So last night I was in quite the rush to get home and get back to working in the basement. I’m trying to make the most use of time possible to try and get everything into place before the floor heating pipes are laid — that’s literally when everything else needs to be out of the basement.
I have a funny feeling that I’m going to have a few more nights like last night for the next month or more.
First off was getting the rest of the plates in. My wrist is actually sore today from all the ramset blasts (though I admit to having fun a couple of times while Alex was on the phone — there’s just something about having to yell “FIRE IN THE HOLE” before pulling the trigger). I’m actually surprised I didn’t hurt myself, accidentally shooting a nail the wrong way or something.
I had two major issues last night laying the plates. First, there’s one part of the back wall where there are still 2×2 posts holding up the electrical panel. Due to the way it was put together, I couldn’t actually plate that section without risking knocking the power out (or something similarly nasty). I did, however, knock the water supply out when I had to pull a water pipe out of the way, and the solder joint broke free.
Another call to Canyon to have them fix that. Thankfully, they’re already heading to the house today anyway to backfill the new sewer pipes so they can start laying the heating pipes in a week or two.
The week or two I found out yesterday. Due to Calgary’s construction insanity, they couldn’t get the concrete supplier sooner, so the pour of the concrete (specifically, something called gypcrete) until almost mid-July. That means they won’t be putting the piping in until later, as well.
Frankly, this is a good thing, since I can get the framing (mostly) squared away before they need to start piping. This is good because it’s easier to erect the framing with the floor lower than the top of the base plate.
This is what I did last night — erect the first part of framing. We’ve got an electrician coming on Thursday to start the process of moving our electrical panel. In our current plans, the panel would be pretty much right in the shower. Probably not the best location for it. And given the realities of our basement, it’s probably better to move the panel than shift the bathroom to another location.
Besides, the existing panel is way too small for proper use, and doesn’t have a lot of expansion. I want to isolate rooms. After all, when my teenager manages to find music that annoys even me (it wouldn’t be hard — just play Europe’s Final Countdown), I want to be able to flip a breaker and kill the power to their room.
My dad never thought of that one.
I was hammering away until about 23:15 last night, realizing that I was also getting quite sweaty from the work, and unable to shower. Not a good position to be in. The framing slid into its new home, which will be the basis for new the panel location. It’s not a perfect framing location, as the studs aren’t aligned “properly”, due to a new rough-in, and the existing gas meter (to be moved outside when the gas is realigned for the heating system). Once all that’s in, I can finish that wall more easily. The other walls I can handle for now.
