I've been talking to (different) folks at the local electrical utility for three months now. Each time I learn something new, something different, sometimes something that conflicts with what I was told (or understood) earlier. Yesterday, I spoke with the legal department. I called them because no one else could answer my question of, "Can I dig in the right-of-way myself?". I was told no. I was also asked why I would want to. I said I didn't want to pay $2000 for an 80 foot trench. I was told that I have prescriptive rights and that I am not obligated to change (and pay for) my electical connection (which trespasses on the empty front lot).
Now I have to figure out how to get the builder (on the front lot) to dig/pay for the moving of my electrical connection. He speaks English well, but has a thick accent (Indian, I think) and sometimes I have difficulty understanding him. Plus, I don't think he understands me sometimes. If he had an email address, it might be easier to communicate, but he doesn't have one.
The water line is a similar situation.
We'll see how this plays out. My spouse and I might have to be annoying or confrontational in order to get everything to play out properly (read: to our advangtage).
Friday, March 31, 2006
Monday, March 27, 2006
Trenches on the brain
So, we just got back from our lovely long weekend away. I was able to sufficiently distract spouse from various rat hole problems and trench issues.
However, now that we're home (and we were actually happy to see the rat hole!), we have to begin to deal with things again. Luckily, the weather's nice today, so the rat hole is actually a comfortable temperature. Unless you're sitting still, but then you're fine with an extra shirt, so no worries.
Here's the latest development: we can't dig all of our own trenches. The one from our house up the driveway is fine. We'll actually have to dig three or four trenches alongside our driveway to the road. One for electricity, one for water (which has to be three feet away from the electricity), one for phone, and one for cable. I'm not sure if the phone and cable can go in the same trench or not. They will have to have separate conduit laid, so we'll see. Spouse knows more about that than I do.
That's all fine. We can rent a trencher for less than $500 and do the work ourselves. No worries. BUT, we found out that we're not allowed to dig our own trench from the power pole to our driveway, because it's a right of way. We'll have to hire an outside contractor for that. We've made a few calls, and it works out to be around $3000 for the trench. One trench. Yeargh. We're still making phone calls to try and see who can do it for how much. We're not licked yet.
Soon the weather will stay warmer, and then we can start ripping out walls. Whee!
However, now that we're home (and we were actually happy to see the rat hole!), we have to begin to deal with things again. Luckily, the weather's nice today, so the rat hole is actually a comfortable temperature. Unless you're sitting still, but then you're fine with an extra shirt, so no worries.
Here's the latest development: we can't dig all of our own trenches. The one from our house up the driveway is fine. We'll actually have to dig three or four trenches alongside our driveway to the road. One for electricity, one for water (which has to be three feet away from the electricity), one for phone, and one for cable. I'm not sure if the phone and cable can go in the same trench or not. They will have to have separate conduit laid, so we'll see. Spouse knows more about that than I do.
That's all fine. We can rent a trencher for less than $500 and do the work ourselves. No worries. BUT, we found out that we're not allowed to dig our own trench from the power pole to our driveway, because it's a right of way. We'll have to hire an outside contractor for that. We've made a few calls, and it works out to be around $3000 for the trench. One trench. Yeargh. We're still making phone calls to try and see who can do it for how much. We're not licked yet.
Soon the weather will stay warmer, and then we can start ripping out walls. Whee!
Friday, March 24, 2006
Trenches & Barriers
The weather's been nice the past couple of days. It has rained on and off, but it's been sunny and warm, too. It's been wonderful! And with the warm weather comes bees down from the attic. We really will have to do something about that.
Anyway, the nice weather also means that our thoughts have turned back to the rat hole. It's time to get moving again. Last weekend the guy that owns the front lot was looking at his lot with a bunch of other folks, so it looks like they might be starting to think about doing something on that lot. I'm going to be sorry to have a big house sitting in front of ours. *sigh* Well, we'll see what happens.
We really would like to work with the builder guy, but we can't understand what he says. His accent is too thick. Stupid language barrier. Unfortunately, because we can't understand him, we can't really work in tandem with him. Oy. So, we're just going to try to get out of his way while he tears apart that lot. Thing is, our utilities cross that lot, so if he screws up, he screws us.
That means we have to get our rears in gear and dig a trench in the next couple of weeks. We know what we need to do for electric, and so we're just waiting to hear about what we need to do, water-wise. We've been hoarding our money, so we should be able to afford the trench. We're just going to rent a trencher and have at it. So, come April, we'll have our trench, our utilities will run across our property, and all will be well.
We'll see how all this REALLY goes down.
Anyway, the nice weather also means that our thoughts have turned back to the rat hole. It's time to get moving again. Last weekend the guy that owns the front lot was looking at his lot with a bunch of other folks, so it looks like they might be starting to think about doing something on that lot. I'm going to be sorry to have a big house sitting in front of ours. *sigh* Well, we'll see what happens.
We really would like to work with the builder guy, but we can't understand what he says. His accent is too thick. Stupid language barrier. Unfortunately, because we can't understand him, we can't really work in tandem with him. Oy. So, we're just going to try to get out of his way while he tears apart that lot. Thing is, our utilities cross that lot, so if he screws up, he screws us.
That means we have to get our rears in gear and dig a trench in the next couple of weeks. We know what we need to do for electric, and so we're just waiting to hear about what we need to do, water-wise. We've been hoarding our money, so we should be able to afford the trench. We're just going to rent a trencher and have at it. So, come April, we'll have our trench, our utilities will run across our property, and all will be well.
We'll see how all this REALLY goes down.
Monday, March 20, 2006
Gettin' Warmer
So, after several weeks of being freezing cold, it looks like the weather's going to start getting warmer. Thank goodness. I can't remember if we mentioned this in an earlier post or not, but we've been very, very cold in chateau rat hole. Stupid pellet shortage. If only our pellet stove was big enough to burn wood... Oh well. Thank goodness for the old, not-safe baseboards in the master bedroom and our travelling oil radiator. We've been doing a fair job of staying warm.
Anyway, we don't have any progress to report. It's the same old thing. As soon as the weather gets warmer, off come the walls and in goes the new wiring. Mwa ha ha ha. I can't wait.
We did have our first guest this weekend, though. He's a good house guest anyway, and I was surprised he actually agreed to stay in the rat hole, especially considered that the walls in the guest room are covered with nothing but a thin layer of duct tape. But he stayed, and it was fine. I guess our home is fit for human habitation after all! We have another house guest the weekend of April 1st, too, and I'm very excited. A college friend is visiting, and I haven't seen her for five years. Whee! We'll see what SHE thinks of the rat hole. *grin*
This week we get to put in some plants my spouse got from work-related stuff. It'll be fun to put them in, since the weather's supposed to be nice, and it's been a long, long time since I've played in the dirt (I don't count the trench of horrors!). It'll also be a challenge to figure out where they should go, since we're still planning on levelling the yard this summer, anyway...
But that's all we have planned. The rest is all non-house-related work. Next weekend we're going away to stay in somebody else's house. And I bet you it'll be warm.
Anyway, we don't have any progress to report. It's the same old thing. As soon as the weather gets warmer, off come the walls and in goes the new wiring. Mwa ha ha ha. I can't wait.
We did have our first guest this weekend, though. He's a good house guest anyway, and I was surprised he actually agreed to stay in the rat hole, especially considered that the walls in the guest room are covered with nothing but a thin layer of duct tape. But he stayed, and it was fine. I guess our home is fit for human habitation after all! We have another house guest the weekend of April 1st, too, and I'm very excited. A college friend is visiting, and I haven't seen her for five years. Whee! We'll see what SHE thinks of the rat hole. *grin*
This week we get to put in some plants my spouse got from work-related stuff. It'll be fun to put them in, since the weather's supposed to be nice, and it's been a long, long time since I've played in the dirt (I don't count the trench of horrors!). It'll also be a challenge to figure out where they should go, since we're still planning on levelling the yard this summer, anyway...
But that's all we have planned. The rest is all non-house-related work. Next weekend we're going away to stay in somebody else's house. And I bet you it'll be warm.
Friday, March 10, 2006
Kitchen Cabinets
We've been thinking about our kitchen. We have laid out an option that we both agree works. We don't have a big kitchen, but as long as it works well, we don't mind.
We will probably end up with painted doors. We both like wood, but the fact that we don't have a lot of light in the kitchen makes us lean towards a lighter color for the cabinets. My spouse isn't to keen on light woods and I'm not too sure how well lighter woods would go with the more retro feel we are trying to reference.
The two big lower panels could be glass or wood. The tiny panels on the top will be glass, and we could even put in a piece of art-glass every so often to add a little interest to the surface. I'll try to incorporate the SketchUp door with the Revit model to show everything in context later.
The profile isn't set in stone yet. This is one that we've both liked, though.
If you hadn't noticed, I'm kind of a 3D geek and I tend to make use of the tools I have access to. In fact, if I don't have a tool, I'll find one or make one. The elevations were done in Revit (as were the previous floorplans).
The images below are of a cabinet door design for the uppers. The first one on the left is a front view. The one on the right is a close-up to hopefully show a little more detail. The bottom is a section so as to show the profile. The images below were made with SketchUp (a great little 3D app that is very intuitive, highly recommended).
We will probably end up with painted doors. We both like wood, but the fact that we don't have a lot of light in the kitchen makes us lean towards a lighter color for the cabinets. My spouse isn't to keen on light woods and I'm not too sure how well lighter woods would go with the more retro feel we are trying to reference.
The two big lower panels could be glass or wood. The tiny panels on the top will be glass, and we could even put in a piece of art-glass every so often to add a little interest to the surface. I'll try to incorporate the SketchUp door with the Revit model to show everything in context later.
The profile isn't set in stone yet. This is one that we've both liked, though.
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