My Office Addition - Electrical

February 1, 2003 - Cold Winter Winds Slow Progress

The weather has slowed our momentum and the carpenters are so cold that their productivity seems like a crawl. Even though the walls and roof are up, the windows don't arrive for another few weeks. All we can do is cover the openings with plastic to try to keep out the cold winter winds. After everything moving so fast for the last month, it is now hard to see any progress.

I want to be able to operate lights from the house, have the computer network connect both places, maintain phone lines from one to the other, and so on.

The buildings are about 40 feet apart and all of the utilities start at the house. We have to dig a four foot deep trench between the two buildings to get the gas line deep enough. The electrical line has to be one foot higher than the gas. Phone and CAT5 computer cable (CAT5 can carry phone as well as computer network), all run through the same trench. The last thing I want to do is dig the trench up again, especially after I make it a stone walkway! I put all the wiring in conduit and over-wire everything. I need two CAT5 cables for now, so I ran four, just to be confident I will have enough connectivity capability in the future. I put one size larger electrical line than I need in case the load in the office grows with new high-tech toys. The gas line is sufficient for twice the floor space, not even taking into account the energy efficiency of the building.

February 2, 2003 -  Running the Wires

I am beginning to think the electricians are clueless as they run wire in the SIPs. When I sent architectural plans to the SIP manufacturer, we took exacting care to have them run holes (called "chases") in the Styrofoam for the electricians to run the wire through. It should be a relatively simple process to wire the outlets and switches.

February 12, 2003 - Lack of Supervision Creates Problems

Most of the electrical work happened while I was traveling for work. While I was gone, lack of experience and lack of supervision created a nightmare. The apprentice electrician started chopping away at the SIPs to run his wires, drilling hole everywhere. Now it looks like giant rats have eaten away the bottom 18 inches of the walls; all the wire is hanging down into the garage. The electrician has not used any of the chases that were formed into walls for him. Just now he handed me a bill for $12,000 and he is not even finished roughing-in. He is over budget by 100% and the quality of his work is terrible. How did I get myself into this madness? I guess it serves my right for believing in a company named "Wisdom" electrical. The only wisdom in that transaction was how well he robbed me.