Furnace Needs Repair

You'll recall that I installed a brand-new 96% efficient Lennox furnace at the end of May 2017. July 6, 2021 at 8:57am I received an email from the furnace:

Dear icomfort user,

The iComfort system Trees House has generated a new alert. 

Below is some more detailed information:

Thermostat:	WS17B07324
Description:	Indoor Blower Motor Problem
Time:           7/6/2021 8:57:00 AM
Alarm number:	201
Alarm value:

Ballard Natural Gas sent Clinton later that day and he quickly diagnosed the issue as a problem with the circuit board that controls the fan--that is, the main blower ECM (Electronic Control Module). Clinton thinks it will take him 30 minutes to swap out the board. Incidentally, he resets the system and the 201 alert fires again, sending a second email at 3:15pm.

On July 8, I called Ballard and asked what they were doing for me. They called back and quoted $360 for labor. I protested that, based on Clinton's estimate, that amounted to $720 an hour, but they didn't care. They called again July 9 to say the new ECM was in and we set up a date for July 15 around 9am.

This seems like a ripoff. We give you a 10-year parts warranty, but we can charge whatever we want for labor. Following the Lennox warranty's suggestion, I visited Find a Lennox Dealer | HVAC Dealers | HVAC Service to get other bids. Turns out there are only 3 dealers within 10 miles.

I spoke to Mark at Air Pros (425-773-3748). He thought that there were lots of Lennox dealers in the area. He quoted $89 (basic) + $159 (min. hour) or $248, and he explained that many dealers use software called CoolFront that spits out estimates, so the labor costs will be pretty constant.

I had Ballard out for an annual service July 11, 2018, and they charged $149 for just about nothing, so I didn't call them out again. According to the invoice, $149 paid for:

• Checking vent connections
• Checking ignitor ohms
• Sanding the flame sensor
• Cleaning the pilot burner and all burners
• Checking heat exchangers for cracks
• Cleaning the air intake ports on the blower motor
• Checking bearings
• Checking for unusal [sic] noises 
• Cleaning the pressure switch and connections

I'll try to get Clinton to check out the entire system when he replaces the ECM. I'll consider Air Pros for the checkup ($139) in the future.

Basement Stairs and the Lumber Yard

 Last summer's efforts to uncover the patio and build two decks will be in vain (well, sort of) if I don't make the backyard a pleasant place to celebrate the end of the pandemic quarantine. First, I need to button up the basement stairs.

The plan from May 2020 is still viable--buy a Bilco basement door (or equivalent) and install it over the steps (after removing the remaining railing. It will stop two feet short of the house, so I have to design something to go there and fill that gap. Here's the existing situation:

If you recall (I didn't, at first), the plan is to solve the egress window above by creating a simple landing pad under the operable part of the window where the cross bar boards are now. A low-slope shed with mineral roll roofing, perhaps.

The top of the door aligns with the bottom of the siding.

Something like this Bilco SZ OG, $702 at Home Depot

Keyed lock, gas spring assistance. 47" x 58"

The other thing stopping the backyard from being enjoyable is what I call the Lumber Yard. I thought salvaging the deck was a noble and good thing to do. In hindsight, a dumpster might have been a better option. With the high cost of lumber just now, offering it to anyone who'll haul it away is probably a good idea.

The Lumber Yard is actually a custom-made rack under a tarp, and it looms.

I'd like to furnish the patio with a fire table like the one Kevin has (keeping up with the Joneses'), but I'm open to other ideas.

Maxwell 52" x 35" ($1215 from Home Depot) has propane tank inside, comes with canvas cover.

Car Canopy - As Built

 Kinda ruins the walk to the front door, but it doesn't intrude too much from the street.

As bad as it gets: there's a tarp on sticks right over there.

Doesn't look great as you turn onto 118th Street

But from straight on, not so terrible. It's not as if the garage doors (or the redneck pickup) were all that lovely.

Just about invisible from the street to the west. (Yay!)

It's about 12" too high to tuck under the eave. I knew that, but <sniff> I was hoping, you know, that the numbers lied.

Car Canopy - This is not a drill

 I ordered a Peaktop car canopy on March 12; it was supposed to be delivered March 25-29. It arrived March 19 and things got real. Two boxes; the long one weighed 71 pounds.

All the poles were in the long skinny, incredibly heavy box

These parts were hiding under the PE cover

I know it looks pretty ramshackle, but every part in the parts list was included, and every metal piece, including the poles, had a sticker "1", "2", or "A", "B".

The pieces snap together with spring-loaded "button" fasteners. This is one half of the roof.

Roughly an hour to unpack, inventory, and assemble to this point.

I plan to put the PE (polyethylene tarp material) cover on as soon as it's not raining tomorrow. The instructions say put the tarp on , then tilt it up (resting on Casey's truck) to attach four legs on the green side. Then lift up the side next to the truck and attach the other four legs. Easy peasy.

According to the measurements, the ridge won't fit under the garage eave. We'll see.

This shows that a permanent carport this long would be closer to the street than my neighbors to the west. Also, note the posts leaning against the garage door.

Car Canopy

 I've put the new car cover on three, maybe four, times and already it's gotten old. A canvas carport is seeming more and more like a better solution. It'll still be nice to have a car cover.

The dimensions are easy--there are a number of 10' x 20' canopies with six supports--that fits the RAV4. The ridge height of these, however, is 103" or so and the garage eave is 100.5". The fascia is 99". It would nice if it tucked under the eave and could be attached to the garage wall, but it's not a requirement.

They come in green, grey, white, camouflage. I like the blue, but it looks like a temporary tarp (which it is).

For wind holddowns, they sell things that velcro to four legs that you fill with water or sand (sand is heavier).

This is a heavy-duty model (8 legs) for $250

Lighter (6 legs), same company, for $175

Bathroom Update

 Back on January 24, this was the state of the bathroom:

I decided I needed a "public" medicine cabinet to keep people out of the real medicine cabinet. (I don't know if that was the motivation--I just thought the space above the toilet seemed lonely.)

So I made it look like this:

I painted the upper cabinet white at Peggy's suggestion, because the dark blue was looming. I really like the bright white, including the underside, which now provides more even lighting at the mirror for when I put on mascara.

But the more I enjoyed the new bathroom, I could visualize another improvement. All it takes is a few day's work, I thought. I was right, and I like it even better.

This is the color Peggy originally selected--Sherwin Williams' Billowy Breeze. Peggy wrote, on January 11, 2021:

try Billowy Breeze SW 9055 173-C2

the colors you chose are all too color intense and distract rather than playing nicely in harmony with your other colors.

you will still feel the blue color of the cabinets with Billowy Breeze

Now it's all good.

This was the starting point, just so we all remember:

The Great Bathroom Makeover

For a few dollars worth of paint and a weekend's work, the bathroom looks great! (Okay, so it was two weeks and a few hundred dollars, but in 2022, I'm pretty sure I won't remember.)

The catalyst: No baseboard, the vent just flopping around.

"Shadow" of old cabinet above toilet; I didn't like the wood

This photo also shows the cheap plastic medicine cabinet.

Hard to organize storage under the sink. Need a shelf.

Fresh white semi-gloss and new shelves. The one under the sink has a backstop and is removable.

New LED downlights; new tp holder with phone shelf; new medicine cabinet

Gave walls a nice gray (Sherwin-Williams Silverpointe), added unobtrusive crown molding and baseboards in white, and converted wood grain cabinet to a "Pottery Barn" blue (Sherwin-Williams Distance). The ugly jacuzzi timer above the light switches is now a blank plate. The medicine cabinet swings the other way, so the mirror can be used for close-ups. Note new hinges on main entrance door.

Luxurious bath towels match the cabinet.

Satisfaction.

The ugly, temporary, skinny window looks a lot better in solid trim white (Sherwin-Williams Pure White). I thought about Silverpointe to "paint it out," and I thought about recalling the blue of the cabinets--if not the whole door, then the trim at the glass. Peggy was right--solid white.

Peggy also selected Silverpointe for the wall (shown here respecting the two-tone tiles) and Distance for the cabinet.

Note that the new window/door handle matches the cabinet and can break your fingers if you don't grab it from the left.

The flat "crown" molding works exactly as intended. 

The tile has fresh grout. The old tp and paper towel location have vanished.