Thursday

 

Another boring blog mostly about electricity and plumbing . . .

We met with the boss this morning at our house to go over a few issues. We thought we would be free until the afternoon. So we left to go shopping to get some things for the kitchen, but while we were out we got a call that the electricians were on their way over to look at the details we discussed with the boss. We were hoping to shop for some under sink protectors and trays. The electricians came and fixed several things. In the photo above, they put a dimmer on the accent lights on the plant shelf in the kitchen. The actual rope light has not yet been installed, but the Ottoson guys will do that since it's a low voltage device. John wanted all of the switches to match, but that can't be done. The switch on the left includes a transformer for the undercounter lights and thus has a slightly different design. The functions are the same: switch on the bottom, dimmer slider on the top. First world problems, right?

The switch on the top controls the fan speed of the sunroom ceiling fans. It's now white and the same design. It's a bit messy here, but it's in the eat-in kitchen on a side wall.

The switch on the left is new. It's for the accent lights above the sliding glass doors in the living room. It's the same design as the others. The accent lights will be on a dimmer, too.

This single plug is at the end of the kitchen peninsula. It includes a socket cover to seal it from water penetration. It will be under the countertop overhang. The cover was not sealing properly, so that needs to be swapped out. There's not enough room for a conventional outlet, since it has to go behind the drawer on the other side. A conventional outlet could have gone lower on the cabinet, but then it would be more visible and in an odd place and may not have fit behind the pull-out garbage/recycling bin. All of the kitchen outlets are Square D GFCI with the reset buttons at the electrical panel in the garage.

I had time to install our car key holder that Pam got us at Sandpiper's downtown. The holder is in the laundry room on the way out to the garage. I only had to hang it twice. I also sanded down the rough spots and gouged places in the laundry room door to the garage from the washer and dryer moving. I'm waiting for a warmer day before painting. Last time the paint stuck after the door closed and created a mess because I had to close it before it was fully dry. You just can't rush things without making a mess. This time I was thinking about using wax paper where the door meets the frame, so that the paint can cure.

The Ottoson boss installed our microwave drawer. It still has a protective film on it to protect it from belt buckles that might rub against it from the countertop installation. What countertop installation person would wear a metal belt buckle?

He came back later in the afternoon to install the now fully functioning waterproof, single outlet (above) and patch the ceiling slice (below) leftover from the electricians who had to locate the wires that the wallboard folks sealed up. I thought when they did that that it would make it really difficult for the electricians. I was right. They had to guess where to cut and then fetch the wire through a small hole. 

Fortunately, I had a picture that showed them where it was and what it looked like before it got sealed up. That helped a little bit. The boss made a note to tell the construction guys not to let the wallboard folks do that again.

The light stays in the hole via magnets.

He moved the dishwasher outlet down. For some reason, the electricians installed it too high. So he had to repair the drywall from their misplaced outlet. The plug and cord sit in a recessed area down low at the back of the dishwasher, no more than 6 inches up. The rest of the dishwasher needs to sit flush against the wall. The electricians should have known that. Plus, the dang dishwasher was sitting 15 feet away. They could have looked to see where to put the outlet.

We were hoping he'd install the refrigerator, but he had to get the 343 pound fridge off of the 5-inch styrofoam base it was transported on. I think he'll try again tomorrow with some helping hands. I'm glad we didn't have to figure that out. I could only come up with a blow torch to melt the styrofoam. 

John ended up ordering an under sink mat from Amazon, like the one pictured above, for the laundry room sink. It has 1.5 inch sides so that it will hold a couple of gallons of water if necessary. We wanted a similar one for the kitchen, but in there, the drain and water supply come through the bottom of the cabinet. 

We made a quick run to At Home to pick up these plastic trays for under the kitchen sink. Our shopping time is limited because we need to be here when the workers are here or when they might come by. These trays may work, collecting any goop from cleaning supplies.

Toby is hanging tough, enduring another bitter winter. 

Up next: refrigerator installation, more touch-up painting, laundry room door painting.