The Guts of the House

Have you ever noticed on HGTV they never spend any time talking about plumbing, electrical and HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning).  I'm not sure if it's because it doesn't make 'good TV' and people would rather see paint colors and tile samples, or if that's how they make their budgets as low as possible.  The stuff in the basement and behind the walls is pricey! 

New laundry area with all new electrical and plumbing

Since we work on old homes that often have original wiring and plumbing, we take this stuff seriously!  And like most of the houses we work on, this one needed a lot of work.  

We are adding recessed lighting in the living room, kitchen and mudroom

Very few of the outlets are grounded, so they don't work well with modern appliances.  The bedrooms had 2 outlets each - one near the baseboard and one up high, possibly to plug in a sconce?   And there is no switch to turn on a light as you enter the room, which made me crazy!  I'm a huge fan of having an overhead light in each room, so we will be adding them.  Oh, and the kitchen was sadly lacking outlets. 

The new wiring is getting hidden under the flooring

Out with the old wiring - in with the new!

As mentioned in a previous post, the electrical panel needs to be moved - code enforcement frowned on having a panel above the toilet 😂.  With this change, the vast majority of the wiring in the house is being completely replaced.  Our amazing electricians have been on site for weeks getting everything done.  And while most people won't notice that the wall outlets are now grounded, they will notice that we have overhead lighting everywhere!

Since the bathroom is getting reconfigured, our plumber decided to rip out all the old plumbing and start from scratch.  That's faster and easier than trying to tie into old plumbing everywhere.  But it also created a couple of challenges - moving the toilet meant that the waste stack had to move, which meant that the kitchen window had to move, which meant that the sink had to move, which meant we have to patch the siding....well, you get the picture.....  It's why most people try to never move plumbing around.  It's an expensive proposition! 

Look at all that shiny new plumbing!!!

But doesn't it look great?  I'm so thrilled to see all that shiny new wiring and plumbing!  And the new homeowners will be so happy to have everything updated.

Getting ready for inspections!

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