Driveway, low voltage wiring, more inspections

The underground electric is approved and the driveway can now be poured.  Getting it in before the weather turns colder saves money.  The newly poured concrete would need blanket insulation if the night time temperatures drop much below freezing.  #4 (1/2") rebar is cut and placed and 17 yards of concrete are poured by the "Concrete Kid" and his cohorts.  They do a super job at a very competitive price.

Meanwhile, inside the house, I am hustling to finish all the wiring so that I can meet by sheet rocker's start date of November 6th.  It seems like there are wires everywhere and holes need to be drilled in all that nice wood that I framed.  A zillion recessed cans are installed, and I mount, wire and duct all the bathroom fans . . .

Bob and Josh from Marshall Electric Service run all the voice, data, and cable TV lines.  These wires home run to a distribution panel in the office closet.  Each CAT5 blue line below contains 8 wires (4 pairs).  Alex Rivera mentions to Bob that 100 MB networking will require all 4 pairs, so I drop extra wires into a number of spots throughout the house.  Josh does most of the box work in the house, stripping the wires and readying them for switches and receptacles.  Bob and Josh use a technique which I copy, adding pigtails to the other wires in the box.  The pigtails will make installation of the devices a snap.  Green caps that have a hole in the cap top are installed on the bare ground wires in each box with more than one wire.  One wire is selected to protrude from the cap; it will be used to attach to the ground screw of each device. 

Low voltage wiring includes such things as thermostat wires and doorbells:

While the driveway is being poured, the painters are hand painting all our window trim.  The dentals and topper on each window gets a reddish rose color.

The electrical is inspected and blessed.  The electric utility company is notified that the house is "meter ready" and they schedule a date for the cutover to make the house live.

The mechanical inspection is also completed and we are approved for insulation.  I might hit my sheet rocker's November 6th start date if I can get some time after the insulation install to put up interior sheer walls . . .