PASSED!!

We have officially passed both our electric and plumbing inspections and now, for the first time in a very long time, we have lights!!! Not everything is hooked up yet as we still have patching and drywall to hang and we don't want to dammage our new switches and outlets, but we have installed some temporary switches and lights in each room so we can see when we work later into the night!

Today we officially ordered our windows and new front door too. They are expected to arrive in the first or second week of January.

Today I was busy hanging the insulation in the kitchen to prepare for the drywall tomorrow. Here are a few pics of the kitchen with the insulation as well as some shots of the other rooms lit up at night!

More to come soon. Must go finish Xmas shopping.

-G

A busy few weeks...

It has been a very busy few weeks. Sorry for the lack of posting, but a lot of the work that has been done has been wiring and plumbing and internal hidden stuff. Until recently that is.

Our electrical rewire is complete.

Here is the inside of our new breaker box.

Yes that is 18 circuits! Much better than the four in the old box!
After the inspection tomorrow, we should be able to hook up a few of the lights and start to see how they will look.

Over the past few weeks, we have also completed the plumbing and tested all of the water, drain, and gas lines.
Here are a few shots of the bathroom plumbing in progress.

And here is the main "Chicago Loop"for the island sink in the kitchen.

After the plumbing was tested, we put the floor back in the bathroom, framed out the new window position and framed the new shower pan.

Next came the hot mop.

Now the bathroom is fully insulated and the sheetrock is in place, and soon we will be able to start the tiling (once we finally decide on the tiles!)

The floor has also been put back down in the kitchen area.

And, after two full dumpsters, the yard is looking a bit more open.

We took down the remainder of the old garage roof and sent it away with the dumpster.

Soon we will start the new roof on the garage and the new doors. I am considering side by side carriage doors now instead of the sliding barn door. This is partly because of a Los Angeles code that requires two covered and accessible parking spots for the house, so we could not wall off half of the garage unless we create a new spot elsewhere.
But I think that the carriage doors will go nicely with the house. Here is an idea of what I am thinking.

The planning has also been moving along. We ordered our new bathroom vanity and mirror cabinet today, and expect to order our new windows, french doors, and main front door(KA-40) this week.

Off to bed now. Up early tomorrow to get ready for the plumbing and electric inspection!

-G

New Ideas, More Demo, Some New Framing, and Power!

It has been a busy few days. The electrician installed our new main breaker box. We upgraded to a 200 Amp Box with lots of room for different circuits and breakers. The power company allowed us to keep the box in the same location that, while it is not the most attractive spot in the back yard, keeps the line coming from the pole out of the backyard airspace. Next we need to get the cable and phone company to move their lines to the same spot.

After speaking with Mr. DeRocker on Monday morning, I made some changes to our prior lighting layout, and thanks to his advice, we both feel much better about the plan. The electricians were at the house on Tuesday and removed all of the old outlets, switches, and wiring. Tomorrow they will start to lay in the new lighting and power setup. I am still a bit concerned over the California code required recessed compact fluorescent lights in the kitchen, but Abbey has given me some cautious optimism about the color and look of the new fluorescent lights. We shall see!

The new lighting plan and discussion also led us to a new plan for the front of the house. We are going to move the front door out of the living room (and gain back all the space plus a new window) and now have it in the front of the house. Here is a picture from the inside of the new placement.

It will create a sort of entry way between the kitchen and the living room and the change made us both very excited. It was like a missing piece of the puzzle. Now the challenge is choosing the windows and door in the next few days, and being sure that we like the style so that we can eventually match the rest of the windows in the house. You can see the new door position on the new electrical layouts below. One of the images is a placement and distance layout. The other is the switch circuit and type layout.

Today I helped Javier (our carpenter and plumber) to install the new floor joist in the bathroom. The drains throughout the house are nearly complete and tomorrow he is going to start putting the new copper piping. We will probably be getting our new Tankless Water Heater sometime next week.

Time for dinner and then off to bed. Stay tuned!
-G

Free kitchen cabinets!!!

Yes! We got free kitchen cabinets....well, sort of. More on that in a bit.

First, the roof is finished and passed the final inspection! No more leaks!

The old giant dumpster was officially overflowing and was switched for a new slightly smaller one. The upstairs was cleaned up and the black spray paint removed from the windows. And there was a ton more lathe and plaster removal in the kitchen, including exposing the other beam on the living room side of the room. We also finished reframing the kitchen floor and closed in the big side window.

Now, about that kitchen...

Ok, so it's not the strongest cabinetry and I would not try putting anything hot down or spilling but our free kitchen was an important step in the planning. The LA Film School just got a bunch of new furniture and all of the giant cardboard boxes that the stuff came in was available for pick up for free. So what do you get when you have an idea, a bunch or cardboard and a lot of packing tape?

A free kitchen!

This was a great experiment as we were able to modify the design and move around the space exactly as it will be. We already decided to get rid of the multi level island and some of the cabinets over the fridge. With the real size and space laid out we could also see how the light came into the room and figure out where we want our lights and outlets.

I was also able to construct a mock bathroom this weekend so we could finalize our design since the plumber and electrician star on Monday.

Last night I also made the light switch and outlet layout.

Off to bed now...very tired. More to come soon!
-G