Shocking

I awoke this morning from a bad dream. The scenario of the dream was that eight months after receiving the construction permit (and probably 9+ months after the construction drawings were released for estimates) the electrical contractor informed "Our" Mike that it was "not possible" to conform to the hot tub electrical requirements.  Unfortunately, this was no dream. Rob (electrical) has been out to discuss the project on more than one occasion over the past six months. It really seems strange that only now, these issue are coming up. I guess this might be their first wiring of a hot tub. On the bright side, it is good that these issues were identified and resolved now, before they did a lot of work that would not pass inspection.

There were two problems with the electrical as shown on the drawings. By Code, no electrical outlet can be closer than six feet of the hot tub. Outlets beyond six feet but within ten feet have to have GFI. Therefore, all of the three outlets shown on the hot tub deck would not be accepted. We can move the two located below the by windows just outside the deck area and equip them with GFI. No problem. The third one shown on the vertical wall between the hot tub deck and the sunroom will have to be eliminated.

The other issue is a bit stranger. Again, by Code, the electrical disconnect for the hot tub has to be at least five feet away from the tub AND it has to be in view of the tub. It is this "in view" of the tub that we had not heard before and makes the location of this disconnect problematic. Both Mike and I were aware the disconnect had to be at least five feet away and had assumed we would locate it in the basement. The basement location would not pass the "in view" requirement. Josh made calls to Bobbe (hot tub) to ensure he understood the requirements.

During the course of the day, I checked with Josh a couple of times and Tyler showed up in the early afternoon to consult. The solution is that they will install a breaker panel (not just a disconnect) in the connecting porch just north of the east window. This panel will be flush with the wall, visible from the hot tub and camouflaged to make it less inconspicuous. This breaker panel will feed all the electrical requirements in the sunroom, eliminating the external panel Josh had told me earlier he was going to have to install for all the appliances in the bar.

Location of Breaker Panel

I did not see exactly when Josh left, but he was gone by 3:30 pm. I assume he finished what he needed to get done to allow the pouring of the concrete, including the outlet in the middle of the floor. If so, then the remaining work to be done before pouring the floor is Frank's (HAC) installation of the radiant floor heating grid. Maybe next week? I had also asked Josh if he was aware of all the appliances that we intend to install in the bar. He said he was aware of what is on the construction drawings, showing an ice maker and dishwasher. I advised him that there will also be a refrigerator and a garbage disposal. I told him we could provide drawings with the locations of each appliance in the bar and information on the specific appliances we intend to purchase. He said he would need that information and was glad I told him.

Floor Electrical Outlet Box

 

The roofers did not show up again today. Bret told me earlier this week that they would finish the main house on Wednesday and do the sunroom and garage roofs on Thursday. Work was done on the main house on Wednesday, but they did not finish. They did not show up at all on Thursday. Today I realized that they did install some of the shingles on the south side of the sunroom on Wednesday.

Partially Completed Sunroom Roof

It has been three weeks since the roofing began on March 7. The main house is still not complete and less than one-half of the sunroom and about one-half of the garage are shingled. Don't know if they will show up on Saturday or wait until next week. I did notice that today another pallet of shingles and a box of ridge vents showed up in the garage. There appears to be about 30 packages of shingles. It took them 30 packages to do one-half of the garage, so it does not seem likely that this is enough to finish both the sunroom and the garage.

With Mike's approval, I called Brent (cupola) out in Salt Lake City. I told him I would be sending him a confirmation email but wanted to let him know that we wanted to get him moving ahead on the 48" cupola for the garage. While we have yet to finalize the size of the cupola for the sunroom due to lingering doubts on the ventilation, we want to get the garage cupola installed before we start the solar panel installation. Brent said they have a two to three week backlog right now and it would probably take about a week once fabrication begins. This would mean they would be ready to ship toward the end of April. If we are ready to start the solar panel installation by that time, we will be very happy.