We’re on to the forms and paperwork stage with our architect, which means that applying for permits isn’t too far off. We’ve identified all of our contractors, but we still need to get letters from them acknowledging they’ll be completing work on our property. The electrician needs to fill out a whole form as well. We’re meeting with him on Monday, as well as another structural contractor. I have to transfer my work on our Chicago Green Homes checklist to the official application and sign on several dotted lines.

Sarah planted some marigolds in the front yard, not because we particularly like them but because they supposedly will keep the neighbors dog from sticking his snout through the fence and trying to bite us. In any case it looks better than the weeds that had previously occupied the space. There are some hostas, rose bushes and a couple of other plants to put in so that it doesn’t look completely bad.

Bathroom Light Fixture

I took down the drop ceiling in the first floor bathroom. This means the “light below a light” has finally been removed. I also took out the sink and disconnected the toilet. At some point a couple months ago I ripped the medicine cabinet off the wall, so that was already gone. Still a lot to be done in there, but bit by bit we’re making progress.

We got our shelves up in the basement and moved the boxes and bins we’d been storing in the back bedroom of the first floor to the basement. We need to clean up some of the mess down there before we can get everything else relocated, though. There’s a deadline on that now, though, but I’ll get to that.

Basement light switch

I also started working on the latest basement electrical project. First, I removed a lingering light switch from the “kitchen” area. I added an outlet where the laundry will be and removed a bunch of conduit and wiring from the first floor panel. It is now completely empty except for the garage and the one circuit we’re using on that floor for the current laundry and lights. Of course, now I’m contemplating moving all of the circuits from the second floor box over to it, because it’s bigger, newer and doesn’t have a scary spliced main connecting it to the meter. I’ll talk to the electrician about that on Monday.

The larger basement electrical project is moving the conduit away from the beam. That will be involved, since they actually used some rigid conduit down there. The one place flexible would have been really convenient is the one place they didn’t use it. There are also a couple of junction boxes with countless circuits snaking through them mounted to the beam. That will all need to move, the ease of which depends on how much slack there is in the wires. I’m guessing not much.

Finally, in order to remove a couple of the old flexible lines from the first floor panel, we ripped out the back wall of the first floor bedroom, which is directly above the panels. Demo is so much fun. I pulled the disconnected lines out, leaving one circuit that goes up to the second floor through that wall. We made a huge mess, and also discovered a window hidden in the wall, glass panes still in it. It makes sense; the space used to be a pantry off the kitchen and pantries usually had a window on the end. We’ll probably find one in the same place on the second floor.