A Rejoicing Ross
In order to move into the Cross House, a vital task needing to be done beforehand is one I have not mentioned: All the plumbing and wiring need to be completed. ALL of it.
And why?
Because, in order to move in, I also need to move all my lighting stock. This is many, many hundreds of vintage lights. The lights listed for sale are to go in the basement of the Cross House. The non-listed lights will go in the carriage house basement.
I cannot though cram the basement with delicate vintage lights and crystal chandeliers while still pulling wiring and installing plumbing lines. Justin would refuse to work under such conditions and, even if he did, lights would inevitably get damaged.
So, the Big Push is underway to finish all the wiring.
The third floor is not an issue as it has a new breaker box and a new ‘main’ line was vertically added from the basement a few years ago.
The second floor is now mostly done. The remaining work will be complete next week.
The first floor is also now mostly done. The remaining work will be complete next week.
So, good news!
Except…the basement is a horror.
YIKES! And this, too, is how the basement in the carriage house looked a year ago.
And, y’all remember the carriage house AFTER. Thus, there is hope for the Cross House.
The current tangle of wiring in the basement of the Cross House I call spaghetti wiring. And I hate it.
A lot of this predates my purchase of the house and all such wiring will soon be pulled out. And, a lot of this is wiring I installed these past eight years but with the knowledge that it was temporary, so, we were unconcerned about its being neat. Now though we are at work making all the wring permanent and NOT spaghetti-like.
The PEX plumbing was also installed in a temp fashion by me and it, too, will soon be redone to look neat as a pin.
On the east porch. I hate this. The ugly metal electrical panels detract from the fabulous ice-chest door. Oh, the horror. For eight years now we have been systematically pulling out wires from the panels (there used to be three panels) and relocating them to a new panel in the basement.
And, as of today, only one wire remains in the left panel. It will soon be gone. And the right panel will also soon be gone. Ross will rejoice that day.
I also plan to relocate the meter so that the east porch will, at last, become free of barnacles.
Then, the porch can be painted and when this work is complete the porch will look as good as it did in 1894.
Ross will rejoice that day, too.
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Wow!!! That is a whole lotta Spaghetti!! I can’t wait to see it looking like the carriage house basement noodle make over.
You are not alone with your can’t wait, LS!
When the spaghetti wiring is rectified, we will all rejoice with you!
It will be so wonderful when the east porch is decluttered. The old ice box door is so cool, I can’t wait to see this without clutter obscuring it.
Relocating all of that stuff will be nice. Give the outside a lift. I hate having all those boxes on the outside of my house (and I have solar on the roof so more boxes). I was able to hide most of them on the detached garage and the north side but there is one big circuit breaker box for the house that had to stay on the location next to the kitchen door. Just no place else to put it where it is accessible. At least the meter isn’t there any more.
Love the Ice Chest door.
In my old house I just put off doing whatever until it can be done permanently once. When I do temporary it tends to be forever before it is redone to permanent so I don’t do that any more. Six of one….
Right now I am trying to get a TV antenna installed on the roof. It won’t be seen from the street and not be very noticeable from the back yard either as it is going on the back gable. I’ve bought all of the parts (after a lot of research) except the coaxial cables as I want to measure after installation to make sure I buy the right lengths, not too short or too long. However in studying the roof I fear I won’t be able to reach the gable to install the mount as I am too short when standing on the bedroom roof. So there is another delay while I figure out what to do. Install it from the top of the house, thus working “upside down” or build some sort of scaffolding platform from the bedroom roof so I can stand and reach from below. Or just save a bunch of money and hire installers. One of the op household deaths involves falling from the roof so I am being extra careful, being 67 and all. And my roof is steep. So I am at a stand still.
I would so rather be doing wiring and plumbing in a basement. (I don’t have a basement but would prefer it to the roof.)
Think of it this way. The longer you take, the more accustomed Bella will be to her new surroundings and she will have a longer time to adjust before all of the cats are moved to the Cross House. So take your time.
Meantime I’m going to google roof platforms and see what comes up. Maybe I can rent something once I know what it is.
Hey Ross!
I don’t envy the re-wiring ahead of you, but don’t forget to run your call button wires before you seal those walls.
Wow! Baby steps are adding up! Onward! 🙂
You’re on a roll Ross, getting closer and closer to moving into the Cross House. What a day that will be. 2022 is THE year. Looking forward to it.
It seems that installing electric boxes on porches was the norm in those days; I remember my great-grandparents’ fuse box was on their side porch and was the first thing you saw when you came up the steps. In their case, electricity came along in the 1920s, 30 years after the house was built, so I could see that it was maybe a convenient spot; I’m surprised that the Cross House has breaker panels on an outside porch. It always seemed to be an inconvenience; I remember once when I spent the night with G-Grandma a fuse blew, and I had to go out there with a flashlight and change it while the wind-chill was below zero. It would also be easy for someone to flip your breakers off, which could cause all kinds of problems.
I’m sure those boxes are there for convenience but at some point having electricity was also a brag. Ross would know more but I think that is why some of the earlier light fixtures didn’t have shades, just bare bulbs.
My house had breakers inside and the meter on the outside. Well, it had a fuse box inside. My Dad converted it to breakers. Built in 1922. It had knob and tube throughout but that had been upgraded in 1949 when there was an addition and some remodeling. Now it has the main breaker box on the outside and the inside is now a subpanel. There is a subpanel in the garage as well. The meter is on the garage between two gates in case they want to read it manually. It’s all done remote now. I have solar PV on my roof so there are also some additional mechanicals and such on the house and a shut off by the meter, which sometimes runs backwards.
The main meter is between two gates specifically so someone cannot flip off anything. The inside gate is to keep the dogs from greeting any meter readers and to insure that the utility cannot claim my yard as an “easement”. They get the six feet between the gates and that’s it.
I think I have an old fuse in a box in my cupboard somewhere.
You’re telling me the ice delivery man had to heft a giant piece of ice up to that level? They must have been pretty heavy and awkward… yikes!
It was already hefted. Yes, heavy and awkward. They used huge ice tongs for the blocks which were like huge ice cubes. They carried them on their shoulders so I imagine angling them to get them in that little door was easier then letting them down and then trying to shove them through some sort of “doggy ice door”. Plus cold air descends to having the ice on top rather than on the bottom made a lot of sense. Couldn’t have the little woman trying to lift that ice to the top. That was the delivery guy’s job.
I wonder if the ice company intentionally hired really tall guys to make ice delivery easier.