Thursday, May 1, 2008

Forethought

Forethought was apparently slightly rare when the "architect" designed these condos.

Our microwave - manufacture date January 1986 - died the other night, as I mentioned, and we've been working on replacing it. The current plan is to replace the stove at the same time, and hopefully get free installation & delivery out of the deal. (And I'd pay for delivery, just so we didn't have to manhandle everything up the stairs, because that turn at the doorway is a killer. I felt sorry for the guys who had to get the fridge through it.)

So DH was thinking that we'd probably better find out if the micro. vents to the outside, or if it's just a recirculation fan (it's an over-the-stove model). Which means figuring out how it's installed; I guess some of them have a bracket on the wall. So far, the only thing I found is two bolts into the cabinet over the micro, one on each front corner. That can't be enough to support an 80s-era behemoth of a microwave, but darned if I can see anything resembling a bracket.

I started to say to DH (on the phone) that surely the people who built the place wouldn't have bolted in straight into the wall. Surely they would have realized that it would crap out someday and have to be replaced.

Then I remembered all the evidence so far regarding their lack of forethought. Like all the lights that require a ladder when the bulb burns out - which is, basically, every light other than the hallway light. The lousy air circulation and lack of working windows. The lack of storage space, like closets. The shoehorned-into-the-bathroom tub that's basically unusable, and is why El Burrito still gets a bath in his baby tub.

It won't surprise me at all if it turns out that we have to take a chunk of sheetrock out with the old micro. I won't like it, but I won't be shocked.

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