The Mancil Family House: Plumbing, Heating, Electrical, Roof, Insultation, Etc.

Well, a lot has happened in the last two weeks. The framers finished up at the beginning part of the week before last. The plumbers were the first to come in after that (Wednesday). They did their work in about a day, even putting in our tubs, which was kind of cool to see. Later on that week, we had a walk through with the electrician to go over what outlets we wanted where and what upgrades we needed done. Man, they really do get you with those upgrades. Anyway, the heating guy came in over Friday and Saturday that week and put in the heating system. We are having them put a zone system in where the bonus room will have its own thermostat, the main level will have one, and the basement will have one. They all run off the same furnace, though, so that is cool. Hopefully, we can save money with it and keep the house temperatures under control. Bad thing about it was that there was a lot more unexpected duct work that had to be run which makes our ceilings in the basement a little on the low side, but it's still workable.

On Monday, the electrician came and put in the electrical. Man, does he work fast. He finished up on Tuesday morning and they had the four way inspection on Tuesday. I had a few things I wanted to put in the house, electrical-wise, myself to save money. Nothing big, just some speaker wire in the ceiling and more ethernet connections in all the rooms. I got a call on Monday late afternoon that they were going to put insulation in on Wednesday, so I needed to run my wire on Monday and Tuesday nights. Well, Monday night was pretty much shot already, but my brother in law Bryan came to the rescue with some lights and labor. We were able to run all the ethernet wire that night, which was a lot of work. Thanks Bryan!! Then on Tuesday, I took half a day off of work to run the speaker wire into the kitchen. I had to get on the top of my ladder to attach the wire to the trusses in the vaulted ceiling (about 18 feet in the air). I am not good with ladders, but was able to get wire enough for four speakers in the kitchen. I wanted to run some in the family room as well, but my bravery and the daylight were waning, so I called it good. On Wednesday, the insulation guys came in and put the insulation in. I spotted a spot that needed insulation for sound proofing, so on Friday, I came in with Josh and Daniel and put some insulation in the wall between the family room and the master bedroom to keep the TV noise to a minimum in the bedroom. That was fun, and I found out how much a pain in the butt insulation is to cut and work with. Still, it only took me a couple of hours to put it in, so over all it wasn't too bad. The next day, Saturday, the roofers came out to put shingles on. When I went into the basement, I noticed that there was no insulation in the ceiling in the finished area. I guess it is considered an extra, not a standard. I looked at the time and it was about 4:30 in the afternoon. Great. So I grabbed my headlamp for light, got in the truck, and ran to Lowes to pick up, yet, some more insulation to put in the ceiling of about 1/3 the basement. Some is better than none. I remembered to get my respirator and my coat and gloves. I forgot about goggles. When I worked on the wall in the upstairs, it was in an open area and my eyes weren't bothered by the insulation. Not so in the basement. I bought two bags of precut batts and it was all I could do to put those in with fiberglass falling down into my eyes. My eyes were stinging the rest of the night, but the insulation is now in place.

Here are the pics of the work (except for the basement work, which I haven't taken yet.)

Here is the roof with the tar paper up.

Here is Rebecca's new jetted tub. YEAH!

Here is one of the kid's tubs.

Our 2nd Washer and Dryer hookup in the basement.

Ductwork, Ductwork, and more Ductwork!!

Wiring for my control center at the desk we are having put in. I added two extra ether net cables, 4 pairs of speaker wire (for speaker use or general use), and a coax line for a cable modem.