9/14/2009

The Great Appliance Switchout of '09 & Network move

Some of you know, some don't, but Rachel and I have purchased a new home in Cincinnati. We still have the Minster House, but are hoping to sell it soon. The appliances that came with our new house are nice, but not as nice as the ones that we are used to in Minster. So we decided that we wanted to switch the appliances between the two houses. This is even harder than it sounds because I also have the washer from my mother at the apartment, and she has my washer in Waynesfield, so we needed to switch these out too. After planning how to transport everything and trying to find help, I decided to just go ahead and do it the weekend of September 11-13. Thankfully, my brother called me on the 9th and told me that if I couldn't find anyone to help that he would.


Thursday night (9/10), after work, Rachel and I drove to Kenwood to look at a microwave she had found on craigslist. This is to replace the Minster Microwave, and actually is a better model than we have there. The only problem is that after I bought it and got it to the car, I noticed that it looked a little yellow. Turns out it is not white, but Bisk colored. Oh well. After nice dinner at IHOP, we head back to the apartment and I mowed the lawn. Then I decided to pull the washer out of the basement. Now this washer is pretty light, but I still had some fun. This washer is a top loading industrial type. When I pulled it away from the wall, the upper cabinet came off the lower frame. What the heck!!. It turns out the whole upper cabinet is attached to the lower frame by two screws in the back. After I found the screws on the floor where they had vibrated out, I was able to put the washer back together. Then I used a dolly and got it up the stairs and into the trailer. Boy am I glad that I decided to do this on Thursday and not on Friday.

Friday night (9/11) after work, I headed to the apartment, wished Rachel and the boys a good trip to my parents, loaded up the trailer, the dog, my tools and the microwave in the Rover and drove to the house, where I proceeded to unhook the stove and unhook the dishwasher and cart them out to the trailer. Left the hose attached to the garbage disposal, as I thought it would be easier to just swap the hoses. Then I bought gas in the Land Rover, Milage 94998.8. I then drove to Minster by way of 127, instead of 75, as I didn't want to chance all the construction with all of the appliances in the truck and trailer. I called my brother, who was at my parents, that I was about an hour away. He had already left, so he got to sit at Minster and wait for me for a while. I finally got to Minster, and BJ and I got the stove, dishwasher and microwave into the house and then loaded Dad's Table saw in the trailer with the washer. We then left his truck at the Minster house and drove the Rover to my parents.

Saturday Morning (9/12), BJ and I got an early start and got the saw out of the trailer and put away, then swapped the washers. All I can say is that "Forearm Forklifts" rock. It was so much easier to move stuff with them then with the dolly. After that, we drove back to Minster and got the trailer switched to BJ's truck and then loaded up the stove and dishwasher into the trailer. Then we swapped the microwaves, and put that in my Rover. Shoot, the hoses on the dishwashers are not compatable. Took the hose off for the stainless dishwasher and put that in the truck. I ran to the hardware store and got a pipe to hook up the range correctly. Then we got my flatbed trailer out and after taking doors off the fridge, putting them back on, and taking one back off, got it out of the house and onto the trailer. After putting it back together and strapping it down really well, we got back on the road, BJ pulling the covered trailer and I pulling the flatbed with the fridge. We again took 127 down to our new house. There we put the appliances into the kitchen, and folded up the flatbed and put it into the garage. Then we took the white fridge completely apart (doors off, and shelves out), and put it into the covered trailer. BJ then left for a date (thanks Joni for understanding about him being really, really, really late), and I headed to the apartment to get some more clothes and drop the dog off with Rachel. I then drove up to Minster by I-75. Then the real fun began. I brought the Fridge into the house BY MYSELF :). I only dropped it once ;). After that, I put the doors back on and got the shelves back in it, and then I went to bed. I was a bit tired and quite sore.

Sunday morning (9/13), I was up at 7:30 and got the dishwasher installed, then I got the two circuits that got missed when the electric panel was replaced installed. Then I got the hard pipe exhaust for the dryer out of the basement, and then plugged in the fridge and hooked up the water to it. I then loaded up my yard tools, ladder and other items from the Minster house and drove down to the new house. I unloaded the trailer, and then drove over to the apartment to see the boys and Rachel. Then we loaded the boys up in Rachel's car and she took off for the house, and I loaded the trailer up with stuff from the Apartment garage, and then loaded the Rover up with the network and server equipment. Got over to the house and started by removing the microwave. Hmm, that is hard wired and I don't have the material I need to install the new one. I guess I won't be hooking up the appliances tonight, because the local hardware store closes at 5. Ok, on to the network. Hmm, we have a dialtone in the garage, but the wires were bad coming into the house, so I ran a new line from the garage into the basement. Then I set up the networking equipment. Wired up the house phone lines so they work now. Then I ran two cat5 lines to the living room for the Roku box and the AppleTV. They didn't work the first time. After 4 plugs, I found that I was putting the plugs on upside down (stupid drawing is wrong on the back of the crimper packaging :(). Got that done, then set up the server, and we have internet at the new house. I then drove home and took some empty boxes with me for Rachel to use to pack the kitchen and the living room. Milage on the truck was 95526.2. 527 miles, plus moving/installing appliances, and cables in basically 48 hours. Oh what fun :).

We have friends coming tonight (9/14), and I am hoping to move the living room and hopefully our bed over to the new house. Then we will just start sleeping there. If we don't start sleeping there tonight, then tomorrow night for sure.

Our landlord wants to start showing the apartment to people. I keep telling her it is a wreck as we are packing, but she doesn't want to listen. My goal is to have everything moved out of there by Sunday the 20th. :). If you want to help us move, please let me know.