Only two and a half weeks left until Christmas and all progress has ground to a halt. Actually, things pretty much ground to a halt back in the summer after the plumbing was done for the hydronic heat. Since then, I think I may have worked a total of about six hours upstairs. I have conveniently used the state of our finances as an excuse for my lack of motivation. We want to be able to pay for the installation of the bamboo flooring in full without adding any more to our debt load. We are only saving maybe thirty bucks per week after throwing most of our available money at our debts, so it will take many months before we have enough saved for this project.
Disciplined spending is hard when the house is a mess
Six months ago, I would have thrown caution to the wind and charged up the additional three thousand bucks I am guessing it will take to completely finish upstairs, and probably set the impossible deadline of Christmas to get the kid moved into her bedroom. Six years ago, the push to finish the basement in our old house resulted in a chaotic December that led to three days with next to no sleep getting things ready for carpet installation. Bottom line is that we were able to use the basement for Christmas. In theory, I could do the same sort of thing again, but I need more plywood for patching the floors, and with my new policy of not relying on the credit cards, it will take a few weeks to stash enough cash to buy what I need. It is so easy to spend money we don’t have, but not so easy to eliminate the debt.
New goal
If my rough estimates are correct, our tax refund will cover the costs associated with finishing upstairs. That actually buys me three months to finish patching the holes and clean upstairs. No pressure, no rush, no plan to do anything until after Christmas. Floor installation will take place in late March or early April. I’ll install the doors and the trim by early summer. The guest room will be ready by the time the in-laws return in July.
First test of the heating system
It may be a little early yet, but we have been hit with cold weather and the boiler has been firing. Our investment in the heating system upgrade appears to be paying off. The boiler is not running around the clock and we actually achieve the temperature that the thermostats are set for. The only cold spot is the one end of the house where we have no radiators (our master bedroom, the former en suite and the main bathroom). I may get an electric baseboard rad for temporary heat before the really cold weather hits, but right now the temperature is tolerable (it’s no worse than last year when we DID have a hot water rad in the bedroom).
I don’t think the upstairs rads have been called into action yet as I have those thermostats set very low. Upstairs is only a couple of degrees cooler than the main floor, which is a testament to how well we insulated. All in all, the work we have done on the house so far seems to be paying off. It’s just too bad that much of it is invisible (the heating and air conditioning). Spending 20,000 on mechanicals is simply not as sexy as spending 20,000 on a kitchen or bathroom.
