This has been a hectic, stressful week. So much so I got sick on Wednesday.
Goodbye old home
We moved out of our Rental that we have called home for the last 1.5 years. I was lucky enough to get a landscaper, a carpet cleaner and maid service do everything in and out of the house for about $600. I hope I get more than that back in my deposit
1-800-pack-rat came (from my previous post) and took the storage unit to the land.
They placed it right in the middle of the driveway, a very inconvenient spot.
Temporary Power hook up
My Contractor told me that I should throw everything I have at this project. Even with PG&E coming on Thursday (so they said) I thought I should get as many finals out of the way that I could. I had hoped to final with fire and the county on Wednesday, get power on Thursday and then FHA final on Friday. Then we’d move in on Friday. Man proposes, God disposes…
I got temporary power Monday afternoon
However, my Electrician could not do it Monday. He also had major trouble getting out there Tuesday because his wife’s car broke down. So Tuesday afternoon I had power!!
I was so excited I tried out outlets in the house and other things. The Fire alarms were all chirping. Then I tried the well…
Delta Pump were the ones who installed the pad, pump and Operating panel. They neglected to leave behind exact specs on how to set the well up. So I called and googled. I found the right settings and reset the pump. This is the manual for the pump operator (I believe it’s called a VFD). But there was a leak in the metal pipes coming from the well. Which Delta pump fixed (I did not have the tools).
Darrell loved that there was water and an excess of mud. He wanted me to record him. Here is an excerpt:
Rural Water inspection
The Fire authorities want to verify that my pump can handle fire sprinklers without losing pressure. So they come out and look at a the sprinkler panel and run some water out of the system and see if the pressure stays up and the bell rings. My Bell rang right away! But apparently it should wait 30 seconds.
The inspector said there was a dial behind the sprinkler controller. But to get to it I needed a tamper resistant hex wrench. It’s a hex wrench with a hole in the middle.
I couldn’t find one and nearly bought one from Amazon. But then found that the wrench for it was in a fire-red metal box in my home. Hooray!
However, once I removed it, there was no dial and it simple was an on/off switch based on the pressure.
I called a local fire sprinkler place to see what they said. They were very helpful and said that 0 seconds on a bell is fine within residential. So I told the inspector, but he is on vacation for a week. I hope the one who fills in is easy to explain to.
PG&E Horrible customer service.
Up until this point things weren’t too bad. My inspections were delayed a day or two, but I had started early.
Then came the day PG&E was supposed to install their meters (Thursday). I removed temporary power and had the electrician button the panel back up on Wednesday afternoon. That way the panel was ready Thursday morning for the install.
Thursday morning PG&E emailed me and said they had cancelled my job.
WHAT?!
Apparently someone came out Wednesday morning and “made sure” that everything was ready to go for the install Thursday. They didn’t tell me they were going to, nor did they ask.
PG&E cancelled construction on an impromptu, non-required inspection, and they didn’t even ask if I was aware of the situation.
Since I had already planned on being there Thursday to take care of a few things. I was at my home at the appointed time Thursday morning and there all day. A PGE guy came and saw that everything was back in order later that morning and told me he’d bring a crew tomorrow to fix it.
Leaky Pipes
Once power was restored I found that a couple fittings on my water main weren’t in tight and were leaking (I knew ahead of time, but didn’t have a way to test).
Now those are fixed and we are ready for our final inspections! Unfortunately, I had to cancel everything until I knew when I had power. So everything is now scheduled for Monday. If that goes well, we’ll move in
Kind Friends
Luckily we know some people in town who have been angels to us and let us stay in their home! The kids haven’t minded moving at all this time. Not much has changed for them, so I guess this is a success!
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