The good news is that most of the snow has melted and that is very welcomed here. We still have one pile there on the north side of the house. That area pretty much stays in the shade all the time and will probably be there for a few more weeks. The sun is strong here at 5500ft and I think we saw 70 degrees today. The snow here is different from the eastern snow that we know well. It is very dry here and cold, so the snow falls as very light fluffy stuff 95% of the time. The elevation encourages it to snow often. What we discovered this winter here, as we became snow moving aficionados, is that although the snow falls light and fluffy, but it doesn't stay that way for long. What happens is that the strong daytime sunshine at 5500 ft tends to melt the top layer of the snow, and since it stays so cold over the winter it seeps down and freezes right back. Then what looks like a pile of snow, or wherever you've left it, becomes a solid white ice mass that looks like snow, but is really hard as ice! The moral of the snow story is to move the snow the same day it falls if you can, then it is MUCH easier. We won't have to worry about that for several more months now, yay!
We will continue to see snow on Baldy Mountain through June and likely into the first days of July. The top of Baldy sits at just under 10,000 ft. That elevation really does make a big difference.
The other good news is in this picture. We have posted a picture of the completed water heater installation previously, but this shot has one small, or shall I say really BIG difference...
BOOM, there it is, that little white sticker that says we passed our final plumbing inspection by the state of Idaho. BIG difference! Now we will concentrate to bringing the electrical and HVAC to the same status.
And that is just what we set ourselves to last week. Below is the house service panel before we started. Well almost. We did install the square gray junction box just below and to the left of the service panel. The strategy there is that we will pull the 200A service conductors under the driveway in a conduit we installed last year. Those underground conductors will enter through an LB joint on the side of the garage and come directly into that little junction box. We have that little black 50A temporary line coming over from the shop now providing power while we work in the house.
Below is where we are today, well almost. We did replace the service panel cover for safety and to keep dust out of the electrical connections. What we have here is the required 200A rated service entrance cable connected to the service panel input. That big gray cable is then run down into the junction box where it is now connected to the temporary 50 A line and will eventually connect to the permanent 200A underground conductors.
This glorious picture below shows our preparation to pull the permanent 200A underground conductors. The reason it is glorious is that there are not 5 ft piles of icy snow next to each building. The shop is on the right and we will pull the 200A conductors from that little conduit stub sticking out of the ground underneath the 200A disconnect switch over to the house on the left and come out that LB joint to the left of the personnel door on the house garage wall. We put the buckets up to stop traffic from driving across our three power cords laying on the gravel driveway. We have two 20A heavy duty 100 ft extension cords coming from the shop on different circuits and the black 50A cable that is currently connected to the house service panel. That black cable was in the underground conduit until last week. We just pulled it back out so we can now pull the permanent 200A conductors in that same conduit. Until just a week or so ago we couldn't even see the conduit stub at the shop or the LB joint at the house as they were both under feet of ice and snow. Glorious I tell ya.
Another angle. The black 50A line is plugged into an RV 50A hook up on the side of the shop. There is a 20A outlet next to the RV 50A outlet and that is where one of the yellow extension cords is plugged in. The other yellow extension cord is coming from a 20A outlet inside the shop and just runs underneath an overhead door and then over to the house. You can see the stub at the shop better here. It is directly underneath the 200A disconnect switch enclosure. You may see a yellow nylon rope coming out of the stub. We pulled that into the conduit when we pulled the black 50A cable out last week. We are going to try and find a pulling strap to pull the 200A conductors. We will pull that through the conduit using the rope we left in there. There is more than you ever wanted to know about pulling underground cables. We can look back at this in a few years and say, how did we do that? And here will be the answer.
One of the last things we are preparing for is the construction of all the linen and pantry shelving and the clothes closets rods and shelves. These things are not required for occupancy so they will come after the electrical and HVAC work remaining. We found some nice 3/4 inch sanded plywood for a 30% discount. Unbelievably, one sheet of sanded 3/4 inch now goes for around $80 per 4 ft x 8ft sheet. That cost adds up fast. These things we found are hybrid plywood with some layers of particle board. The difference in weight and strength is surprisingly small as compared to pure plywood, and is not an issue for what we are doing, so big savings for us on this job. The dimensional lumber at the right will be used as ledger boards to support most all of the shelving.
This is a shot of the edge grain of the "plywood" I wouldn't know the difference myself if I wasn't told.
Well that was an abrupt place to end, but that is where we are at the end of April. All the electric needs is the permanent 200A conductors pulled over to the house and connected to the house service panel. Once we have the full electric service we can then complete the HVAC work. The HVAC needs the thermostat and the supply register covers installed, then the system will be turned on and tested for proper performance by the installing company. That is a one day job once we are on that company's schedule. We are hoping all this and the inspections can be completed in June. Hoping for early in the month... we will see. Wouldn't that be a hoot if we finished in May?!
Forgot to mention that the carpet we ordered for the two bedrooms was install this past month. Now all the floor covering is completed in the homestead. Pad installed in master bedroom below.
Pad installed in guest bedroom.
Carpet being seamed in master bedroom.
Finished guest bedroom. There, that seems more like a finished ending for a post.
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