In addition to building the desks for his office, with help from Jacquela, Steven has been punching out multiple projects over several weekends.
In the laundry/utility room, Steven mounted two old Ikea cabinets to the wall, cut and painted a shelf to run between the two cabinets, along with a hanging rod. The rolling laundry carts that Jacquela ordered arrived; she assembled one, Steven assembled two — and organization began to arrive.Also in the laundry room, Steven ordered and installed the “FloodStop.” This electronic device comes with a sensor to put under the washing machine. If it gets wet, it sounds a loud alarm and shuts off water to the washing machine by closing two electronic valves. Why do this? The washing machine is located on the second floor — and a leak will cascade through the walls and floor to flood the first floor of the house.The FloodStop sensor is the circuit board in the pan under the washing machine. There’s also a “waterbug,” the white device partially obscured by the gray overfill hose; this connects to the house alarm system. As a result, there are now TWO systems to warn against washer leaks. Belt. Suspenders.The two electronically-controlled valves that shut off water to the washing machine if the FloodStop sensor gets wet. This was a relatively simple install in a very cramped space, even with the washing machine pulled away from the wall.Over several weekends, Steven unpacked old Ikea cabinets from Jacquela’s craft room at Sea Eagle, mounting them to the walls in her craft room at Emerald Hill. The rolling cabinets on the floor are still wrapped in plastic, so Jacquela has been using the floor and nearly every surface for her projects.Two hard drives in the Network-Attached Storage devices in the electronics closet failed in the past two months. Highly unusual. Steven believes it is trapped heat — there’s no place for the hot air from the electronics to exit the closet, unless we leave the door cracked open, creating a walking hazard in the central hall upstairs. Steven installed two vents — one at the top of the closet, one at the bottom. Hot air rises and drafts. The lower vent pulls in cooler air from Jacquela’s hobby room next door. The upper vent moves the hot air out of the closet into the hobby room. The HVAC system takes care of ventilating the hobby room. The hard drives in the closet are now running two to five degrees cooler. This will be watched … And, yes, Steven has to still organize all the network cables.Out in the garage, the “wet wall” behind the utility sink that the plumbers have not yet installed is nearly complete. Steven cut and glued a sheet of plastic to the wall with Jacquela’s help. He cut waterproof PVC “plastic lumber” to size and the glued and nailed the baseboard, stiles and top rail into place, puttied over the nail holes, sealed the joints with silicone. All that’s left is a little sanding and painting. And then the plumbers can come back in to install the water and drain lines, and the sink.
