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