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For my vacation, I'm sanding and finishing the window frame, which has been bare wood for three years (oops).
I spent about half an hour sanding, then discovered that the mended-over crack under the left end of the window is deeper and less stable than I thought it was, the drywall is crumbling away, and there are signs of (hopefully past) moisture damage. I'm not too worried -- the old aluminum frame single-paned window had a LOT of condensation, and chances are very good that none of the damage is recent -- but it means the crack is something I actually have to deal with if I want to paint the room. I won't be able to just sand it flat, like I would if it was a crack in paint.
I haven't chipped away all of the unsound material yet, so I don't know if it's something I can mud over or if I'll have to cut out that piece of sheetrock all the way to the stud and put in a new one. Either way, it probably means removing the base-board heater.
...which reminded me that I never use that baseboard heater, and it's ugly and in the way.
Suddenly Project "Sand and finish window frame" became Project "Decide whether the living room needs electric heat at all, and if so what it should look like."
I'm going to try to turn my focus back to the original goal, since the other one is doubtless more frustrating. In the meantime, would any of you be weirded out to have a house with a gas fireplace in the living room but no secondary electric heat (in that room)? The only real downside I can think of is that the fireplace is an on/off switch, not a thermostat, so if you wanted to make sure the house was always heated to some minimum you'd need the electric heater (or to replace the gas fireplace w/ a thermostat model).
The gas fireplace coupled with the ceiling fan easily heats both the living room and dining room. I've never turned on either living or dining room baseboard heater. The only issue with the gas fireplace is that you have to manually turn it on and off to control heat, so it's not the most even of temperatures (I love it, but I like it warm).
Technically my baseboard heaters are all single pole, so I can't turn them entirely off and they *should* all start working if the interior temp reaches 50 degrees F. I've never noticed that actually happening, though -- the thermostats are as old as the house (50 years) and mechanical thermostats don't age well.
I spent about half an hour sanding, then discovered that the mended-over crack under the left end of the window is deeper and less stable than I thought it was, the drywall is crumbling away, and there are signs of (hopefully past) moisture damage. I'm not too worried -- the old aluminum frame single-paned window had a LOT of condensation, and chances are very good that none of the damage is recent -- but it means the crack is something I actually have to deal with if I want to paint the room. I won't be able to just sand it flat, like I would if it was a crack in paint.
I haven't chipped away all of the unsound material yet, so I don't know if it's something I can mud over or if I'll have to cut out that piece of sheetrock all the way to the stud and put in a new one. Either way, it probably means removing the base-board heater.
...which reminded me that I never use that baseboard heater, and it's ugly and in the way.
Suddenly Project "Sand and finish window frame" became Project "Decide whether the living room needs electric heat at all, and if so what it should look like."
I'm going to try to turn my focus back to the original goal, since the other one is doubtless more frustrating. In the meantime, would any of you be weirded out to have a house with a gas fireplace in the living room but no secondary electric heat (in that room)? The only real downside I can think of is that the fireplace is an on/off switch, not a thermostat, so if you wanted to make sure the house was always heated to some minimum you'd need the electric heater (or to replace the gas fireplace w/ a thermostat model).
The gas fireplace coupled with the ceiling fan easily heats both the living room and dining room. I've never turned on either living or dining room baseboard heater. The only issue with the gas fireplace is that you have to manually turn it on and off to control heat, so it's not the most even of temperatures (I love it, but I like it warm).
Technically my baseboard heaters are all single pole, so I can't turn them entirely off and they *should* all start working if the interior temp reaches 50 degrees F. I've never noticed that actually happening, though -- the thermostats are as old as the house (50 years) and mechanical thermostats don't age well.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-26 09:47 pm (UTC)From:But that's the only reason I can think of. Mind you, we've always had 'adequate' central heating topped up by fires, rather than fires as our main source of heat.
* Although our heating system will automatically kick in if the water in the central heating system drops below 41F/5C
no subject
Date: 2013-03-26 09:55 pm (UTC)From:Our thermostats sound much the same, though -- lowest is 50 F, and because it's single pole it can't actually be turned all the way off except at the breaker (or by pulling the thermostat out of the wall, I suppose).
no subject
Date: 2013-03-26 10:03 pm (UTC)From:Our thermostat is a ridiculous digital affair which can turn the heating on and off 3 times a day (I think, from recollection), and which can do each day of the week separately. It has on, off, and programme modes. But it can only do one-sodding-temperature for all the programmes. So you can't say 'during the day when only one of us will be home, heat the house to 16 Degrees, then morning and evening wind it up to 19. Oh no. Useless *muttergrumble*. 'course with the shift work virtually no thermometer is going to be any use.
I am, however, tempted by a Nest, when we settle somewhere for long-stays.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-26 10:05 pm (UTC)From:Mine are old bimetallic ones with a somewhat loose and artistic concept of temperature.
There are a few options for electric in-wall heaters that I'm perusing -- our classic ugly baseboards; slightly smaller and therefore slightly less obtrusive ugly baseboards; mini forced air heaters; and ceramic wall panels.
Luckily I don't have to make a decision soon.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-27 04:21 pm (UTC)From:You do seem to have a range of fairly ugly options there (just been on google images)... hrm, good luck finding something less... ugly. Best i came up with was a chrome forced air wall heater, which you could loosely try for 'deco' with (although the black plastic on/off switch kinda spoilt that). Ceramic wall panels sounded exciting, then I looked, and went, ah - you can have a giant slab of white on the wall.
Mind you, the British standard of central heating, the white-enamelled radiator, is hardly a thing of great beauty. I'm just used to them (and they're nice and warm to cuddle up to).
no subject
Date: 2013-03-27 04:30 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2013-03-28 06:39 pm (UTC)From:BTW, have I ranted at you before about home improvement store search functions? The one at home depot won't let me search by 'width' for heater until I've drilled down through other options. You'd think that'd be right at the top!
no subject
Date: 2013-03-28 09:18 pm (UTC)From:And no, I don't think you'd mentioned, but yes, they are insane. You want something where all the common attributes of things are easily configurable at the beginning...
But no.
No, that would be too easy.