Blown Air Heat BEGONE! Hot Water Radiator Replacement

 

That pictured is what remained of the 30 year old heating system you had for this house. Sitting in the yard, waiting to be picked up. Begone!

I hated that system. I hated that system to the tune of $30K. Not so much $75K, which was the price my dear and beloved long time contractor pitched to me. He's not happy, but I have other projects and those may be fine for having him be all expensive and whatnot. He's knocked the price down to $50K but still. I put it on hold thinking I would just replace the old blown air heating system with a new one.

But then I happened to chat with a neighborhood plumber who lived not too far away. I mentioned how I hated the drying heat of the blown air and how freaking loud and annoying it was. 

Oh, let me tell you.

Our bedroom was right above the basement furnace. You, previous owner, were upstairs. So you didn't really hear the system kick on and bang when the blower fan was done. It would wake me up in the middle of the night and I HATED it. 

You had several other options to heat the house. Upstairs you had electric baseboard heaters and the mini splits. The heating was just for the basement and the first floor. I hated the heat it produced. After 19 years of living with cast iron radiators, heated air was just inferior. 

So I was chatting with a plumber about the system and he supposed he could do it for $20K. $20,000? I could do that. It wound up being $30K in the end.

It took 2-3 weeks for them to pull out the old system and put in the new system. 

Come this winter we'll know how good a replacement it was.

Why did you make the garden anti-human?

 I came from a neighborhood where, despite gentrification, I kept the bars on the windows. Some of my newer neighbors were more trusting and took off the unsightly bars. I'd been there too long and saw too much to even think about it. Also I was a single woman, sometimes living alone (roommates come and go), so hard pass. Also the bars were cheaper to maintain than an alarm system.

So I get why you planted thorny plants and bushes and the tall decorative grasses. You probably wanted privacy and protection. But as I worked in it, it just seemed anti-human or anti-mammal. I would accidentally hit or touch the sharp thorns from time to time and it got old real fast. It was also worrying because we have a young child and he cries a lot and loudly when he gets hurt. I had to get rid of the thorny thistles and plants for his sake.

I got rid of the high grasses. You won't see them pictured.

Why?

'Cause they gone.

I got rid of the low pointy plant.

I got rid of the pointy plant holding up the unidentified vines.

I cut back the pointy plant near the widow.

In the long run, I'm going to get rid of the big bushes. I want to expand the kitchen and those bushes are in the way.