So, no doubt you are wondering how it went today. I know you’ve been waiting all day for some kind of report, some word on how the project went, was going or wasn’t going. You’ve been patient while I’ve been working on this. I appreciate that. I knew you wanted to know, needed to know. I thought about sending this out while I was mid-project when I was up to my graying hair in dust and ceiling debris.  But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.

It all started years ago when it was decided that the fan/light combo in the bathroom needed replacing. This week, at last, I had the inspiration to do it! I shopped. I bought. I read the instructions. I watched the helpful video. I went to work.

I went to work on it after doing useful and important other-things today. This meant that by the time I started it was about three in the afternoon. I’ve done enough of these home projects to know that an early start is better than three in the afternoon, just in case… one needs another part, one needs to make a couple of runs to Lowe’s, something unexpected goes wrong, the lights go out (more on that later). However, some of the reviews said, “Installed it in an hour.” Great! I’ll have it done by dinner time. Nope!

The fan I bought touted other qualities that are needed for an old house like mine, like the claim that it would be an easy installation. Nope. And, there would be no need to go in the attic. Nope. 

In the video it took about a minute and a half to slap that sucker in and start pulling 110 CFM of air out of the house. Not so in the real world! Four+ hours! As for the no attic work … please, please, PLEASE, don’t make me go into the attic again!! Sorry…

Back to the story…. When installing electrical things like fans and lights it’s a good idea to turn off the electricity to the circuit that’s being worked on. No need to turn off the whole house. I found the circuit breaker I needed. Flipped the switch and poof, only three-fourths of the house went dark, including the other lights in the bathroom in which I was working. Did I mention, it’s an old house? Sheesh!

No lights means no work getting done. Plus, the winter sunlight was making its usual early exit as well. What to do? Ahhhh… then I remembered I borrowed a work light from a friend a while ago… heh, heh… hadn’t returned it yet … heh, heh… saved by my own irresponsibility, to be able to complete the project.

And complete the project, I did. I ripped out the old fan, enlarged the hole in the ceiling, put in the new fan, reconnected the fan to the duct work, hooked up the wiring, correctly I might add, all while making eight trips up into the attic… please, never again!

And there you have it.  Everything you wanted to know about my Fan – tastic adventure today.  

And today’s gift?  Only one scraped knuckle and minor stiffness, so far… tonight anyway, and, of course, a correctly installed fan and light!