Work, work, work

Well done, you managed to find your way to the new site. If you are new to this blog, you may wish to see Part 1, which can be viewed at:

http://walchy-damagedbutnotbroken.blogspot.ca/2012_11_01_archive.html

Work, work, work, that's all I seem to be doing at the moment but, there really isn't any choice. Once the cabin is lockable and I have got some insulation in it, then I will be able to slow down a bit. Apart from subcontractors doing things like the roof and services, I am receiving very little help with work on the cabin itself. Progress is therefore slow and it is very tiring but, I am not complaining.

On Monday, I finally managed to uncover the pipe carrying the electrical cable. To everyone's surprise it was on the opposite side to the one we expected it to be on. You can just see it here, it is the grey one and the yellow warning tape was what led us to it in the end. Finding the damn thing came as a bit of relief. Neither the electrical company, who owns the pipe, nor the contractor, who installed it (nearly eight years ago), could tell me where it was. The electrical company's records showed it in a different location about 30m away and the contractor had no records at all. I managed to locate it because after considerable time and effort I found the electrical company's manhole cover, which had been buried for over seven years, and by following the direction of the outlet from it I determined the rough area where the pipe should have been. And there, is where I began digging and initially found the telephone pipe which eventually led me to the electrical one. Right up until the last moment I had visions of having to dig up most of the property in an effort to find it. Things like this have severely tested my confidence in corporate and local contractor competence here.

As soon as we found it, we started digging the trench to carry the pipes from the roadside to the cabin. This time only two and half to three feet deep. It started well enough but, shortly after we began it started to rain and as I was the labourer in the trench, I got soaked to the skin and covered in mud.

Once dug, the next job was to put electrical grade sand in the bottom to protect the pipes from the rocks underneath them. Getting the right sand proved to be a minor drama. The first load that I ordered and had delivered on Saturday in readiness for digging on Monday, was the wrong grade of sand - too coarse and would have failed an inspection. The fault of the contractor, who knew better but still delivered the wrong stuff, hoping I wouldn't notice. Another example of local incompetence, So on Monday first thing there was a hiatus of activity in order to try to arrange for the right stuff to be delivered, which it was, by a different contractor, before midday but, at a cost.

With the sand duly layed the work of laying the pipes for the telephone and electrical cables could commence.

The power company that delivers the electricity allows only a short distance before they absolve themselves of responsibility for the cabling and so a metre post had to placed about a third of the way from the road to the house. From here on in it is my responsibility and, of course, I have to meet all the building codes.

I engaged an electrical contractor to bring the cables from the metre to the cabin.

We then had to invite an inspector to come and check that everything had been done to code and in accordance with accepted practice after 24 hours, if he didn't show (which he didn't), we were free to backfill. First, another 12 inches of sand on top of the pipes and then a partial backfill before laying warning tape to alert anyone digging in the future that there are electrical gables in the ground.

The view of the partially filled trench looking towards the house and ...

… then about turn and looking towards the road. I did all the labouring again and yes, you've guessed it, it rained again virtually all day on Wednesday when we did the backfilling and I got soaked to the skin once more. Hey ho!

Under the deck it all looks quite neat where the cables enter the basement of the house.

Even the metre post doesn't look too bad.

When it was all finished, it looked better that before we started.

This time we managed to get it all done without having to remove any trees but, it will still probably take a couple of years for the ground to fully recover. At least all the holes that were dug at this end of the property by the Developer's contractors have been smoothed out. All said and done - a good job and the wallet a tad lighter.

I spent a large part of the week continuing the process of preparing the garage doors. Here is the first one finished and put where it got in the way the least.

On Saturday and Sunday, Dwayne gave me a hand installing the first door and although it took us a long time I was pleased with the result so far. There is still a bit of work to do to complete the installation (weather seal, handle mounting, trim and firming up the support for the running gear on the inside) but, we are almost there.

And just in case there is someone out there who doesn't think it can open.

Meanwhile, the roofers started work again on Thursday and continued getting the difficult bits over with before the plainer sailing of fitting the larger panels. The good news is that they have promised to stay now until their work is finished.

Work on the septic system took a back seat while we got the electrical trench and cabling done. I hope this will go a little faster next week.

On my way to the cabin on Wednesday I came across these wild turkeys crossing the road. Cranberry sauce anyone?