Green Part 4: Goodbye Gas Water Heater (and Gas Meter!!), Hello Closet

We will start this post with a picture that makes me happy every time I see it... PG&E walking away with their gas meter!

Now, back to how we finally got there.

Storage space is at a premium in our little bungalow, where Nik and I share one fairly small bedroom closet. So I was extra excited to get rid of our old gas-powered water heater, after Nik finished installing our new all-electric heating system. Most of the big difficult home improvement jobs fall on Nik's shoulders -- but since I was going to be getting the extra closet, he suggested that I take the lead on the closet repurposing project. (Smart man.)

Step one: disconnect the old water heater. Nik had already disconnected the water supply from the tank, but it was still full of water. So first we ran a hose from the tank to the garden and drained the water out.

I could never have done this without Nik's extensive help. Just sayin'.

Pulling out the vent that went through the roof was tricky. Nik had to go onto the roof and I had to go into the attic, to detach it from multiple spots, before we could pull the whole thing out.

Step Two: manhandle (couplehandle?) the tank out of the house.

(We found someone that needed a replacement hot water heater in a hurry, so this unit is not going to the recyclers yet...)

Step Three: Rip out the disgusting old floor boards. That was actually kinda fun.

Voila! An empty closet. But full of holes.

Step Four: Learn how to make drywall patches and plaster them into place. (Nik was a good teacher. He tells me I'm a natural at plastering.)

Step Five: create a paper template, and cut a new piece of flooring. (It took several tries for Nik to get the size right -- I think my template wasn't very precise.)

Step Five: disconnect all the gas pipes from under the house. (This step involved a lot of swearing.)

All that's left now is the gas meter! And that's PG&E's problem.

Step Six: plaster and paint.

Step Seven: install new baseboards and shelves. Paint some more.

Step Eight: Call PG&E multiple times, get frustrated, call again. Finally get PG&E to fully remove the gas meter!!! and close off the gas line back towards the street.

See also Green Part 5: Reroofing in an environmentally friendly way... and Green Part 6: Finally installing solar panels!