Phone home....

         

Phone home.....

October 25th:  In an earlier post I described how the phone wiring was messed up, but I still had DSL, and if anyone wanted to call me, it was best to call my cell.  So, the electricians passed their inspection this week (as did the plumbers!), and that raised the still lingering issue of my phone service.  At an earlier point in the construction process there was a "phone box" on the back of the house that the wiring for the phone jacks inside the house went through and then connected to the phone supply line to the poles along the alley in the back of the house.  Well, at some point during demolition that phone box was removed and my DSL connection consisted of a direct wire to the phone pole because there was no box.  The photo below  to the left shows the mass of phone wires (outside and next to the new electrical box) that include wiring to new phone jacks and the old ones.



And the photo below and to the right is the new telephone box and the service line that climbs up the house to the pole.  The roll of wires will be tidied up eventually.  








So, thank you to whoever deregulated the telephone companies (maybe back in the Reagan years?), it only took about 3 hours yesterday when I called to request a repair order.  During those 3 hours I was transferred to 12 people -- yes, 12 (not a typo) -- during which I received contradictory answers to my questions, a few "Gee, that is a good question, but I don't have the answer, let me transfer you to someone else," to finally someone who didn't know but then tried to sell me an upgrade for faster Internet.   Of course, one of my questions was whether the "wire maintenance agreement" that was part of the "bundle" for the discount for my Internet service would cover the service call.  Again, I received a range of contradictory responses from "You are covered," to "No, that will be $85 for the service call and whatever other charges incurred for the box, labor," and so on.  

When the technician, who was a very nice guy who spent about 2.5 hours getting everything to work, was about to leave, he asked about the age of the house and congratulated me on a great looking project.  I thanked him for getting everything working -- now you can call me on either the landline or cell -- I asked him if I needed to do anything (code for "what is the charge") and the guy said, "Don't worry.  You're all set and don't need to do anything else."  I am so hoping that is code for, no charge.  But I'm sure I won't know until next month's bill arrives.

And, just in case you were curious about that one mile of wire, on the other side of the wall where  the electrical and phone boxes are, it looks like this.

So, I will continue to spend some time cleaning up even though the framers need to do a bit more work on the walls in the upper-level bath that is NO LONGER the master bath.

Next are some shots of the cleaned work site, because the framers are back and it won't look this clean for much longer.

The view from my office (current living space) through the hallway that goes past the master bathroom and into the master bedroom

This is the west wall of the master bedroom, with the door that leads to the covered deck.

This is the south wall of the master bedroom with the fireplace and windows.

Standing in front of the west wall of the master bedroom, here is the view back down the hallway with the master bathroom to the left and the closet to the right.

The view of the morning sunlight as it comes through the sliding door off the dining room

The view from the dining room looking through the galley kitchen to the gathering room

The back wall of the house or the west wall of the gathering room (with the fireplace!)

The view down the stairs to the basement where the new sewer connections have been made and covered with dirt, awaiting a concrete pour that will create a landing at the bottom of the staircase.

Standing in the gathering room looking south to the mud room

Finally, as I was getting ready to leave I looked down the street.  I can't believe it, but it looks like they are about to cut up the street in front of my house, that will mean a blocked street, while the city continues to lay new drainage pipe in my neighborhood.

Sure enough....my street will be closed all next week.  More detours, more traffic delays.

 There is no escape from construction!!!!!