Just had a big hole dug in my front yard

Iplayfarmer · Jun 7, 2010

We're more behind schedule and more over budget.

This is the nature of working on a 60 year-old house. Every time I turn around there's more to fix. I was planning on finishing up the basement electrical Friday night and moving on to the upstairs electrical. I made some progress Friday, but I spent a good portion of Saturday replacing rotten boards in the old walls that I had intended to leave. I feel really good for having done it. I'm glad I decided to look closer and find the rotten boards now rather than realizing two years down the road when the wall started falling apart.

We were originally targeting the Fourth of July as the day to have inspections done so that we could at least have a working bathroom for guests that are visiting for the holiday. I think I have the GC (my wife) convinced to relax that date and let me take the time to do the right things the right way. We'll all have to get along and share the one bathroom we have upstairs.

Iplayfarmer · Jun 14, 2010

I have grass now! I took some pictures this morning with my new camera phone, but I'm still working on getting the pictures from the phone to the computer. (The camera won't recognize my micro SD card.) When I get the phone figured out I'll post the pics.

I also ran my network this weekend. I took Friday off, and my BIL came up from Utah to help out. He had some pretty good ideas and donated some materials to the cause. I have pictures of the network too that I'll post when I win the argument with my camera phone. We ran over 2,000 feet of cable between Coax and Cat. 6.

One of the better ideas, I think, was to wire the phone into a network block instead of a 110 block. I have 3 ports of the 12 port block wired together, and the other 9 are wired together. This allows me to bring the unfiltered signal into one of the 3 and out another to the DSL modem. The third port has a DSL filter attached which then plugs into one of the 9.

The Cat. 6 lines coming in from the house are all wired into four 12 port blocks on the bottom of the panel. Some are wired for phone on the other end, and some are wired for ethernet. I can run a short rj45 cable from any of the 9 connected phone ports to any of the ports on the bottom 4 blocks to send a filtered signal anywhere in the house I want. I can even send a phone signal to an ethernet port in the dining room, etc. if I want. The rj11 male phone jacks do plug into an RJ45 female ethernet jack and it works.

I'm pleased with the end result. I only have one computer right now that is wired, and everything else is wireless. The whole exercise of running the network was to create some flexibility for future expansion. The system as it is set up is definately flexible.

Iplayfarmer · Jun 14, 2010

I gave up on the camera phone for now and asked my wife to take some pictures. See below.

The first picture is of the grass. This is about a month post planting.
The second picture is the network box.
The third is of the inside of the network box.
The fourth is the back of the network box showing the wires coming into it. The side of the wall visible in this picture is going to be sheetrocked, but the other side (the front of the box) will remain unfinished.

dcyrilc · Jun 14, 2010

Looks like you got a lot done.:thumbsup:

buckeyefarmer · Jun 18, 2010

Iplayfarmer said:
I gave up on the camera phone for now and asked my wife to take some pictures. See below.

The first picture is of the grass. This is about a month post planting.
The second picture is the network box.
The third is of the inside of the network box.
The fourth is the back of the network box showing the wires coming into it. The side of the wall visible in this picture is going to be sheetrocked, but the other side (the front of the box) will remain unfinished.

Are you sure your not transforming into eepete? :laughing: Guess not, not enough wires yet.

Looking good! For being an EE myself, my wiring is starting to look lame compared to you guys.

Iplayfarmer · Jun 18, 2010

buckeyefarmer said:
Are you sure your not transforming into eepete? :laughing: Guess not, not enough wires yet.
Looking good! For being an EE myself, my wiring is starting to look lame compared to you guys.

I'm intentionally overreacting. I've lived in this 60-year-old house for almost a decade, and the lack of wiring has taken its toll on me. I'm trying to "future proof" my home as much as practical.

Not only have I overdone it on the network, but I've put outlets every 6 feet or so vs. the code requirement of 12.

Iplayfarmer · Jun 21, 2010

More baby steps this weekend.

We put up four posts for the porch railing. I learned something in the process.

Drill the holes in the wood just slightly oversized. Not only did I find I needed to remove the boards a few times in the measuring and checking process, but I found that the mollys would occasionally flare out in the wood before they even got to the concrete. Once I got a drill bit that was one size larger than the bolt the process went a lot smoother.

In addition to the porch I got a few more smoke alarms wired, and I re-built some furniture to fit the new playroom that will be attached to the salon.

Iplayfarmer · Jun 21, 2010

Here's a picture of the porch so far.

dcyrilc · Jun 21, 2010

Iplayfarmer said:
More baby steps this weekend.

We put up four posts for the porch railing. I learned something in the process.

Drill the holes in the wood just slightly oversized. Not only did I find I needed to remove the boards a few times in the measuring and checking process, but I found that the mollys would occasionally flare out in the wood before they even got to the concrete. Once I got a drill bit that was one size larger than the bolt the process went a lot smoother.

In addition to the porch I got a few more smoke alarms wired, and I re-built some furniture to fit the new playroom that will be attached to the salon.

A trick I like, is to use paddle bits and drill the first part of the hole about 1/2" deep with one the size of the washer, then finish with the size for the bolt. This allows the nut and washer to recess into the wood for a more finished look.

BTW, that porch is looking awsome!:thumbsup:

Iplayfarmer · Jun 22, 2010

More progress on the porch. These are all of the boards that we have painted for now. Next is to measure off of what's already up and cut out rails and stiles for the rest of the railing.