Day 31, Getting ready for the inspection

I have been gone on a road trip for PGE this week. I got back last night and went to a Leadership Santa Rosa Alumni BBQ. So today is my first look at the project progress.  Darrell and Stacy are going on vacation till Monday, July 1st. They are preparing the house for a major milestone, the first buliding inspection. After we pass this review, Darrell can close in all the walls. There is a lot of sheet rocking to be done, followed by tape and texture. A key part to passing this inspection is all the rough wiring is complete. That mean all the switches, ceiling lights, fans, etc. are in place and exposed.

Here Mikey wires the bathroom lights including two counter plugs and powering both medicine cabinets. Also there are three ceiling lights, one directly over the new shower stall.



Below is a new member of our construction team Rich (right). He is stone mason. Darrell will construct a wood box to mount a three side gas fireplace. Rich will add the stone veneer above and below the fireplace. See the blue line under Darrell (left), this shows the fireplace location.

Stacy is removing the old wooden posts and railing. They were not built to the current code. We discussed a lot of options on how to rebuild this structure, a much needed feature in the Family room. Ultimately, we decided to surround the stair well with a 42" half (pony) wall with a cap over the deepest part of the descending steps. Darrell ,is building a half door at the top of the stairs to protect any kids thinking of playing around the steps.

Above and to the left, you can see the new half (pony) walls. The wall will house two duplex plugs on either side of the length the wall. The will be a switch inside the stair well to turn on the current light plus a new light housed in the inside ceiling of the cap.


Displaced in this remodel is the massive entertainment cabinet. We have some challenges with its length pinching the circulation to the new door and pony wall. Stay tune for that solution.

Here are the builders figuring out how to disconnect the electronics. I hope they know how it all goes back together. A level and tape measure will not help with this task.

Here's our other cast member in this construction drama. Our electrician is mining for copper and hit the mother lode. He has his work cut out for him. He not only adds new wire runs to our upstairs sub panel, he also remove lots of redundant wiring. When he is in the ceiling he deals with the telephone cables, coax and speaker wires. A new item to the mix is low voltage wiring for our under cabinet lighting.

The above view shows the new dining room wall closed in. The original pocket door entrance was eliminate and move around the corner. The new entrance will be a swing door into the Family room. Note the new three awning windows allowing the light to enter the kitchen and dining. The window can be used to allow heat or cold air to circulate in either space or not. See the blue line under wheeled garbage can? That's the new eating nook seating with a free standing table for intimate dinning.

No saga is complete without the entire cast of characters. Here our three CCI breeder labs, Pasco (top), Tamika (left) and Ben (right). They have adapted well to all the construction team. Darrell and Stacy have dogs so they get a lot attention. On the right of Tamika is our main garden site.

This is one of two garden sites. Picture is a 8'x10' caged garden. We had had a bumper crop of various vegetables. We currently visit this site daily to harvest plants for our morning and evening shakes. Note our orchard down the hillside. We have eight different fruit trees. We planted the trees three season ago are waiting to see what trees will bear fruit. Not picture is our other vegetable grown in 18"x36" growing boxes. They are located outside of our studio window.

Her is Grace our female Maine coon. Will, not picture is her brother. They patrol the sun room and the studio where Sandy and I hang out and eat and watch TV.

I want to close this chapter of our project with this thought. I was thinking why did decide to do this project. I feel it is because of the quality of light that surrounds us from dawn to dusk. We have four 5'x5' picture window facing NE to NW. Each one gives a unique perspective of the surround nature we are blessed to witness. Our yard is filled with cast of characters which entertains us all day. Whether its the gray squirrels performing their acrobatics or the quail escorting their chicks around to the eat fallen birdseed. It is always a treat to see all our animal friends.



NEXT is a bit of pause in the action before the inspection. After that it will be a huge amount of activity. Fasten your safety belts for the next thrill ride...