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Crime Fighting Home Improvement Guy...

Friday, 22 April 2011 03:00

By David Thompson (from thompsontri.com)

This is the short version of a long but interesting story. While working on the in-floor heat for the mudroom during the later stages of the remodeling project. I forgot to lock the recently installed rear door to the house. I realize my mistake halfway through applying the scratch coat of thin-set mortar over the heating cables. I told my wife about this too. Neither of us thought it would be a big deal since our house had been with out a rear door for 2 months. The risk of not having a secure door for one more night seemed small....

During night our dog, Henry, started barking, which woke us half up. This is some what of a regular event. Henry doesn't like anyone outside to make noise after he goes to sleep. Hannah told him to "shut up," and he was quiet for 5 more seconds. Then, he got really mean. At this point, I got out of bed and found Henry ready "rip sh!t up" at the top of the stairs. Henry usually sleeps on the main floor, but tonight he was barricaded on the 2nd floor because we sealed tile in the basement. When I removed the barricade, Henry tore down the stairs and toward the back of the house. I knew someone had definitely been in the house because the lights were on and the drywall fence to keep people from stepping the fresh mortar was moved aside. The back door was also left cracked open. READ MORE

DAVID'S & HANNAH'S NEW KITCHEN

The reason for this blog post is answer the questions: "How was my off season?, How's training going?, Did you race over the winter?, Why haven't you updated your blog?

Winning the Rev 3 Triathlon series and finishing 3rd in the Toyota Cup series last season allowed me to take on remodeling our Kitchen (photo R - DKT's pre-renovated kitchen) and back entry this off season. I enjoy construction projects. Solving spacial problems and good old fashion hard work is satisfying. It also helps ward off winter depression. We've done a fair amount of work on our 1890's house since we purchased it, but this was the biggest and most expensive project. The back of the house or kitchen had the issues with a walk through bathroom to the back stairs, treacherous stairs to the basement, no rear entry closet, bad kitchen flow, little kitchen storage, and multiple so-so renovations over 121 years. READ MORE