I arrived out at Nordegg in the afternoon on Saturday April 15th. I left a week later, in the afternoon, on Saturday April 22nd. I worked all week and got a lot accomplished over at the guest cottage. I only left the property twice. Once for a short walk around the neighborhood, and a second time, for an hour, to do a beer run to town and drop some garbage at the dump.
I worked pretty much 8 hours every day, with the exception of the last day, when I was running out of supplies to work on the things I have started. I got the drawers for the cabinets assembled and lacquered. I need more 1/2" plywood to finish the last two drawers. I also lacquered and cut to size the hardwood rails that the drawers will run on. I test fit everything, and it is all good, but I can't mount the rails in place as I don't have the right size screws.
Most of the week was spent working on mechanical and electrical stuff. One of my main goals was to install some of the electrical necessary for the mechanical contractor to finish up. But I also managed to get virtually all of the rest of the remaining electrical work completed. There are only three little electrical projects remaining. I have to install the receptacles on the kitchen counter. The wiring is all in and connected to the breakers in the main panel. I have to finish the counter top and tile backsplash before these receptacles can be installed, so for now the breakers remain turned off. I connected the hot water heater and the water pump. Both have shutoff switches up on the main floor. I didn't have the right size breaker for the water pump so that final connection will need to be done when I return with the materials. There is one last circuit to install and I roughed in the wire for that. It will supply power to the tank alarms. There are two alarms... one is on the water storage cistern, which is set up in the crawl space. The alarm gets mounted outside on the wall by the fill pipe, and there is a float switch in the tank. When the tank is being filled, the alarm sounds and a light flashes when it is full. This prevents the tank from being overfilled. There is a second alarm that will be installed in the septic tank. It has a buzzer that sounds in the house, when the sewage level is near the top.
My mechanical contractor came out on Wednesday from Leslieville. He brought a refrigeration contractor along with him. Between the two of them they got the air conditioner installed and charged and functioning properly. I only had the thermostat temporarily wired prior to this but once the A/C unit went in, all the proper connections could be made, with the proper cable. All of the plumbing is now complete as well, with the exception of a drain on the water tank. We were missing one fitting, so this will need to be done later, before we fill the tank for the first time. Once the tank gets filled we will also have to fire up the water pump and make sure that it is purged and primed so that it functions properly.
Off and on during the week I also worked on installing the hardwood facing to the bathroom vanity. I filled all the nail holes and primed and painted everything. The body of the vanity is now complete and awaiting final paint. I will cut the doors and drawer fronts so that I can paint everything at once, though I didn't get that far this time around.
I learned that my building permit expires in July so the push is on to wrap things up. The inspector does not need the building to be 100% finished, and it does not matter if things like flooring, trim, ceramic tile and interior doors are not installed. But the space needs to be liveable, which means a functioning kitchen and bathroom. So the push is on for me to finish up the cabinets and get the counter tops installed. Then I can install the kitchen and bathroom sinks and tie in to the already roughed in water supply lines and drains. Then, once the wood work is done I can clear out the place and sweep and vacuum all the sawdust. Then installation of floor tiles can commence. I only need to get enough tile in place to install the toilet, and put the kitchen range in place. At that point I will be ready for final inspection. I'm not sure yet if I'll make it in time, and may need to request an extension, but I'm going to do my best to be ready.
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