Renovating my house in the suburbs

[Muhammad]

Got the living room beams finished up. I want to make one more beam for the dining room but will do that when other stuff is done.

If you're curious about the spacing, look at the fireplace and windows which is what I based the placement on.

 

[grsthegreat]

holy cow.....i forgot how sucky calif building codes are. i have replaced quite a few federal pacific (Zinsco) panels over the years....Zinsco used to advertise "Our breakers NEVER trip". here they allow the old panel to act as a junction box as long as the front (dead front cover) can be sealed with a padlock or a couple of screws. if you need old panel removed, you have to fish from nearest outlet/switch/appliance to new panel.

there used to be a company that made styrofoam beams ,and such, that were hard to tell from real wood. i remember using them many moons ago. i guess they figure, there up there 12 feet, whos to know. i guess companies like them still exist Faux Wood Beams - Foam Ceiling Beams

when replacing service here you can reuse old conduits as long as they meet current sizing restrictions set forth by NEC codes. as far as pulling thru existing conduit, as long as you can tie it onto your truck and yank it thru, good to go. (Im not joking)

 

[dragoneggs]

Got the living room beams finished up. I want to make one more beam for the dining room but will do that when other stuff is done.

If you're curious about the spacing, look at the fireplace and windows which is what I based the placement on. View attachment 672110View attachment 672111

That's fantastic!

 

[MossRoad]

That looks great! :thumbsup:

 

[Muhammad]

holy cow.....i forgot how sucky calif building codes are. i have replaced quite a few federal pacific (Zinsco) panels over the years....Zinsco used to advertise "Our breakers NEVER trip". here they allow the old panel to act as a junction box as long as the front (dead front cover) can be sealed with a padlock or a couple of screws. if you need old panel removed, you have to fish from nearest outlet/switch/appliance to new panel.

there used to be a company that made styrofoam beams ,and such, that were hard to tell from real wood. i remember using them many moons ago. i guess they figure, there up there 12 feet, whos to know. i guess companies like them still exist Faux Wood Beams - Foam Ceiling Beams

when replacing service here you can reuse old conduits as long as they meet current sizing restrictions set forth by NEC codes. as far as pulling thru existing conduit, as long as you can tie it onto your truck and yank it thru, good to go. (Im not joking)

Thanks guys.

Yeah I've seen the Styrofoam beams... still would have been $6k for those.

Biggest issue I ran into was cupping of the wood, and in fact the wood I bought was already cupped. The miter edges separated even more as I left them out in the hottest heat wave we've ever had in California. I think to do these right you really need straight lumber and a climate stable environment for the wood.

Speaking of California, yes it's really silly with the building codes. Just heard from somebody about a palm tree growing near an electric transformer box. The homeowner wanted to remove the palm to stop it from possibly damaging underground lines... power company came out and said if you damage the line while removing it, they'll charge $50,000 to fix it.

Well it just so happens the next week an unidentified driver smashed into the transformer and took off. The power company came out and told the homeowner that they (power company) needed to remove the palm tree to repair the transformer. No charge to the homeowner.

So that's one way homeowners are getting stuff done.

As for me I'm just going to keep the stab-lok until I need to trench for something else. Maybe I'll look for a main breaker on ebay to keep as a backup in case mine ever fails.

 

[MossRoad]

....
As for me I'm just going to keep the stab-lok until I need to trench for something else. Maybe I'll look for a main breaker on ebay to keep as a backup in case mine ever fails.

That's a good idea. Right after we bought our current house, with the old electrical panel, I changed out a few breakers. I found an electrical supply salvage company. Kinda weird. But it was an old school just stuffed with salvaged electrical components. Looked like an episode of Hoarders! They had replacement components for just about anything ever made. We got a bunch of stuff for my employer, and I found stuff for my house, so picked them up cheap. Unfortunately, they are now out of business. However, e-bay should be a good place to look.

 

[EddieWalker]

Speaking of California, yes it's really silly with the building codes. Just heard from somebody about a palm tree growing near an electric transformer box. The homeowner wanted to remove the palm to stop it from possibly damaging underground lines... power company came out and said if you damage the line while removing it, they'll charge $50,000 to fix it.

I left CA in 2002 and it's amazing to me how much the state has changed. I just learned about the True Up fee from PG&E. A friend in Gilroy has 2,900 square feet and 80 solar panels. She just got a bill for $2.703.25 because she used too much electricity during the heat wave. Friends in the Bay Area are commenting about how much their True Up bill is and one said it was $3,500!!!!

 

[Muhammad]

I left CA in 2002 and it's amazing to me how much the state has changed. I just learned about the True Up fee from PG&E. A friend in Gilroy has 2,900 square feet and 80 solar panels. She just got a bill for $2.703.25 because she used too much electricity during the heat wave. Friends in the Bay Area are commenting about how much their True Up bill is and one said it was $3,500!!!!

Yeah that's crazy, we are lucky enough here in San Diego that the just turn our power off when they run out.

 

[grsthegreat]

I left CA in 2002 and it's amazing to me how much the state has changed. I just learned about the True Up fee from PG&E. A friend in Gilroy has 2,900 square feet and 80 solar panels. She just got a bill for $2.703.25 because she used too much electricity during the heat wave. Friends in the Bay Area are commenting about how much their True Up bill is and one said it was $3,500!!!!

holy crap.........im so glad i left that hole 27 years ago. I thought it was bad then.

 

[MossRoad]

I left CA in 2002 and it's amazing to me how much the state has changed. I just learned about the True Up fee from PG&E. A friend in Gilroy has 2,900 square feet and 80 solar panels. She just got a bill for $2.703.25 because she used too much electricity during the heat wave. Friends in the Bay Area are commenting about how much their True Up bill is and one said it was $3,500!!!!

I thought that true up deal was an annual settling of the bill for people with solar panels. The way I read that, your friend used $2700 more in electricity for the year than she produced. Her solar system wasn't sized large enough to cover her usage, so she had to buy power from PG&E. At least I think that's the case. :confused3: