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.

Final Inspections: Round One

The time has finally come to have final inspections. That doesn't mean we're done. There is still tons of stuff to do before we move it, but none of it is for "code". We still have to install the flooring, which we started over the weekend, and finish our open shelving cabinets, and finish touch up paint. The county doesn't care about any of that cosmetic stuff, just the safety stuff.

We were told not to expect to pass finals the first time. There are lots of little details the inspectors look for. Each inspector has their "specialty", so we actually had two inspectors come out yesterday. One did the framing final inspection, and the plumbing. The other did the electrical final. And I guess any of them can do the septic/sewer and water inspection.

I scheduled the inspections on a day I didn't have to go to work, and Matt took the whole day off so he could be there as well. I followed the inspectors around and took notes on all the corrections we had to make to get our C.O. (certificate of occupancy).

Here's the list:

- 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

And now the list with explanations:

- caulk around sink, countertops, and toilets
(I was planning on getting around to that, but didn't know it was for code)

- add hand rail to other side of stairs
(we did that last night after they left. we will probably remove it after we move it, if it's in our way)

- reduce clearance between bottom of rail and top of steps to less than 6 in.
(we fixed that last night by nailing up a board under the rail to block out that space. we'll remove that after inspection)

- garage door needs more ribs
(the bars that run behind each section to give it strength. must meet the 90mph wind code)

- write up builders energy certificate
(don't really know what this is, but Matt says it's simple and we just type it up and staple it in a utility room)

- plywood over paper insulation in garage
(we were planning on doing that after we move it, but didn't know it had to be done now. the insulation can be left opened, but not the paper covering on it, so they said we could remove the paper and it would pass. that's ridiculous)

- drywall over exposed insulation on garage side of stairs
(still not sure he was right on that one since this wall is technically an exterior wall since the opened stairs are on the other side, but we'll see.)

- 2x10's under deck are overspan. need another post
(our framer made a big oops on that one. he ran 2x10's 14 ft. across, supporting the deck floor. they can only be 7 ft, or something, without another post. the floor seems secure to us and this will block Matt's 4-wheeler/tractor storage. He's not happy about that but we might remove that later too)

- need more contact on deck footings to spread load

- cover HVAC thermostat wire with conduit

- silicone around outdoor lanterns
(there is a big gap behind the light fixture for water and bugs to get in)

- GFCI 15 amp breaker for garage door opener

- 100 sq. in. of ventilation in laundry closet
(we have to add a vent on the hallway wall for fresh air, or switch the solid doors for louvered doors)

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

- need waterproof shower light
(the electrician used a regular recessed light fixture in the shower. wtf?)

The good news is our septic and water lines were approved, so we can fill in the ditch before it turn into a mud pit.

It looks like a lot of things to fix, but most of them are quick and painless. The big time-consuming ones are the plywood walls and the extra support under deck. That will take several days that we don't really have, but now we have to make the time. The rest of the stuff should only take a day or two assuming we have all the materials (finding garage door ribs will be difficult since we bought it used a don't know the manufaturer), and we are running out of Saturdays in the year to work on this. Luckily, Matt saved all his vacation until October, so he's been taking lots of days off lately to get work done on our house. He still has about 6 more days he can take off in 2011.