Day 72: Electrical Day 1, More Painting, Plumbing, HVAC and Sidewalk Prep

A bunch of things happening on the house today... lots to see and lots to talk about.

Painting:
More trim and wall painting.  They should have most of the Pavillion Beige painted to cover up the overspray by the end of today.  The painter said he may have a few hours to do on Monday.  Then they will have to come back in and puddy and paint the trim the carpenters haven't installed yet.  They painted our front door (Roycroft Copper Red).  It looks great, can't wait to see it with our door handle and lock set.  It's not hung yet, they have a temporary door up for now.

If the rest of the stair railing gets installed tomorrow then the stain guy can come back and finish that up too.

Plumbing:
The plumbers weren't supposed to be in until Tuesday but they came in and got a head start.  They finished installing the water heater and power vent system.  They also set all our toilets.  They could have installed the shower and bath fixtures, as well as the sink drains and fixtures but they were leaving for the day when I got there.

HVAC:
The HVAC company finished setting up the heating and air conditioning system.  Balanced the system and hooked up all the electronics and sensors.  I talked to him a little bit about our supply and return lines upstairs.  He started off by saying that he thought the system was far superior to most systems he sees and installs.  He mentioned most systems will have a single return for the entire floor and not one in each room.  Our system has a supply and return in every bedroom, so you get really good air circulation and a more consistent and reliable temperature from our HVAC units.  Well I liked that.  Then I asked him why they installed the "Cold" air returns in the ceiling?  He really didn't have an answer.  Then I followed up with... Doesn't "Hot" air rise?  he answered yes.  Then I asked if he thought that in the Winter time, where we would be pushing "Hot" air that rises, out our supply line in the ceiling and then just sucking it right back into the returns in the ceiling that we may not be allowing the air to heat the room before pulling it back in?  Personally, I think this system would work very well in the summer where we want to get rid of the hot air but I was concerned we would be paying to heat the same air multiple times and it would take longer for the thermostat to feel the difference and shut the system off, thus not really being energy efficient.  He said that there was another builder they worked for that offered the vary system I was describing.  They have a dampener where there are returns and vents for both seasons to counteract that very effect.  Ours does not have that but he said that the system is much more efficient then they were even a few years ago and will do an excellent job of heating and cooling our home.  He said we will be very happy with it.

A side note on the HVAC.  The register in the dining room was too low to install the trim paneling there.  So they are raising the register a few inches to allow the trim carpenters to run molding around it.  It will look like there is a vent in the middle of our paneling but that solution was better than the alternatives we discussed.

Sidewalk prep:
The concrete crew finished excavating the walkway to our door and set the forms.  They also installed and leveled the gravel base.  They are ready to pour.  They had the weather for it up until 5pm and then everything went to heck.  They should have poured when they had a chance.


Electrical:
When I drove up to the house, the first thing that caught my eye were these great porch lights being installed.  Very old world gas lamp looking lights.  Up close they have a rustic bronze patina, just beautiful fixtures (now the ones on the garage are a little underwhelming).

Our foyer chandelier greeted me and just looked grand in that space.  Again, old world meets new (cargo pants and bow ties).

The electricians were busy working, installing sockets, switches, etc.  The painters were in at the same time so they didn't finish everything until after the painters painted out the room.  A bit of a ballet but everyone seemed to work together.

The surface mounted lights were installed in our bedrooms and although there was one in the formal living room, it was the wrong color (right collection).

The hooked up the AC units, so we should be able to run the AC and/or furnaces now.

Under cabinet lights: we had asked for additional switched outlets to be placed in the kitchen.  They pulled the wire and hooked them up to switches but didn't put in the boxes.  The electrician was in and was indicating that this was going to be a problem and offered to fix it for me for an additional $200 and acted like he was doing me a favor.  I had already paid RH an outrageous amount of money to get power here and it would have been less work for him to just mount the lights than put in the junction boxes, I didn't' see paying more for less.  So we decided to pass on this generous offer.

Microwave outlet (and vent): We have a glass cabinet above our Microwave/range and RH's plan was to locate an outlet at the bottom of the upper cabinet and plug the microwave into it.  Mind you, this would be visible from anywhere on the first floor.  The big outlet and plug in our beautiful glass door front cabinet.  There was a little back and forth with the PM on this. He took care of it and moved the outlet into one of the neighbor cabinets without glass on the front but I was still a little upset about the fact that this is how they do this in the first place.  I shouldn't have even had to ask, "why are you doing this?"

Home Appraisal:
I ran into the home appraiser.  A very odd fellow...hopefully he gives us the number we need.

A look ahead:
- Final Trim Installation (Tomorrow...There will be cats and dogs but the bulk of it will be done).
- Granite on Monday
- Plumbing on Tuesday (what ever they don't' get done between now and then)
- Electrical on Tuesday (There are a few items that will be outstanding and the licensed electrician will be back in Tuesday)

Sidewalk ready to be poured

Porch Lights Installed

Really like the contrast with the brick and tie-in with the shutters

Stoop just needs concrete

Walk way ready to be poured

Foyer Chandelier

Front Door. Roycroft Copper Red

Can lights going in

Smoke and Carbon detectors

Another shot of chandelier

Toilet and pedestal sink

Double crown upstairs all painted

This wall has been repainted but the masking tape has not been removed

Surface mounted lights in the bedrooms

Another toilet installed

My little boys vanity light...awww how cute

This beast is finally installed

How to cut a pipe when you don't have a hacksaw...use a large hammer
and just hit it until you get the dimensions you want.

Not sure if these coach lights are the right ones or not??? These will light something
but not sure if they will light my driveway.

Dryer outlet installed. I didn't look close enough to see if it was right side up.
The one we have now is upside down.  Our cord bends up and then back down.

The vent we have to move

Tile setters back in ding the back splash and replacing the tile that was taken
off by the trim carpenters.

Master bathroom vanity lights

Master bath tray ceiling and crown molding

These tray ceilings look great. Can't wait to see them lit up.

This switch box was too low and had to be
moved due to the rail.

I guess we get these instead of street lights

AC Units ready to do their thing....