Hick House Basement 05-05-19

The electric company came to Hick House on Monday, and connected electricity from the poles on the street to the new service entrance Hick put on the side of the house. They also disconnected power from the original wires that ran across the deck. That meant Hick could finalize the electrical connections in the basement. Here are some pictures he took over the weekend.

This is the original cast-iron sewer pipe, which the new plumbing (PVC pipe) will tie into. It's in the corner of the basement under the old bathroom, which is now just a room that will be used for storage, next to the new bathroom. I'm sure you remember the old bathroom.

HOS (Hick's Oldest Son) got all the fixtures out of that room. He had to use a SAWZALL to get the shower out in pieces. Hick and HOS bought some plywood to patch the floor, and have since moved all their tools and sawhorses in there, in preparations for starting work on the master bedroom.

Standing in the basement door, looking in, you can see the water heater has been moved in. That's a concrete pillar supporting the house. The other things are part of the heating duct work hanging down. The light is coming from an actual light, not from a window.

It's a partial basement, that runs along the back of the house, under the pantry off the kitchen, the old bathroom, the kitchen itself, the new bathroom, and perhaps a sliver of the living room and master bedroom. Big enough to store things in, hold the water heater and furnace, and seek shelter from tornadoes. According to Hick, the big cast iron sewer pipe is in a separate little room, that you get to through this room, through a 2' x 3' hole. When I asked what the purpose of that was, Hick said, "That's just how they did things back then."

The main electric box is also in the basement. If you step in through the basement door, the electric box is to your left, on the wall behind you.

There's the new electric box that Hick just installed, next to the off-kilter old electric box, which Hick tied into so he could have power while waiting for the new source to be hooked up to the poles on the street by the electric company. Now that it has been connected, Hick is ready to take out the old box, and put a door on the new one, with the breakers labeled.

The big projects remaining are the master bedroom, and the plumbing. According to Hick, the plumbing can be done in one day, if HOS is on time, and they really get after it. HOS has not yet moved in the furnace, which he has, much like Hick had a collection of assorted building materials. A friend of HOS is going to hook up the electric furnace for him. Hick could do the electrical part, but not the duct work. There IS a limit to Hick's talents.