Nov 19 -- inching along

Some progress on two fronts:

Fireplace:

-- The fireplace guy showed up and installed burner etc.  Before he got there I explored removing the brick work and have decided to hang with what we have for now.  I'll clean and paint them, perhaps today.  The burner has a long "gas whip" on it so I can actually remove it from the fireplace without disconnecting.

-- Perhaps I should have done more research on this though ... it's got a pilot light ... should have had electronic ignition.  Oh well.  I did adjust the pilot down to a small flame so it's not as much as a waste and have turned it on and off.  Obviously most of the time we don't need a fireplace.

-- It's a vent free burner installed in direct vent mode.  It can actually be installed in a non vented fireplace, i.e. all the combustion products stay in the house vs going up the chimney -- like a gas stove and oven.  That's certainly more heating efficient, but throws a whole lot of moisture into the house !  Used that way, it's not supposed to be operated more than six hours in a row.

-- Even though it's actually installed in "direct vent" mode, with a chimney, the instructions say that the glass doors must be left open.  That doesn't make sense to me. 

-- We still need to find some trim to dress up where the fireplace insert meets the drywall.  Mark had a suggestion but we never got the name from him -- we'll call this a.m. and get that name.

Stairs:

Sam came and removed the treads and is already working on the railings.  He brought a piece of the maple with him and Sandy went over to the paint store to choose the stain.  He's still hoping to have everything ready for end of week, even with the re-sanding and re-staining and re-clearcoating, but we are probably looking at next Monday for re-installation.  There are too many "re's" here.

Hardwood:

I did the work on the hardwood and have that complete right up to where I have to have a "nose" over the stairs.  I did a piece there but wasn't happy with it and ripped it out.  Jeff from Coronado was here later and had a couple of suggestions.  I might try something, however, gluing the face piece to the floor pieces with construction adhesive, before nailing.  Perhaps I'll end up gluing that final floor piece with the face piece already attached ... hmmm.

Money:

Is paying contractors making progress ?  Jim dropped over and I paid him for the rest of the work.  Some of that obviously goes to Sam.  I'll pay Sam directly for the re-work on the treads.  Jeff's visit was to collect 1/2 of the backsplash amount, as he's now ordered the glass tiles.  That's how we do business here in Good Ol' NSB.  I have no concerns about Sam finishing off his part of Jeff delivering.  Vic needs the rest of his money too and I expect that we'll see him shortly.  He was out of town the last couple of days at a funeral somewhere. 

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The loft was crowded with garbage from ripped up flooring, compressor, nailer and tools yesterday.  Actually I had the compressor out on the deck.  After I removed the face piece that didn't work out very well, I cleaned up, needing to think on a better solution.  Having Jeff here for a consult helped, in Jason's absence :).

We had Pompano for dinner.  It was excellent, probably the best Pompano that I've had.  I used the "grill topper" which is a far better way of cooking these soft fleshed fish.  Since I like them so much, I've ordered a package of them, 30 or 36 I believe.  They are so easy to clean too !  I use them many times over.  It will be interesting to see if they last as long up north with the hotter barbie.  I suspect not.

Along with the Pompano we had warmed-over risotto and sauteed spinach for my weekly dose of iron. 

Another day was done.  As with other days, we watched one episode of The Good Wife on Amazon along with another episode from season nine of Law and Order on DVD.  L&O is definitely the more realistic of the two and doesn't have some of the "personal clutter" incorporated into TGW.  I watched some more of the second-to-last episode of Warehouse 13 on Netflix before again falling asleep in front of that.  Perhaps I'd be able to stay awake better if I didn't lie down on the bed to watch that one ?  Perhaps.

Today ... hopefully biking.  There are showers in the area so I might get a little damp.

Onward.