Day 28

Although the builder is responsible for overall construction, for various reasons Kim & I held back parts of the project to do or have done ourselves. One part was the flooring in the guest room (old master bedroom). Originally carpeted, I spent one Saturday morning removing the particle board underlayment in preparation of hardwoods. The picture below was taken from the doorway of the old master bath, and shows the new framing erected to define the new hallway to Big Tub.

A project with a big tub would obviously be complemented by a corresponding big door. This nine foot long monster will be mounted in the den to correct the architect’s first boo-boo.

In preparation of Big Door, the window seat, and valances were removed prior to the framers’ arrival. Here’s one last look at the den’s wall before Big Door is mounted:

R&S Electric sent over master electrician Buck and his helper Brandon to wire Big Tub. These men accomplished an incredible amount of quality work in a very short amount of time. I’m glad I happened to be home at the time because Buck suggested a few improvements over the existing electrical plan which he would not have done without homeowner approval.

Part of my master plan was to have the foundation crawlspace of Big Tub connect to the existing crawlspace. In talking to the builder, I found that he did not necessarily share my vision perhaps because, as we both knew, the only location the crawlspace could be was where the old fireplace was. It had only been demolished to floor joist level, and there was going to be a lot of block & brick still there.

As no quality time had been spent underneath Big Tub yet, I trotted down to the local tool rental yard, and rented an electric “chipping hammer”. While somewhat insubstantial sounding in name, this thing weighed in at around 40 pounds, and was lotsa fun to drag under the addition & use.

However it was the right tool for the right job. Buck appreciated having the connecting hole as his original plan for pulling the main electrical service wire involved going up & down walls. With the new access hole in place, a straight pull simplified his task.

Big Door should be installed tomorrow. The HVAC & roofing crews may also come. Stay tuned!