The MacDeskBlog

We are in escrow on the Berkeley house. They removed their contingency on Wednesday of last week. I just signed the paperwork this afternoon. I’m not sure why I haven’t said anything until now. We accepted the bid on January 31st. The downturn on the housing market has made the entire process rather unsatisfying most of the way through. My outlook and perspective is ticking up now that the deal is essentially done. We close next Friday.

The buyers are first-timers, and I’m happy for them. That house was my first one too. I hope that they really enjoy it. They requested that I fix two items based upon their inspection, which we took care of last weekend. I had to go find a replacement rim lock and strike plate for one of the three remaining original doors. Berkeley has two house material salvage companies, one of which (Omega) carries original rim locks and replica strike plates. The rim lock cleaned up nicely, and matched the size of the original. The other item I had to fix was a “mis-wired” lamp, which actually just needed a new light bulb. Of course I checked the switches which the inspector said were “always on”, and they work just fine. Inspectors definitely fall into the Jack of All Trades, Master of None category.

We close next Friday!

I’m liking the sound of that.

We close next Friday.

I went to the house after work on Wednesday and installed the rest of the insulation, finishing just before midnight. Sheet rock was supposed to be delivered this morning at 8AM but the lumber yard totally screwed me today. The sheet rockers, of course, arrived pretty much on time, and spent a few hours twiddling their thumbs before giving up on the delivery which finally arrived at 2:45PM!

Insulation inspection is tomorrow. Sheet rockers start (for real) early tomorrow and will be working through the weekend.

The inspector won’t sign off the electrical to allow PG&E hookup until final inspection. I’m very disappointed. I would feel much better closing up the walls if I could test the lines first. Building or remodeling a house is a series of chicken and egg propositions interspersed with cart and horse endeavors. I can usually see where the inspector is coming from, but the rationale for not letting us finish X before doing Y is almost always dubious at best.

insulation & speaker wire

But anyway, this is a post about insulation. Since the inspector put the kibosh on electricity until we’re ready for final, I figured we need to get to final more quickly. I took Wednesday and Thursday off from work and used them to run the speaker wires through the walls (sticking out of the orange boxes pictured) for seven speakers, mount the networking panel, and take care of some odds and ends inside the walls. I also burned most of a day trying unsuccessfully to feed power from the temporary pole to the main panel, but all I got were tripped breakers because the main panel is grounded.

I ordered insulation which arrived Saturday morning. I spent a long day Saturday installing it all. Well, installing all that arrived anyway. The ceiling insulation downstairs did not arrive at all (backorder), and the ceiling insulation upstairs was short a bag. I’m pleased though. I should be able to get the rest early this week and install it after work.

I called the sheetrocker too. I was hoping he’d be able to get started early this week, but he’s already busy. So, he’s starting Labor Day weekend and should be done early the following week. With him starting on the weekend, I should be able tape and texture behind him.

After work this evening, I tied the water and gas lines onto the main UFER ground which I forgot to do over the weekend. I also rewired the overhead light downstairs and installed the new fan. I was planning on a combo unit, but there was no space to vent it, so I had to switch to a separate light and fan. When I finished up with that, I called for inspection on Friday so I can get the power hooked up next week.

Fingers crossed …

You may have surmised from the lack of updates that the inspections went great and I’ve been way too busy working on the house to get around to posting anything. Or you may have surmised from the same absence that the inspections went badly and I’ve been too depressed to write anything. Of course, there are any number of other conclusions to which one could have jumped. As it turns out, though, the second one is pretty much on target.

The inspector came by on Tuesday and refused to sign anything off for one reason which he really did not articulate well. So, I tried to address that concern and brought him back on Thursday for another inspection. The result was essentially the same except that we at least got him to clarify that he wants the rough electrical, the rough plumbing and the mechanical (furnace, ducts, gas lines) all complete before he’ll sign off any of them. Argh!

So, I brought in three HVAC companies to bid on the project. Two of them complained a lot about how difficult the duct work would be with the plumbing and electrical already complete. They both recommended putting the furnace in the attic, which I find distasteful on several levels. The third company is, of all people, Sears & Roebuck. I know, I was surprised too when “& Roebuck” was mentioned over the phone. Dave, the Sears guy, was considerate enough to write up two bids (I made a similar request of All Bay HVAC, but they only sent me one), each of which was between the bids from All Bay and L.J. Kruse. Dave saw no significant problems posed by the plumbing nor electrical, even when invited by me to complain about them. He also saw the custom built furnace closet in the garage as being appropriate for its intended usage. So, Sears got the contract. The only downside with them, is the two week delay until they can start, but I’m accepting that.

My crew got all of last week off as well as the Friday after the last inspection. The crew is now down to Steve and Orlando until the siding can go up. Steve is going to do some work on the stairs and try to sweet talk the inspector into unbinding the electrical from the plumbing and mechanical so we can put up the siding sooner rather than later. It’s the end of June, and we’re still getting rain showers. Love that Global Warming mucking up our seasonal weather patterns.

Michelle and I have set a deadline for the house. If we are unable to move in by then, I’m going to sell the damn thing. In an effort to stave off getting to that point, I’m going to interview a few of contractors in the next couple of weeks to see if I can get some professional help to get us through these cursed inspections. My first two calls will be to Goddard Construction and W.B. Elmer Construction, both of which were recommended to me by the competent engineer I had on the project (i.e. the second engineer, Josh Fisher). I’m hoping that I’ll manage to get through inspections right before I would be deciding which one to hire, but I want to have one ready to step in should we fail the next inspection or fall further behind schedule.

Wow. This is a big week in my life. You know how things supposedly come in threes? Well, it seems like that applies to my life too sometimes, though I think in truth major things just happen in bunches. As humans, we like to see order where there is none, intention where there is coincidence, meaning where there is chaos. We create myths to explain the inexplicable, and superstition so we can feel an irrational control where we have no control at all. We invented luck to explain why good or bad things happen.

And then there are times when our lives become malleable. Usually, it’s because some significant change has been thrust upon us or simply becomes inevitable. As we adjust to one thing, other things must adjust as well. Or as we focus our mental energies on finding balance in life, we realize that multiple things are out of balance, and work on changing them all at once. Say you’re overextended, you figure out not just one thing to cut out of your life, but rather everything which is not adding value and cut them all at once.

These are the ramblings of a sleep deprived man. Yesterday after work, I met Michelle, Steve and Reuben at the house. Steve showed me all of the work he done cutting out my plumbing and piecing it back together, as well as a spot where he had nicked an electrical cable. Theoretically, I just needed to solder the plumbing and replace the wire. Seeing that we had a long night in front of us, Michelle and I went out to dinner before getting started. Steve and Reuben, of course, were just wrapping up their day.

The trials and tribulations of fixing the plumbing are unimportant, but suffice it to say that we worked into the wee hours of the morning until we finally finished the plumbing line. Michelle spent some of that time replacing the electrical wire, some helping me, and some sitting patiently, keeping me company. At around 2AM, I was prepared to throw in the towel, as she was extremely tired and I was exhausted. But she was willing to press on in order for the house to be ready for the inspector today. So, off she went in search of fries and a shake as I tried to fix the final leak in my newly assembled hot water line.

Anyway, after recharging on Giants fries, we finished at 3:30AM, theoretically ready for rough plumbing and rough wiring inspections today. The plumber returns today to reinstall the gas line which had to be cut in multiple places over the course of the past 4 months, and to reassemble part of the drain, waste and vent (DWV) system, which had to be disassembled yesterday in order to insert yet another joist. I wish I had a picture of this particularly cluttered portion of my house. I’ll have Michelle take one today. I think that Steve is also supposed to be ready for framing inspection today, though I’m not sure if there aren’t any more dependencies for that.

My own confluence of events this week, consists of: last night’s marathon plumbing and wiring session; today’s major inspection schedule; today’s significant meeting about the future of MacDesktops (I need to leave for that meeting very soon); tonight’s soccer game in which I am our starting goalie (as of this year); and a transition between jobs at work this week, from the department where I’ve been for the past eight years to one where I hope to finish my career.

Cross your fingers for me for those inspections today. I need all the luck I can get with this house.

Oh, I do have some pictures from the weekend, which we spent running the circuit for the smoke detectors, and running multimedia cabling (two ethernet, one telephone and a coax) throughout the house. I’ll put them up tonight along with pictures from last night. I’m out of time for the moment.