October 12 - 13th -- It is a chilly weekend with oatmeal for breakfast, the first of the season, made in the microwave. The electricians, a duo named Tyler and Matt, who the contractor calls "Frick and Frack" and I call "Click and Clack," ask if they can work on Saturday, but instead of arriving at their usual 8:00 am, they give me some peace and don't arrive until 9:00 am. They told me that each one is a 3rd generation electrician, and they met five years ago in a bar and discovered each had "electrician genes." After years of apprenticeship and licensing, they decided to go into business together and bought the company from Tyler's grandfather a little over a year ago. Tyler's grandfather established the business over 30 years ago. Unlike most of the subcontractors, these guys really like to talk. They also told me that they estimate that they will run almost a mile of new wire throughout my house. They are working this weekend because on Monday there is an "electrical walk through" scheduled with me and the architect. This is the opportunity to change the location of switches and outlets or to add or remove outlets (@ $80 a pop).
Before we get further into the wiring, by the end of the week the plumbers made a lot of progress. One of the plumbers is a trained mechanical engineer, but finds plumbing work much more gratifying. Below is the soaker tub installed in the master bathroom.
Before we get further into the wiring, by the end of the week the plumbers made a lot of progress. One of the plumbers is a trained mechanical engineer, but finds plumbing work much more gratifying. Below is the soaker tub installed in the master bathroom.
Here is the "rough in" pressure balance shower valve (below, to the left) for the main-level 3/4 bathroom that is off the gathering room. Eventually, after all of the shower is plumbed, the sheet rock is installed, and the tile laid, a plumbing trim piece will go over the rough in valve. The height of the shower line looks a bit too tall for me, but I'll discuss that later next week since there is still time to lower it. It is crazy to see the original back wall of the house now serving as the wall of this shower.
Here is some of the plumbing pipes for the guest suite bathroom (to the left). The pipes snake all throughout the ceiling and then into the sewer line in the basement.
This is a view of the pipes in the ceiling between the main and upper levels (there is a recessed canister light fixture to the left).
There are more signs of progress with the plumbing in the main floor laundry room and to the right you can see the 220 wiring for the dryer.
Now we switch gears to wiring...Here is the door that leads to the covered deck off the master bedroom and the black boxes are the locations of future switches and outlets.
Here is a view of the mudroom rear-entry on the main level, and again more black boxes. This looks a bit crazy, but on the north side of the wall you are looking at will be part of the galley style kitchen that also includes a desk that will have an Internet port.
The rendering below shows the south side of the galley style kitchen with the desk space below. The thick wall between the dishwasher and the double ovens is a cross section of the original brick back wall of the house.
Here is the kitchen window with a recessed canister light positioned over what will be a farmstyle sink.
Here is a view of the north wall of the galley style kitchen where with the electrical boxes for the gas range top and range vent.
And, here is the rendering of the north side wall of the galley style kitchen (with the wine rack over the refrigerator, a pot-filler spigot over the range top, and a small sink to the right of the range top for draining heavy pasta pots).
That mile of wire enters the house through these two holes and then connects with the electrical box on the outside of the house.
In the gathering room the architect has specified canister lights that are low-voltage and are called "wall washers." You can see three of them (the white spheres in the metal fixtures) in the photo below that are positioned in front of the floor-to-ceiling wall of bookcases, including the pocket door to the basement stairwell that will recede into the bookcase wall. There will be more wall washers in front of the fireplace in the gathering room.
The photos below show the recessed canister lights in the ceiling of the master bedroom (to the left, below) and in the master bathroom ( to the right, below)
Here is one of two recessed canister lights that will be in the hallway between the entrance to the master bathroom and the new closet.
I have done my homework for the weekend and have a list of questions for the electrical walk through tomorrow.
The plumbers have been "working around" my use of the old master bathroom on the upper level. The time has come to demolish that bathroom and reconfigure the placement of the toilet and the sink. That will happen this week. When the demolition and plumbing reconfiguration is done, the old fixtures will be connected again for my use. Once all the plumbing is done and we pass the final plumbing inspection, the new fixtures will be installed....another busy week to come. After the wiring and plumbing inspections, then the sheet rock crew comes in and walls will be going up.
