Hot Wire!

Up near 815am to partly cloudy skies and warm, sultry temps. Already 74 degrees. I started coffee then played on the internet until the boys showed up around 9am. Lindsey was working the holiday. Not sure if it was mandatory or simply OT. The boys were bright eyed and bushy tailed. Predictably, Landon asked for coffee. He likes fru-fru coffee just like me.  I had to admonish both not five minutes after they arrived for fighting, and it looked like Landon was being the aggressor.

A little bit later Mindy must’ve woke and let the pug downstairs. I asked Landon if he’d walk the pug. He happily agreed to do it. Always does. Mindy was up and downstairs around 945am. Once she was up, I was free to head out for a run. And like I do on most holidays, I treated it much like a weekend day and ran just three miles. Hot, humid, sweaty run.

Home from a run near 1045am., all the kids were off playing sports in Evan’s backyard. I made something to eat and then got busy again in the basement. My primary goal was to install the rest of the outlets and switches and possibly even tie in the two junction boxes for the two circuit feeds.

I developed a pretty good routine going outlet to outlet until all ten were cut in. It was about then that I realized/remembering that there were several canned lights still needing cut in too. I did those next. By the time those were completed I decided to keep plugging away, moving on to the main switch box at the foot of the stairs that houses the switches for the 4 lighting zones. That took a little while.

Still feeling motivated, I moved on to the two junction boxes that splits the two 15amp power feeds for lights and outlets. I made sure to label all the wires inside the jct. boxes as well as on the joist. Spent about an hour addressing that. Still midafternoon, I decided to tackle cutting the two new circuits into the breaker box. When I started a few hours earlier, I didn’t think I’d get nearly as far as I had.

I was very focused working in the panel box. And since the box is effectively at capacity, I needed to move some wiring around to make room for the two new circuits. Of course I left the new tandem breaker in the off mode, but left the others on. I took extra care not to make any wrong moves. Took some doing but soon had both ready to insert for power. Success, or at least I thought. The true test, of course, would be firing up the breakers and testing the outlets. I also deployed a few CFL bulbs in can light fixtures to test each of the three lighting zones.

One by one I activated the main switch box. Success! Next, I checked each outlet with my trouble light. 8 of the 10 worked. Two did not. Oops! I forgot that I hadn’t yet completed that circuit branch with the recent boxed in support pole. Duh! I quickly turned off the breaker impacting zones 2 & 3, which that branch is part of. In addition, I still need to add ceramic closet light fixtures. Obviously, I left those two switches in the off position.

Mindy came calling while I had my hands in the breaker box. I had no choice but to shew her away with my personal safety being paramount. With the breaker box work done, at least for two of the four circuits, I decided to complete one more big step, which was moving the existing three-way switch that controls the basement lights from the top and bottom of the basement stairs into the new 4-switch box. I was careful when mounting the new 4-switch housing so that I’d have enough wire to reach. And as it turned out, there was just enough length, though I had to drill another 1 inch access hole in the top plate very close to the adjoining stud. Felt good with all I accomplished.

I spent another 15 minutes cleaning up my mess. When I headed upstairs, I was surprised to find not only my dad over, but also Jimaken. Mindy, by the way, was busy making dinner. I invited Mindy and dad to come down to the basement to see my progress. To complete zone 1-3 lighting and outlets, I still need to wire in outlets in the newly boxed in support post and then install the ceramic ceiling light fixtures in the two closets. After that I’ll move on to running the two 20amp feeds – one for the kitchen and one for the bathroom. Those should go much faster. The family room alone has 17 can lights, 10 outlets, and 7 switches. That’s a lot of stuff.

During my toil in the basement, I became completely disconnected from the goings on upstairs. For example, I had no idea what we were having for dinner. Mindy, as it turned out, was grilling beef kabobs. Yum! Oh, and Jimaken was over simply to drop off Bella’s viola. She apparently left it there over the weekend.

It was near 530pm when Lindsey showed up to pick-up the boys. Mindy was in the process of grilling. Lindsey didn’t stick around long. As soon as she had both boys in hand, they departed. We still had some time before sitting for dinner, so I headed upstairs for a shower. We sat for dinner near 6pm. The beef kabobs were delicious. They’re not always as tasty as they look. Oh, she bought them at Kroger.

We had plenty of leftovers. Neither I nor dad could finish our kabobs. In fact, I’m pretty sure that Mindy was the only one who ate the entire deal. Mindy bagged up dad’s leftovers so he could take them home. Speaking of dad, he hung around for about an hour after dinner. Guessing it was near 730pm when he headed for home.

Spent the rest of the evening relaxing. My hands ached from all the wiring work I’d completed over the long weekend. In addition to achy hands, the three-day weekend was largely a blur after spending a lion’s share of each day working in the basement. I guess it’s fair to say that I made up for some of my project procrastination.