Thursday, January 18, 2007

Adventures in Home Improvement

I installed a programmable thermostat. All by myself! With only one injury!

I really have no excuse for the injury. This was a pretty low impact job. But my old thermostat was painted onto the wall, so I was using an exacto knife to remove it, and slipped. Dude, never try to catch one of those when it’s about to go flying. Just let it go flying. I now have a small puncture wound on my finger. Oh well.

I took the old thermostat of the wall and found a metal plate around the hole. Fortunately the screws for the new one could be mounted beyond that, so I didn’t eat up any drill bits like I did on my curtains.

So, the instructions said I could use the dry wall anchors and screws provided. Hmm. Really. I went through everything about five times and couldn’t find any hardware. So I called customer service. Spent a few minutes on hold and continued to rummage, looking under the couch cushions and everything. A lady answered my call and I explained that I had purchased a thermostat, and the instructions said to use the screws provided but… “The screws will be in the battery compartment.”

I guess they get that question a lot. :-P

So I opened the compartment, and shuuurrre-nuf, there they were. Thanks!

After that the job was a breeze. I now have two more holes to caulk and paint when I move out of this place. But I also now have a programmable thermostat. Programmed even! I’m all set!

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