What does a Garden Gnome do when she is not gardening, in the kitchen or doing genealogy? Well the answer might just surprise you so read the entries to find out more. This blog focuses on everything we do to make our house a home. There will be a strong emphasis on home energy efficiency and do-it-yourself (DIY) projects. At the same time there will also be crafts, knitting and crocheting projects along with any other little tips we do to create that down to earth, I want to be here home. Please enjoy your visit :)




Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Our New Home


Our New Laneway

This is a picture of our new laneway. I really love it! So we are now all moved in and the fun begins. Now we start finding the problems the previous owner neglected to tell us or maybe didn't even know about. The property itself is divided into three major areas. The portion from the garage to the deadend road is the laneway and official front yard. The portion from the garage to the house is grassed surrounded by mature landscaping. The side yard is minor but leads to the back (aka our front) yard that is maturely landscaped ending at the breakwall on the water's edge. A dock completes the setting. The house is bermed slopping to ground level on the lower level with one foot thick walls making it quite energy efficient. It is a beautiful peaceful setting but not without problems. I will be discussing a lot of these problems as we remedy them.

Here are some of the problems in no particular order that we have discovered:
  1. rodents - there is evidence of an indoor rodent infestation at some point but we have no idea if it is recent.
  2. electrical - there are obvious brownouts
  3. an ancient freezer with no ground
  4. outdoor lighting issues
  5. AC not working
  6. aged furnace
  7. in need of caulking and sealing
  8. vegetation trimming for view and pest control
  9. kitchen retrofit
  10. indoor lighting - very minor, mainly upgrading some fixtures
  11. gas line to grill is very wobbly
  12. gas line to dryer is non-existent
There are likely more problems but we will deal with them as they arise. The next few posts will be before and after shots of how we solved the problems plus a bit more since there is decorating and other non-essentials to consider. So watch for them shortly.

Garden Gnome
© 2007


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