Hello from the Winter Wonderland. Earlier this week we had quite a dump of snow for this area at this time of the year. Still not as bad as Buffalo had a few weeks ago but it still created some havoc. It did not affect me all that much other than until it melts I will not be able to finish the rear gable end. And here is a picture that shows why. You can hardly see any of the gable end.

Anyway on to what we did this week. On Sunday with the nice weather we still had I went did more work on the house and garage soffits and facia. I essentially went until I ran out of soffit material. I originally bought one carton of each just to see how far it went. So when it ran out I just stopped and calculated that I would need at least another carton of each and when they are done it will be down to buying the material buy the piece. When I ran out of soffit I went into the house to begin work on placing the the electrical boxes for the plugs, lights and switches. Here are two pictures showing the soffit and facia on the garage.

On Monday I started by working on the rear deck area. I installed two pot lights before I realized I would need to finish strapping the ceiling to install the other four pot lights. This meat moving on to another job until I purchased the required material. I then installed a little bit of facia that could still be done before I moved onto the side porch. I have decided the side porch gable end needed a little more work. I decided to "eyebrow" it by adding a little roof section in line with the rest of the roof. So a couple hours later this is what I ended up with. I believe it makes a world of difference. I then spent a little more time on the electrical rough in before I went into town to pick up the soffit and facia required. As well they also started work on digging trenches for my electrical service and the service next door. They could not finish as the boring crew was not able to come due to complications on an other job.

On Tuesday I finished the garage soffit and facia as well as finished the west wall of the house with soffit and facia also. On Tuesday they also finished installing the electrical service from across the road. The crew initially pushed a pipe through under the road using a small pointed boring device. once it broached into the receiving trench on my side of the road they removed this device and installed a larger boring device that would enlarge the hole as well as pull the three conduits across under the road, two for hydro and one for cable. Here are some pictures showing this process. First picture shows the boring crew starting the bore across the road. Second picture shows the first boring tool. The third picture shows the second boring tool being hooked up on my side of the road and the fourth picture shows them feeding the three conduits into the hole as the larger boring tool pulls them back across underneath the road. The fifth picture shows them pulling the cable across in the conduit and the last picture shows the finalized garage soffit and facia.

On Wednesday I continued on the rear deck area I needed to strap the trusses so that I could later install a pine tongue and groove ceiling. As well this strapping had to be in place so that I could install the remainder of my potlights and plugs in the ceiling at the right height. Once this was done I spent some time working on installing the ceiling in the garage. As well I realized on Monday as I was installing electrical boxes that I would need to install a fake wall in the back entrance. The initial plan was for a door that would open in and to the right allowing for switches on the wall to the left as you entered. Unfortunately the door that I picked up at the flea market for a song and a dance opened in and to the left. So today I quickly built a fake wall to hold the two switches required. The only picture today shows the rear deck strapped with pot lights installed.

Well it "snowed" Wednesday night and all day today on Thursday. So I was relegated to working inside today. I managed to get almost all the electrical boxes roughed in. I was a few short so went to Home Depot on my way home to pick up what was required. I also had a visit from my Electrician who will be back on Monday to install my main service panel. This will then be inspected on Tuesday and then hopefully made live shortly thereafter.  However the bad news he had was that he would not be able to do the rest of my electrical work till after the new year. 

On Friday finished installing the remaining electrical boxes and roughly mapped out all the ccts. I had another little setback today. While installing the electrical boxes I decided to draw out where the cabinets would be so that I could accurately install the boxes for the range and the microwave. While doing this I realized I had installed the breakfast bar wall 3.5inches offset. So spent an hour tearing this apart and installing it in the correct location. Nothing hurt but my pride. I then went and continued installing ceiling panels in the garage. 

On Saturday I finished installing the ceiling in the garage. I also drilled a few holes and pulled a little bit of wire through for two plugs in the living room. I did this because I plan to pick up some drywall for the ceiling and needed a location to store it before it gets installed. Here's a picture showing the finished garage ceiling. Now need to decide whether to finish the walls as well or leave them till later. I do plan on painting the ceiling once the main garage door is installed.

Well that's the story as of now. Since the electrician will slow me up my days of working for 6-8hrs a day will probably start to decrease as we are running out of things to do. However still things to putter around with and once the garage door is installed I can start bringing my stuff there and out of the mini storage.

Until next week Think SUNSHINE please.

Harold