Blog

It is the week of June 26 and Turnkey Builders has found it tough to get workers to show up at GarageDominium.  There is a lot of work in the home building industry and a lack of labor.  Such is the case for us.  There is a flurry of activity one day, then not much if anything happens for several days.  The most frustrating is that often they just lack finishing up some details or punch list items.  These small items can really hold up the overall schedule since all the mechanical and electrical must be complete before they can do insulation and sheetrock.

The framers completed their inspection punch list items.  We are still waiting on plumbing to be completed.  The outside of the house is looking better and better.  The cornice crew installed corbels and decorative trusses this week.  These are all rough cedar.  The corbels are not just decorative but also provide structural support.

The ceiling / soffit of the porch and patio are tongue and groove pine.  The crew installed much of it this week and it really looks good.

Electrical has a few minor things to complete, as well as installing the transfer switch.  The plan is to be able to connect a temporary generator.  Since the house is all electric and we’ve been the victims of power outages (as I’m sure most of you have also), I put a transfer switch and portable generator connection in the electrical specifications.  The transfer switch enables safely switching from electric company power to generator power without back feeding current to the main power grid.

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of not specifying the exact size of the transfer switch.  Its size depends on how many circuits will be fed from the generator.  Ideally the generator would feed the entire house.   However, a portable generator cannot provide enough power to supply the entire house with lights, HVAC, water heater, and outlets.  That requires a large “whole home” generator.  A whole home generator requires either diesel, propane, or natural gas for fuel.  We don’t have natural gas service and I don’t intend on installing a large propane or diesel storage tank, so the whole home generator is out.

However, with the right transfer switch, we can connect the generator and select any circuit or combination in the house to power up to the maximum capability of the generator.  Since I didn’t specify a transfer switch with whole house capability, we needed to decide how many circuits to energize.  Time to do some prioritization.  First, protect the food in the refrigerator and freezer.  Next the microwave would be handy for cooking that food.  Next up is the RV outlet.  With the RV we have everything we need including heating, air conditioning, food storage, lights, microwave, stove and oven.  Beyond those everything else is gravy.  Here is the priority list we created.  How would your list look?

Transfer Switch Priorities:

1. Refrigerator

2. Freezer

3. Microwave

4. RV outlet

5. Patio Grille

6. Wi-Fi router outlet in A/V closet

7. Kitchen outlets

8. Kitchen lights

9. Garage doors

10. A/V closet outlets

11. Master bath lights

12. Study outlets 

13. Master bed outlets

14. Great room outlets

15. Sunroom outlets

16. Master Bed lights

17. Shop 110V outlets

18. Jack/Jill bath lights

19. Great room lights

20. Bed 02 lights

21. Bed 03 lights

22. Jack/Jill bath outlets

23. Bed 02 outlets

24. Bed 03 outlets

25. Remaining outlets

26. Remaining lights

The HVAC saga continues.  Airtron installed the new dehumidifier.  They did the work described in post “20. We have windows” to move the dehumidifier ducting. However, moving the ductwork left a large hole that in the return plenum and they have not repair that yet.  They also need to secure all the control wiring so that it is not prone to damage.  Additionally, the return plenum is no longer sealed to the air handler.  Basically, they just need to finish up the work in the attic. They also installed jumper ducts in the spare bedrooms.  This equalizes the pressure between rooms so that doors don’t slam and we don’t need to undercut the doors as much for air circulation.

This week we made a quick trip to Rockwall, TX to deliver our oldest grandkid to her mother.  We enjoyed having our little 4 year old granddaughter to ourselves.  She seemed to have a good time and did not express a lot of separation anxiety.  We’ll miss her. 

On the way back we stopped in Waco to visit Magnolia Home, the shopping destination created by Chip and Joanna Gains.  It was nice and we picked a good day to visit as it was not crowded.  It was not as spectacular as all the hype would suggest.  But they have a variety of shops and stuff to see.  U.W. found a mirror that will look very good in the powder room since it matches the other décor and fixtures well.  She also has her eye on a rug for the living room.  After leaving Waco and Magnolia we made another slight detour and stopped at Cabela’s.  Of course, this was a much more interesting store, but alas, we did not make any purchases.