Low Voltage Conduit & In-Home Vacuum

Slow, but steady progress. The low voltage conduit contractors installed the in-home vacuum piping, recepticles, and wiring this week. I also coordinated with them on the side to run conduit (the orange tubing) for future CAT6 connectivity. I’m really excited to get the CAT6 run and punched down to the patch panel in the basement.

We have been playing guessing games as to what is coming next. Hoping we get the hardboard siding and exterior stone accents delivered soon. At some point in the near future, we know there will also be a pre-drywall inspection (most likely before they do the spray foam insulation). After doing some research, we decided it would be wise to have a home inspector assist us in this step, just to make sure we have a neutral and experienced third party look things over on our behalf.

Low voltage conduit (orange tube) in pantry for wireless access point
Low voltage conduit (orange tube), inside wall of master bedroom/great room
In-home vacuum receptacle – several placed throughout the house
Low voltage conduit (orange tube) on an outside wall of office

Great Room Windows & Fireplace

Finally, one of the big moments we’ve been waiting for… the great room wall of windows has been installed! We couldn’t have been happier with how this room is turning out. Now that all of the windows are in, we are waiting on the two sliding glass doors to be delivered and put in place. Bonus, the wood burning zero-clearance fireplace insert is in and it looks great.

Electrical

A little over a week since our last post and the electricians have been onsite and finished up the first part of their work. All switch and outlet boxes have been installed, wiring run throughout the house, and the breaker panel installed in the basement. The low-voltage contractor should be onsite next week to run the tubes for the in-home vacuum system as well as the conduit for future CAT6 connectivity.

HVAC

It’s been about a week since our last post, but during that time a lot of things have been going on behind the scenes.

We arranged for the low voltage contractor (who will be installing our in-home vacuum system) to install custom conduit runs throughout the outside walls of the house. This will make it easier for me to run auxiliary media through the spray foam insulated walls, like CAT6 or other standards as they come out.

When we met the builder and the tradesmen on site last week, we got the impression from the electrician that the electrical work would begin later that day. When we dropped by the lot on Friday to check on the progress, it didn’t seem like they had started anything yet; however, the HVAC work had begun, the great room windows had been delivered, and the metal roofing accents were put up.

Great room windows
Black metal roofing accents above the garage, office, and upstairs bedroom
Closer view of the metal roof accent – office, upstairs bedroom
Closer view of the metal roof accent – garage

In retrospect, it seems as if the electrical work may have been contingent on the HVAC work being finished, or the electrician was held up on another job. Either way, our low voltage contractor reached out to us yesterday to let us know he can’t begin his work until the electrical has been installed. He let the builder know about the delay, and we’re hoping to see those trades completed sometime in the next couple weeks.

In better news, as of yesterday, the HVAC installation appears to be complete! Here are some progress pictures and a video of the finished work:

Windows Installed

We went to the site to meet with our builder yesterday to discuss the location of the HVAC unit in the basement. When we arrived, we noticed most of the windows and front door had been delivered earlier that day.

Because the wall of windows in the great room and the two sliding glass doors hadn’t been delivered yet, we didn’t expect installation to take place until much later. We were surprised to drive by this evening and see the work had already been completed!

Tomorrow we meet with the electrician to iron out any final details before he starts his work. And, there is a pile of HVAC materials in the garage that seems to have been delivered today, which means they may be starting that work soon too.