Rough electric installation begins

The electrician called at 7:30 to say they'd be on site by 9:00. Paul got dressed and went over there with the mechanical plan showing the locations of outlets and switches. He got there at twenty after eight, and found the crew of three already there and working. So he went over the plan with Jeff, the owner, and went home so Kathy could go to the dentist. After Kathy came home we lazed around the house for awhile, and then went over to the house around noonish. They were still hard at work, and had questions and followups for us. So we had a few changes and suggestions, and stayed around for awhile. Then Jeff let us know he needed the fireplace in place before he could wire it up. Oh great, who was going to do that?

So the two of us did. We unboxed the thing, flexed our muscles, lifted it up, carried it in and wrestled it into place. One small problem. It didn't fit. The fireplace had a side vent, and its width wasn't accounted for when sizing the box for the fireplace.

Paul borrowed Jeff's cordless reciprocating saw and cut a stud, we pushed the fireplace in and Paul toenailed the cut piece back in. And that was that, and here it is as seen from the living room - probably the first of many pictures to be taken in this direction. We went home shortly thereafter.



We returned after supper to find a surprise - a load of pea gravel in the driveway and a Midwest Plumbing truck and digger in the side yard. Looks like they were about ready to hook us up to the sewer lateral. Cool.




We went in and looked at the electrical wiring done to date. Lots of it, and a mess all over. Impressive.




We were surprised to find they hadn't installed the load center (the breaker box) yet. That'll come soon. After that we went to Lowe's and Home Depot; Kathy was anxious to look at light fixtures and Paul wanted the rest of the materials to install the shower pan.

Speaking of which, Paul talked to Oak Creek's plumbing inspector today. John said that the rough plumbing needed to be inspected after the shower pan liner was in, and that we also needed to install lining in all four wall corners all the way up in case water got behind the backerboard. That was a new one on us, but whatever; just means there are more materials to be bought. He also mentioned that waste and water lines were part of the finish plumbing activities (?!) and we could drywall the upstairs and do whatever else while waiting for that if necessary. Okay, well, that was what Rich was trying to tell us but didn't really match what anybody else told us. Whatever. It'll take so long to get the electric, insulation and siding and the inspections thereof done that likely the plumbers could be back before then anyway. We'll see how it goes after we get the electric and plumbing inspected next week.

Paul talked to Dan Lewis from Integrity. Siding installation is scheduled for July 17.

In other news, April from Milwaukee Title had the checks from the second draw all ready yesterday. Paul called all the subs and let them know how to get their payments, and picked up our check to reimburse us for the materials we purchased. It's nice to have money in the construction fund again.....

Dunno what's going to happen tomorrow. The electrician said he may not be able to come in every day due to previous appointments; he figured three working days total but not to be done until Monday. That's fine. Ought to be interesting anyway.