Like Beavers...Lazy Beavers

Dam! This basement thing drags on. Despite the lack of posts, Lesley and I have been busy on the renovation, albeit at a much slower pace. The electrical is nearly finished now, with naught but a couple of small bits to complete.

Wiring up the light switch

Since I'm running new wiring, I connected it to the existing circuit with a junction box, rather than running all new wire from the main panel. Stripping the old wire proved to be a major pain as the sheathing was some kind of rubbery fabric, and the conduits were actually wrapped in paper (?!). Old school electricity. If it's not a fire hazard, it's not worth doing...

Splicing old with new

I attempted to keep the junction points to a minimum, and managed to get by with only four, three of which were for connecting exsiting wiring to new wiring (main conduit, baseboard heaters' main conduit, outdoor outlet with cable encased in concrete). The fourth is where the lights run off of the receptacles' line, for which I used an extra-large switch box as a junction.

Incomplete junction

New outlet, not encased in concrete

I also decided to run the coaxial cable for the tv through the wall rather than along the wall. Lesley is not a fan of cords being in plain sight, and so was a big supporter of this approach.

Outlet / cable

Unfortunately, I ran out of 12 gauge cable for the baseboard heaters - I got 30 feet rather than 30 metres - so I could not complete the wiring. Close, but no banana. Having made the weekly pilgrimage to Home Depot just last night though, we're back in business.

Whilst waiting for me to finish up the wiring, Lesley got started on insulating the bits of wall that were ready. Because we've established a 1.5" air gap between the stud wall and the foundation wall, I was a bit concerned that the gap may get compromised over time by insulation slipping out of place. To combat this, Lesley put up several hundred feet of nylon string between the studs to help keep the insulation in place. And then, went to batt.

Warm and fuzzy

We also hit a fairly major milestone last night - we ordered the drywall. YeeHaw. Is that a light I see at the end of this long, dark, smelly tunnel?  Drywall arrives Friday, and with luck, will start to go up Sunday. I've still got a fair amount of work left to do beforehand, but there's every chance that it can be done.

We have 7 tasks left before the drywalling starts:

1. Fasten the bottom plates of the walls to the floor
2. Finish wiring the baseboard heaters and light fixtures
3. Build the walls out to the windows (cover the 1.5" gap) and sprayfoam
4. Attach the final remaining duct boot to the bulkhead
5. Build the step down from the landing to the basement floor
6. Finish insulating
7. Install vapour barrier

Wish us luck!