The Not So Bad News

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I got to celebrate it by... working.

Tony, being a state employee, had off. So he, his mom and his friend Mike went over to inspect the wiring. It turns out that the wiring isn't so bad that we need to replace it in any hurry. We'll do it when we redo the walls. The furnace and the water heater, however, make that place a scary, scary place to live.

So, as Mike explained, the furnace is inadequately connected at one of the joints. At any time it could start leaking CO2, which would kill us silently. The water heater is also leaking, a slow leak behind the concrete, but since it is hooked up to the chimney (and it hasn't been turned on since we've started working on the house) it hasn't gotten the chance to kill us. Luckily its an easy fix. He and Tony are going back this weekend to fix the furnace and replace the water heater (there's a newer better one sitting in the corner of the basement not hooked up (go figure)) this weekend.

He also said that the electric panel could stand replacing, but since its a bit expensive and won't show any noticeable difference in performance, it will wait. And, he added, he's fixed up old houses before and he estimated it would cost us between $20,000 - $25,000 to make the place really nice. Not bad in my opinion. I'm glad we don't have to totally replace the furnace or replace the wiring in a hurry, because that would eat up a bunch of money right there.

We celebrated by going out to dinner, but got not further work done. I'm dying to get back in there since we didn't get any time in yesterday.