Public Service Announcement: Gas Pumps

This is just a little public service announcement. Something that happens to me far too often. I try to be patient because people don't know any better.

If you are pulling into a large gas station to fill up, and the station isn't busy at all (as in only 1 or 2 cars at a station that has 10 or 12 pumps), please don't pull up to the only diesel pump there is. Or if you do, and I pull up and park behind you to wait, don't give me dirty looks. It's the only pump I can use with my diesel car!

I never used to pay attention to this until we owned a diesel car, but generally it's only the larger stations that have pay-at-pump diesel, and they either put it on a pump at the end, right next to gas...



Or, it's in a separate stand all together in between the gas pumps. An easy way to tell is? Diesel pumps are always green, so they stand out. Either way, they are completely blocked off to me when you choose to get your gas there. Obviously, if the station were crowded, I don't expect you to avoid using an opened pump. I'm just talking about when I am one of two or three cars at the station and have to line up behind you, while all the other gas pumps are unoccupied.

Sometimes, this is the 2nd or 3rd gas station I've had to pull into in order to find pay-at-pump diesel (yes, I'm lazy and don't want to walk inside twice. would you??). I have a diesel car because I get better gas mileage than any other gas powered car, included many hybrids. Modern day diesel car engines are cleaner burning than other old-school kind and will help reduce our country's dependency on oil, as explained in this video.


Diesel may cost more per gallon, but that only works out to less than $2 per tank and I'm not going to trade 40-45 mpg for 25-30 mpg over $2. It might be inconvenient, at times to fill up, but we love our car and the cost savings is so worth it.

Just don't use the pumps on the ends.

Inspection Update: Highs and Lows

For the past few weeks, we've put the flooring on hold and really been focusing on our inspection list. A lot of it went fast, as expected, but others posed more of a problem.

Here's our list as of now (the red is what is NOT done):

- caulk around sink, countertops, and toilets

- add hand rail to other side of stairs

- reduce clearance between bottom of rail and top of steps to less than 6 in.

- garage door needs more ribs

- write up builders energy certificate

- plywood over paper insulation in garage

- drywall over exposed insulation on garage side of stairs

- 2x10's under deck are overspan. need another post

- need more contact on deck footings to spread load

- cover HVAC thermostat wire with conduit

- silicone around outdoor lanterns

- GFCI 15 amp breaker for garage door opener

- 100 sq. in. of ventilation in laundry closet

- protect horizontal wiring in garage bath and "cave" storage room upstairs

- need waterproof shower light

The issue with the garage door is that it needs more "ribs" which are the galvanized metal strips that run perpendicular along the backside of each door panel. All new construction must have doors that meet the 90mph wind code. Our door came from Craigslist, and most likely, the house it was on was built before this new code, or it was added during a renovation project in which they didn't get a building permit for.

We tried tracking down the manufacturer and ordering a rib kit. No luck. So today, I got on the phone with Lowes and Home Depot to get quotes for a brand new door that meets that 90mph wind rating, which we don't have the money for...literally. But the prices were the least of the problem. The problem was the lead time. Garage doors are special orders. Home Depot has a 4-6 week lead time. Lowes has 2-4 week lead time. We need a door, like, yesterday.

The kicker is, Matt could MAKE the ribs we need to make the door stronger than we would ever need, but they have to have an official sticker on them that says they pass the wind rating.

The house we are currently renting and living in is being leased to a new family as of Jan. 1st. While these are friends of ours and I feel sure they wouldn't kicked us out on the street, living with them is just not an option to us. They have two kids and we would be packing two households of furniture into one house, and giving up our bedroom.

When I found out about the lead time on the door, my heart sank. This highly stressful situation has just reached a new level. I was freaking out. There may have been tears involved. After talking to Matt, I decided to call and speak with the inspector and plead our case (aka get some sympathy).

Scott, the inspector, said if there is a garage door there, they HAVE to inspect it to code, no exceptions. BUT, since our living space is upstairs and we have drywall on the garage ceiling, we actually aren't required to have a door at all. So he said if we just take the door and tracks down, they could inspect the house and it could pass.

I could have kissed him!

We can just put the door back after the inspection. The only TINY problem there is that the door wouldn't be covered under our homeowners insurance in the rare case that a car runs into it or something. That's really no big deal. Our driveway isn't even sloped much.

So there you have it. The door is coming off this weekend.