What, THIS failed inspection?

Last week we had our final electrical inspection for our upstairs renovation, which the inspector promptly informed us that we failed before setting foot upstairs. Why? Well, while we had grown quite comfortable with the messy hole in our hallway ceiling and light fixture from repairing the upstairs floors, it seems newcomers to HumphreyHouse just don't have that same affinity.

But after convincing him that this was all part of another project (Kitchen reconfiguration), he reluctantly went upstairs. Where he failed us anyway. Lessons learned:

• If you run low-voltage wire (speaker, phone, cable), be sure it is "routed" cleanly and anchored every 3 feet.


• There are rules for closet lighting. Basically use a globe-style florescent, not a regular incandesent bulb. Incidently, laundry rooms don't have this requirement.


• Have supporting documentation from previous inspections at and to produce evidence if requested.

Take two of the electrical inspection will be Thursday, along with our final plumbing inspection and even the HVAC / Building inspection. Here's hoping for an occupancy permit!

Wiring Dilemma

Before the sublfooring in our attic conversion was installed, I used some of my newly acquired plumbing skills (and leftover pipe) to run a chase from what will be our "utility room" upstairs (one side of the low space behind the attic kneewall) all the way under our bedroom to the other side of the attic, behind the the other kneewall. The plan was to use this chase for wiring, such as cable TV, phone, etc.

Well this weekend during the Menards-17%-off-anything-in-a-bag-sale, I couldn't resist the temptation of topping off our bag with some Cat-5 (computer network) cable as well as cable TV (RG6 coax) cable. I already have tons of telephone cable (Cat-3) left behind at my employer's previous location, so I was all set to go.

I started running these three cable types in our attic last night - RG6 Coax, Cat-5, and Cat-3, but I paused halfway through the job with a question (plus it was 1:00 am); Will having these three different cables all bundled next to each other result in any signal bleeding or interference? What if I run audio speaker wires alongside too? Hmm.. time for some research.

The Finish Line (level 1)

After a few months of detours, lost paths, and pit stops we have finally reached our first real milestone. Something is finally done. Actually, an entire level of our house!

The basement has reached the final stage (sans decorating), and we even have the official approval inspection from the city building inspector! Wee!!! There was a slight problem when the electrical inspector noticed that there was no grounding wire jumping over the water meter, but realizing that we're doing the work ourselves, he gave us a stiff lecture and an approval. We have it fixed now though [picture]

Sara helped Jen again by putting on an extra coat of paint. Jay had to come back from thanksgiving early to finish off various trim details, but the extra work over the weekend has paid off. The place looks sharp, except where the floor level varied so much that there are gaping crevices under the trim. Not the levelest floor in America, but we'll take it! Just caulk it! (I'm kidding, mark :)

We've got our movers coming in today to bring back our furniture that has been forgotten since we left our condo in July.

View final pictures (pre-furniture)

The whirlwind continues

The last month or two has been relatively slow in our progress. Of course, we had other distractions in Chicago, such as 70 degree whether in November, and a White Sox world series sweep, which was truly an amazing experience. Especially in this city! But now the pace has quickened, as we are trying to wrap up our work in the basement and shift our focus to the main floor of the house.

There have been a number of "housekeeping" things to do in the basement. Finish trim, clean out basement, finish installing electrical outlets, installing rough electric for stairwell light, move a crawlspace access door. Now that that is all wrapping up, we are having a final electrical inspection Friday.

And besides raking all those leaves (see post below), there is more exterior stuff we are working on before it gets too cold, such as finishing off the window framing outside, capping the exterior trim with aluminum flashing, cleaning gutters, installing HVAC duct for kitchen nook (this 1/3 of our house is currently not heated!), cleaning out and reorganizing the garage (those construction supplies in the basement got to go somewhere!) and more.

We're managing well, but we're motivated because we want to get our stuff moved out of storage by Nov. 18. Next week! Ahh! The power of a deadline should never be underestimated.

Rough Inspection #2

Insulation inspection this morning. Although the inspector was an hour late, he was very apologetic and was at Humphrey House all of 5 minutes. "Looks good. You just need to put some insulation up in the joist bays along the outside walls." So, PASS!

Now Menards is dropping off 60 sheets of drywall later today. Hopefully we'll have walls by Monday!

Rough Inspection #1

The last inspection we had was in mid-March, when the inspector and the structural engineer for the village came out to ensure that our new post footings were dug to the proper depth of 18". During that visit they freaked out when they noticed other things that were not being done properly at the time. Such as glass block windows installed without a header (even though we just put inside an existing opening).

We barely ended up passing, but ever since we have been very concerned that any other inspection would be very scrutinizing and they would be looking for every little detail to fail us. So before the rough inspections, Jay took Jen through on a mock role-play pointing out and asking questions about every possible thing that they might have a problem with so she would be thoroughly prepared.

The first inspector to show up was the electrical guy. Fortunately, he is on the board of directors at Jen's former employer so they immediately had a good rapport. He took his time going through the place, but was encouraging in general and had offered some advice. His main concern was the high placement of outlets along the outside wall (due to concrete). He said if there was a problem he would call Jay later that day. And, the phone never rang. So, PASS.

The second inspector was the same guy who came out before on the footing inspection. Jen was tense, but this guy clearly had a much busier schedule in the middle of building season. His arrival and departure both included cell phone conversations. His total time present looking at everything from post installation to window headers to wall framing and everything took about three minutes. His only comments were "You'll have to have me back for an insulation inspection before you drywall" Okay. And, "You're not going to use any of these rooms as a bedroom, right?" No. Of course not! PASS.

Now we breath a collective sigh of relief. 72 hours of last minute cramming to desperately earn a passing grade... reminded us a little of college. And now, we can begin preparing for the final examination.