A New House-Update #24 Long-With Pix

[Karl Laustrup]

February 20th, 2006

Well, it warmed up today from what it was over the weekend. Made it all the way to 27. :eek: :) After Saturday's low of -22 :eek: and high of +3, it felt downright balmy.

First, we'll go back to Saturday. Norm the electrician was there with two helpers and they got most of the wiring pulled for the bedrooms and baths. I don't know how they did it. They only stopped for lunch. It was cold in the house. The only good thing was there wasn't any wind like outside. Wind chills were around -35.

Forward to today. Benny was back from Minnesota. He said it was colder up there. :confused: Tim got sent to another job so it was Benny and Dan. They started on the stairs, which are now in, although they are not the permanent ones.

It was a busy day. HVAC was the first on the site, with the plumbers showing up a few minutes later. Then the electrician came, so it was a madhouse.

We now have a handicapped shower stall and a whirlpool tub and some waste water lines and supply lines for sinks, showers, laundry, toilets etc.
We also have about 1/2 the main trunk of the HVAC ductwork in and some more wiring.

Man this picking out places for outlets, switches, phone jacks, TV jacks, ceiling lighting and such is taxing on the old gray matter. I think I've got most of it figured out, at least until tomorrow, when I'll probably change everything.

Won't be spending much time at the site tomorrow. LOML and I have to go pick out tile for the shower and whirlpool tub surround. Then it's on to Madison to see if we can find light fixtures for the bathrooms. Also, we need to stop at the drywall place and pick out a type of texture for the walls. Hopefully we'll have time to enjoy some lunch at our favorite Chinese buffet.

The parking lot
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The whirlpool tub
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Handicapped shower. There will only be about a 1/2" lip for access by a wheelchair.
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Ductwork
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Temporary stairs
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It's really starting to come together now. Of course it's getting harder to get pictures. At least ones that show anything.

Thanks for looking.

Karl

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Karl..........I'm really sorry to see the white stuff at the site but .....that's Wisconsin in the winter! However, you contractor is really making progress and the weather really, really has been cooperating! Congrats! Things are looking good!

[Jim Dunn]

You cooking for em on a Saturday? I'd almost drive up there for a moose buger:) Nice house Karl. Keep feeding them boids.

[Art Mulder]

Man this picking out places for outlets, switches, phone jacks, TV jacks, ceiling lighting and such is taxing on the old gray matter. I think I've got most of it figured out, at least until tomorrow, when I'll probably change everything.


As far as ceiling lights... isn't the center of the room the most obvious location? What am I missing.

My suggestion there, for the bedrooms, is to have them run a 14/3 line from the switch to the light, instead of a 14/2. The second conductor lets you put a speed control on the wall for a ceiling fan, so you can just get rid of all those dangling chains. I did that for two of our bedrooms, and we really like that.

Another thing that we did here, is that we don't get cable TV. Instead, I put an antenna in the attic, which pulls in about 8-10 channels in the area, and covers all the basics for us. What I should have done, but didn't, is run that antenna cable down so that it terminates in the same place that the cable-tv line enters the building, so that I could then hook it to the tv distribution cables.

best,
...art

[Jim Becker]

Very kewel, Karl. The great progress continues.

BTW, make sure they deal with the insulation in the areas where the tub and shower are going before they are installed... ;) I'm sure it's "on the list", but I've seen it get missed in the past.

[Karl Laustrup]

As far as ceiling lights... isn't the center of the room the most obvious location? What am I missing.

Not in all cases Art. It will make sense at the end.

At least I hope it will. :eek: ;) :D

Karl

[Karl Laustrup]

Very kewel, Karl. The great progress continues.

BTW, make sure they deal with the insulation in the areas where the tub and shower are going before they are installed... ;) I'm sure it's "on the list", but I've seen it get missed in the past.

Thanks for that reminder Jim. They did insulate the area where the shower is installed. I saw that.

I will be watching before the tub gets installed.

Karl

[Jerry Olexa]

Karl. Heres a tip I learned the hard way. In our last 2 homes we did not have an access door to the plumbing in the jacuzzi. This home is about 17 years old and last year, the jacuzzi stopped working correctly. Of course, that section of the jacuzzi surround is tiled over. So it'll mean a ripoff and later remodel of the whole area to properly repair the plumbing. So IMHO, its a good idea to insist on an access port or door, etc. Project continues to look excellent, Karl. I'm about 2 hrs south of you and today i HAD HEAT OFF IN THE CAR AND SUNROOF OPEN ALL DAY. tEMP WAS ONLY 34 (Excuse caps lock). Lots of sun and felt like Springtime. Hope all goes well for you, Karl.:)

[Tyler Howell]

Looks like some real comfy additions. These guys are really cooking:cool:

[John Miliunas]

OK, the shower in your shop I understand but, isn't it just a bit over the top going with a jacuzzi, too???:eek: Well, I guess if a guy goes with an X-31, the rest of the shop needs to be 1st class, too! :D Great progress, Karl! :) :cool:

[Bill Lewis]

You know, if I had one suggestion at this stage of the construction for you Karl, make sure that your shower drains are 2".

Why?

We've been having trouble with our shower drain becoming slow recently, and I didn't find out until I started the basement bathroom project just exactly why.
I needed a shower drain for the basement, and when I went to go buy one I couldn''t find one that was 1 1/2" which was used for the rough-in. I even went to the Oatey website to get a model number, but they don't make one less than 2".
I then asked my neighbor who is a master plumber, and owns his own plumbing business, and he told me that the water authority in our area (WSSC) allows 1 1/2" shower drain lines to be used and they all get slow because you have to use a bushing on the drain part to transistion to 1 1/2". The bushing collects "stuff" that slows the drain.

So even if your local authority allows it, don't let them do it. Pay the extra few $$ to go with 2" to the main stack. You're probably only talking about <$100 for the whole house, if that.

[John Miliunas]

You know, if I had one suggestion at this stage of the construction for you Karl, make sure that your shower drains are 2".



The code around here calls for 2", so I'd be willing to bet that the plumber there already has that one covered, but a good "heads up", just in case!:) :cool: