Dishwasher saga begins...

After discovering steam leaking from our dishwasher damaging our cabinets (thanks to another local blog!) we quickly got on the phone with Fridgidaire and got in contact with our local repair company (for some on-warranty repair). From other sources online we were concerned that this issue is a fundamental flaw with the dishwasher and only bandaid solutions would be offered. But given that we don't have the time to seriously research another dishwasher or the desire to spend yet more money on the house we figured it would be worth taking advantage of the warranty to hopefully buy us some time.

After the repair person attempted for quite a while to determine the cause of the steam leak he got on the phone with another repair person and progress seemed to be made. Apparently this steam problem with our dishwasher is especially an issue when this dishwasher is installed at the end of a run of cabinets (e.g., against a wall or trim piece). Normally if it sits mid-run (both sides blocked) the steam is pushed out the bottom of the unit by the fan successfully but if one side is not blocked the steam is not forced out the bottom with enough force and it just sits there accumulating.

It seems since this issue has surfaced Frigidaire has worked to solve it. The repair person has ordered a new door panel to be installed that is designed to get the steam to vent out the bottom of the door more effectively (something about where the fan is placed etc.)

I'm glad to report we now have some hope that we may be able to keep this dishwasher and not have our cabinets reduced to paper mache. We'll update again once the new door is in and let you all know if the fix is successful.

Stairway progress

This weekend was spent on ladders drywalling the area around the stairs.
While we were hanging drywall in the stairway and upstairs hall we figured we would take this opportunity to laminate some drywall over the grossness that was our linen closet.
We also finally finished demo of the main stair railing. As a cruel joke on us the newel post encased in the veneer at the base of the stairs is totally different from the one at the top. Not a huge surprise given the pile of crap the rest of this house has been. We officially do not feel bad not saving much of the original trim work etc. :oP

In unrelated news, we're cheap bastards. We bought our dishwasher because it was the least expensive all stainless on the outside dishwasher. It has a spotty history, but from what we read online before buying it. We figured it would die in 1 spectacular event (e.g., electrical short, big water leak etc.). What we didn't realize is that this dishwasher's flaw is more subtle. We actually found this out from Jen and Dave's Reno, another local blog. The dishwasher leaks steam out the side of the door which is pretty destructive.. especially for our Ikea cupboards (luckily the damage so far seems minimal). We've got an appliance repair company coming to do some fixing on Wednesday. Hopefully they can put a good enough fix in that we do not have to take more drastic measures like buying a new dishwasher...

Inside box number 1 ....

After a trip to the home show and home depot looking at newel posts/railings we came home kind of disappointed expecting to have to do a lot of shopping to find the right pieces for the stair case. While taking out our frustration on the upstairs railing we found this little gem.

Our newel posts up until now have been really dull looking squares. We figured they were covered with a thin layer of wood but thought the inner layer would be an even shittier looking square newel post. We were happy when we pulled off some veneer and found this old newel post. Lets hope the main one is in as good shape as this one!

The beginnings of the upstairs hall/stairs/entryway project

With our final energy audit out of the way we're putting the basement back on hold for now and moving back upstairs.

Our next project is our upstairs hall, stairs and entry way. These are our last above-grade spaces that haven't been fixed yet. The plan is to skim coat the plaster on the walls in the hall and drywall the ceiling and walls around the stair case. Skim coating the hallway walls was motivated by a desire to avoid door jam issues that come up when drywalling over the plaster. None of the walls are external so this seemed like the best way to go.

So far we've gotten almost all the wall paper down on the walls that will be skim coated. Tomorrow and during the week we're planning to prep for drywall. With the rest of the space finished, its a little disturbing to see parts of it partially destroyed. We're also having to be more careful to make sure we don't mess up the things we've already done... the joys of living in a house and renovating 1 space at a time :oP.

Weekend baking

We had another weekend with no progress on the house. Instead we made cupcakes and butter scotch sticky buns


Since last week we also had our energy audit. It went pretty well and it looks like we should get all our rebates back. Our neighbours that were just getting the rebate for the furnace didn't get bothered much, but since we are trying to get rebates for a window, insulation, furnace and hot water heater we got asked for receipts. We have most of them... somewhere... We've tried to be methodical, but inevitably in all the shuffling of boxes around the receipts stash has gotten buried.

Next week we're hoping to start on our next project... the stair way. The last part of the house with "old lady pink". We're looking forward to the final "de-pinking" of the house.

Work hard play hard

The long weekend was a great break for us. No renovations got done and much fun was had.

First off we hosted a Mad Men themed cocktail party. We really like to entertain so it was fun to finally have a party in our house. At the request of one of our friends we made it a formal affair so everyone dressed nice and had some tasty snacks and cocktails.


Then for Valentine's day we were off to Colborne Lane . It was a good meal with some molecular gastronomy tricks to boot. After Alinea in Chicago it wasn't totally mind-blowing but still pretty good for TDot.

Today was back to work :P and tomorrow is the energy audit... then we'll see what we get up to next.

Insulation update

The basement is now insulated. We're just trying to tag up with the energy auditor for our final audit and rebates. It definitely feels warmer, but until we replace the door in the back walk up it won't be as warm as it could be.

With the basement done and various deadlines satisfied at work we've turned out attention to tidying up the house for a "Mad Men" themed cocktail party this weekend. One of the reasons we liked this house was that it had a good amount of space for entertaining... Now the space is finally usable for entertaining. It's exciting :) .

Here is a picture of a vase I got for our pass through. It's nice to be able to make things pretty instead of just functional.