3.31.2017

Well, so much for March coming in like a lion and out like a lamb...it's the last day of March and we are under a winter storm warning until tomorrow.  We got just an inch or two this morning of very wet snow before it turned to mostly rain.  But they are calling for 3-5" and possibly 5-10" in the higher elevations!

We don't mind the snow a bit and love living here.  We're apparently in good company, once again this year, Saratoga County was rated the healthiest county in New York State!

http://www.therepublic.com/2017/03/29/ny-counties-health-rankings/#.WN4vdE8bAzE.mailto

 

Jim rebuilt another light in the woodshop - he's leaving it open in case the electric inspector wants to see how they are wired.  But now all of the lights in the woodshop are done!  In fact, he got the new light in the bathroom all connected to the other light in the room so all of the electric loose ends in the shop are finished!

Which means it was time to do some more framing in the metal shop.  I hated Jim working down here so long with the cold steel - it was just a cold and damp day.  But check out the progress...he got the door header all built for the entrance into the utility room...

A better view of the entire space!  So now not only is the door frame done, but Jim has the ability to get power run over to the smoke detector.  He has to drill some holes to make access through all the steel, then put grommets and it will be ready to run wire.

After that, Jim headed up to the apartment to do some insulation - this time working with the foam board.  He got the foam board up behind the knee wall - this will allow him to put the insulation in this area.  He'll leave some access to this area too because eventually he'll rent a machine to blow in insulation and behind this foam board is one of those areas.

Then he cut a piece to go along the closet wall...

This is the view from the other side of that wall.  This is the open area that encompasses the valley rafter - Jim needed to leave this open to let everything breathe.  He cut strips of the foam board and put them on the floor in this area.  He'll have to go back and put fasteners in the foam board but he made it such a tight fit that he actually had to pound the board into place!

How cool does that look?  Besides looking cool, this foam board on the floor is 2" thick - provides an R13-14 thermal barrier.  The other foam board for the walls is 1", but it will have fiberglass insulation next to it.  We're going to have a snug carriage house!

Then he put foam board up at the top of the master bedroom wall - this was tough to get in because the studs go all the way up to the top - he had to make the pieces shorter so that he could get them in.  Besides being a good insulator, this allows for the backing for the wall insulation here and is a "wall" of sorts for the attic space.

Check out the size of this turkey track - half as big as Jim's foot!  We have huge turkeys on the property!

 

High 35/Low 30 - snow!

 

3.30.2017

Jim worked this morning building the small header wall in the metal shop.  That enabled him to run wire through that area and to the box for the smoke detector (the blue box at the top of the picture in the middle). 

Jim is making provisions for a small corner wall on the lower landing - the intake vent for the furnace will probably go up this wall as well as the electric.

Running the wire for the smoke detector to connect to the one on the upper landing.



I finally got to see the complete breaker box - it's so nice and neat!  Jim added another light in the bathroom today too.

I also took a peek up in the attic space - it's really nice to be able to go up and turn on the switch that lights up the whole area!  Can't wait to start filling it up soon!  But this is a picture showing how all the insulation is coming together up in the attic to make such a tight fit...the baffle vents the air from below, then the ceiling and wall insulations intersect.

 

 

While the temperatures haven't been warm lately, they've been at least doable because Jim has been spending so much time in the stairwell where it's not only unheated but has openings at the end of the rafters.  Thankfully he got so much done these past few days because the weather is turning colder starting tomorrow - with snow and ice on the way!  We're under a wither weather advisory from tonight through Saturday evening.

High 44/Low 30

 

3.29.2017

Jim was back in touch with his light rep today - the guy insisted that the ballasts were the correct ones that are rated to turn on at temperatures of -20 degrees.  Jim told him that when you look up the ballast on their web site, it only says to 0 degrees.  The rep sent him the link to the manufacturer's website, where this ballast is indeed rated to -20.  So apparently it was a typo on the lighting website and these were the correct parts all along!  A little frustrating but all's well that ends well.  As far as the brackets, the guy was surprised they didn't fit but Jim didn't push that since he has a fix to make those work.

Speaking of lights, we got the bulbs delivered yesterday - it's just kind of crazy to see these bulbs.  This is a box of 25 bulbs wrapped in a 4" x 4" box put inside another box.  You'd never know that there were 25 bulbs in here!

While Jim was running his errands yesterday, I did some of my own, including stopping at Home Depot for the last remaining GFI receptacle.  Jim got that installed this morning so all of the receptacles in the workshop have the GFI installed and the boxes redone to make them fit better against the steel studs - yay!

Then Jim worked on installing the door frame for his storage space entry. 

Next was a really big job.  Jim has to figure out how to run wire into the metal shop for the smoke detector.  Since he needed to build a partition wall in the stairwell landing anyway, he decided to build a bit more of a complex wall that will allow him to run wire also.

So here's the space before...

...and after!  This was much more complicated than it looks (not that it looks easy!).  First Jim had to figure out how to attach the top track to the beam/wall structure.  Then he had to figure out how to fit the wall in once it was built.  But it looks really good!

This is the view from the metal shop.  You can see the steel piece at the end of the wall he just built - that will act as a header for the rest of the wall in this area over to the front wall.  Jim will use this wall to carry wire to the front, where he will install the smoke detector. 

Jim also had me pick up these light cages at Home Depot yesterday - he put them on the attic lights for protection (plus they look cool!).

 

At the very end of the day, Jim glued down all of the insulation pieces that he had cut and fit yesterday.

 

High 44/Low 24

 

3.28.2017

Jim spent all morning doing errands - everything from picking up some steel at the Drywall Center to getting more wire at the electric supply house to going to Lowe's.  He also called the lighting company again but his rep was still out sick so we continue to be on hold for that - although our box of 25 special high-intensity light bulbs came in today!

Jim found the perfect outlet cover for the receptacle in the attic - if you remember, he had one but didn't like it.  The electric place had them in all shapes and sizes so Jim found the perfect replacement.  We'll have to wait to see it on the receptacle!

It was after noon before Jim got to the property.  Now that he had the wire, his first task was to work on completing the wiring from the main breaker box to the subpanel in the metal shop.  Everything is now complete and there is no more temporary wiring to connect the two!  The box looks amazing - and full!  Only two slots left for circuits!

The subpanel box in the metal shop all wired in.

After that, Jim worked more on his access door into the attic space above the auto bay.  He had made a rough opening for the door yesterday but today he did the careful cutting to make the door as big as possible.  Then he worked inside and got all of the fasteners down on the floor.  This is almost all complete - he just needs a little more plywood around the edges but it's all usable space now and he can start filling it up to free up floor space in the shops!

At the end of the day, it was back to some insulation work.  He got insulation brought down from the attic space into the top of the closet area in the master bedroom.  They still need to be glued down but the hard part is done.  Jim is going to use the closet area for staging of some insulation materials.

Same goes in the second bedroom - pieces brought down from the attic to fill in the top of the wall.  Really starting to look finished in these areas!

 

High 50/Low 33

 

3.27.2017

Jim called the guy he's been working with on the lights to talk to him about the issues, but after getting no responses to his emails and calling the company number, he found out the guy had called in sick.  Hopefully he'll be in tomorrow.

Meanwhile...Jim keeps pressing on.  He started working on making the permanent connection between the breaker box in the woodshop and the subpanel in the metal shop.  He worked on getting the neutral wire connected - that involved attaching the fish tape to the line downstairs...

and pulling it up carefully to the main box (which was still live and the fish tape metal - not a good combination!).  He got it all done and connected - he needs to take a picture of the final product!  He has to get more of the main wire - that's on the agenda for tomorrow.

Then Jim started figuring out where he wanted the access door that will lead from the woodshop into the attic space of the auto bay.  You can see the markings on the wall where he will cut...

How crazy is that?  We have an access space into the attic now!

A peek inside...

And the view from the inside looking into the shop!  Now Jim was able to get the last piece of plywood cut and fit for the floor.  Then he got all of the outside fastening done.  He still has to do the remaining fastening on all the inside connections, and then it will be ready to start filling up!

Jim will have to do some work getting things ready for a door frame and eventual door, but for now he put a piece of plywood up to help keep out some of the cold air.

 

With a little time left at the end of the day, Jim went back to insulation.  He got the very corner piece next to the wall in - that's the toughest piece to try and get the insulation around all the blocking and framing.

 

Then he was able to put up the rest of the insulation in that cavity and put up the foam board at the back of the knee wall.

Then he got all the pieces of insulation cut for the knee wall - they just need to be glued down.

 

High 40/Low 37

 

 

3.26.2017

Jim continued to work on the woodshop lights today.  He got all of the lights wired up...these are just awaiting the bulbs that are on order.

There are two that need the correct ballasts but all the wiring is done and pigtailed which is the hard part.

Jim made a couple more mods on the lights to allow the new bulb connectors to fit.

Then he went upstairs and worked on some insulation in the second bedroom.  He cut pieces of insulation to fit right up to where the wire run goes - that way he can basically tuck the wires in the insulation and there won't be any voids.

Then he got more wall insulation done, including the tops of the walls.  The insulation batts are 8' - so there is another foot or so above the ceiling that needs to be insulated.  So Jim cut pieces for those area - they have to be installed from up in the attic and pushed down.

Looking pretty finished in this room!

 

High 36/Low 33

 

3.25.2017

So...Jim's light refit parts came yesterday so he planned on working on some of that today.  Before he left, he opened up the box - he looked at the ballast and it didn't appear to be correct.  He looked it up on line to find out that it wasn't the right part.  So frustrating - Jim went over and over exactly what he needed and the guy assured him that he would send the right parts.  And then he didn't.

Jim thought he could at least put in the new connectors in - this is where the bulb fits in.  However, you can see from the picture below that this piece isn't right either!  Jim made one work by cutting out the steel opening to fit, but when faced with 28 to do, that's kind of crazy too.  Nothing is easy sometimes.  This will be a phone call on Monday morning that Jim will have to deal with!



Thought I'd send along a spring picture to everyone else in the country who is enjoying warm weather!  We had a crazy giant snowflake kind of snow all morning.  These flakes were huge - Jim said some were about half the size of his fist!  We don't mind though - Jim is working inside and I'm swamped with fire school.  Let it snow - it was awfully pretty!

 

Jim spent the morning working on more blocking in the kitchen - continuing with the top blocking for the upper cabinets.  He needs to get more wood already.

Then the rest of the afternoon was spent on electric work and lights in the wood shop.  Jim got another GFI circuit all redone - so that's 4 out of the 5 circuits done!  Jim has to spend a lot of time moving things out of the way to get to all these receptacles.  The last circuit requires moving his radial arm saw table - which is insanely heavy.

He got the light mounted and all of the conduit attached and up (again working off ladders on wood piles!).  So at this point, all of the lights and conduit are now on the ceiling! 

Then he started the wiring - these all have to be daisy chained together so it's quite a bit of work to get all this wire in and out of the conduit.  But the wire is now to all of the lights too!  He got one of 4 of the lights that need to be wired finished. 

 

High 37/Low 18 - snowy morning!