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General Updates Archives - Our Modern Renovations

General Updates

Water Heater ZWave Smart Switch

After ages upon ages, today I finally installed the ZWave Smart Switch to control the water heater heating schedule and to measure how much power is being used by the water heater. For about 2 years now we’ve had the water heater continually connected to power, providing non-stop hot water even during the times of the day when it doesn’t matter.   We’ll see going forward whether or not any power savings will result from having scheduled hot water.

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Returning to the Master Bedroom

It’s been a long, long time since we moved the Brimnes king out of the master bedroom into the living room.My daughter is now 3 years old, on her way to 4, andwe’re just now getting back to moving the bed back to its original location. The bed frame that we acquired when we were first married is the Ikea Brimnes King sized bed.  Ours is black unlike the one you see here. It’s a decent design, but it has two major flaws that need to be addressed. Flaw #1: The handles that are attached to the faces of the drawers are certain to put unnecessary gashes in your legs.  They’re sharp and they stick out just far enough to catch you off guard.  It will happen.  Many times.  Remove them.  You’ll find that you don’t actually use the drawers much.  Nobody wants to bend over for every day items.  Our drawers end up being storage for Christmas decorations, sporting goods, linens for the bed, and camping gear.  With the handles removed, you can still pull them open from the bottom of the face of the drawer.  It’s not terribly inconvenient. Flaw #2: While the headboard appears to be a great storage solution, there’s a ton of wasted space behind and below it.  The bookshelves on the sides simply aren’t that deep, and that leaves a huge gap behind the headboard that’s never used. I plan on creating a remedy for this.  Perhaps I could turn that space into a top-load blanket or pillow box. Flaw #3: Ahh…yes, one other flaw that I thought of.  Any flat, horizontal surface in your home will inherently collect crap.  Unless…unless it’s a door.  Much like the top-load freezer we own, it’s much more likely not to accumulate crap if it needs to be opened. In any event, the bed is going back to the newly remodeled master bedroom and aside from the IKEA hack that I intend to invent and fabricate, the only thing I have to worry about now is the fact that the tile floor isn’t perfectly flat.  As a result, the bed needs to be shimmed so it doesn’t rock.  The variance is minimal, but it’s enough to cause an issue, and due to the direction the room is “bending” it makes the frame teeter slightly from his to hers. Follow along as I come up with some solutions for these issues.

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Do-Over: Fixing The Sliding Glass Door Installation

This entry is part 1 of 1 in the series Sliding Glass Door

I hired someone to help me install a sliding glass door. In the process, I was reminded why it’s difficult to ask for help. We’re more likely to accept help from strangers if they’re recommended by people we deeply trust. Sometimes the standards that we expect don’t match the standards that our friends expect, and that’s okay. It doesn’t mean the referral was a bad referral. I just means that it wasn’t a perfect fit. The person recommended to me didn’t quite fit the bill based upon how particular I am about over-engineering this renovation. Not only do I want something done, I want it done well, and with attention to detail that only I may know about. As a result, finding the help that can actually help has been difficult. After all, asking for help from contractors often means compromising my own standards simply due to the fact that I don’t have the time or patience to train someone how to do things the way I want them done. So, in the middle of the door installation, I decided to call it. I paid him what he asked, which was fortunately a very low price, and proceeded to do it right (or at least do it better.) I’ve never installed a sliding glass door, but based upon my research, it’s basically putting a square peg in a square hole. The difficulty is only increased because it’s a) glass, and b) heavy. Other than that, it’s still just a square peg in a square hole.

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Pouring My First Concrete Countertop

I’m a beginner. Just like any other project, this is not for a beginner, but also just like any other project, everyone has to start as a beginner. So…that’s me when it comes to this. Actually, today I’m no longer a beginner. I’ve done it. Once. The photos below are the resulting de-molded poured counter top. I made some huge mistakes while pouring, none of which were exacerbated by a brand new mixer that failed in the middle of mixing **sarcasm**. Time is critical, and depending upon your environmental conditions (dry heat, humidity, snow, etc.,) your working time will vary…but there’s no manual for it. You just have to feel it out. As you can see there are some voids in the surface which can be “repaired” with bone paste. Matching the white tint will be harder, but the end result will probably yield an artisan look and feel that’s half-way pleasing. Everyone can just write it off to “character.” The next step is to finish the surface which will involve lots of messy grinding and sanding…everyone’s favorite. Just ask Caleb Curtisi. He’s killing it in the woodworking world…and he does a lot of finishing.

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