I got this idea a few months ago and finally got around to getting things taken care of. In my mind, this was to be an easy project, but in reality things got a little complicated.

I decided long ago that the time for burning wood in the fireplace was over. Being limited to cool Spring and Autumn nights wasn’t going to cut it.

As you are probably aware, burning wood in a traditional fireplace is actually negatively efficient, meaning you do more harm than good. The whole problem stems from leaving the fireplace flue open after you go to sleep at night. The fire goes out and the warm chimney acts as a sucking mechanism to remove any heat you generated earlier in the evening and kindly places it on the outside of your four walls. While I’ll be the first to admit that I love a warm fire, I’ll also be the first to admit that I am not a fan of finding wood, splitting it, bringing it inside and burning it only to make the house colder than it was before I started.

I’m sure I told you about trying to put another pellet stove insert in the fireplace. I probably also told you about getting a wood burning stove. Neither of those ideas worked out and were way too expensive anyway. There is a payback period to these investments and let’s just say that the initial investor rarely gets paid back. I had to think of something cheaper and easier. That’s when I came up with the idea of getting gas logs.

I did a quick browse of Home Depot’s website and found some very inexpensive gas log sets. There were anywhere between $139 and $300. Not bad. I thought that I would simply “T” off of our existing propane line that we use for cooking and run a line over to the chimney through the basement ceiling. I would snake it right up through the clean-out door and into the bottom of the fireplace. Yeah, right.

I called the local gas log people to get some other prices. They talked me out of the Home Depot gas log sets immediately. I know their spiel, but knew they were right. I wanted to get quality and the price that they were offering wasn’t bad. I generally like to go with local places like this because I usually run into problems. When that happens, I need someone to call. In this case, they came in very handy.

Let’s make a long story short. I picked up a 50 foot run of nice heavy duty coated copper propane tubing. I went down into the basement to do the quick snaking job I had all planned out. I took one look up in the ceiling and got depressed. I took another look and realized that my whole plan wasn’t going to work unless I moved some heating pipes and drilled some holes. What made me think that this was going to work is beyond me. I called the gas log people and asked them if it was weird for someone to have two propane tanks. They said it wasn’t weird at all.

After a bunch of calls to propane places and deciding to cancel my account with my current propane company (for having exorbitant prices), I set up a time for both the gas log installer and the propane company to come and do their thing. The reason I used the gas log installer was because I didn’t feel like buying an expensive drill bit to go through the side of the chimney. Also, after watching what these people did, I am glad I went this route. I don’t need to mess with propane lines. The project was to install the gas logs while the propane company set up a new 120 gallon propane tank on the opposite side of the house than our original propane tank.

Okay, so here’s what the breakdown is:

- White Mountain Hearth Refractory Sassafras Gas Log Set – $600
- Fireplace hood – $100
- Gas log set installation – $350
- Initial propane set up with 109 gallons of propane – $440

I’m sure I am missing something in there. If you are thinking about a project like this, please take my advice and realize that the cheap $200 gas log set in Home Depot idea quickly turns into a project costing well over $1000. But, once it’s done, you won’t need to deal with messy wood, bags of pellets or any of that stuff.

Now, I can (and already have) pour myself a nice glass of wine and sit in front of what looks just like a wood fire, but for much less hassle.

Here are some pictures and video I took of the gas logs, the propane tank, setup and a live fire. Enjoy.

White Mountain Hearth Refractory Sassafras Gas Log Set
PS – be sure to watch in HD.

White Mountain Hearth Refractory Sassafras Gas Log Set

120 Gallon Propane Tank For Gas Logs

Gas Log Stainless Steel Propane Tubing

Emergency Propane Shut-Off Valve

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Here’s what I woke up to a few mornings ago: BANG – WHOOOOSSHHHHHH – BOOOOOMMM!!!!!

It was about 7am and I was laying there dreaming about unicorns walking to candy mountain. Of course I can’t remember all too well, but what it sounded like was huge shelves of paint cans…thousands of them…falling over in the garage below me. I mean, it was loud.

I still had my eyes closed when I shot out of bed and ran down the hallway. I am not sure how I got down the stairs, but the next thing I knew, I was looking into the garage. Nothing. Everything was fine. After that, I ran to the front door and opened it. I looked out to my right and here is what I saw:

Red Oak Tree Limb Cracked and Fallen

Red Oak Tree Limb Brushes House and Lands On Ground

I mean, seriously? There was no wind. The sun was bright and the sky was clear. What in the world caused a perfectly healthy Red Oak limb to split and fall from the rest of the tree like that. It doesn’t look like it, but the branches hit the roof and brushed the shingles all the way down.

Here are a few more pictures:

Gutter Damaged By Fallen Tree

Cracked Limb of Red Oak Tree

Fallen Red Oak - Last Angle

Since I knew I was going to have to get out of the garage eventually, I decided it would be a good idea to cut some branches to clear my way. I did that. I took a look at the rest of the tree and started planning out my strategy on how to take the rest down safely. Now that I’m in my old age, I’m not as adventurous as I used to be. As I stood there and thought, something happened. I started feeling a bit lazy and had a strong desire to avoid this particular project. Perhaps I could get someone to do it for me. Wait…what if I called the insurance company? I mean, the tree did hit the house and there is damage on the gutter. I remembered the insurance deductible, but it might still be worth it.

I called a good friend of mine who is an insurance agent. I asked him if it was worth a call and he reached through the phone and slapped my face. He told me all about how the rates would go up and about how the claim would be in the “system.” I thought about how much of a wimp I would feel like if I actually had someone come over to file a claim on a broken tree and a bent gutter. I wasn’t raised that way and I should have known better. Real people get down to work and fix problems. They don’t call someone else to do it for them.

Needless to say, as I sit here and write this, I can look out the window at a clear front lawn. It took me about an hour and a half to finish the tree job. Now, I just need to get up on a ladder and fix the gutter cover and bend back the gutter. I’ll do that in a few days.

I keep thinking about how I almost called an insurance company to come over and look at this. You know, “just in case.” I am so glad my friend spoke to me the way he did and shamed me into getting up and doing work. My father would have been out there with a chain saw ten minutes after something like this happened. Insurance? What’s that?

Ahh, the way the world changes.

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Well, I did it. I sprung for the MoistAir 14 Gallon Humidifier. It works pretty nicely.

A few weeks ago, there was a snap in the air. I thought, “Oh no. Here we go again.” I had to light up the pellet stove and with that comes dry air. I woke up a few mornings with a dry head.

I had known that I was going to get this humidifier since last year. I wasn’t looking forward to spending over $100 on it though. As you might remember, I purchased another one last year and it couldn’t cut it. I thought the evaporative route might be better traveled.

This humidifier is supposed to cover 2,900 square feet and evaporate 14 gallons a day. Having run this little machine for a few weeks now, I would agree with the manufacturer’s claim. It certainly pulls the water out of the tanks and puts it into the air. We have the unit set up in the basement and we constantly hear the gurgling of water. The only modification we had to make was the slip a few tiles underneath the front of the unit. For some reason, the water wasn’t coming out of one of the tanks. Since I put the tile under there, it has been working great.

By the way, there are three fan speeds and three humidity level settings. I forget what we have the humidity settings on, but when I see moisture on the windows, I turn it down.

One question: Just wondering why the people who made this humidifier thought it was necessary for it resemble a 1978 station wagon. Fake wood grain went out a few years ago.

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Who says you can’t buy the least expensive item on the wall and still get good results? Not me. I suppose these lights weren’t the “least” expensive, but pretty darn close.

When it comes to lighting, the price usually starts pretty reasonably, then gets a little higher and finally gets just stupid. I am not sure I have ever purchased an expensive light fixture, but strangely enough, every one I have bought looked great. Go figure. (the same is true with shower heads and door knobs, but I already covered that)

I had a project sitting on my to-do list for a while. The project was to switch out the current lighting fixtures we had on the sides of the front door and replace them with motion detecting lighting fixtures. We had motion sensing wall lights on the old house and I really liked them. They are great for seeing what you are doing when trying to get inside. It’s funny that I waited this long on this project. I guess it slipped me by. The impending darkness reminded me.

A few days ago, we were shopping at the Costco up in Enfield. We were pulling out of the parking lot when I remembered that there was a Home Depot a few stores down. I thought it would be better to visit this Home Depot while we were already out, instead of making a special trip. I made a right and off we went.

When we got inside, we made our way to the lighting aisle. We were confronted with a wall full of blinking lights. The lights were blinking because it was full of the motion sensing fixtures that I was looking for. The scene was pretty funny…as we walked down the aisle, the lights seems to follow us. They were only on “test” mode, so they shut right off. After a while, I think I got a little distracted because every time I would walk over to check something out, a light would blink on right in my eyes.

The two of us went back and forth for a little while discussing which fixtures were our favorites. We ended up getting the ones I liked because as I said towards the top of this post, they were less expensive than most of the other fixtures. Again, there were those teensy weensy little fixtures that were really cheap, but not really what we were looking for.

When we got back, I started getting these things installed. I turned off the breaker and pulled the old fixtures off the wall. I hooked up the new fixtures and turned the breaker on. I set the switches on the fixture to the most sensitive heat and the longest stay on time and waited for dark.

A few hours later when it was nice and dark outside, I went back out to walk in front of the lights. They turned on and made me a happy boy. I went back inside to do some more work. Then, about a half hour later, I took a look outside the window. I noticed that they lights were still on. Not good.

I went back outside and changed the settings. I think the wind was messing with the sensors. The package says something about heat, but I guess motion sets the lights off too…moving heat. Not sure how branches count as heat, but I’m not a lighting engineer.

I changed the switch settings to medium sensitivity and the lowest stay on time. From there on, everything worked great.

So great…I got two more fixtures today to replace the garage fixtures with.

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I have always wanted an under sink water filter. I’m not sure why, especially since we have a whole house filter. I guess it’s because the whole house filter is all the way down in the basement and I keep thinking the water gets all screwed up traveling through the pipes. I like the idea of having a filter close to the tap.

I decided that I had the capabilities to install an under sink water filter myself. I mean, I do have the brains and the patience. It’s not really a hard job, just one that you have to psych yourself into doing because you have to clean out under the sink. You know…all those bottles of who knows what and cans of what the heck it this. Throw in a few old sponges and there you have it – the area below a kitchen sink.

There was one little issue that was in the way of me installing a water filter. The faucet we had installed on the kitchen sink was a bit out dated. It was one of those “one handle” ones that sits right in the middle. Some people prefer that style, but I always liked the two handle ones. In this case, the two handles are preferred because the water filter only runs on the cold line. I like knowing that when I turn on the cold water, only the cold water is running. So, I basically needed a water filter and a new kitchen faucet. Not a problem, I’m really cheap when it comes to kitchen faucets and the filter setup was only $34. It even came with the insert.

Off to Lowe’s I went. When I got there, I strolled down the filter aisle and picked out a “Whirlpool Drop in Filtration System – WHKF-DUF.” This is the $34 jobber I just told you about. I knew what to expect because I already picked it out online. I put the filter in the cart and went over to the next aisle that had all the faucets. There they were, all lined up on the wall. I knew I wanted the chrome Peerless for around $44, but I was forced to get the $68 model because we have a four hole sink. That means that we have that extra little sprayer. You know, the one that you can wrap a rubber band around and sit back in its holder. When someone comes by to turn on the sink, they get sprayed. Yeah, that one.

I picked up the model I needed and put it in my cart. Or what I thought was my cart.

Here’s a funny little story. When I rolled my cart into the faucet aisle, I saw a nice family standing there trying to pick out a kitchen faucet. I noticed that they were kind of just randomly picking things out and didn’t know why. There are differentiating factors in faucets such as the one handle or two that I spoke of above. Also, there is the height of the faucet end. Our old faucet was low, so when I tried to get a large pot filled with water, I had to angle it such a way. Anyway, I broke the ice by saying, “Boy, I feel like I’m part of the family.” They laughed and I laughed. The father just looked at me. There were three of them…the mother, the father and the daughter. Okay, on with the story. I told them about the height issue and why and they were just amazed. As far as I was concerned, they thought I was the cat’s meow. I left the aisle to go out to the garden center.

When I got out to the garden center, I picked out two trees and put them into the cart. I stood back and looked at the faucet. Then, I wondered where the filter was. For the first time in my life, I grabbed the wrong cart. I think it was the faucet aisle family’s cart that I had taken. I left the cart outside in the garden area (because I already had the trees in it) and walked back into the faucet aisle. There it was, my cart with the filter in it. I felt bad for the poor family that had to walk away with no cart, carrying the faucet in their hands. They probably thought I was just fluffing them up earlier so I could steal their cart.

Okay, story time is over. Here are some pictures of the kitchen faucet and under sink water filter installation.

Everything works great and the installation took me about an hour and a half.

I have always wondered why there is such a big price difference between faucets, and doorknobs for that matter. Either I have never used a really high quality faucet or doorknob or I am just missing something. Every time I go shopping for either, I always get the cheapest available and find that they work just great. Maybe I am missing something. Perhaps someone can enlighten me.

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