Moving Day

The day of stuff. Compared to most people, I don't have much stuff and prefer it that way. Think again. When you move, you realize that you have lots of stuff. With the help of Gary and Don, we (and I really mean they) moved all the heavy stuff last night. My vintage steelcase desk is now in the new office / garage. That desk is a tank and not meant to go up stairs.

I now have four hours to empty the kitchen and finish cleaning the main house for the new tenant. Everyone beware of cranky girl.

Tenant Move In

Uh-oh. The good news is that I found a tenant for the main house. The bad news is that he wants to move in this weekend and I'm off to Vegas.

Close-out

Progress on the garage apartment was clicking away at a pretty good pace, while my contractor was on board. Now that it is up to me to schedule and finish things up, we are moving at a snail's pace.

So, what's new...after three appointments, I broke down and gave up on cable iternet. I've been without internet for 3 weeks now. Yes, I've missed it. But, the world kept moving on.

In my quest for air conditioning, I've learned how to turn on the meter, disconnect, and open the panel on the condenser. As it turns out, the mechanical contractor didn't turn it on. It wasn't me!

The confidence meter is definitely up a notch from where we were before I started this project. After work, I go home and dremel away bad caulk. I also replaced my shower fixtures by myself and picked up everything I need from the Big Box in one trip! The last time we did this, Don helped me and brought the other supplies that he knew I would forget to buy.

The Lights Are On

The power company pulled through in the end. They got me hooked up and running on Wednesday. It is a new line that connects the pole to the house underground. This is a wonderful thing. If you've ever lived through the aftermath of a hurricane, you understand how valuable it is to have underground power. Now, the line to the transformer is still overhead, but I'll take whatever I can get.

Powering On

I'm still here. Almost 2 weeks after I got my C.O., I'm still trying to get power. No power (and air conditioning) is a deal breaker for me. On Monday, I finally got to the right person because when I went home to wait for the Cable/Internet folks, an inspector for the power company was there and told me that I had been fast tracked. Today at lunch, I noticed that the cable was dropped off. The boys are work tell me that I still need to wait for the line crew and then the meter crew. One more day at best...

It's Not Over Yet

I let out a huge sigh of relief last Wednesday, but it doesn't end once you get your Certificate of Occupancy. Now it is time to get the power, cable and internet hooked up. I hesitate to move anything into the apartment without air conditioning. So, right now I'm limited to hanging some drapes and pictures. Those hurricane straps are coming back to haunt me. They keep setting off my stud finder. I probably had to putty and paint a half dozen holes already.

Whistle Clean Windows

I have some super cool windows that hinge in and out. Between that feature and the balcony, I can reach and clean most of the windows on the second story. The rear yard skylights are above the stairwell, so those windows are trickier. I called in the professionals at A Perfect Services, Inc. to clean those. It really is all about having the right equipment. They were in and out in under 30 minutes and it looks great! I can't believe that I actually thought about leaving them as is.

Finally

After some buzzing of the fire alarms - there are a total of four, the inspector signed off on the final building permit. For comparison purposes, my main house is 1,000 SF and only has one fire alarm. What a difference the 2004 building code makes.

One more quick trip to City Hall yielded the much coveted Certificate of Occupancy. I'm thinking of framing it.

Final CO Scheduled, Fingers Crossed

What a day! I decided to take the day off work to sit at home and wait for the engineering inspector. We passed with flying colors and she liked the idea of using a rain barrel to catch the water from the gutters.

The final building permit inspection is scheduled for tomorrow morning. If all goes well, I can get power hooked up and work on a whole host of housekeeping things.