I'm wired and so is the garage...

I'm wired and so is the garage....

March 4th --  The electricians called to ask me at the office to ask how they could get into the garage.  I was happy to know that they had shown up and were eager to restore power back to the garage, but I was curious to know why they needed to get into the garage.  Well, it turns out that when they passed yesterday's final electrical inspection it was contingent on wiring the garage to code.  

Not only did this mean that a separate permit had to be pulled for the garage ("ka - ching" city permit office), but that a separate breaker box had to be installed INSIDE the garage.  So, an electrical wire had to travel under the crawl space, exit out the foundation, shown below.

Then, a 24-inch trench was dug  between the house foundation and the garage (shown below) so a length of conduit with the electrical wire contained within it would bring power to the garage.   

Inside the garage a breaker box was installed, but first I had to relocate a pile of boxes of my belongings that had been piled high in the garage.  Fortunately, the location of the breaker box was perfect because I only had to remove about 5 boxes and it was relatively easy to find another spot for them.

At this point, I am not really thinking about the raspberries that were dug up to lay the electrical line to the garage.  They will grow back and soon I will be able to direct my attention to landscaping.

When I came home this evening, the garage door opened with only one press of the remote, and the garage was fully wired.

Before I left the house in the morning, the floor guy told me his plan was to apply the rest of the wood filler to the floors on the main level and that he would leave a sample on the upper level and the main level of the "natural finish stain" that would be a good match for what was on the original floors.

Sure enough, the filler was on the floors in the kitchen,

the hallway and in the pantry and laundry room,

and in the gathering room

and even on the little ledge besides the staircase to the basement.

The electricians also installed the light to the crawl space...probably because they spent a good amount of time in there today getting the electrical wire from the electrical panel to the garage.

And the best for last...the sample of the "natural stain finish" that the floor guy said he would leave for me to check out when I returned home.

Wow -- I was blown away by how well this sample matched the original finish of my floors.  I had forgotten how beautiful the hardwood floors in this house were before this project and how beautiful they will be again.  Also, the upper level and main level samples match perfectly.  

I appreciate how methodical and careful the floor guy is with his work.  Every morning we chat for a bit before I head out of the house.  I can't wait to tell him tomorrow morning how he absolutely nailed the color and finish I was hoping for!

As spring approaches, the weather becomes more variable, which also affects construction.  When the weather is cold, construction slows down.   While it was a beautiful day in the mid-50s today, a front is predicted for tonight and is supposed to bring 3 to 5 inches of snow by the morning.  But, the snow should be gone by the afternoon as a high in the 50s is predicted.  

In the meantime, the plumber has been "off the reservation" as the contractor says.  The plumber is spread very thin as he has taken on more work, and I have no idea when he will come back to finish his work here....maybe he will use the variable weather as an excuse for his variable work schedule. 

The wonder of indoor plumbing, electricity and finishing hardwood floors...

The wonder of indoor plumbing, electricity and finishing hardwood floors...

March 1 - 3 -- Indoor plumbing is really a miraculous thing, and something that I have come to appreciate even more so while living in a house undergoing renovation and not having any source of running water on the first floor since June of 2013 -- about 8 months.  

So many of my friends keep asking me if I regret my decision to live in the house during this renovation.  I continue to say no regrets, and I mean it.  I have learned so much about this process.  I have met interesting craftsmen and have gained a lot of insight into the process of building, as well as acquiring a much better grasp of how building plays a central role in driving the US economy.  I did save money having to only pay a monthly mortgage instead of a monthly mortgage AND a monthly rent.  By not having to pay both a mortgage and a rent, the money that would have been used for rent is now being used for this house project - this is sort of like sweat equity. 

Although I am confident that I had a vast amount of character before starting this process, there have been many "character-building" experiences along the way.  There is also an odd ethic that has been part of this process of "earning" what will be an amazing house with luxury features far beyond my imagination (e.g., a fireplace in the master bedroom, a heated tile floor in the master bathroom, just to name a few) by making some sacrifices that came with living in the construction zone (e.g., no kitchen since last June; sleeping on the floor on a 4 inch foam pad or my "dog bed").  As I have discovered many times in my life, I always appreciate those things that I have worked hard for and even made sacrifices for, and this house will be no exception.

Living here also gave me the ability to supervise the project first-hand and that permitted me to make sure that things were done a certain way.  So, no regrets at all, even though there have been frustrations and challenges along the way.

This little bit of reflection comes as I am finally seeing just a little flicker of light at the end of a very long tunnel.  Although I am still NOT asking the contractor when the project will be done - -because the answer is that it will be done when it is done -- there is a feeling that there will be an end in the not too distant future.  This optimism could also be a function of the fact that daylight savings time is approaching next week and there are only 17 more days to the official start of spring with the vernal equinox on March 20th.

On that note, I am in wonder of indoor plumbing.  The plumber stopped by for a few hours on Friday and then back on Saturday afternoon.  

The master bathroom shower fixtures have been installed, as shown below.

The soaker tub fixtures have been installed (that weird reflection around the spigot in the photos is because of the camera flash).

Just about all of the plumbing is done in the master bathroom except for the drain in one of the vanity sinks.

The guest bath still has a lot of plumbing work that remains to be done, but there has been some progress.  On Friday the claw foot tub was moved into the guest suite bathroom and today, it was delicately placed in its spot.  As you can see, it just fits!  The chrome supply lines have to be installed to the tub in addition to installing the drain, the pressure balance rough in valve (which will be installed in the floor underneath the tub or the ceiling of the basement) and the actual bath fixture itself.

The 3/4 bath plumbing is essentially done with a functioning toilet, the sink faucet and now the shower is done, as shown below.  Of course, the bathroom hardware fixtures, such as the towel bars and other accessories will be installed when the finish carpenters return.

And, today the dishwasher, which was in a packing crate sitting in the foyer, has now been moved and installed in the kitchen, in between the sink and the double ovens, as shown below.











Such is the miracle of indoor plumbing.




The electricity to the garage comes from the electrical panel and before the renovation, the electrical panel was located on the back of the house, opposite the garage, but that is a thing of the past.  Throughout construction there has been a temporary power line to the garage, but that won't do for the final electrical inspection.  Given that the electrical panels are now on the north side of the house, about as far away from the garage as possible, the electricians had to go into problem-solving mode.  Sure enough, they have dug a trench and buried the power line from the electrical panel to the garage.

Below and to the left you can see the old electrical connections to the garage, and the three red connectors that held the temporary power line.  In addition to digging a 24 inch deep trench for the power line to the garage, they brought the power line up from the ground to the side of the garage, as shown below.  Tonight the car is parked on the street, but tomorrow morning they will complete the electrical connection to the garage and once again the electric garage door will work.

With the main electrical inspection behind us, the only thing that remains will be wiring two circuits for the greenhouse and adding a few outlets on the south side deck.

The indoor plumbing and the electricity are progressing nicely, with only minor tasks that remain (the plumber will bring a gas line to the deck for a future natural gas grill and he needs to install a hose bid toward the west side of the house).  Next up, is the task of refinishing the new and old hardware floors, bringing in the finish carpenters to install quarter-round trim to the floors and baseboards, installing door hardware, bathroom towels, and a few other details, followed by the painters to do interior touch-up and then to paint the pergola, the gutters, and to touch up the exterior.  Of course, the rooms that I am living in will need to be vacated and the painters will complete all drywall patches and paint and the floors will be refinished.

This morning one of the guys from the floor company arrived.  We had a nice little chat, and he explained to me how the technology has improved so much that there will be minimal dust when he sands the floors.  He told me that the machines now are so good at sucking up the dust created by the sanding that he no longer needs to wear a mask or ventilator when he sands the floors.  All I could think about was the possibility of a worker that would not create mess that I would have to clean up.  Well, I also thought about how cool the finished and refinished red oak floors will look when they are done.

As I was leaving the house, I couldn't help but turn around to take a few photos of the floor guy's machines and tools poised on the front porch.

When I came home this afternoon, the sanded floors in the master bedroom suite had been partially sanded, as shown below.

Most of the floors in the master bedroom had been sanded, except near the edges, which will have to be sanded by hand.

All the remaining stuff (e.g., containers of screws, drywall material, etc) had been removed from the guest suite, 

and the dining room,

and the kitchen,

and from the gathering room, in preparation to apply wood filler and to sand the floors.

I am totally digging having floor machines in the foyer instead of the dishwasher, which has now joined all of the appliances in the kitchen except for the refrigerator.  Yeah, baby -- I can even begin to see the light inside the refrigerator!