Construction Journal Entry Week of 5/30/10

6/2-4/10 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Wednesday through Friday.

Jury duty ended on Tuesday so I simply shifted my schedule by a day and didn’t lose any time. I went to Home Depot before I left and ended up talking with Woody and an ex-IBMer named George, whom he works with, for about an hour. I didn’t arrive at Camp Serendipity until 1:50.

I was promptly met by Bert and Ernie. It was raining lightly so I decided to postpone trying to make another GPS map. The weather was supposed to be better the next day.

I had bought some fertilizer and some super plant food to try to revive Ellen’s giant sequoia tree. I mixed some in water and went up and watered Ellen’s tree and Bill’s tree. I hope it works.

Next I decided to install the conduit from the phony log in the loft to the wiring closet in the pantry. I had bought the 1” PVC conduit at Home Depot before I left. First I ran the vertical section of the conduit up through the loft floor and up inside the phony log. It terminates right behind the box for the telephone jack and can be used for whatever application comes up in the future. For now it will just be on standby.

I stretched a tight string under the loft joists from the vertical conduit to the wiring closet and used it to mark each joist where a hole for the conduit run needed to be made. Then I started making the holes in the joist webs using a 2” hole saw. As soon as the saw broke through on the first hole, the lights went out. I had hit a wire on the other side of the joist and cut through it. I felt really stupid. Now I would have to repair that wire. It ran from Box N to the bedroom light fixture so it was pretty easy to replace. It took a while to do though and I didn’t like the waste of time.

When the wire was repaired and the lights were back on, I started drilling the hole in the second joist. As soon as the saw broke through the living room lights went out. I had cut through a second wire that was stapled behind the second joist. Now I felt really, really stupid. I made a vow that I would check both sides of each joist twice from now on.

This second wire couldn’t be easily replaced because it runs up through the corner of the loft to get up into the living room ceiling. I decided to cut it and install a junction box in the closet ceiling with a new piece of wire going to Box K where the switch is. I went in for the night wondering how I could have been so dumb – twice.

On Thursday, I built a scaffold inside the bedroom closet so I could work on the joists while sitting on a chair. Then I installed junction Box R and a new piece of wire from there to Box K to repair the second broken wire. Since I had to open up Box K, I decided to complete the wiring there. I had decided to use the second switch in Box K for a future ceiling fan instead of track lights as I had originally planned. I also decided to take power from Box K on circuit 4 for the ventilation fan. I rebuilt Box K with these modifications and the living room lights were restored.

Two of the three new wires coming out of Box K needed to go up through the phony log in the loft. One needed to go to the fan switch in the phony log and the other needed to continue through the phony log and up into the rafters heading for the future ceiling fan site. I got both these wires fished up through the phony log.

I was now ready to drill a hole in the third joist but by then it was lunch time. I went in for lunch and a nap.

The weather was nice and clear so I got the GPS out and made another map. This time I knew a few things to do differently than before. It should make a more accurate map. We’ll see.

I went back to work drilling holes through loft joists for the conduit, but this time I checked both sides of each joist where I was going to drill. I drilled the rest of the holes successfully without hitting any more wires. I felt a little vindicated.

With the holes drilled, and with a little effort, I installed the conduit in the holes and completed the run. I didn’t glue the joints because I didn’t see the point.

On Friday morning, it was cold and raining. I started a fire in the wood stove which made it cozy and comfortable working inside. I strung the loft phone wire up through the phony log and alongside the conduit running to the wiring closet. I decided not to take up room in the conduit for the phone wire since I had access to the joists. That will leave more room for whatever uses for the conduit might come along.

Next, I vacuumed the joists in the areas where I had cut holes. There was fine sawdust in the flanges that I figured should be cleaned up. While sitting on the chair on the scaffold in the bedroom closet, I also vacuumed the tops of the wall plates, the door headers, the main loft beam, and any other surface up there that might be holding dust. I hope this is the last mess I make up there before the drywall goes up.

With the joists all cleaned up, I dismantled the scaffold and put the planks and boards away. I cleaned up a little and put away a few tools and still had some time left to work on the boxes in the phony log. I installed the thermostat in Box Q and got a good start on installing Box P which will house the ventilation master switch. I forgot that one of the wires was hot and I hadn’t turned the breaker off. As a result, I got mildly zapped a couple times by wire number 333 when I pulled it into the box. Another reminder to be careful.

I left for home at 1:30 happy with my progress in spite of my stupidity.



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