Day Fifteen

Yes, I'm the one doing all the electrical work as you can see in this photo...wink wink. I met Dick today...he's the drywall man and he came today to work on the arches. He also let us know that the full arch in the doorway wouldn't meet code and that we'd have to change it. To meet code the arch would have to begin at least 7 feet above the floor and ours began at a little over 6 feet. So Dick changed the arch to match the one next to it above the half wall. It's actually the way Tammy wanted it in the first place so as they say, 'it's all good'.

As it turned out I was able to leave work early and get here before Dan arrived...I suppose it helped that he overslept but I wasn't going to mention that. ;) Anyway, I was glad I was here as we were able to walk through the rooms together and he could pick my brain about how I wanted the switches to work and their placement as well as the number of lights and their placement.

They got the lighting for the dance room done using a total of 6 can lights and one wall sconce...oh, and a couple cans in the closet.

Tammy got a bunch more work done on the lamp and I watched another day slip away where I could've gotten some work done on it but didn't. But I did get to ride today so that was good...I don't suppose there's any correlation between me riding and not getting any work done on the lamp. I won't get to it till Thursday at the earliest now.

Okay, that's it...I'm half asleep as it is so I'm outta here.

Day Fourteen

Dan and John got a lot done today. I showed them the design for the arches I came up with and Dan thought it would be fine. I think it will look nice when it's done but it does take a bit of imagination at this point to picture it. I just hope it's not too much of a hassle for them to make it work...it does seem like it may be.

They got busy right away drilling holes and running wire for the sub-panel in the utility room. Dan also got us to rethink the placement of our future kiln. Rather than have it out in the open in the basement near the storage closet, we're going to have it set up in the utility room. That makes sense in so many ways. First, it allows us to have a run of less than 50 feet from the outside panel to the kiln which is what is recommended. Second, any fumes created will easily be vented outside and not into any of our living areas and lastly, it's not sitting taking up space in the finished part of our basement.

I was hoping to get off work tomorrow so I could meet with Dan and go over the placement of the overhead lighting and switches. It's not looking good for taking the day off so when I got home tonight Tammy and I spent some time in the basement making a list for Dan of where we'd like stuff. I'll give him a call in the morning and see if he needs any more input.

Day Thirteen

I think Dan was intending to finish up the woodworking part of the project but it looks like they came up just a bit shy of that goal today. The basement has come a long way in a week. They finished framing in the bathroom which included cobbling around the ductwork into the utility room. All they have left to do is to finish framing the arches in for the entry into Rachel's dance room and the half wall. They've got the other sections made up and ready to be nailed in place. An arch was one of the first ideas Dan came up with when he first saw the basement and began thinking out loud about what we could do with it. I liked the idea immediately as I think it adds a nice look to it.

I left early for Minneapolis to try and locate a certain lamp repair store on Lake Street. I wasn't sure if they even existed anymore and I didn't know their name but I knew about where they used to be located. Anyway, I found the store, Moen Electric, but they didn't open for another hour so I got to drive around south Minneapolis and take in the culture.

I got what I needed from Moen and headed for home. We've got to get busy on our lamp as this past week saw very little progress made...at least on my end. Tammy got a bunch of grinding and foiling done so that's a huge help.

Dan and John will put on their electrician hats for Monday and Tuesday.

Day Twelve

The roughing in of the walls is all but done. Here's a view looking toward the sauna with the kitchenette to the left. This view shows the other side of the kitchen area and again you can see the sauna on the right. Notice that the ceiling in the sauna is 7 ft which should help it to heat quicker. Dan and John do some things in the way of construction techniques which go beyond what is expected of them. This photo shows a support they use to make sure the ceiling will never sag. The 2 X 4s would most likely be fine on their own but to make sure that over time the ceiling never sags under its weight they've anchored it to the main level above.

I'm not sure what is next; either the arches or the electrical work. I think it's the arches because Dan mentioned they'll be doing electrical on Monday and Tuesday next week. Dan said the electrical work gets a bit messy with all the drilling and running of wires. We still have to finalize the placement of all the ceiling can lights and wall switches with Dan.

Day Eleven

Today saw more work on the bathroom/sauna portion of the project. In this photo they're putting up a wall between the sauna and bathroom. Dan is standing in water because a valve they installed didn't work properly and when the water was turned on it ran all over the floor. Dan ordered the sauna kit and it should arrive maybe late next week. This will be the first sauna he's done.

While Dan and John were working on building the wall I decided to mark out a spot on the floor directly below where the lamp will hang above the pool table. The freezer sat right in my line of measurement but I figured I could maneuver the tape measure under it and find the wall behind. The tape went under just fine and found the wall behind it but getting it back out was another story. It got hung up and I couldn't get it out. I tried to act like nothing was wrong and I wasn't even sure if they knew I was having a problem. After a little while Dan says 'whatchya doin' Kev?' 'Oh, just measuring for the lamp.' All the while I'm thinking what a putz I am...here these guys are doing all this other stuff which is way beyond me and I'm struggling with a stupid tape measure which I've gotten stuck under the freezer. I finally got the tape unstuck and went upstairs to get some sleep as I've got the all night shift tonight.

Day Ten

Dan and John worked on the plumbing today. They ran water lines for the sink in the kitchenette and bathroom as well as some pipes for venting. They also laid the shower base in place. I ran wire for the surround sound to three of the five speakers. I've got just enough to finish the other two speakers if I make the cuts sparingly. I don't want to have to cut into a new roll for just a couple feet of wire...I'd much rather take it back as this Monster cable I'm using isn't cheap. Chance came by and finished the duct work tonight.

An idea we stumbled upon last week at J. Ring Glass was to put a vent in the glass shop to help maintain the air quality when we're soldering and doing future torch work. We're going to cut a hole in the wall between the shop and the utility room and I'll be able to run some flexible pipe from the work table to the hole where it will be vented into the garage. I haven't made up my mind if the fumes from soldering are dangerous but for sure the fumes from doing torch work with glass fusing are. Many people are worried when working with solder that the fumes contain lead but it's my understanding that they don't. The smoke comes from the flux from what little reading I've done. Anyway, it won't matter once we get the ventilation in place.

Day Nine

There wasn't anything done on the basement today. Keith came by and took some measurements now that the walls have been roughed in.

I ran the cable for the TVs and figured out where I want to put the surround sound speakers. I'll run those wires tomorrow night.