Windows and Electrical

Working on the Electrical Drawings

We hadn't realized how complicated the electrical wiring plan would be. 
Apparently, a house with very few walls separating the rooms leaves precious few options for running wire.
(Now we just need more wire.)

Our storehouse of supplies:  Lots of electrical boxes.

Fluorescent lights.

Can lights-- 40 or so.

New windows over the Front Door. 

New Living Room windows.

New windows over Dining Room.  Scaffolding where the guys were just installing can lights 17' above the floor. 
(I wonder if the guys will come periodically to change light bulbs.)

Master Bedroom with some new blue electrical boxes and windows. 

D. took me and our neighbor oh-so-carefully down the ice-covered hillside to the basement, so we could see the tubing first-hand.  (We have no stairs to the basement yet, so we can only access it from the outside.)

 

The Tubing Manifold again in the Mechanical Room.

 



We made it safely up the ice back to the Front Door.  Here D. is showing next-door neighbor D. around. 
(We wish her parents would send a little Phoenix air our way.)

 

More electrical boxes going in the Laundry Room.

Not surprisingly, the cold (we've made it to "11th coldest winter on record," and are still vying for a higher ranking) has prevented us from having the basement concrete poured.  It has not kept the guys from starting on the electrical or finishing installing the windows, but the wind-chills surely haven't made anything pleasant! 

We're looking at slow progress for the next week or two (expected -11 tonight, with -30 or so windchills...)
Maybe we'll be able to pour concrete next week.

Maybe.
 

Random Framing, Pex Tubing, and First Few Windows

D. and our brothers are adding some extra framing.  Above is one of two wall niches gracing the first floor.

Master Bedroom closet has a new doorway (foreground.)

Brother R. has been working on adding the gusset plates necessary to beef up the structure of the newly-discovered "room" in the attic space, before we cut out some of the webbing.  Looks to me like he got nail-gun-happy; but as a structural engineer, he assures me all those nails are necessary.  (And, ladies, the gusset plates are those square pieces of plywood.)

Attic storage now has a framed doorway.

Neat roof framing over the front door.

The brothers have all been out to help this week.  Here they laid wire mesh all over the basement floor, to which we'll (they'll) attach the pex tubing for the radiant heat.

Sister C. trusting her dad to hold the other end of the ladder while she poses out the living rom window.

And practicing her Olympic diving technique...

Now, pex tubing in progress.  Eight men were working fast Monday night.

All of this organization will soon be covered with concrete...

 

I'm told this is the "Manifold" where it all comes together in the Mechanical Room.

 

 

Thermal blankets ready to go back on, since winter isn't over yet.

And, finally--- the windows are going in...!

Master bedroom windows.

Library window.

There are about 35 more windows to go in next week. 

The builders also took advantage of 40 degree weather (it felt heavenly, by the way) to lay all the black felt paper on the roof.

Saturday, D. and friends will be starting on Electrical wiring, and I'll be delivering lunch (because we want to keep all our siblings as friends...)

Next week, windows, plumbing, and pouring concrete.

First Time Upstairs

I went out Saturday afternoon to deliver the guys' lunches, and upon rounding the corner, I discovered Stairs to the 2nd floor Loft.  I actually squealed with glee-- because, you recall, I have been banned from ladders, and had never been to see the upstairs!  I went up slowly, due to the icy conditions (and my current state of clumsiness), and thoroughly enjoyed the new views.

My new storage room, with lots of light from the dormers.  Can't you imagine how warm this will look lined with neat little rows of tubs of children's clothes? 

Pretty view from the Storage Room's Dormer #1.

2nd View from the Storage Room.

View of the Front Yard from Dormer #2.

More storage (it's all attic space over the garage.)

Entering the loft (slowly, due to the ice.)

From the Loft, looking over the Dining Room.  (A. and J. would want those catwalks to stay in.  Not a chance, boys.)

Overlooking the Living Room.

Overlooking the Front Door.

Trusses above the Loft.

This is a potential new room, that we discovered could be turned into a useful room, if we could just alter all those trusses.  Thanks to the work of a structural engineer, we'll be able to re-work the trusses, and eventually finish off this otherwise-wasted 15x10 attic space.

Heading back down the stairs.  Ahead is the Master Bedroom.

 

New Master Bedroom furnishings.

"Little" brother R. stopping for his lunch break.  He has been immensely blessed this last year, and agreed that being featured on Big Sis's blog would round out his accomplishments nicely. 

(Actually, I told him to smile because Aunt L. in California would like to see how he's doing.)

Front of the house.
  With lawn ornament.
  I'm thinking of purchasing the ornament from the builder. 
I'm told it would work well to get the van un-stuck the next time I can't get up the driveway.

 

This is our property across the road from the house.  There are large gardens under all that snow.  In the woods, to the left of the playhouse, are our beehives.  We're holding our breath to see how many survive all this cold.

House progress from the road!

Have a good week!  We're anticipating the temperatures to rise into the 20's, and then the 30's.  (And right after that comes Summer!!!  We can't wait...)