Swing the wire....

Swing the wire....

October 23rd -- The electricians and plumbers are working fast and furious these days.  I can't imagine how they handle 4 or 5 projects at the same time, but that is what they have told me.  Both the electricians and plumbers are a pair of guys who do all the work themselves.  I guess they need to get the work when they can because the economy is so unpredictable.

A major impediment to me being able to move back into my living space among the ruins turns out to be the local energy public utility.  The electricians need to "swing the wire" before scheduling their final inspection.  This is the term that is used to move the power line to the newly wired electrical service box from the utility's source (the overhead wires in the back of house).  When the electricians called the public utility to order this, they were given a window of "7 to 14" days before a crew could come out to do this.  I was told that electricians would swing the wire all the time, but recently the utility has specified that they want to do this. However, their 1-2 week window is not reasonable for any construction project, so, as shown in the photos below, the wire has been swung and the final electrical inspection is scheduled for today.  Who do you think swung the wire?  

    

The plumbers continue their work, including installing the copper supply lines for the double sinks in the master bathroom:

Connecting drain lines and plumbing vents:

    

Setting supply lines and drains around the electrical outlets in the kitchen

Roughing in the shower in the 3/4 bath off the gathering room...

and the sink in the guest suite bath.

My job these days is to finalize the selection of lighting fixtures, research ceiling speakers for the gathering room (home theater surround sound???) and master bedroom, and to gear up for tackling tile selection next week.