Progress for February 2006

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02/09/06

There has been a lot of rain, so progress has been slow. The basement has been pretty much excavated enough to pour the slab. Recently, the plumbers have been there to run the pipes that have to be under the slab. The big white pipe carries the drains from the light wells and joins with the downspouts from the gutters to go to the new storm drain in the alley. The black ABS pipes go to the sanitary drain. Any non-vent waste pipes coming down from the main level will be cast iron for noise reduction.

The mechanical room will have a floor drain. The top pipe coming into the fixture brings water to keep the trap primed (I guess there is a float valve inside the trap). The big PEX tube coming into the mechanical room is the water main. All of the pipes are wrapped in foam insulation where they come though the slab. They still need to do the plumbing for the sumps in the shop and the elevator shaft. The electricians now need to come and run some conduits for the electrical service. I haven't heard a schedule for when they can actually pour the slab.

02/18/06

The forms and rebar are in and inspected for half of the basement floor. This covers the living space, the mechanical room, and the storage rooms off of the garage. There will be radiant heat in the storage rooms cast into the slab. Likewise, there is heat at the bottom of the elevator shaft, and a sump pump as required by code. The radiant heating for the living space will be installed later after the sleepers are installed for the hardwood floors in Elaine's room and the guest room.

On a less positive note, I have finally thrown in the towel on my plans to use commercial cooking appliances in the kitchen. A couple of weeks ago we decided to make sure there were no surprises by talking with the head building inspector. At first, he thought we could get it certified by some sort of fire safety engineer and that would be okay. On further research, that was a no-go. The next tack was to form "Sweetshoppe Catering" and have a professional kitchen. It was okay with the city planners for us to have a home business but the Health Department does not allow the same kitchen to be used for home use and commercial use. We would be allowed to build a separate catering kitchen but would have to keep non-employees out of it. I did a lot of research on the web and have decided on a DCS range and wok burner. We're going with 6 x 17,500 BTU top burners and a 12" grill (18,000 BTU). This is less that the 24,000 BTU burners of the Garland, and the Wok burner at 30,000 is a far cry from the 110,000 I was planning on. On the other hand, our rental has a stove with 3 x 9,500 plus 1 x 5,000 and we have managed to turn out some pretty good meals here. Also, the DCS has niceities like a broiler in the oven and more convenient electronic ignition.

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