Kitchen Remodel: Day 7

Monday, September 21, 2009

Today was a later start: 9am.  Thomas called in sick.  Though he was worried he would give our kids his cold, we told him it was probably more likely that our kids gave it to him.  In any case, Seth appeared in his place this morning along with the first construction visit from the electricians, headed by Jim Hiatt of Hiatt Electric.  I though this might be a dull morning, but we needed to discuss a bunch of things before they could start to make sure we were all clear.  Ideally, of course, all this would have been perfect on the plans already, and some was, but some things we decided to change later.

Sunday night a our fridge started to trip the circuit breaker where it was temporarily plugged in above the countertop.  Jim did plugged the fridge into a different, non GFCI outlet, and that seems to have fixed the problem.  Apparently GFCI circuits don't often play well with refridgerators.

One of the switches on the dual switch to the right of the kitchen deck door was disabled a year or so ago when we had someone try to fix an electrical problem.  He couldn't figure out the issue and ended up just leaving the switch disconnected.  We decided that, though we didn't have a use for it now, it would be more problematic to remove it, so we are keeping it disconnected, as-is.

We also needed to make sure that Jim was comfortable with the heater system we had chosen, and had to order it and the controls.  We've decided to go with a pair of identical heaters to the outside of each light located in the center above each set of doors to the deck.  We're getting them from Infratech, which seems to be the manufacturer of choice for a lot of outdoor restaurant seating we see.  We're very excited to have these, since it'll add more comfort to our luxurious deck in the evenings much of the year.  We're looking forward to having people visit and we can sit out there drinking wine even after sunset.  Anyway, Jen spent time last week on the phone with them making sure everything would work and choosing the right model.  Today she ordered it and a dual-dial control for it, which will be installed outside the laundry area.  Not that that is the best place, I think, but it is the most logical since then they won't have to tear apart another wall to install the controls.

We decided to keep the light that is in the ceiling in what was the entry to the kitchen, near the stereo cabinet.  It may be a bit useless now, but why take it out when it's already there?  We just decided to put it on it's own switch on the wall nearby.

They took off a faceplate and found some kind of insect next.  No insects, though.  We have had ants come out of the outlets in the past, especially in Winter, and I suspect this was remnants of one of those infestations.  Hopefully it's not termites.  Later when we tear off more of that wall we'll see if there are any expensive surprises - great.

The one thing we hadn't done over the weekend is choose the new locations for the sconces on the inner wall of the dining room.  Though the cabinet doesn't cover up the existing holes, they are too close together.  All along we had intended to move them further toward the outer walls, but hadn't yet picked exactly how far.

The right one was easy - center it between the (will-be) outer wall of the cabinet and the wall on the right.

For the left one, though, Seth had an excellent thought - perhaps we shouldn't put them back up at all, or at least not the one near the kitchen.  He pointed out that that space is an excellent location for artwork, and a sconce there would basically take up all the room, leaving the remaining space too small for much of anything else.  After thinking it over for a few hours we agreed; We're going to not re-install a sconce there, despite that meaning that we now have matching sconces in three corners of the room but not the fourth.  We think that won't be an issue, and the remaining sconces, as well as the new center light and new pendant lights, will provide plenty for the room.  Also, in the future, if someone wants to put a large digital display (read: TV) on the wall viewable from the kitchen and dining room, that is an ideal place.  We refuse to do it now, but I can certainly see it in the future.

They put in the new location for the ceiling light, centered over where the table will be, not the center of the room where you'll hit your head on it:

Yes, this is our dining room right now.

The electricians worked until 4pm, though there isn't much to show for it unless you want to go digging around in the crawlspaces and walls.  Just things like the relocated holes in the walls for the new sconces and ceiling lights.