It has been 1O months...

...since I last posted.

Here's what I have been doing since then.

January... got rid of all the old knob and tube wiring in the basement


The house is all rewired but there is still old stuff in the garage. Do you like this tuna can receptacle?


February, March and April in were spent in a funk and I couldn't get my mind around doing anything but sorting Legos














May
Worked on the sewing studio


June
Stripped the stairs and landing


July
Spent three weeks in China!!

Hangzhou


Shanghai


Beijing

Three wonderful weeks visiting my son and his girlfriend and seeing as much of China as possible.

August
Tore up the kitchen floor and emptied out the main level of the house



September
Had all the wood floors stripped, sanded and refinished


October, November
Stripping trim, restoring windows, painting, aargh it has been a full year. The house is still empty and working like crazy to get the windows back in their frames.

Too darn difficult

This was difficult. This the last overhead light that needed to be wired. The house had all knob and tube wiring when I bought it and I have been working the past 5+ years to rewire it. It is a 1 1/2 story cape code with walk-in attic space in the upper level. This has made rewiring fairly simple. Lift attic floor boards for complete access to the ceiling fixtures in the rooms below.
This light is in a hallway nearer to the center of the house- not easy to access. There is a carpeted, finished room above. I could write about how I did it but would take too long. I used a fish tape, wire hanger and a metal hook you stick in the ground and hang a plant on, no kidding. Maybe I could have cut more holes in the wall but I hate patching plaster. Just one access hole cut in the upper right of the picture.

Yes, I still have my Christmas tree up... 12 days of Christmas or something like that..

Here is the access hole.

















I have cool arches above my tub and toilet in the bathroom and it is weird to see them from above. I swear I can hide a family in there during the occupation... sshhh

What you see on the right is the vent pipe for the bathroom exhaust fan. A bit of insulation work needed there. There is the arch above the toilet just below the cardboard square. You can see a portion of the arch above the tub and the shower pipe entering the ceiling of the arch. Make sense?? But this is not the area I needed to access.
...
















Here is the flip side...
..pictures of the bathroom work to come another time...

This way....
There is the wire, the old and the new. I just need to hang the fixture, put in the switch, patch the access hole near the ceiling, hook it up to live power and ... take down the Christmas decorations.


We have had lots of snow in the past few weeks.
My dog, Rosa.

Inner Light

I have been working on insulating my attic for the past year. (My house is a 1 1/2 story cape cod) Of course there was some wiring to be done while access was available. That stalled the insulating progress. I am so ready to be done with this side of the house. Today found me rewiring the light above the sink. That light has been out for about 4 years when some the original knob and tube wiring was cut and I lost power to the fixture.

Today my plan was to run power from the center kitchen ceiling lamp to the light over the sink. I cut a hole in the cabinet (ignoring that famous advice of "don't cut old wood" but there was was no way around it that would be safe). I guess I could have screwed a pancake box on to the surface but went the other way. How do you like that bright orange paint inside the cupboards?

I cut the hole, inserted the box, snaked the wire through and then tried to figure out the connections. The main kitchen ceiling light is a three way. Power comes in at one of the switches at one side of the room and there is another switch at the other side of the room with a light in the middle. My thought was to join the above-the-sink light to that loop. The above-the-sink light will temporarily have a pull chain (as it did originally) until I do the big kitchen remodel and can get into the walls to install a switch.

I got the light installed and wired and then worked to make the connection to the ceiling light. Ground-to-ground, got it. White-to-white, OK. Now where do I connect the black? I want the ceiling light to continue to run by the switches, no changes there, and the above-the-sink light to operate by the pull chain. I have three choices for connection. Black-to black- nope, the above-the-sink light is on and off with the switches. Black-to-red, no- same thing. Then black to white- funniest one here- when I flip the switch the ceiling light goes off and the above-the-sink light goes on. Ceiling light goes on and the above-the-sink light goes off. Cracked me up!! Not what I want at all. Believe me, I have a healthy respect for electricity. I check my book of wiring diagrams, I can find nothing close. I call both brothers (master electricians) for advice, neither are home.

In the end, I settle for three way switches controlling both lights. It will have to do until I can get some advice from my brother.

Edit: Brother said it can't be done. Power comes in at the switch. I need to run a separate line that is not switched.