This is craziest day so far in our ongoing home addition. The bricklayers are still working on the second floor fireplace and the chimney. I think they’re also starting work on the south wall. There’s a crew here cleaning up the yard, filling up a dumpster. The electricians are also here, scoping things out, evaluating what they’ll need to change from the way things were planned, removing some fixtures, installing others. It looks like a scene from a Three Stooges short, people ducking as ladders are swung over their heads, dodging fixtures, wires, and hammers. The power has gone out a couple of times this morning.
Our house is a real trip down Memory Lane for the electricians. Our wiring is very little changed from the way it was installed seventy years ago. Our predecessors in the house added a few outlets in the kitchen, nothing more. We replaced outlets, replaced switches, replaced the fuse box with circuit breakers, and brought another circuit into the house. But the wiring is all the old wiring—the rubberized cloth stuff and, well, it’s seventy years old.
So far the changes they’ll need to make to keep things on code aren’t too bad. An outlet in the master bathroom needs to be moved away from the tub. That means it will need to be in the vanity backsplash because there simply isn’t anywhere else to put it. Some switches need to be moved because there just isn’t enough room to put them where they’re spec’ed on the plans. I’ve added a couple of outlets in the master bedroom and reduced the number of switches there.
It could have been even crazier. The heating and air conditioning guys were scheduled to be here but were waved off because of the chaos. The worst news of the day so far has been that we’re not going to get all of our windows until the end of the week due to a screwup at the factory. But I’ve now got a door and three windows. I may update this post and the addition photogallery with pictures of all of today’s changes later but I’d just be underfoot if I tried to take pictures now.
Update
The plumber showed up unexpectedly. If the HVAC guys show up my life will be complete. It’s beginning to look like the stateroom scene from A Night at the Opera.
You mean this stateroom scene?
That’s the one. But that clip is just the beginning of the scene. By the end of the scene in addition to the boys and Alan Jones there’s a couple of stewards, a manicurist, and miscellaneous passengers in there, too. That’s the part.
And two hard-boiled eggs.
Make that three hard-boiled eggs.