AC units. I'll keep looking, but either of those options sound good to me. The furnace is the same brand I put in my house 15 years ago. It's still chugging along.
I'm heading over to Martha right now, so will post more later.
PM
Even though it was a short day, I made good progress.
I've decided to use one bedroom as a test case for how to attack several problems. Since I intend to cover the walls and ceilings with 1/4-inch drywall (to avoid having to remove muliple layers of wallpaper and deal with other blemishes), any holes I make in the plaster will be covered.
I think I hit upon a way to run electrical wires. I removed just the top part of the baseboard (it's original wood, but since it's been painted and other bad things have been done to it, I don't feel it's worth saving.) Then I run new wire along the outside of the wall just above the remaining portion of baseboard. Where an outlet will go, I make a hole. The wire goes into the wall for a short distance, then comes out of the outlet hole. The photos should explain.
Finally, the wires will be covered with new pieces of molding on top of the old baseboard.
This method makes the work go quickly. Despite fooling around in finding this method, I almost rewired completely one bedroom in a couple of hours.
Sounds and looks like your idea will work great - fast and it will still have the appearance of the original baseboards, but be better.
ReplyDeleteSorry you had to make that drive to Muncie - again! Isn't it amazing how thoughtless people can sometimes be?
Hope you've been able to keep ahead of your snow removal. I spend several hours yesterday shoveling sidewalks in the neighborhood. But, I like to shovel and being outside when the snow is new and the environment is quiet and natural is good for my body and soul.
Stay warm!