Saturday 30 October 2010

The Office and Wiring

Our office at the top of the stairs (which isn't at the top of the staircase, but on the 1st floor landing) is taking shape. The outside wall is insulated and plasterboarded, the wiring is in place, and next week we board the wall between the office and the guest bedroom. At the moment this wall is mud, straw, and stuff, and very old and crumbly. It would be nice to be able to somehow acknowledge this wall in our new improved house, but it is in too much of a state so (reluctantly) plasterboard it is.

The office, wired for computers and networks.
The wiring for the rest of the house is taking shape too. This took us at a bit of a surprise, but Stéphane and I suddenly realised that this was our last opportunity to put the wiring for the bedroom and lights for the staircase and have them invisible, as they are all routed via the office.

A tangle of wire. I am really glad
Stéphane knows what he is doing.
I just hyperventilate.
To get wires into the bedroom, they have to pass through a 60cm thick stone wall - no great difficulty, but it could be traumatic for someone not used to the frequency and casual way that walls get drilled through around here. In addition, the process of getting wire up a light switch for the staircase also involves chipping away at walls, this time the mortar between stones.

The wires for the light switch, snaking
between the stones of the wall
When the wall is finished the wiring will be invisible behing a layer of chaux, and just the faces of the stones will be showing. This process will probably also start next week.

Which will mean more dust....

Simon

3 comments:

Carolyn said...

We're so impressed with your progress. You've come a long way.

We know what it's like to live with renovations. You think it'll never be over and then one day it is (yes, two minutes before it's time to replace/re-paint back where you started the whole process). Forget I told you that.

Is the kitchen finished yet?

Simon said...

Calrolyn. Thanks - we are making progress. Unfortunately though, not yet in the kitchen. We start that next.

It has been next the last 3 times, so this time shuldn't be any different.

Tim said...

Always worth photographing 'crazy' wiring... that way you'll at least have some idea where it is when you drill through it!
On one occasion, when having an extension done on a kitchen, the electrician was unable to run a wire vertically to a socket. He wrote 'grid' measurements on the wall next to two points on the diagonal wire and photographed the whole ensemble in detail and sent them to my mortgagers to be put with the house deeds. I'd never heard of it before that, but he said it was a legal requirement.
This was in the days before bleeping stud'n'wire finders.
Good luck finding the kitchen in the dust!
Verification word is "kitle"... so you'd better go and put it on!

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