Return of the Inspector

The inspector is expected to arrive in ten minutes. We seem to have fixed everything that was wrong since the last inspection. We'll post some photos this weekend of what that amounts to.

The main things that have happened are: dimmer switches got installed two days ago for all the can lights, the circuits are all labeled on the fuseboxes, and four paving stones were placed under the main electrical box outside. This meant replanting our parsley and rosemary, incidentally.

Also, as a continued follow-up on the solar panel cleaning, we've been churning out around twelve kilowatt hours a day. Go Sun!

Washing the solar panels

Think of all the things you could be doing right now other than looking at pictures of a guy washing his solar panels!

Dusty panels

Everything finally got submitted for our solar rebate, and we passed the solar inspection! I was up on the roof with John Joyce of Burbank Water & Power when I realized why our daily output had dropped from around thirteen kilowatt hours to fewer than seven -- dust.

So, I bought a giant squeegee, hauled a hose up on the roof and cleaned them all off yesterday morning. By the end of the day we were back up to around twelve.

We failed because of dimmer switches?!

Really?! Really. There is some code requiring them for can lights. Despite the fact that you can't use (normal) dimmers on compact fluorescents. I haven't talked to J.D. about it yet, so I don't know if there are other reasons we failed. But this one sure seems silly.

This just in: We didn't pass...

... but we don't know why yet. Erin and the kids left for an hour, and when they came home the inspector and J.D. were both gone. The inspection card remains unsigned. Erin has a call in to J.D. to try and find out what's going on. I'll post when I find out more.

Inspector is really, really there inspecting

Right now as we speak! Please cross your fingers with me.

By the way, this photo was taken almost exactly a year ago.

Working baby monitor

We bought a few baby monitors at Target, and only this one was able to punch through enough walls in our house to work properly. This one uses cordless phone frequencies (2.4Ghz, I think).

In a related note: While baby monitors seem to be too weak to actually function properly, ceiling fan remotes are overly strong! After the second morning of finding the lights on in Ronan's room, we realized that the fan remote in our bedroom was so powerful it was controlling both rooms. I hope there's a choice of frequencies on them that'll work.

Final inspection today?

We've been told the final inspection for Certificate of Occupancy is scheduled for today. Angel got the stair rails up last week, which was the last thing needed before the inspection, I think.

We need to walk around and make a punch list to figure out what zillion little things remain that aren't for the C of O, but need to get done. Stuff like swapping the mirrors in the bathrooms, fixing the cracked glass wall in the shower, screwing down the drain covers in the showers, moving the cable drop point, blah, blah, blah.

I've also got a call in to Burbank Water and Power to see if everything has finally been submitted by California Solar for the reimbursement.

Audio surveillance

Our baby monitors (a Sony and a Graco) don't reach from the kids' rooms downstairs to our bedroom upstairs. Why are these things so underpowered? Don't they test them in real houses?

I'm going to buy every model at Fry's and try them all out to see if one is powerful enough. (Why bother with online reviews; I'm a sucker for hands-on, scientific method!) If none of them work, I wonder if there's an easy way to run some sort of wired intercom over our Cat5 cable? When I was a kid we had Radio Shack intercoms that transmitted over the powerline, I think. Do those still exist?

Or is there some kind of computer network based solution?

I was getting excited about using a couple of pairs of Motorola FRS 2-way radios, but then I found out that that is seriously discourage by fans of the over-crowded FRS spectrum, and possibly against FCC rules.

Any recommendations would be great.

Lonely light

This fixture is in place, but looks a little strange without the mirror under it.

Speaking of sad things, I noticed a large crack running through the glass wall at the back of the shower. I forgot to take a picture of it. We're going to have to get that replaced before some unsuspecting early-morning shower taker gets decapitated before their time.

Electricians should finish today

I love the way this fan looks in our bedroom. I went by the house at lunch to drop off a light fixture for the closet under the stairs. Roc had hung one fan, and had two more to go.
He thinks they'll be done today!

Trellis that looks, but isn't, load bearing

How old will the kids be the first time they try walking on those 2x4s?

Unfired from the job

I haven't talked to JD about it, but it seems that he's unfired the window/door/everything guys. The day after we reported their removal from the job, they showed up bright and early to start building the trellis, and they've been going strong in the days since.

I love the way it's shaping up. I'd forgotten about this part of the design, actually. Probably because I never built it into the 3D models. It looks like it'll increase the visual flow between the old and new parts of the house, and add some more shade to the hallway in the afternoon.