Hardin Home: Home Improvement Projects at a Country Home in Verona, WI
Home Improvement Projects at a Country Home in Verona, WI
Another spring project I am working on is resolving the internet access issues that have plagued the guest house. I have tried a variety of wifi range extenders that have worked with varying degrees of success, but all have been inconsistent. To permanently solve the problem, I am going to run underground ethernet cable from … Continue reading Underground Ethernet
The last plumbing task at the lake house was to get the water softener running again, and to fill it with salt. I was able to do this, although there are still some minor drainage issues to resolve for when the softener regenerates itself at night. Regardless of that, all of the minor issues with … Continue reading Lake House Water Softener
I had a variety of electrical projects at the house in Verona that I wanted to have done by an electrician, including wiring the guest house water heater, resolving issues with the underground wiring to the gate, and running underground ethernet from the main house to the guest house. The ground is still partially frozen, … Continue reading Water Heater Wiring and Gate Wiring
When the water heater at my Verona house failed a week and a half ago, it prompted the plumber to do a water test, since our water comes directly from the well after passing through a whole home filter. When he removed the water heater, he noted that it was filled with iron deposits, as … Continue reading Iron Filter and pH Balancer
I now have hot water again at both the main house and the lake house. As I posted a couple of days ago, the water heater at the main house developed a leak and had to be replaced. Since it was an LP water heater and was also under warranty, I called in the pros … Continue reading Dual Water Heater Fixes
After finishing the HVAC project at the lake house, I had assumed I’d be done with appliance and plumbing work for awhile. As is often the case with home ownership though, my main house in Verona had other plans. I received an alert from my SmartThings water leak sensor that there was water in the … Continue reading RIP Water Heater
Usually I try to keep posts on this blog fairly short, but this will be a longer one that covers an intense week of construction. When I first bought the lake house, one of the things I wanted to improve quickly was its ability to serve as a year-round house in Wisconsin. While it technically … Continue reading Lake House HVAC
One of the other lake house projects this spring and summer will be updating all of the kitchen appliances in both the upstairs and downstairs kitchens. Right now, everything is either original to the 1970’s or shortly thereafter, so it’s in dire need of an update. My wife and I have been looking at black … Continue reading Lake House Appliance Shopping
This spring and summer, I have a ton of projects planned at the lake house. These include: New Door New Kitchen Appliances Boat Lift + New Boat Central Heating + Air Master Bathroom Remodel New Roof The new door, new roof, and new kitchen appliances are fairly straightforward; both are from the 1970’s and are … Continue reading Planning Lake House Projects
One of the many home automation technologies that I use in my houses is Samsung SmartThings. It supports a wide array of sensors, integrated well with Alexa and Arlo, and provides a slick phone UI with the ability to manage multiple homes. For a long time, I’ve used the SmartThings Leak Sensor to monitor for … Continue reading SmartThings Smoke Alarm
