Lots of Rain

Our luck did not hold out as it rained copiously Thursday night and into Friday morning. I did not expect to see any activity but Chris (electrician) showed up and worked in the garage most of the day. I was surprised he did not do some more work in the sunroom since Mike said he was waiting on Chris to finish the wiring to the TV and to the cupola. Chris got the area lighting fixtures and a breaker box installed in the garage.

The louvered vent that Mike installed on Thursday, once trimmed and finished on the outside, will look fine.

Gutter I...Cupola II

Mike and Nate and Chris showed up this morning. Mike told me that the brick layers will hopefully be here tomorrow, but there is an 80% chance of rain. Too bad, we have had perfect weather all week. Maybe our luck will prevail.

The mantel and wood panels for each side of the chimney breast arrived. They look REALLY good. The mantel is 2" taller than we were told to expect (10" versus 8") and the electrical outlet is on the very end whereas we expected it to be centered. We will adapt. Since the mantel is taller, we had to renegotiate the positioning of the TV above the mantel. We are leaving 8" between the top of the mantel and the bottom of the TV. I wish it could have been more, but the TV is already getting pretty high up.

Once Mike gets these installed, we will be ready to install the stone on the chimney breast.

Mike and Nate installed the cupola on the sunroom and then finished installation of the window and door hardware for both the garage and the sunroom.

We had to collectively remind ourselves how the exhaust fan was to be fitted underneath the cupola. I reminded Mike that Tyler (architect) had given us a detail, but Mike did not seem interested in seeing it, despite my offer to print it out. After some discussion, it was sorted out. We also had to figure out how to install the louvered vent to be mounted above the window in the connecting porch. This vent will open when the exhaust fan is turned on. No instructions were provided. However, Mike got the vent installed. The fan installation under the cupola will wait until Chris runs wiring up to it. The shroud for the exhaust fan looked huge, but it seems to fit well inside the cupola body. Thanks to Tyler (architect) the cupola was custom made slightly larger than the regular size to accommodate the fan shroud.

Cupola Exhaust Fan

Inlet Air Louver and Fan Shroud

We will install a decorative grill over the louvered vent in the connecting porch and also on the ceiling going into the cupola.

Entry to the Exhaust Fan Under the Cupola

Chris spent a good part of the day cleaning up some of the past sins left by previous electricians and the cable company. It looks a lot neater along the back of the main house.

Around 2:00 pm, the guttering people showed up. They got the straight runs on the garage installed.

They still need to install the corner pieces and the downspouts.

No painters today. No further word from the solar people. No roofers. No slaters.

While there was some overcast this morning, this afternoon was clear and sunny. The solar panels however never reached 6 kW of power output. This has been the norm since installation and one inverter continues to lag the other.

Gutters Next?

Yesterday we had several crafts show up. Chris (electrician) was here for awhile in the morning. Not sure of everything he did, but obviously he wired power to the three overhead garage door lights. It will be nice to have these outlets available for other uses as well.

The slate guys also were here in the afternoon. They did some more work on the main house and replaced some cracked pieces on the sunroom.

The southeast corner of the main house looks better than it did but I need to take a closer look before we buy off on it.

Jerry (painter) and his crew worked all day. They finished the eaves and Mike said we should see the Bret (roofer) here on Thursday to install the gutters. T is happy with how the colors of the exterior cement boards are turning out.

They obviously not done with painting the cement boards yet.

Mike also started installing door handles and window cranks yesterday.

Today, Chris (electrician) is back. I called Mike (one more time) to ensure we are all on the same page with respect to routing the coaxial and CAT5 cables into the basement. I had told Chris weeks ago that that is where the cables should go and I mentioned it again to Mike earlier this week. Mike said he assumed that was Chris's intention, but he would be here later this morning and verify. I will therefore not worry any more about it.

I noticed there is also a new face in the backyard this morning. He was digging a shallow trench from the garage to the sunroom. It turned out to be a helper of Chris's digging a trench for a conduit to allow the garage lights to be turned on or off from the sunroom.

Before Mike left, he said the guttering should be installed tomorrow. He said the brick layers told him they will finish the window sill installation this week. He also got a text message from Bob (cabinetry) that the mantel and side panels are complete and will be delivered this week. Bob suggested to Mike that he should schedule the stone work on the chimney breast. I pointed out to Mike that while the slate on the southeast corner of the main house is better, they did not secure the loose copper trim as Mike said he would ask them to do. Mike also noted they did not replace the cracked slate tiles on the sunroom as requested.

No word from Eric (solar) about the receptacle on the inverter panel. We had a relatively clear day today and the solar panels hit a maximum power output of roughly 5.5 kw, at which time one inverter was producing about 20% less than the other. I sent a note to Eric yesterday stating I was not impressed with the performance. His response was that they would monitor the system for a couple of weeks.

No painters today.

Concrete

Today is a hot and humid day. While I had sent a note to Mike last week asking when to expect the concrete to be poured for the east pad and the garage apron, I never got a response. It would have been nice to know they were going to arrive this morning. When I realized that, I called Jack (solar) and asked him when he intended to replace the inverter rack pole. He said that unfortunately, he was going to have to put it off until Thursday. I told him it would be too late since the pad is being poured today. He said he was on the way. He arrived and replaced the pole. It looks much better.

Before he left, I asked him about the plug receptacle that we were told would allow us to pull power directly from the solar system should the grid go down. Jack said that the plug had not been installed but he would look into it. He said it would be installed at the inverter rack. Shortly after he left, I got a note from Eric asking if we were satisfied. I responded that we were and thanked him for making the modifications on such short notice. I also mentioned to Eric that I asked Jack about the plug and also noted we had yet to received the documentation that Eric told us last week had been sent to us.

The concrete got poured and those people left about 2:30 pm. It looks good. They said they would not walk or drive on it for a week. I think they will be back to seal it. I am a little concerned about the step down on the garage apron. We will have to talk with Mike about that.

Chris (electrician) showed up this morning. I talked with him about several things. I told him that the lights that were mounted in the garage were associated with the door openers and not the area lighting. They just needed power and would turn on and off with the door operation. I also ensured he knew the coaxial cable and CAT5 cable still needed to be run to the TV in the sunroom. Chris said he was going to get Mike to remove some of the woodwork so he could run those cables. I also told Chris we had all the exterior wall sconces and the sunroom ceiling fan when he was ready to install those.

I showed Mike the TV wall pan. He will need to change the spacing on the chimney breast wall studs so the pan can be installed. This will need to be installed before the stone work is started.

Our east neighbor called this morning and asked if our brick work was complete. The reason was that they had delayed opening their pool for the season due to the brick dust being generated. I told them, and later confirmed with Mike, that we are not quite finished yet. Mike could not tell us when the brick people will be back.

Jerry (painter) and his crew showed up as well and continued work on the sunroom window frames (we were told they were done) and on the sunroom eaves.