Vacation and housework
Theresa and I decided to blow off our family obligations this year and take a little vacation. We drove up to Monterey and saw the Aquarium. We had a great time, though Monterey's specialty is definitely seafood which is sort of wasted on Theresa and I. On the way back we took highway 1 and stopped at Hearst Castle. That stretch of the 1 has to be just about the beautiful stretch of rode in the world. All in all, it was a great vacation. We took a bunch of pictures that we'll hopefully put online someday.
I spent most of the day today working on the back house. I'm pulling a new circuit to the back house for the kitchenette. I finished the hard part (pulling the two new wires through the conduit to the back house) but I still have to do the dangerous part (connecting the new circuit at the panel). I was expecting to have some trouble pulling the new circuit, but I wasn't expecting quite as much trouble as I got. Note: just because the conduit you're pulling wires through is technically big enough according to code does not mean you will physically be able to pull the wires through. The underground conduit running to the back house is one inch, so I managed with a little brute force to get the new wires through it. Unfortunately, the last leg of the journey is a through a half in piece of flexible conduit that has a nasty bend in it. I tried for quite a while to force the two new cables I needed through, but it wasn't happening. Just getting the wire puller back out of the conduit was hard enough. Unfortunately, that meant I had to open up the wall and run a new piece of conduit for the new circuit. It's a minor annoyance but it meant I wasn't able to finish it up tonight, which was kind of disheartening. But still, the major electrical work is almost done.
Last weekend, I put in the new the hot and cold water lines for the kitchenette. I split the new hook ups off right near the water heater in the laundry room. That meant replacing and old elbow joint with the T joint. The back house is piped with galvanized steel, so in theory replacing the joint just meant unscrewing the old joint and putting in the new one. Of course, it didn't end up being that simple. The old joints had corroded to the point where it had basically fused. I ended up having to use a hacksaw to cut the joint apart. I think the problem was whoever installed the old pipes didn't put any teflon tape in the joint.
So now the electrical, plumbing and drain lines are prepared for the kitchenette. Theresa and I also finished all the painting so the back house really looks great. We furnished it with stuff from craigslist and ikea, so as soon as we finish the kitchenette, we'll be already to rent it out.
I spent most of the day today working on the back house. I'm pulling a new circuit to the back house for the kitchenette. I finished the hard part (pulling the two new wires through the conduit to the back house) but I still have to do the dangerous part (connecting the new circuit at the panel). I was expecting to have some trouble pulling the new circuit, but I wasn't expecting quite as much trouble as I got. Note: just because the conduit you're pulling wires through is technically big enough according to code does not mean you will physically be able to pull the wires through. The underground conduit running to the back house is one inch, so I managed with a little brute force to get the new wires through it. Unfortunately, the last leg of the journey is a through a half in piece of flexible conduit that has a nasty bend in it. I tried for quite a while to force the two new cables I needed through, but it wasn't happening. Just getting the wire puller back out of the conduit was hard enough. Unfortunately, that meant I had to open up the wall and run a new piece of conduit for the new circuit. It's a minor annoyance but it meant I wasn't able to finish it up tonight, which was kind of disheartening. But still, the major electrical work is almost done.
Last weekend, I put in the new the hot and cold water lines for the kitchenette. I split the new hook ups off right near the water heater in the laundry room. That meant replacing and old elbow joint with the T joint. The back house is piped with galvanized steel, so in theory replacing the joint just meant unscrewing the old joint and putting in the new one. Of course, it didn't end up being that simple. The old joints had corroded to the point where it had basically fused. I ended up having to use a hacksaw to cut the joint apart. I think the problem was whoever installed the old pipes didn't put any teflon tape in the joint.
So now the electrical, plumbing and drain lines are prepared for the kitchenette. Theresa and I also finished all the painting so the back house really looks great. We furnished it with stuff from craigslist and ikea, so as soon as we finish the kitchenette, we'll be already to rent it out.