Dad was over to help with the house yet again. We focused on fully wrapping up the electrical work. The rains that had prevented us from getting into the crawlspace were long gone, and the crawlspace had dried up nicely (that was an encouragement, too!). I have no sump pump, but I am at the top of a very, very tiny hill. I was pleased to see that the water left the house quickly!
We only had a few circuits left to tackle before we were completely finishsed with the re-wiring of the 1758-square foot house! We had to wire the crawlspace lights, the furnace, the outdoor lamppost, and the kitchen. Most of these circuits had originally been wired through the first light fixture in the crawlspace, but Dad wanted to clean all of that up. Fine by me.
So we spent much of the day in the crawlspace re-wiring the old wires. I ran wires to Dad as he wired the junction boxes. Again, it was pretty straightforward work. Just tedious and time-consuming! Run a wire, staple a wire, wire a wire, repeat.
As a hilarious sidenote to me, at one point Dad was on his back wiring a fixture. I was his toolman, handing him tools as he called for them. I glanced down and about 8 inches to the right of his head was a dead mouse. And Dad HATES mice!!! I literally could not stop laughing. He had NO idea what was going on (outside of thinking I was delusional), but every time I glanced down, I saw my Dad and a mouse and I just couldn't get enough of it! Ever since a boy, I have taken delight in getting mice as close to possible to him to see him shudder! It was as a 12-year-old boy's delight all over again. After he was finished with the fixture, I told him to look to his right. !!!
Once we were all wired up, the outdoor lamppost proved to be a little bit of a challenge. It's actually a cute little lamp, but it didn't work at all. Even with a new wire ran to the post and new bulbs, we still had no lights. So we took off the lamp to try to find the issue. We were greeted with a good amount of wasp's nests...hoping they were empty, we started to clear them out. VROOM!!! The wasps flew out alive and active! A relatively simple project turned into an hour with enemies on the loose!
The fixture had so much dirt and dead bugs in it that the bulbs (all burned out anyway) couldn't touch the bases. After cleaning it all up and installing new bulbs, we were pleased to find that the eye worked, and all the bulbs worked, too! Time would tell if the post actually came on at night, but it seemed to be working! Another project complete!
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| The outdoor lamp post. Time will tell if it works when the sun sets or not! |
I was happy to find that my painter showed up to put in a day's work, too. That is a huge undertaking that I can't wait to check off!
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| Bye, bye, yellow!!! |
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| The room is transforming! |
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| He seriously paints so fast. The living room's first coat. |
While Dad worked on some electrical and Frank painted, I spent over an hour caulking the bathrooms. After the vanities and new floor were installed, I had LOTS of cracks and crevices to fill in. It took quite a bit of time! But it was looking good. It actually amazes me how the smallest of projects actually make a room look great. It really is the trim pieces and finishing touches that complete a room. The white caulk really pulled the room together.
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| Before... |
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| After! |
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| Before... |
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| After! |
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| The sink now looks a part of the room. New caulk! |
At one point this afternoon, I was in the crawlspace when Dad used the toilet. I heard dripping. Oh, no! I crawled over to where the master bath was in the crawlspace and saw water dripping down from the toilet flange. Noooooooooo!!! That was a frustrating setback. GRRR!!!
While Dad worked on finishing up the electrical, I worked on pulling out the TREMENDOUS amount of cable wire in the crawlspace. I seriously think the previous owner had cable in every room! I wanted to clean up that crawlspace!!!
After the crawlspace was completely wired, Dad and I then tackled the kitchen this afternoon. We were happy to find that we could GFCI-protect the countertop outlets by attaching them to another circuit. That project went fairly well.
So finally, after a couple of weeks of wiring, Dad was done!!! I dragged the wire out of the crawlspace. What a great feeling! I kept the last two wires that we pulled out. This re-wiring project was a huge surprise after I purchased the house. The more we wired, the more I realized just how big of a project it really was. Seriously, doing the work ourselves probably saved me $8,000-$10,000. Words don't do my appreciation justice, but...THANKS, DAD!!! :)
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| The completed breaker panel. Look at all that copper on top! Woo hoo! |
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| All the wire we pulled out from the house. This was work! |
I worked on a few other projects throughout the day. I sanded some more walls and patched up a couple more holes. We put quite a bit of holes in the drywall!
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| More patching and sanding. I'm getting good at it! |
I wanted to wrap up the dishwasher, but I needed one more part. Agh, I'm so close!!! I simply need a 6-foot water line instead of the 4-foot one I purchased. Who would've thunk you needed that much?!
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| Re-wiring the receptacle behind the dishwasher. |
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| The dishwasher mostly installed. I need to install the electrical! |
The house is coming together nicely. Today was a HUGE step in the right direction...
THE WIRING IS COMPLETE!!!
I treated Mom and Dad to supper tonight. I told Dad it was for thanks for what he's done so far...and Mom for thanks for what she is going to do!!! ha!
We stopped at Menard's on the way home for more parts. Dad chose to stay in the van and rest while Mom and I shopped! ha! We had to make two stops as I went back for some mortar for the exterior bricks. I chose not to buy a 60-pound bag for two bricks...but then changed my mind after Dad said it needed to be done!
It's time to wrap up some projects!!! I was home around 10:00 P.M.
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