Week 17 - Concrete & Electrical

Once again, lots of cement was added to my site. I wish I could have come up with more affordable options than I concrete, but everything I explored was way expensive because it needed to be professionally installed.

Early in the week the garage floor was poured, along with (finally) the retaining wall in the front ...

... the sidewalk repair ...

... and the base for my front steps.

Then later in the week the driveway was poured as well. I wanted to use pavers here, to make it more porous but eventually one has to accept that there is too much to do and take the easier course, so I went ahead and had them put in the concrete.

Inside the house, electrical fixtures were installed, including the ceiling fan that had salvaged from my parents house when the new owner remodeled.

The fixture in the hall was a hand made lamp from the Washington Coper Works (my uncle), also salvaged from my parents house.

I did not find the light fixtures I wanted in the bath or garage through salvage before the deadline and was forced to actually buy new fixtures. Ultimately, I chose simple and cheep and I plan on replacing them with something more interesting if and when I find it. When that happens, these fixture I have there now will go into the basement laundry room. So the search continues.

I eventually found a fixture for the bathroom. I reconfigured and had it retrofitted with artglass that compliments the artglass sink. The fixtuer that was removed replaced an ugly one in my back hall in a cascade of "better that what was there before."

The porch is unusual because I have an outlet over the door rather than an actual fixture. Right now I am using christmas lights, but I may use a pendant style light. In any case, I wanted to be able to change my porch fixtures at a whim so this was the best option. And, even though the outlet was on the plan, it was wired for a fixture the first time around.

My advice, if you want something non-standard, and you aren't going to do it yourself, tell them, and then tell them again. Tell everyone. Then, if you can, hover over them making encouraging noises. Otherwise, it will magically go back to something they understand while you aren't looking.

I continued to work on both the bathroom floor (see floor) and the bathroom cabinet (see cabinet).

On Thursday, the power for my whole house was going to be switched to the new box, which might take a couple of hours. Just in case, I planned to be down for the whole afternoon. As it turned out that was not good enough.

The electrician transferred everything and shut me down late in the afternoon. Then the guy from the power company came and proceeded to tell us that he could not hook me back up because the City inspection sticker was missing. Apparently the electrician could have hooked me back up temporarily, if he had stayed, but he hadn't. Many phone calls ensued, but by the end of the day I still didn't have power and, since the weather wasn't bad, I said I could wait till the next day.

Without power on Friday, I decided to work outside, reorganizing the front. In the morning, the inspector came and gave me a sticker. Another guy came from the power company, again late in the afternoon, and said he still couldn't hook me up for a completely different reason. Many more phone calls ensued, and the electrician came back out and hooked me up temporarily. The upshot was that I was without power for about 27 hours.

But, by 5 pm Friday, I had power, even in the new part of the house, although it will still have to be hooked up properly.

Week 18 - Plumbing