Flue Rerouting

Mar 20, 2001

We solved the problem of the flue pipe with some creative re-routing. In the process, we managed to also reduce the number of bends, so hopefully it will do a better job drafting. If all else fails, we will have to line the chimney with metal pipe to get a good draft.
Most of the framing is now done. This includes all the ceilings where there will be wallboard, and the soffits in the bedroom and theater. It's getting easier to visualize what the space will eventually look like.
This past weekend we went shopping at Home Depot for our bathroom fixtures. We bought shower and sink fixtures, and the standard necessities like a toilet paper roll holder and towel bar.
The electricians have been working for several days now. They have pretty much completed the wiring and rewiring. Fortunately there were no junction boxes that couldn't be moved or eliminated. We are making sure to put in plenty of capacity for the entire basement since there won't be much opportunity to fix things later. The wiring closet alone will have three 20-amp circuits in it. This may all be overkill, but this closet will hold all the control and audio equipment for the theater and the whole house. We are also going to upgrade the sub-panel to 100 amp capacity to be safe (this is just a breaker swap). As it turns out, the theater will have seven switches in it to control lighting. Frightening, isn't it?
As the electricians handle all the 115 volt wiring, I'm adding low voltage wiring. I went ahead and ran cat-5 to each wall switch on the main level (for possible future ALC or other hardwired lighting control), and I'm doing the same for all the new switches in the basement as they get installed. I pulled a couple more cat-5 runs to the attic so I can get the upstairs switches later. I also ran standard structured cabling to all the basement rooms (2 runs of RG-6 and 3 runs of cat-5), and added speaker and keypad wiring for whole-house audio. This is SO much easier when there are no walls to cut out.
I'll tackle the low voltage wire for the theater itself later this week. I'll need speaker wiring for all the speakers, RG-6 for the projector and subwoofer locations, and cat-5 to various locations for infrared, projector control, and curtain/window shade control. Steve trenched the concrete floor between the wiring closet and the raised platform location so we can have lighting on the platform steps and an outlet on the front of the platform. We will also bury a 3" PVC pipe in the trench for whatever future low voltage wiring I might need to add.