FINALLY!!  I now have power!  Happy dance everyone!!  This took a lot longer than I was anticipating as well as more cash, but the inspection was completed last Wednesday and the power was turned on Friday.  I was really hoping to know for sure if the power was going to be on Friday because my dad and his friend, who is a contractor and the one who is helping me install new windows and doors, were going to come up and spend two days helping me.  Alas, it didn’t work out that way but I’m still happy the power is on.

Another bit of good news is that the air blower and a/c compressor for the central air are working!  This was a surprise as I was expecting neither to work and had budgeted 3k-5k for their replacement.  I now only have about 200.00 worth of material costs in replacing the old duct work that was damaged from the family of raccoons living in my attic.  I’m going to do some preventive maintenance to both the air blower and compressor and hopefully there will be no future issues.  Fingers crossed!!

Over the weekend I completed my first plumbing job, replacing the three handle faucet in the shower with a one handle version.  Before I cut the old one out this is what I had:

To think that it would be as easy as cutting this old faucet out and simply installing the new one in its place was probably a bit naive because that is not how it happened.  Nothing lined up correctly so I spent a couple of hours using the old copper joints and tubing to make a map of how the new one would go in.  Time well spent let me tell you.  Here is what I had after the cut out:

The two pipes coming from the floor are the supply lines.  The ones from the top go to the other side of the wall to the washer.  Now for my masterpiece 🙂

Ok… so it’s not all that impressive to look at, but for a guy who knew nothing about soldering to begin with this was an accomplishment for me.  There are over twenty-two soldering points and none of them leak.  SWEET!!  This was great practice for the hot water heater that is going to be replaced and put me that much closer to finishing the bathroom.  Now I’m ready to install the tub and put up the cement board for the installation of tile around the tub.  How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time! 🙂  This is my new favorite motto.

The first month is behind me and although it feels like not much has been done I know that a lot of foundational work is being completed that prepares me for the other projects.  I’m thinking the next four weeks will show some amazing progress…

In the first month I’ve spent about $4700.00.  A little over 3200 was for new windows and doors and 1500 was for the electrical upgrades.  The next four weeks will see several thousand more dollars go out, but by then should be able to see the beginnings of a home.  Onward and upward!!