October 2012 - New Stove at the lodge

New Stove at the Lodge!

Over the last several months, the old Garland stove at Emigrant Gap Lodge lost one oven thermostat and lost the heat shield, thermal coupler and metal drip pan in the other oven, making it virtually useless for baking.  After checking with commercial range repair shops from Sacramento to Reno and trying to order vintage parts, we determined that it would be less expensive to purchase another used commercial stove than to attempt to repair the old one. 

First, we looked at a 1950's Wolf stove on the Summit that had already been converted to propane, but once the owner finally hooked it up to propane for us to see it, we decided that it would be too much of a fixer to take on. 

Next, we found a newer Southbend in San Francisco.  Unfortunately, it was set for natural gas and was in a walk-up victorian.  Even with these two obstacles, it looked to be in working condition and the owner advised it would be ready to go when I came to pick it up. 

However, when I arrived at the house, it was still connected to gas and had to be moved through the kitchen doorway, through a narrow hallway, onto a small front landing and down a staircase.  The owner, a few of his construction guys and I wrangled it into my truck, then Jim and I took it up to the Gap.  

With the help of our dear neighbors, their piano mover, our construction guy and Jim, we got it into the lodge.  These commercial stoves weigh a ton.  From there, I had to order the propane conversion kit. I also had to clean years of cooking grease from the burners and the griddle/ broiler (the ovens were pretty clean). 

Finally I was able to schedule a repair visit with our friends at Amerigas.  After about 5 hours of work, the repair tech advised that two of the gauges for the griddle/broiler would not fully turn off and needed to be replaced and that one of the ovens needed a new heat controller. We were able to trade the gauges with the garland but I will need to order the controller for the oven this week.  

For now, the new stove is working, one oven is working and oven 2 will be working in the near future. The old stove will be donated to Habitat for Humanity in Grass Valley or to the Salvation Army in Reno.  

Here are some pictures of the kitchen as it is now.  We still have some cabinetry to add above the old reach in ice box and we need to do lots of painting and trim work - but the kitchen is once more fully functional - ready for turkey and pies for Thanksgiving!

September 2012

Some August changes at the Gap.  Since the wiring on most of the top floor is very vintage, Jim decided it was time to run new wiring for the 5 upstairs bedrooms.

We had two options for demolition:

Option 1:
Tear down each bedroom ceiling and run the new wiring from the attic.  Later we could tear down all the bedroom walls to run the plugs for each room.

OR

Option 2:
Tear down the ceiling and walls in the hallway and run the wiring down the hall.  This option would allow us to a.) place hallway fixtures,light switches and plugs, and b.) place one plug in each room prior to running the multitude of room plugs.  Option B also allowed us to refinish the hallway walls and floors.

So guess which option we selected?

You got it - option B.  We started by clearing all the loose insulation in the attic that was over the construction area. Then we tore the hallway drywall, wainscoting and trim.  This was the messy part.  We were careful to remove the wainscoting in case we decided later that it should be reinstalled.

Once the demolition was completed, Jim started running all the wire.  That took a while to complete.  He added 4 ceiling lights (on dual switches), about 4 plugs, and a wall sconce to the main hallway.  He added one plug to each bedroom (with the option for running more later as we complete each bedroom remodel).  He also added a ceiling light to the snow entry hallway and the option for an outdoor light on the fire escape.

While this was going on, we had some discussion about the main hallway pantry door.  we decided that in the future we would use 1/2 of the pantry space for a stairway up the the attic.  The original set up of the pantry door, opening into the pantry space and on the main hallway made the stairway option infeasible.  So, as part of the internal framing upgrades, we moved the pantry door to the snow entry hallway and set it up to open outward.   I know, sacrificing storage space in the pantry is a sad loss - but getting the 12 feet high, about 80 feet long and over 24 feet wide space in the attic made the sacrifice worth it.

Once Jim completed the wiring, it was time to drywall (our least favorite part of the job).  It is not that we hate putting the drywall in place, it is the mess it creates and all the work it takes to do the finish job.
Since the hallway light is basically what we get from the open bedroom doors and from the ceiling lights, the task of finishing the drywall was huge.

Carol completed the painting of the hall and refinished the hallway and the kitchen floors just in time for this summer's family reunion.  Jim and Carol rebuilt some vintage schoolhouse pendant lights for the hallway ceiling fixtures and we reused one of the original scones at the end of the hall. Jim reinstalled the furnace vent covers (we have vent covers but no furnace).  Pictures were put up to make the hallway homey.

We still have to reinstall the wainscoting - which we hope to complete this fall.

One more remodel job near to completion at the lodge.