Day 16 March 2

I know I know, at this point you have been thinking the same as me, Laura you have done jack s&$* the past week!! I knew there would be times when I couldn’t be of much help, but by today I was itching to get my hands dirty! And dirty they got! And a little banged up too :o)

Earlier we had had an HCAC guy, Paul, come out and assess adding duct work to the rest of our house. Paul returned this morning with two bids and walked them through with David. While this is definitely an added cost we weren’t initially intending on paying, we evaluated our situation and decided to go for it. With half of our house currently tore open, the new system offering cost savings in the future, and the added comfort level, it seemed to make sense to do it now. Paul noted he was about three weeks behind, but could still see himself finishing our project by the beginning of April. This definitely sets us back more than what we had originally thought, but we think we can still continue with most of the work and just move around him in the process. There are a few things we need to complete to prep Paul for work, which we intend to get to in the next couple of days.

Before Paul came, David finished routing the hot water system, so plumbing is DONE! After Paul left we started cranking out electrical. FINALLY!! Something I can do!! Due to helping David wire the garage when we first moved in, I feel confident in my stripping and capping skills ;o) David first wanted to tackle some heavy gauge wires that were connecting the circuit in the basement to the one in the mudroom. The area where the wire previously was located was exposed, so it went through conduit to the box. Since we’re planning on putting cabinets there, we needed to wire them through the studs. Let me tell you, heavy gauge wire is a bitch!! And we had four of them!! But after my piddly attempts to put and push, David got in there and man handled them out and we were on our way. David carefully cut back the pipe with the wires still in it, we put on a 90 to lead the wires up, drilled holes, threaded them through and reattached them in the box. Fewwwww! That was a doozy!

The day was considerably easier after that task. We began by wiring all the outlets from the mudroom to the kitchen. We got about half way through and at that point needed to call it a day considering David and I were turning into walking zombies. We dropped our tools and would pick up where we left off tomorrow.