December 12, 2003
Day 9: Exposed Wires and Leaky Pipes

Jack and Rylan were here for most of the day today. They had the water turned off for a few hours, and there was lots of hammering and the smell of burning wood and metal, but I had to ask what the main accomplishments of the day were. It's all inner guts work right now—nothing so obvious as new tile or cabinets—so it's hard to tell what's different from one day to the next.

Rylan pointed out the "disaster in the corner" for me to photograph, but it was Jack who explained what said disaster consisted of. Basically the plumbing and some of the electrical had been in the soffit, outside the framing timbers, and since the soffits aren't coming back to hide all this conduitry, it had to be re-routed. (Now that I know what I'm looking at, I can plainly see what he's talking about in the third photo from Day 6.) It's also now clear why they removed the drywall—it wasn't because it was icky, but rather so that they could get access to the framing, pipes, and wires. (This also explains why some of the drywall is still up on the walls that didn't need major pipe or wire work.) They finished running the cable up to my room, and added some CAT-5 while they were at it. The cable I need right away, but the CAT-5 is just in case. We might be able to use it to hook up the second airport base station up here.

While working on the disaster in the corner, the moulding on the staircase to our bedroom popped off the wall, and several pieces of plaster and/or paint chipped off. Jack said these will be repaired later, once they're done banging around in the walls.

They also got some plumbing work done (which is why the water was turned off), but it's leaking a bit, so they've got to re-do some of the work on Monday. (Again, I can see now why they had to do the plumbing work in this photo from Day 8—the bendy white pipe is outside the framing and needed to be moved inside.) We're also to keep our eyes peeled for a leak in the wastewater pipe; apparently it's significant but intermittent, so we'll have to try some tests in our bathroom this weekend.

Jack says the tile goes in once they're done with all the wiring and plumbing; I'm hoping for Tuesday, since that's when the appliances arrive. The cabinets are apparently coming on Wednesday. I had to give Jack another check to pay for them, which means we've now put up more than half the estimated cost of the remodel. (Each check after the deposit covers a "progess billing", though the first one was due when we handed over the keys, before any progress was made.) Welcome to the world of residential construction.

The photos today show the "disaster in the corner" (the re-routing of some copper pipes and electrical wires); the coax and CAT5 running through the wall and up the chimney column; Rylan putting away some tools below the re-routed PVC off the wastewater pipe; and the new phone and cable jack. This last photo also shows how the temporary lighting plugs in (!).

the disaster in the corner the coax, cat5, and electrical, now in the right spot rylan moves some equipment below the re-routed PVC the phone line, cable, and plug for the temporary lights

Posted by Lori at December 12, 2003 06:11 PM