My friend from Penn State, Nikki, stopped by and she graciously looked around at our covered dining room table and clean laundry drying in the living room and suggested we go out to lunch. Do you guys have any friends that you don't see forever and then you just step right in and chat like it was yesterday? Nikki is that kind of friend. When she is around we start conversations, but never end them. We just excitedly move from one topic to the next. When Nikki left, we sent her off with a parting gift:
Do no evil:
Randy was excited that his monkey statue found a good home. As soon as Nikki left, it was on to the fan!
Randy made a quick call to our buddy Brian, who just installed a new bathroom fan recently, and we got started. I ran around and got Randy what he needed and provided conversation and moral support as he climbed into the attic to install the fan. Randy went out last week and bought a Nutone 130 CFM 1.5 sones fan for $130 at Home Depot. We did all the consumer report research and compared prices, and that one just seemed to be the best. So far, we are pretty happy with it. Here is the old 30 CFM fan, which they may or may not even make anymore.
The entrance to our attic is in our bedroom closet. Randy climbed up there with an 8 foot ladder and created steps using 50 cent 2 by 4's from the scrap wood at Home Depot. He got himself from above our closet 20 feet to the bathroom vent and at no point fell through the ceiling. It was pretty easy, but time-consuming and a royal pain to climb over the blown in insulation in the attic without squishing it down too much.
We turned off the breaker, and Randy disconnected the old fan and removed it with a screw driver. Then he hooked up the wires and the vent and installed the new fan.
Randy: Let me take this time to comment on a few things. Jodi made this effort seem very easy. And let me be honest... it was. However, I had to overcome one major challenge... I have the worst fear of heights. We started with a 5-foot ladder, and while I admit that I have good balance, the 4-foot leap into the attic from the top of a ladder (on carpet) is about as terrifying as being chased by Freddy Krueger in Dreamland. Given the choice, I'll take Freddy and a case of 5-hour energy drinks. So, bless Jodi, because I forced us to go to Home Depot again to buy an 8-foot ladder. And it's embarrassing. Not buying stuff at Home Depot, that's easy. They accept credit cards. But it's embarrassing that a fear of heights (or a fear of anything) can be so debilitating. But I had to install the stupid fan. And there are 2 reasons. First, I got my undergraduate degree in and was employed as a mechanical engineer, for crying out loud. The act of installing the fan should have (and actually was) very easy. But also, I have the greatest friends that are the most skilled guys with their hands. I'm so totally jealous that there is nothing they can't fix... and then they come visit and pick projects to accomplish at our house. I'm left holding the beer or the screwdriver. I super appreciate it, but I'd love to actually do something on my own.
So, back to this ladder. It was damn tall enough to get me into the attic... and just as Jodi described, I scooted across the attic. I even got back safely. I am very proud of the accomplishment.
Now all the danger I want is vacuuming.
Jodi: When he got back to safety, he used a drywall saw to cut the drywall just inside the new fan. This covered our bathroom in massive amounts of dust, but it was nothing the dyson couldn't handle.
But when he was all done, it looked like this.
Beautiful, right? I couldn't resist hanging the chandelier I bought from here
I'm very proud of Randy and his accomplishment overcoming his fear. Buying the 8 foot ladder was no big deal, it fit pretty easily in my CX7. The best part? Now it's super easy to replace light bulbs and I can put up even more Christmas lights this year! Woo-hoo!!!!
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