Smashola

After work on Friday, Sue and I jetted up to Lake Winnipesaukee for almost exactly 24 hours with the family. It was fun times, and I have other pics if anyone would like.


We left the lake after dinner (about 8PM) and got home at 11PM.

This morning, we met with Electrician #2. A nice guy, and instead of giving us a "T & M" (time and materials) estimate like our first guy, he's going to provide an all-inclusive number. He seems like he knows what he's talking about.

We also mowed and watered the lawn, replaced the light and fixed the fixture in the screened porch, got our first joint bank account, made another Home Depot run, and shopped for food. Sue also found time to run out and get a haircut (from a blue-haired stylist) in preparation for Day One at her internship tomorrow.

At 4:00, we met with Chris, the guy who was going to haul off our soapstone basin. As it turned out, Chris assisted us in two big ways. He is an elementary school teacher who installs solar panels on the side. He explained, the biggest bang-for-buck you can make with solar is via solar hot water heating. A couple panels on the roof could save a good portion of the 5,000 kilo-watts our electric heater will use in an average year, and the hot water heater's energy use represents a little less than half of the electricity our home will use in a year (estimating about 1,000 kilo-watts per month in the typical household).

He installs 120-gallon water tanks in basements, and he attaches them to conventional hot water tanks. When the sun heats the 120-gallon tank, the conventional hot water heater never has to turn on.

To install the panels, run the pipes and wires, and set-up the tank, it costs about $7,000, but between state and federal tax credits, you only pay 50% of that.

Anyway, since he'd worked so much with hot water tanks, he told and showed us how to dismantle our Sepco Hydrastone hot water heater, so we don't have to pay a salvage company to remove it. Pictures will follow in a later post.

Chris also immediately told us when he entered the basement, our basin was not soapstone. I was a bit embarrassed, but I explained, our real estate agent thought it was soapstone, but I had no idea.

He said, soapstone is cut into slabs and bolted together then epoxied. Concrete basins are made in a single mold. The interior corners of our basin were smooth and curved, betraying the basin's true identity.

So when he left, smashola...