A little bit of everything this week...

Ive done just about a little bit of everything you can think of to help move forward. STILL A LOT TO DO!!! When you think your close, youre not! It is what it is and I just have to keep positive and keep pressing on as I have been. Its taking a lot of patience...something people think Im good at, but not really when it comes to my stuff. Well...I have no choice.

Its been a few days since I put anything up and likely because Ive been busy, sleepy or lazy. Heres a quick run down of whats gone down the last few days - by myself and contractors.

- Started pulling New Network and Coax cable for the house. Though wireless is nice, its always nice to have hardwired connections when it comes to streaming stuff right....

- Selected and purchased Network Panel (this thing will be an in-wall unit that houses ALL Multimedia stuff in the house - Cable TV, Internet Gateway, Network Storage, Telephony, etc...all in one spot.

- Replaced and installed new Furnace (this revealed more work needed once the old stuff was removed...of course). New Thermostat installed - YES! 

- New Vents in the Kitchen and Dining Room have been run, but its ugly at the moment because what they are hiding under (cabinets) are not installed yet. Its hard running new vents in an old house. Clearly didnt have a lot of options, but we made it work. Some vents were relocated to help with efficiency and and/or because an area didnt have a vent (i.e. Kitchen). 

- Gas line finalized - though pipes were replaced, we were waiting for an earthquake valve to allow immediate automatic shut off in the event of an Earth Shake.

- Critter proofing ANY possible access points - I mean ALL!!!!! Dont want unwanted visitors - after all, its an old house and Im making sure that this doesnt happen EVER! 

- More electrical, should be done with main areas by end of next week. 

With that said, here are some pictures that will sort of recap some of the work. Clearly pictures are unfinished work and were snapped during work being done, but Ill snap some soon of finished items as they complete. 

CAT6 Cables - pulling new lines in the walls for the garage and throughout the house. You will not have a hard time finding connectivity here! 

Some of the lines dropping into the backside of where they will go into the Network Enclosure. Its being done much like a business - but BETTER...when Im done.

New Phone line feed from the box outside. Using CAT6 for this too and it will go directly to the Network Panel. Im making it too easy for installers when they turn on my services here. No need to test and guess, Ill have done that for them and all they need to do is call the Central Office (CO) to turn the line on.

This is the Cable line from the street - normal access is outside of a house, but I have moved it into the garage to make it easy for Comcast or whoever to do their install. This line will feed directly to my Network Panel.

Was messing around with centering the TV mount. This room is getting a new closet, so I taped it to spec to get an idea of how to center the recessed electrical and cables for the TV. Needs to be perfect. Blue tape is clearly where the new closet for this room will be - framing will be done soon.

OLD Furnace - REMOVED and GONE FOREVER. That thing was OLD SCHOOL - and loud.

While the walls are open, Ive been looking for any possible entry points animals might attempt to go in. Found this opening in the bathroom and customized some aluminum sheets to seal the opening. Though this area will be behind drywall, Im sealing any points of entry. If you removed this plate, you would see the floor leading to the yard - NOT GOOD. 

More critter proofing. Since we have moved some plumbing, it exposed some 2-3 inch holes in the wood studs.  Anything I find similar to this (even behind what will be sealed walls, I am still blocking it off. When I say mean NO ENTRY, I mean it! 

Suspended brackets for the new furnace. We are relocating from its original location in the basement to the crawl space under the house. No need for anyone to see it - plus, I freed up some room in the basement. Thats partially part of my man cave.

My new Nest Thermostat - bottom was the old location - wall patching needed obviously.

Thermostat during testing - this thing turns Red for Heating, Blue for Cooling, and the screen only turns on when you walk by it. Other than that, it blacks out the screen. The silver around the edges is how you adjust temperature - its like a dial. Same engineers that developed the Apple iPod, so it shares some of that. Thermostat is also accessible via Internet, so I can adjust the temp of my house from my iPhone, iPad or online at any time (when I have Internet at the house). It knows the climate in the ZIP code and also learns as you start adjusting temps everyday. The auto learn can be disabled, but thought it was cool. I think this is one Thermostat that I will actually know how to program - all others are a pain in the @ss..... 

New Furnace during the install - this thing is ultra efficient and super quiet. Its basically hanging from our floor joists and is actually very solid. No need to work on this thing for a long time. Everything is automatic - no pilot burner...so it doesnt go out.

Gas has been connected and all new lines are in place. The red box is the Earthquake Valve required on all new remodels and new homes. That device cuts all gas to the home when there is an earthquake by itself. The main gas thing was fine, so we didnt need to replace it. I think Ill spray it grey to make it look newer at least.