Little Blue Boxes

This week I worked on the kitchen, and actually moved forward with things. I finished placing the boxes and fixtures for electrical, which if you've ever looked at the code requirements for a kitchen, are substantial. Two small appliance circuits, dishwasher, disposal, lighting, and a 240v range circuit, and it all adds up. Plus there's the refrigerator, a 120v outlet for a newer gas stove (we don't need it, but it's easier to add now than later), range hood, under cabinet lights, and for good measure, we have a couple of recessed fluorescents above the sink and the adjacent countertop.

I ran the pipes for the vent stack for the kitchen sink. After puzzling over it repeatedly, as I was doing it I figured out how to run it using more of the fittings and pipe I already had on hand. So I returned one riser clamp and $25 worth of fittings, which is always a nice thing. And for good measure, I added a holder bracket for the pipe to the shower in the bathroom that I'd neglected to include back when I redid the shower a couple of years ago.

When I was at Home Depot to return the fittings and pick up a few other things, I was pleasantly surprised at how much better the service has gotten. Maybe they're training them better, maybe they're just afraid of losing their jobs, but whatever the cause, I'm liking the results. It was even quick and painless at the returns desk.

many stringers

I don't have any interesting pictures of the progress on the house to show you (wanna see a bunch of blue boxes nailed to studs?), so I'll include a picture from today's work at Habitat. I once again cut stringers for stairs. That means a lot of very careful identical cuts. "Sloop" John B. is the Americorps member who's been doing this week in and week out in preparation for the upcoming build-a-thon, so once a week isn't so bad. There's a lot to do -- 20 houses * 3 stringers per stair section * 2-3 stories per house adds up.