When I purchased the house I knew I was going to have to replace the furnace. The old one is from the 1930's and didn't run very well. It would turn on for about 40 seconds and then turn off again. That and it's the old type before they used blowers so it was extremely inefficient. So I did some research and got some bids. I hadn't quite counted on the cost of it being so high, though.
The biggest cost was that the new furnace would have completely new ductwork in the basement. This because the old furnace was an "octopus" like arrangement and also that they old ductwork was all sealed with asbestos tape. Installers won't touch that. I looked into having an abatement team come in and take care of it, but I decided I could do it myself just fine. The biggest concern with asbestos is continued exposure to it in particulate form. If asbestos is not disturbed, it's not a health concern. However, once it becomes an airborn dust, it's such a light-weight particle that it can hang in the air for years. When it is inhaled in this form causes small rips in the lungs that lead to asbestosis. (There's lots of info on OSHA's site about this, of course.)
I realized that removing ductwork would distub the asbestos, but also accepted the fact that I am not doing this on a regular basis, so careful planning and personal safety would make it a job I could handle. I puchased a HEPA-compliant respirator from Home Depot, lots of 4-mil plastic sheeting and duct tape, a spray bottle, a painter's disposable coverall and gloves. Then drove up to Lynnwood to the Sunbelt rentals to get an air scrubber. This is a dishwasher-sized, mobile air filter that has four levels of filtration including large and small particle, cabon filter and a HEPA filter for asbestos abatement. It cost about $50 plus filters and in addition to getting the asbestos out of the air while I worked also removed all the mold and "basement smell" from my basement. I might just rent that thing once a year and run it overnight to keep down the mold!
Arriving home with the supplies on the Sunday before the installers would start, I tapped off the crawl space, turned on the scrubber, adjusted my respirator and tore out half of the duct work on the furnace. This took the better part of the afternoon and, once outside, I hosed the ducts down, stripped off the tape and flattened the metal for recycling. (I debated whether this was really wise -- potentially exposing myself to more asbestos than absolutely necessary for the sake of material recover and ecological resposiblily and the latter won out.)
I only removed half the duct work because we still needed to run the old furnace to keep the house warm while they were installing the new one. Because of the cost of installation, and my sense of ecological responsibility, I bought a top-of-the-line Trane 95% efficiency, variable speed, two stage furnace, using natural gas. There was a reactionary voice in my head suggesting that we could probably save money using electric space heaters, as here in Seattle, electricity is cheap and natural gas has gone up 50% in the last year. But I know in the long run, gas is a better and more economical energy source.
On the suggestion of one of the other bidders for the project, I had the furnace folks put the new furnace in my crawlspace. This gave them more room for installing the large air intake ducts and opened up a huge section of the basement that had previously been filled with the furnace and related duct work. Within three days they had the new furnace installed and connected to the two vents that I had cleaned for them. So they shut down the old furnace and started up the new one. That gave me Wednesday evening to remove the remaining duct work.
Back into the coveralls and respirator, I tapped up the basement room and started with my spray bottle. Six hours later I had all the ducts out in the back and the last piece of a wood-and-steel cold air return stuck in the basement door. At the end of a long day, my head was foggy and I didn't notice that a nine-foot by three-foot by eight-inch box wasn't going to make it through the corner hall to the basement door. So shortly I was on the floor with the jig saw cutting and tearing it apart. I didn't get around to stripping and crushing the rest of the duct work that night - it was already near on eleven, I hadn't had dinner and I really just wanted a beer.
Fortunately, I had included paying the furnace installers to remove and dispose of my old furnace. Some things I am happy to pay money to have someone else do. They installed the rest of the duct work, including adding a duct to the "new" back bedroom on the first floor (which I think was added to the house in the 50's) and adding heat to the basement. The basement heating really helps balance the house and makes it a pleasant place to work and hang out. Maybe someday I'll dry wall the ceiling and make a nice rec room.
I have to admit, though, that I was not perfectly happy with the installation job. I expect anyone, no matter what their field, to take pride in their work and do a professional job. Certainly given what I was paying for the work. When I had companies bid I really chose the company that seemed to have the most interpersonal connection -- where I felt the salesman was listening and suggesting what would work best for me, not for them. However, the salesmen don't do the install. As one of the installers mentioned, "sometimes the salesmen sells something and the installers will do it differently." I explained as how that was a problem for them to figure out and not my responsibility. At the very least they should have communicated when they could not complete something that I had been told would be done.
I eventually had them come back and finish up the biggest concerns. The experience was really valuable for me though, because it put me in the position of the consumer of a service business (in my day job I am the provider). It made me realize the absolute importance on communicating progress and changes, of ensuring a professional job and, at the same time, getting as close to deadline as possible.
I have yet to see how much more efficient this new furnace is, but it's got to save some money as last month's gas bill was $200. When we heated by oil at my last house we spent $600 the whole winter (I suppose oil is more expensive this year, too).
So most of the floor work was completed a few weeks ago. But we finally
got the trim painted this weekend. The fresh coat of white on the
baseboards and new quarter round really makes the fir floors shine. Now
we just need some furniture so we can use the space. But that will be
here Wednesday. I can't wait.
Among other tasks completed this weekend, the biggest was getting the
old, 1940's deep freezer out of the basement. It's a Sear/Kenmore
Coldspot freezer. There's a Sears Archive advertisement for a similar
one
here. Note, however, that the one I had was about twice the size of that pictured.
Eighty inches long. 34"H x 32"D (not
including hinges). There are two compartments -- the main one is
about two thirds the length of the freezer. On the right is a smaller
compartment above the compressor. The compressor itself probably weighs
50 lbs. The whole thing weighed several hundred pounds. It was
non-functional -- the bottom (which was steel) had rusted out and there
was no freon left in the system.
On Saturday, we took the lids off by unscrewing the hinges.
These things have super strong springs on them (so that the lids lift
easily). The first couple snapped off with such force that we were
afraid we would break a finger if it got in the way. Then I realized
that I could remove the last screw with the lid up so that the hinge
was already open. That was still a two-person job. After some
careful measuring, we determined that there is no way it came into the
house in one
piece without removing some windows. Or maybe there was an old cellar
door on the house when they put it in. In any case, I'd rather demolish
an old freezer than remove windows and their framing. So we got
some blades, borrowed a sawzall and invited a friend over (with some
experience and more nerve) to help out.
Sunday, around noon we started in with the Sawzall. The outer shell of
the freezer is aluminum and we cut the shell right down the middle. A
little pry action and I could get at all the insulation. This is 1940's
fiberglass insulation. Even though I had gloves on it got on my arms
and legs. A cold shower later helped clean it off (cold helps keep the
pores from opening). Then, we cut through the copper pipes and finally
tore through the larger compartment. Piecewise, I carried it all
outside to be dumped. In fact with only a few cuts (and about one blade
per cut) we were able to get it all out the basement door which helped
immensely in keeping the mess to a limited area. The surprising part
was that the hardest thing to cut were the copper pipes. They kept
bending out of the way of the Sawzall so one person had to hold them
while another cut.
I think we were really lucky. It only took a couple hours to get the
thing out of the house. The mess was pretty well contained and not too
hard to clean up. I am really glad it's done now. It would have been
much harder to do after we put more stuff in the basement.
Next I need to figure out how to remove the old furnace (this is 1930's
era, but it comes apart in sections). And then get the washer and dryer
down there and out of the kitchen. I'd like to do the washer/dryer
first, but they would be in the way of the furnace removal. Is
this when I call in the pros?
A month ago I got the keys to my first house.
Like all new owners I
have a large list of projects in mind (we have them posted on the
fridge). The first thing I took on was the floors, in the hopes of
being able to entertain the next weekend. Ha! The floors took two
weeks. I'll post an article about that experience soon, but the upshot
is that I have no respect for Swedish Finish and would never do that to
wood. Not only is it deep and hard to remove/refinish, it suspect it's
fairly noxious too. I am sure that I would
hear the wood pleading to be
left in it's natural state
Thanks to the help of my great housemates and friends we did get the
floors done and have finished painting most of the walls. There are
pictures of the early work in the gallery. More to come as I find time.