septic wiring passed

Today, we passed the septic system wiring inspection.  Only one more septic system inspection to go - a final by the designer after the installer programs it.

sheetrock ... done

I was starting to think that "sheetrock" and "done" were two words that were never used in the same context (not unlike "software" and "done"). But, it's a fact - they just finished putting on the primer. Hopefully, tomorrow, they will come back and take away some of the sheetrock flotsam. It's kind of hard to believe that such nice-looking walls are associated with that kind of mess. Here's a recommendation to prospective home-builders: don't look in the house while they're doing the sheetrock.

Tomorrow, I paint. We've got 15 gallons of antique white / satin sheen waiting anxiously to cover the primer. I'm thinking a single liberally-applied coat ought to do the job.

the in-line is on-line

Our code-required mechanical ventilation system has been deployed (finally!). It's a 19 watt , 100 cubic ft / minute centrifugal in-line duct fan mounted in the crawl space. It pulls air from the crawl space and exhausts it thru the exterior wall to the outside ...that pulls air from the living space thru vents in the floor to the crawl space ...which in turn pulls outdoor air thru fresh-air makeup vents into the living space. (Nowadays, you have to make wind-tight, vapor-tight, well-insulated walls and then put holes in them to let fresh air in so you don't get sick from stale air.) The flexible duct is used to reduce noise (this fan stays on all the time). Most of the duct is rigid 4" pvc and goes to the far corner of the crawl space to improve air circulation in the crawl space. Generally, a fan like this would be used to fix a radon problem (which we do not have in this area).

service feeder good to go

We just passed the electrical service feeder inspection (main power to the house). The only other electrical inspections are (1) the septic system wiring and (2) a final inspection after all electrical stuff is installed and hooked up.

... it's hot, I'm not

Ok, I got the live end of the power hooked up - the house is off the umbilical (extension cords) and on the grid.

Before I started, I asked our neighbor, Jack, to come over and be prepared to call 911 in case I did anything extraordinarily stupid. He also helped with handing me tools and reminding me to talk less and pay attention more. The only stumbling block was when I discovered that I did not have a 3/8" allen wrench to fasten the main lugs. Luckily, Jack came through with one of those, too!

The most stressful part of doing this was cutting the wire. It was a lot of trouble to put it in and it cost a lot. One cut too short and there would be a lot of expensive rework.

Later, I installed 2 outlets in the house - each on its own 20 amp circuit - and fired them up. No surprises, no smoke, no loud explosions - I hate it when those kind of things happen.

The only other thing to do was to roll up the extension cords and stack them with all the other tools. That and call for another inspection.

about to go on the grid...

I just got the house end of the power hooked up (the "load" in the jargon of the trade) - really thick cables, tight turns, great big lugs, anti-oxidation coatings, double grounds, etc ...I'm about to hook up at the live end (the "line") ... if this is the last blog entry ever, you'll know that it did not go well...

iota sticks

Today, I pounded in a couple of "iota sticks" - so named, because every time you hit them with a sledgehammer, they go exactly 1 iota deeper. They have #6 bare copper ground wire fastened to them with clamps and the other end (the clean end) will be wired to the ground lug of the electric service panel in the house. (When iota sticks are used in this manner, people often use the slang expression "ground rod" when referring to them.)

filled in power trench

Today, we filled in most of the power trench.

The red plastic ribbon near the top of the trench warns that there is a buried electric line (in case anyone tries to dig where they shouldn't). The ribbon is not required when conduit is used, but it's a good idea anyway.

The fork toward the shop is a second conduit - a smaller 1" - for running signals (phone, intercom. network, whatever) between the house and the shop. It's currently empty and just stubbed out near the shop.

you know the end is getting closer when...

... when the coffee-maker you bought at the beginning of the project burns out.  (However, we're not so close to the end that we didn't have to buy another one!)

power trench is a go

We just got the ok to fill in the power trench (for a while there, I was concerned that I might not have a good reason to cover myself with mud again this weekend).

wire in conduit in trench

Dale came over this afternoon and we got the wire for the house electric service in the conduit and in the trench. Nothing is hooked up yet. Tomorrow, the trench job will be inspected and if we pass, then we can start hooking stuff up.


Technically, when you use conduit (not strictly necessary in this case - but we would have had to dig the trench deeper), you're supposed to assemble the conduit and pull the wire through it. But this wire is way too big - it's for 200 amp service - and we don't have the equipment to pull wire that size thru it, so we assembled the conduit around the wire.


It's been raining and the trench was full of water at the lower end. We had to do some more digging, so it got to be another big, muddy mess. There was no point in trying to wait for the rain to stop and the trench to dry out - that won't happen 'til around the end of June.