I did wander out & talk with Aaron today about the south fence and what's happening. The stucco should go on Real Soon Now assuming the rain lets up for a bit, and according to the National Weather Service it's supposed to be clear at least for a few days. We'll see.
Another minor problem has cropped up. The area where the washer/dryer is supposed to go is not deep enough. That means not only will we not get a door there, but the washer & dryer will stick out a bit. We need to talk to the contractor about this. I think the opening can be made bigger without too much difficulty.
Also, we got the alarm estimate. Not too bad. For some reason it includes the areas inaccessible without a ladder (the deck off of the master bedroom & all of the upstairs windows). When we remove all of these it should get a bit cheaper.
Finally, the estimate for the phone/data/cable jacks all over the house came in. It's expensive! Again, we'll have to see.
On the up side, the drainage is working great. Just as designed. I don't think we'll be having any problems with it ever.
The bid to wire the house for a network was around $5,000. So, it looks like I'll be doing it myself. I did two rooms (4 outlets) yesterday & will hopefully finish next weekend. We're doing a total of 20 outlets, each containing 2 Cat5, 1 Cat3 and 1 RG6. Since the Cat5 can run at 1Gbit/sec, I didn't see any reason to run fiber. I've learned a few things:
Talked with Bob, Dave, and Derek today. The wall (see Tuesday for details) must be moved. Oh well. It's not going to cost too much.
The stucco paper & wire continued on the east wall today (opposite the camera) and the roof might be going on tomorrow! Hooray!
Finally, the alarm. We're doing one. We met with Jana from Superior Alarm Co. today to iron out the details.
Also looked for speaker wire & speakers. Had no idea just how many different kinds & prices of wire there are! It looks like we'll need about 600'. Initially we were just going to get it from the local stereo store, but they want $0.95/foot (down to $0.70 if I buy a whole box). This is for 16/2. I did some research & think I might got with simply 12/2 (heavy duty lamp cord) which should be a bit cheaper. I'm guessing this project should take about 2 hours.
Talked with Jana about the alarm system, signed the papers & made the deposit. We decided to forgo the remote control disarm thing, & I'll be doing the intercom.
Lynn had a great idea, but we cannot do it: the upstairs hallway has zero natural light. Since the ceilings are 10', she suggested we put windows or glass-blocks at the top of this wall next to the master bedroom. This should let in a lot of light. Alas, it's a sheer-wall so cutting into it would require a bunch of engineering & we simply haven't the time to do it. Oh Well.
The doors are here and being installed. They look great!
Today I met with Aaron about a couple of minor flaws I noticed over the weekend. I bet they'd be happy if I wasn't out there so much. There were only four minor nits, easily correctable:
All in all, I'm really glad I can go out anytime & bother them with questions & comments. They've not told me to piss off yet.