Leak | It's Great To Be Home

My MacGyver Moment

September 3, 2010 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 12 Comments

When appliances work, they’re magical. If there’s something that can cook my food faster, wash my clothes for me, or keep me from getting dishpan hands, then I’m all in.

But when appliances break . . . I no longer think they’re magical.

Take our washing machine, for example. It’s only a year and a half old (just a baby!) and still looks sparkly new.

But the other day we began to suspect that our trusty washing machine might be on the fritz when we discovered a small ocean of water on the floor, extending about a foot in front of the washing machine. Not good.

Then yesterday we learned that some pesky article of clothing (probably something with a zipper) snagged the gasket and caused an inch long tear.

Sadness!

Would you like to wager a guess at how much the repair company said it would cost to fix this thing?

$324.75

Oh, heck no! That’s more than half the price that we paid for the washing machine, so there’s no way that was going to happen. (The quote included the $85 service call fee, which we had to pay no matter what, but still!!) And since the washing machine is over a year old, the manufacturer’s warranty had run out. Sigh.

When faced with such adversity, what’s a girl to do but bust out some industrial strength tape?

The repairman said that my gorilla tape wouldn’t stop the leak, but I’m not convinced.

Here’s the tear after I attacked it with some tape. I think MacGyver would be proud.

So far it’s held through 2 loads (as far as I can tell) . . . which isn’t saying a lot, but I’m hopeful!!!

What’s your proudest MacGyver moment?

OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER: I am in no way suggesting that any one should attempt to fix their washing machine, or any other large appliance, with tape. Just because I did it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea, or that it will work for the long haul!

P.S. Have a great holiday weekend!!

Race to the {Re}Finish Line

August 4, 2010 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 4 Comments

Yesterday’s post left off with all of our stuff piled to the ceilings and us stashed away at my parents’ house while our floors are being refinished {and new wood floors are installed in my office!}.

Before they could install the new floors in my office, the floor guys had to chip up the old subfloor – just like the rest of our house, the subfloor in the office was made out of particle board which is a big no-no for hardwood floors since it will disintegrate if it gets wet. Looks fun, right?

Once the new subfloor was in, the new hardwoods could be installed!

Actually, they aren’t new wood floors in my office at all – we actually decided to go with reclaimed wood floors for a few reasons: (1) they’re about $1 a foot cheaper than new wood, (2) we liked the thought of having floors with a bit of history and saving them from the ol’ garbage pile, and (3) they’re actually higher quality than new wood floors because they’re from back in the day when floors were made of nicer grade of wood. Worked for us!

After the floors were in everything got sealed off with sheets of plastic – sanding is a dusty business, even though our floor guys were using a “dust-free” system where the majority of the dust is sucked into a vacuum cleaner as the floors are sanded.

I think the sanding is my favorite part – the floors went from looking a little sad and damaged to looking brand-spanking new! This photo kind of gives you an idea of the transformation the sanding is having on our floors:

Have you guys had any drama with your hardwood floors? I love’em, but my fingers are crossed that this is the only issue we ever have with them. The floor saga will continue tomorrow, so stay tuned!

P.S. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway! Click here to enter until midnight on Sunday, August 8.

Madness at Our House

August 3, 2010 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 3 Comments

After last week’s little teaser post, I figured it was high time to bring you guys up to speed on the madness that’s going on at our house.

You see, we’re getting our floors refinished. You might be asking yourself, “Um, are these people nuts? Didn’t they just completely gut and renovate their house a year and a half ago, including putting in new hardwood floors?“

You would be correct in asking that question. And yes, our hardwood floors are just 1.5 years old. And they were perfect, beautiful, just what we wanted.

But then we had that pesky leak under the house last March, right after we moved in. We thought it didn’t do any damage but we were wrong. Turns out that the hot water leak in the crawl space created oodles of steam that made our floors wavier than a beach in Florida. Vacuuming felt like skiing moguls. And it didn’t look so hot, either.

{ This picture really doesn’t do the waves justice. }

We were lucky and our homeowner’s insurance policy covered the damage, and now we’ve finally gotten around to actually having them refinished. It took us forever to schedule a date since this process was going to be a bit inconvenient, to put it mildly. First off, we had to find places for all of our stuff, like our master bathroom:

a guest room:

the fireplace hearth:

and the garage:

All I can say is thank goodness for movers!

After our stuff found a new home, so did we – my parents’ house, to be exact. They are conveniently out of town so we’ve moved in to do a little house sitting. Perfect, right? Here’s where we’ve set up shop to work for the next week:

A little cozier than the separate offices we had at our house, but it’ll definitely work.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that my office is getting hardwood floors?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? I’m just a little excited, if you couldn’t tell. :) More about that and the rest of this madness tomorrow so stay tuned . . .

P.S. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway! Click here to enter until midnight on Sunday, August 8.