Plumbing and electric

So the plumbers continue their work - they make a grand mess. The worst is when they drill holes for the duct work. As I've mentioned, we've had hot water heat for the past 10 years; my parents have steam; and my inlaws have hot water, too; so the whole notion of forced air heat is something foreign to me. I guess as long as it heats the place, it does not matter. They end up cutting holes in the floors for the vents and holes in the walls for cold air return - the former blows and the latter sucks. I remember when I lived in North Carolina, we had AC, and one big cold air return in a short hallway. If you sat in this hallway, you could see the TV. I concocted a story that it was best for me to practice guitar in that place because the return could suck the sheet music and hold it at eye level. Of course, I could also ignore the sheet music and strum nonsense while I watched Star Trek. But I digress.

At this point, most of the plumbing is done. The vanities are not in, nor the kitchen counters, so the sinks are not installed, but the water for them is. The drains for everything on the second floor are in. There is even a mysterious drain pipe in the laundry room that I had to ask about - it is there just in case the washer ever leaks. Nifty. Since it will (hopefully) never be used, it is not a vented pipe, just a direct drain.

The electricians went through and put up blue boxes througout the second floor yesterday. Karen and I went to the site last night and nodded approval to most things. For some reason, Brittany's little closet has three outlets in it and Karen's massive walk-in closet has none, so we decided that she needed one. We also decided that the laundry room needed one more, for an iron or whatever. I went to the site this morning and told the contractor and he said he'd take care of it.

We decided to put phone and cable in all of the bedrooms, even the kids'. I don't plan on them ever having separate phones or even TVs, but it was suggested that it would be good for any possible future resale; so I relented. We use cordless phones almost exclusively, and plan to only have the main TV and one in the master bedroom, so those outlets may never be used. Brittany said, however, that she might come home from college one day and want to watch TV. Sigh. College.

We rearranged the lighting on the porch a bit. The builder said he thought it make a statement to have smaller carriage lights all along the front, as opposed to the one large one we had picked. So instead of the one on the garage wall, we will have two there and two to either side of the front door. I really liked the idea of the recessed lights on the porch, so we kept those. They'll all be switched separately, so we can choose which we use. By the end of the day yesterday, several recessed light cans were installed, as were boxes for the master bedroom fan, the smoke detectors, the sconce lights in the hall, and the overhead lights in the kids rooms and laundry room. The fans had also been installed in the bathrooms.

Today when I went, they electricians were laying out cable and phone line. Most of the electrical wire had been done the day before, and it is fascinating to see. I want to take pictures of the whole mess before the sheetrock goes up, for future reference.

As for carpentry, the front porch deck was done on Tuesday. There is a missing linen closet in the main bath, and we're not sure if it was forgotten or if it was left for last for some specific reason. House wrap was put up on most of the house that didn't yet have it, in preparation for siding. The windows were installed in the garage and the garage door was framed out. The door into the garage from the outside and from the garage into the mudroom were both installed. The windows for Ryan's room have not yet arrived, but should soon.