Wiring Done

Post date: Jul 9, 2015 4:06:16 AM

Nothing very exciting or visible happened today. (Thus no photos.) The electricians have the wiring ready for inspection, though they had to stay an extra hour to get ready for inspection. That is a pretty good milestone. They mostly installed communications wiring (coaxial cable for TV and Category 5E for Internet) and a few forgotten outlets.

The windows arrived and I started unpacking them. They are really well packed, even though they are delivered in company trucks by the local sales rep. The big ones even come with special handles just for shipment. I have to drill holes in the mounting fins for the screws that will hold them in, as well as remove all the special packing.

Jake wants to install the windows in sequence going around the house, but when we took them off the truck they were stashed willy-nilly, and moving those heavy windows twice is more than I can do. We will install them as we can reach them! Fortunately, each window has a label that names the room it serves. Makes it easy! I now see why the builders prefer this brand of window here in Taos.

One doesn’t normally think of windows intersecting with electricians, but the wall of south-facing French doors (what they call windows) needs an electric outlet in the middle. That meant that we had to build the mullions between the panels so that we could rout a channel for the electric wire.

I spent part of the day making certain that we had not forgotten any electric wiring needs. Because an outlet is required behind the bedroom door (where I will never use it) on a 3’ wide wall that is the pocket for a sliding door, I had to build special brackets to support the outlet junction box. (Pocket door frames are notably lightweight.) Then we changed the location of the laundry light switch from behind the bifold doors and I drilled holes for the wire from switch to light.

Lalo and I also removed extra sheathing panels and scrap from atop the roof so that it would be more nearly ready for the roofers — whenever the afternoon rains stop. Oh, and I put sealing tape around the outdoor electric boxes so that they don’t leak air. I would do it for the water hose bibs, but the stretchy tape has not arrived, and the stiff tape is totally not suitable for this.

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