24 May 2016

Sonny and Brandon installed the two back panels for the guest bath neoangle shower in the morning.  In the afternoon they built the wood and cement board “foundation” for the front entry porch.  Their construction will be covered by ½″ black slate, which we ordered from Vermont Specialty Slate today.  Eric Mills returned to the fold this morning, putting the tape and first coat of mud on the garage walls and ceiling.  Steve installed the cartridge water filter (that will remove impurities like iron from all of the domestic-use water), the water softener (that will soften the heated domestic-use water), and the hot-water circulating pump (that will ensure we have near-instantaneous hot water at every fixture).  I ripped out (literally) the two-gang junction box that Tom installed for the stove last week.  Then I cut open the wall to put in a two-gang junction box (lying on its side so the stove plug will fit into the outlet without the cord being severely bent) about 5 inches further to the left of where Tom had installed the previous box.  The drywall between the two caverns failed, of course, causing an even bigger mess than I had made already.  Whatever you do, don’t investigate the wall structure behind the stove!  Which is another way of saying: joint compound can cover a thousand sins.  That nightmare over, I tackled connecting the electrical wire to the air handler in the mechanical room.  Should have been a 15 minute job; another nightmare… that lasted all afternoon.  Chree started cleaning the master bath and master bedroom, getting those spaces pretty much ready for occupancy.