Good News, Everyone!

I've been rather lax in updating recently because I've been rather lax in getting anything of interest done around the house. This week, however, David and I both happen to be off work for several days, so we got quite a few things done!

The first thing was something we have wanted to do pretty much since David bought the house.

Our gas meter was inside the basement. This was not desirable for a couple of reasons.

1. That meant there was a high pressure gas line coming directly into our home.
2. The gas company had to have a key to our house to be able to read the meter.

Moving it outside was one of the things we wanted to get out of the way before continuing to finish the basement. We had to coordinate between plumbers (who were going to work to run a line from the inside of the house to the outside) and the gas company (who would connect the main line to the new one outside). Everything went swimmingly this morning with both parties showing up right on time.

Then the gas company was like, "We can totally do all of the work, I don't know why these plumbers are here." Since we were having to pay the plumbers and not the gas company we totally cool with that.

Not wanting to have made the plumbers come out for no reason, however, we asked them about another basement project we had been thinking about getting done.

Sorry for the crappy picture. I didn't have time to get a before!

See that huge, several-hundred-pound cast iron pipe? That's our main sewer line. We had been wanting to replace it, since it was extremely heavy, not well supported, and nearing the end of a cast iron line's recommended life span (60-70 years). The plumber agreed it would be a good idea to replace it now, while it was still exposed, instead of waiting until something went wrong and it was enclosed in drywall. So we set him to work on that.

Since David and I are perennial DIY-ers, it was strange to have the house so full of commotion and people that aren't us working away.

Everything went exactly as well as one could dare hope, and our gas meter is now outside. (That's our main water line in the picture)

And our sewer line is now made of much lighter and cleaner PVC.

With the gas company no longer having need to enter our house, we were eager to change our locks.

Our old door handles were very basic knobs. I wanted to upgrade to something a little more attention grabbing. I had originally planned to go with an oil rubbed bronze finish because I knew it would be a great contrast to the bright yellow door. However, the style I loved at the store only came in a silver finish. The more I pondered (and ponder I did) the more I realized that a dark finish would blend right into the dark wood on the back of the door, and just wouldn't fit as well in the kitchen, where our side door is located. So silver it was.

Once we got the new hardware home, it was a quick switch out. There was only a little big of finagling to get a strike plate to line up with the latch properly on one door.

 I love the clean modern lines of the new handle.

I like the lever on the inside as opposed to a knob because I prefer the look and the ease of use when your hands are full, which mine often are when going out the door.

We went with a lever on the carport door as well to match the lever on the front door. It's not a perfect match, but we had to go with a different brand (we like the Smart Key locks).

So there you go! Hopefully with those things checked off our list in the basement, we can get moving on finishing things out. We have a contractor scheduled to come on Friday to talk about adding in a bathroom down there, so hopefully he has some good news for us!