Electrical Inspection and Wrap-up
2007.06.04
We scheduled for an inspection later this week. I hope that goes well. The one thing he is worried about is the existing ground wire to the water line. Technically, the point where that wire connects to the water line is supposed to be accessible so the inspector can see it. But the basement has a drywall ceiling, and they didn’t leave an access panel, at least that we could find. Hopefully the inspector won’t be concerned about it.
2007.06.06
One more thing I have to complete, before the inspector comes tomorrow morning, is covering up the exposed wiring above the panel. According to the electrician, this has to be covered with a minimum 1/2-inch material, could be plywood or gypsum board.
I didn’t have anything around the house large enough to fill the space. But I talked with the model shop guys at the office today and they cut down a scrap piece of plywood for me to the dimensions I needed.
I had to make a couple notches with hand tools, and after a few rounds of experimenting with that, got it installed with some deck screws.
2007.06.07
Well, the inspector was supposed to show up between 8:00 and noon today. So I waited around… and waited… and waited. Finally around 11:30 I called the city. “No, we don’t show anything for that address.” Uh, what? So I called Red’s Electric and talked to their scheduling lady. “No, I don’t have anything down for that, sorry. Best I can do is schedule it for tomorrow…” Got to be kidding me! I sure love wasting my vacation time for things like this. I was standing right next to the electrician when he called it in. Who was he talking to, his grandmother?
2007.06.08
The inspector showed up around 10:30 this morning. Actually there were two, an older guy and then a younger guy in training. Apparently the younger guy is primarily a plumbing inspector, but is being trained to do electrical as well.
No hiccups on the inspection. No comments about the ground to the water line, they just wanted to see the grounding rods. They were unsure about the current code requirements for how deep the trench has to be, but figured what I had was sufficient. Took them a minute to sort out in their minds that the new GFCI switch on the back of the house protects the outlet in the garage… but didn’t really seem concerned about whether it was protected or not. Really, they came across as somewhat lackadaisical about the whole thing… don’t you feel safe now?
Well, glad to get that out of the way. Now I can fill in the trench.
2007.06.10
Put up some new fence boards today to fill in the gap where I pulled boards off to dig the trench.
Garage Circuit