Since my focus has changed from a bathroom remodel to more practical things that are needed around here, I decided it was time to look into a hot water heater replacement. Hubby found a receipt next to the old one and it was from 1993, so it is 20 years old. Yikes. Yes, it is probably time to replace it before it has a melt down or springs a leak!
So we are planning to get several estimates. I don't like just getting one price and being pressured to decide that day to chose that plumber. Well yesterday we had our first estimate by a company that advertises in our local yellow pages, but turns out is actually based in Austin. I hate when companies do that. I try to use local businesses only. Anyway, this guy came out and was basically shaking his head and indicating all sorts of issues with our heater situation. The hot water heater is in a closet all by itself with the exception of some wall shelves. It is on the second floor, where our washer and dryer also are (likely why it was installed there). There is plastic piping going into the side wall which this guy had no clue where that went to. We looked all around outside and in the garage and he asked us if we weren't sure there was a pipe or sink in the garage. Hello! We all just looked there. He was talking about having to bring it up to code, get it inspected, get an alarm system on it, possibly going through walls, and I could not believe how anxious he made me feel! I looked at my hub and he looked at me. It was not suppose to be that big of a deal. We are talking about a water heater...not a new central air conditioner/heating unit.
All we want is a new gas tank hot water heater. I wasn't even looking to go tankless although now I'd like to get a few estimates for that too. When it was all said and done I did not like, nor trust this guy's ability to even do the job and he gave us a quote to the tune of $2000...possibly more if complications. I can only guess that he didn't want the job so he made it sound as horrible as possible.
On to more quotes then. I did get a call back from one place last night after giving the lady a few specifics as to where our current hot water heater was located, whether gas, propane or electric and what size we wanted. She said she was calling the owner and would call me back with a quote. I did get a call back and the quote is $750. Well, that is very nice, but getting a quote without looking at the job? Should I take that one seriously? What if they came and then said they didn't realize there was this problem or the other. Perhaps there would be no problems, but the first guy we had out did a number on my head. Hubby was angry with the first guy and said he could just do it himself, but I don't want him to. He is not a plumber.
There is someone coming out Monday to give us a quote and we also got a phone quote from a plumber we have used (but depending on who comes out we may or may not like). Their quote was around $900, again site unseen though. So we'll see what happens. I am trying to save for a new metal roof, so I am not about to shell out $2000 on a new hot water heater. If it is going to cost that much I want to look into tankless anyway. Going tankless against the inside wall would give us the option of making the small bathroom that is next to that closet longer by at least 2 feet if we took some of that closet space and made it longer bathroom instead. We could eliminate the shelves that aren't used to store much, and just bring that wall in. We'll see.
Since we are not doing our bathroom any time soon I have been exploring ways to spruce it up a little at least. I want to strip the wallpaper that is also 30 years old (found online can use water and liquid fabric softener to strip old), and paint it a nice light color maybe a light mint green. Not sure on that yet. And I have looked around the Internet for some tile stickers and found a place that I can buy solid colored stickers (they had patterns too but I just want to brighten up the bathroom). So I am going to get some cream colored ones and make a pattern (large triangle skipping spaces between) in the shower area to lighten that up. Our wall tile is a puke brown with yellow/green undertones. Hard to describe really and does not match the bathtub, never has. But I'll deal with that. Then hubby has enough laminates laying around to do the tiny tub/toilet area floor to go over the ugly vinyl that is there. The area is really small. It is only 58 inches by 33 inches and that includes where the toilet is. That should freshen it up some and make it easier to live with for a few more years until we can get it remodeled.
By the way, back to the water heater... it was bothering me as to where that pipe into the wall was going and I was talking with hub about it. I asked him if that plumber (and I use that term loosely at this point) considered the attic. We have a full attic up there and apparently that wasn't considered so I pulled down the stairs to it this morning and sure enough there is a larger pipe that comes up from the 2nd floor leading outside that is over in that area of the hot water heater. That is probably it so there is no pipe to nowhere situation!
This morning I went out to our cable company office because when we were having tons of Internet troubles a few weeks ago, the tech on the phone told me we could save $30/mo on our bill if we just got a Direct TV box for our TV. I don't know much about it but saving on the bill is worth it! We don't even have to install it, just had to pick up the box for the rate drop. When I went in and was getting the box,cable and instructions I asked the gal how much this was going to save me. She said about $10, and I told her the guy told me $33/mo (and I actually wrote that down on a billing statement when I spoke to him). It was conveyed that if I increase my Internet speed with another 'box' it would lower my payment more. Turns out though I already am using a splitter so that won't work. They were extremely nice to me though and gave me another special they had and bottom line is, it knocked $37/mo off our monthly bill! That was a chore on my to do list, well worth it!
Off to do the dishes and some laundry.
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