Cleaning up

The house is not complete, but much of today was spent removing old floor protection and vacuuming the floors (and everything else). I moved a couple of chairs into the living room, shuffled two small bookcases, and set up the (plastic) Christmas tree. All the books are still boxed. My bed is still leaning up against the wall because the bedroom is heavily occupied by boxes of art. And I have not unpacked the linens because the linen closet is not built. I did unpack a couple of large boxes of kitchen stuff, finding my eating utensils, glasses, and way too many vases in the process. The streaked vases clearly need to inaugurate the new dishwasher!

The countertop folks came and finished the kitchen. I still need to install the right knobs on the doors and we have not squeezed the stove in place because I am waiting on a part. Oh, and we went three times around on the exact shape of the arch at the top of the closet doors.

The HERS rater came today to test for air leaks using a (red) blower door. He pressurizes the house with a fan to a specific pressure (50 Pascals, like a heavy windstorm) then measures the airflow through the fan door. It was acceptable, not at my target, but the new furnace ductwork has not been sealed yet.Nothing is arranged, but it still looks habitable. The earliest we can get an occupancy inspection is Monday. (Because Taos does not have a certified inspector, that inspection must come from the state.)

The heat is working, although the carpenters opened the doors this morning because it was too warm (72° F) and humid (48% RH) for them. There was a lot of moisture trapped under the floor slab, and that may take a week to dry. I enjoyed working without two layers of jackets plus a wool shirt, all day.

I got temporary Internet set up, using a repeater (“range extender”) from my neighbor. CenturyLink wants me to tell them the township, range, and section wherein my house is located. I find that information difficult to acquire. They have the address of my neighbors (who are customers) but not my address. They also ran a wire to the edge of my property and have a suitably marked box at the end of that wire. And Google Maps has my street address and can give GPS coordinates that will locate me within ten feet. But they ask me for data that will locate me within 5,280 feet. Totally absurd, and a strange attitude for a sales organization. Sadly the fiber optic internet service will be months away and Comcast is, well, Comcast.

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