My Texas Round House: Finally...some progress!

Ahhhhh...... My work schedule has finally settled a bit this week allowing me to get some quality time going on the house with some good results.

Electrical work
In preparation for the upcoming Daylight Savings time change, I went back over all of the electrical work focusing on those areas that I had yet to validate. The only two remaining lines in place but not yet connected go to the water heater and the dryer plug. I'm pleased to report there were no unwelcome ZAPPING sounds, explosions or fires when I flipped individual breakers or light switches.

It's such a GOOD feeling when you find everything to be in good working order.

Success allowed me to set about installing additional temporary work lights throughout the house so that as it gets dark in the evenings I'll not be working in the shadows. Temporary meaning they can be removed easily when the sheetrock install commences.

It's amazing what good lighting will do for you! It's lifts the spirits and motivates!

Hot Water Heater
I completed the drain plumbing for the hot water. Both the pressure release valve and the drain pan lines connect to the laundry drain. All that remains for the water heater are the main water lines and the electrical connection. That will come with the other plumbing work.

Plumbing
With the desired bathroom and kitchen design/upgrades and the new water heater, pretty much all of the plumbing lines have to be touched in one way or another. Of course, that raised the question as to whether it made sense to replace all of the aging copper lines and replace with new plumbing.

In researching options, PEX plastic tubing with Sharkbite fittings appears to be the best option. PEX and Sharkbite fittings are exceptionally easy to work with, require almost no tools, is fairly inexpensive, and is very much a perfect do-it-yourself project.

Check out these YouTube videos:
PEX Water Lines
Sharkbite Fittings

Internet/TV Cabling
Previously I ran a series of Cat5 computer cables and coaxial cables throughout the house. With a 1000' box of Cat5 and a 500' box of coaxial cable already bought and paid for, and with the walls completely open and accessible, I found it quite easy to get carried away and running more cables than was probably necessary given my general level of computer usage.

On the other hand, considering I was unexpectedly offered a great job which permits working from a home office via internet connectivity, the future possibilities would suggest I'll be working from the house more often than not. That makes NOW the time to take everything into consideration and get the place wired for all things internet related; home network, hardwired and wireless modem, entertainment components, sound system components, fax, printers, etc.

Better overkill now than to kick myself later if I found I didn't install enough infrastructure or in all the logical places. I spent last night pulling the cables back from the original routing to the soon to be computer closet and re-ran them in a more direct line from their sources. It was a bit more tidy to do that! Connecting it all up on a circuit board is going to be interesting.