Domestic Spelunking
Jan. 7th, 2009 05:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snousleFinally got something off the to-do list that had been there for more than 6 months. The wire from my Internet antenna - all 200 feet of it - had been placed in a conduit from the pumphouse up the hill, where it is mounted, down to the house, but past that point it was still going under the porch and in through a window. Even with a towel stuffed into it, there was a terrible draft, and it looked super trashy.
Today I ventured under the house to route the wire to a hole in the floor. Unfortunately, spending $50K on an architect still doesn't mean that anyone is going to bother to plan, say, the HVAC system. Despite our repeated inquiries during the design process about just how the ducts were going to be routed, we never got any answers. The answer turned out to be "let the HVAC guy put them wherever he feels like". The result, down in our ever so spacious 18" high crawlspace, is like something out of Brazil. It's a freaking nightmare.
Worse, the ducts completely occupy one hole through the stem walls, and partially block another, so we had to cut a trap-door in the far end of the house to access that half at all. And under my office, a crazy tangle of ducts, water lines, and septic lines required the most incredible limbo dance you have ever seen to get through them. Basically I had to shove myself between the ground (which of course was not cleaned up in any way during construction) and the duct, compressing it against the underside of the joists, while simultaneously not tearing down the septic line. It was just barely within the realm of the possible - anyone less skinny than me wouldn't have had a prayer.
Like so many scary and awful things, it didn't seem so bad at the time, but now I understand why several contractors each said that they would NEVER go down there again. I'm sure not going to!
Sorry, no filthy photos of me covered in dirt, so you pervs out there will just have to use your imaginations. Especially after staring down an eight-inch millipede, I couldn't get into the shower fast enough.
Today I ventured under the house to route the wire to a hole in the floor. Unfortunately, spending $50K on an architect still doesn't mean that anyone is going to bother to plan, say, the HVAC system. Despite our repeated inquiries during the design process about just how the ducts were going to be routed, we never got any answers. The answer turned out to be "let the HVAC guy put them wherever he feels like". The result, down in our ever so spacious 18" high crawlspace, is like something out of Brazil. It's a freaking nightmare.
Worse, the ducts completely occupy one hole through the stem walls, and partially block another, so we had to cut a trap-door in the far end of the house to access that half at all. And under my office, a crazy tangle of ducts, water lines, and septic lines required the most incredible limbo dance you have ever seen to get through them. Basically I had to shove myself between the ground (which of course was not cleaned up in any way during construction) and the duct, compressing it against the underside of the joists, while simultaneously not tearing down the septic line. It was just barely within the realm of the possible - anyone less skinny than me wouldn't have had a prayer.
Like so many scary and awful things, it didn't seem so bad at the time, but now I understand why several contractors each said that they would NEVER go down there again. I'm sure not going to!
Sorry, no filthy photos of me covered in dirt, so you pervs out there will just have to use your imaginations. Especially after staring down an eight-inch millipede, I couldn't get into the shower fast enough.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-01-08 02:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-08 04:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-08 06:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-08 02:25 pm (UTC)It still raises the hair on my neck that $50K pretty much pays for nominal architectural design and permits and not much else. FYI, the HVAC was probably designed in a couple hours with the installation details deffered to whoever was willing to crawl down there and battle the millipedes.
Are you aware of crawl space liners you can have installed?
no subject
Date: 2009-01-08 04:44 pm (UTC):(
so you pervs out there will just have to use your imaginations.
I'm so hurt that you called me a perv, instead of a lowlife ...
:)