Too much of a good thing?

Too much of a good thing?

February 27th -- My first 26 years of living in this old house taught me how to deal with the cold winters and hot summers.  With most of the original windows, very little insulation within the lath and plaster walls, an old roof, an inefficient furnace, and don't even get me started on the drafts, I learned how to adapt to the temperature.  During the winter, I grew accustomed to layering while indoors, including wearing a down vest, sleeping under a down comforter, strategically placing portable ceramic heaters around the house, and resorting to taking a hot shower as the only way to feel warm. During the summer, I strategically placed box fans in windows that were often impossible to open without the use of a hammer and chisel after being closed for the winter, I became the master of cross-ventilation,  and often didn't turn on the oven between the months of  late June and early September.  In late spring, after I had already turned off the furnace for the season and when the mornings were still cold and the afternoons warm, I would literally have to open the windows because it was warmer outside than it was inside!

All of that will now be a thing of the past.  Today the HVAC subcontractors returned to complete the installation of my new zone-heating system.  

First, the guys were blown-away.  When they were here last time, there were only studs and wiring and the venting that they had installed.  Whether they were just being polite, I will never know, but they were full of all sorts of compliments about how the house had progressed from the last time they were here and how great it looked.  Second, they were almost as excited as I was to see if this zone heating system would work.  On September 1st they had the new furnace up and running, but not the zone system that opens and closes the dampers that are powered by a vacuum system.  That is, the dampers and hoses to and from the dampers were set, but the control box that powers the vacuum system was not installed....until today!

Here is the control box that makes the zone system work to open and close the dampers in the heating vents on demand.

These wires go from the vacuum system control box to the four different zones, written on the duct below -- basically new construction upstairs; new construction downstairs; original house upstairs; and original house downstairs.

Each zone system operates on its own programmable thermostat that looks like this.  

This is the thermostat, located in the hallway between the master bedroom and bathroom.  It controls the heating zone that is basically the master bedroom suite.  Within this space is the heated floor in the master bathroom as well as the gas fireplace.  I'm guessing that during the winter this zone will often be off or set to a very low temperature because of the heat generated by the floor and the fireplace.

This thermostat is located in the room at the top of the stairs to the upper level.  It is one of the rooms of the old part of the house that will only have the floors refinished and the walls painted.  Because this zone includes the second upper-level bathroom and my office (the room I am currently sleeping in) it will prove to be more comfortable with heat during the winter.  These rooms have always been the coldest in the house.

This thermostat is located in the dining room downstairs.  The only construction in this room was to add the glass doors to the deck on the south side of the house.  However, this zone includes the older parts of the house, including the living room (which is now my temporary kitchen, foyer, dining room and the guest suite (bedroom and bathroom) that is a mix of old and new construction.

This thermostat is located on the wall just outside the 3/4 bathroom and will control the heat to the mudroom, gathering room, 3/4 bathroom, kitchen, and the hallway outside the pantry and laundry room, which is mostly all new construction.












In addition to the thermostats, the heating vents were installed, along with the cold air returns, like this one located on the side of the fireplace in the master bedroom.

So, what is "too much of a good thing?"  

After I programmed all the thermostats, I started shedding clothes because this old house actually became too warm.  Yes, I know, too warm in February, how could that be?  Well, with all the new insulation, new roof, double-pane windows, high energy efficient furnace, and so on, this house is much easier to heat and retains the heat well.  This is going to take some getting used to so that I don't sweat during the winter, as I usually did during the summer.  

A theme of this home renovation journey continues to be two steps forward and one step backward.  

While the HVAC subcontractors were installing the rest of the system, one asked me a question and when I returned to my office/temporary bedroom, there was no power.   Not good.  I went to the electrical panel to see if a circuit had blown, and it did.  However, it would not re-set.  I called the electrician who suggested that I power my temporary bedroom tonight by running an extension cord from the cgfi outlet in the second upstairs bathroom (the one that I am using that will be renovated after I move into the master bedroom suite).  

So, the two steps forward is the completed new zone heating system that is very very comfortable.  The one step backward is that the computer that I am writing this blog on tonight is powered by this extension cord that is running from a cgfi outlet in this bathroom

 through a closet, 

outside the closet door,

across the floor at the top at the stairs to the upper level and into my office/temporary bedroom:

And, because half of my office/temporary bedroom is powered by this extension cord (there is no power to my lamps or ceiling light); the only light I have, besides the glow of my computer monitor, is this little florescent light that I've plugged into the power strip that is being powered by the extension cord from the cgfi outlet. 

The electrician explained that the circuit keeps blowing because the new circuit breakers required by the building code do not work well on the old wired circuits in the house, which includes my home office.  The electrician will be here first thing in the morning with a remedy that he has already figured out to fix for the old wiring - new circuit breaker problem.

Oh well, at least I know that I will be warm tonight, but I just hope I won't be too warm!!  But, in February, that would be a nice problem to have.

Electrifying

Electrifying....

February 25th -- today is a much better day than yesterday.  The electricians returned early and the plumbers were back.  I raced off to the plumbing supply house to request the missing trim piece.  I was successful last night to drop off the lock sets at a "big box" home improvement center and would need to return to pick up the re-keyed locks.  The electricians continued their work to install the remaining light fixtures and to complete the new wiring and expanded electrical panel.

I returned to find that the plumber had installed the kitchen faucet, as shown below.

The faucet had been installed in the guest suite bathroom -- this faucet was selected to match the plumbing that will be in stalled in the claw foot tub that will go in this bathroom

The light fixture was also installed over the sink in this bathroom, as shown here.

By the end of the day, the wiring was done, the circuits were no longer failing and light fixtures and plumbing fixtures were shining in the kitchen, 

in the pantry....

in the 3/4 bathroom, which also has a faucet (and only awaits the shower trim to be complete)....

The  ceiling fan, lights and speakers were installed in the master bedroom ....

The two faucets were installed in the master bathroom.

Part of the bath tub fixtures were installed in the master bathroom.

The control box for the heat coils that were installed under the tile floor in the master bath was installed and the tile floor is warm to the touch.  This control box has way too many functions, so I will need to read the manual so that I can program when to heat the bathroom tile floor!

As soon as the remaining bath tub fixtures and shower fixtures are installed, the master bath room will soon be functional.

Although we still need a few glass cover trims for canister lights in closets and over bath tubs and showers to meet code, the electricians will request a final electrical inspection for tomorrow or the day after.

The plumber is scheduled to return tomorrow to install the pot filler faucet in the kitchen and to complete the remaining bathrooms.  It isn't clear when the work will begin on the plumbing for the claw foot tub, which is currently sitting in the gathering room and needs to be reglazed. 

There are exterior hose bibs and a gas line to the deck for a future grill that the plumbers need to install, as well as the completion of the green house and the electrical circuits for it.   However, the weather has turned very cold -- temps are in the teens -- with snow, so there will be no work outside until the weather gets warmer later this week.

A Bad Day Was Overdue...

A Bad Day Was Overdue....

February 23 and 24 --  Things have been going fairly well on the construction front so that it was really only a matter of time -- a bad day was long overdue.

The electricians are very hardworking and stayed from 9 to 4 on Saturday.  On Sunday, I cleaned up and thought again about how in construction there is also destruction.  The beautifully painted walls were now marred with fingerprints, new holes that would need to be repaired and repainted.  The once cleanly swept floors were again littered with drywall dust, strips of discarded wire and plastic wire insulation, packaging material that the light fixtures were once shipped in, and other detritus.  Even though the electricians did do a cursory clean up before they left, it was still a bummer to see more mess and the need for more wall repair and paint.

It was also nice to see the light fixtures that I selected actually installed and to see my new house in literally a new light.

Here is a wall sconce that is opposite the linen closet in the hallway of the master bedroom suite.

Here are the light fixtures above the vanity in the master bathroom.  Mirror and medicine cabinets, along with towel bars and other accessories will be installed soon.

Throughout my experience living within the construction zone, I was pretty good at remembering a fair amount of detail, in addition to having taken lots and lots of photos, of which only a small number have been posted on this blog.  I was positive that there was a canister installed over the kitchen sink that had been covered by drywall.  I let the contractor know this, as well as the architect, but both told me that was impossible because the lath and plaster construction would not hold a canister and that I had mistaken an "electrical whip" for a canister.  Unfortunately, I didn't have a photo.  So, I ordered a third mini-blue pendant to hang over the kitchen sink.  The electrician cut into the drywall and put his hand into the hole to pull out the electrical whip.  As he did, he called my name and told me that I was correct and that there was indeed a recessed light canister in the ceiling.  Too late, I had already ordered, paid for, and received the blue mini-pendant light, but at least I was vindicated.  

I scoured through the photos I took of the framing, plumbing and wires within the studs and framing before the sheet rock encased the walls to see where outlet boxes, whips, recessed cans, pipes, plumbing vents and other things were that had been covered up by dry wall. The electricians would frequently knock on my home office door and say, please look for a photo of "X" because I think there might be a ________ (fill-in the blank) "speaker wire," "an outlet box," or "electrical whip" that I can't find."  Sure enough, I would scour my collection of photos, find what they were trying to locate, and print out the photo.  The photo helped them to poke fewer holes into the drywall to find the hidden item.

The ceiling of the gathering room now has recessed canister lights, a ceiling fan, low-voltage "wall washer" lights and ceiling-mounted speakers for the surround sound system.

These photos show how the "wall washer" light fixture will "bathe" the wall with light, although I will need to spend some time adjust the wall washer trim to "aim" the light.

The "wall washer" fixture in front of the fireplace has a "pinhole" trim so that it won't "wash" the future flat panel TV that will be mounted there.

The 3/4 bath off the gathering room has lights above the sink that nicely shows off the edamame green wall color, although these photos are distorting the color.

The under cabinet lights have been installed in the kitchen.

The flush-mounted ceiling lights are in the kitchen.

A bronze wall sconce has been installed near the skylight at the top of the staircase leading to the upper level.  Between the skylight and this new fixture, I am amazed by how dark this area was before.

The outlet and trim for the AV cords has been mounted for the future TV.

The AV case has its trim with various cables and audio plugs.

Early Sunday morning it occurred to me that the wires for the TV included a co-axial cable, typically used to connect to an antennae, cable service or a satellite.  I have often vowed that I will be the last person on earth to have either cable or satellite service as long as such entities refuse to offer "pay as you go" subscriptions.  I rarely find anything to watch, despite the 500 available channels, many of which are in languages I don't speak or include so-called reality shows which are a kin to watching a train wreck, which I won't watch.

I digress.  The main point is that a co-axial cable connected to the TV and going through the wall to the AV cabinet is really not going to help me.  So, on Monday I asked the electricians if it was possible to thread more cables through the hole in the wall that would exit to the AV cabinet.  I downloaded the manual of the new "smart" flat panel, high tech TV I bought to try to determine which connectors and cables I would need and if it would be possible to thread them through the wall to the AV cabinet before the trim was set and the wall closed.

To make a long blog post even longer, I had to dash out to a computer supply store to buy the appropriate cables in long lengths for the electricians to thread through the wall while the wall was still open.  Here you can see additional cables, including an ethernet cable (to connect the smart TV to the home computer network), an HDMI cable and an optical audio cable that will both be connected to a digital AV receiver.
.  

The plumber started to install the Toto toilets, here is the first one in the 3/4 bathroom:

Then things started to turn south....electrical circuits started to fail, there were wiring problems, and the electricians determined that they would need to expand the electrical board and circuits for the house.  Off they went to the electrical supply house and began to install an additional panel with circuits.  They were still working after dark, and by 7:00 pm, after an 11-hour-day on the job, they needed to call it a day, but only a few circuits were working in the house.  

Fortunately, the circuit that powered the refrigerator was working, but when they left it wasn't clear whether there would be heat in the house overnight.  At the same time, there were additional problems...a trim piece for one of the plumbing fixtures was missing; the lock sets I ordered were delivered, but they all needed to be re-keyed to the same key and I needed to find someone to do that, and well, I could go on, but I won't.  



I kept thinking that tomorrow will be another day.