Buddy, Chappy, and Missus

Electrician Dave wires the new panel

The past two weeks have been really slow going. Most of the time was spent wiring the house. There are lots of wires. There are lots of little details to work out, like where the switches go, what kind of lights are in each room, where the lights go, where the tele jacks should be, etc etc..

The plan last week was to finish the wiring and then call for inspections. The order of inspections is:

1. plumbing
2. electrical
3. framing

Typically the builders like to finish all  plumbing, then get it inspected. Then they move to electrical, get it finished and inspected, and so on. It is a very linear process. But of course we are not doing a typical renovation.

The part of our reno which is atypical is the heating/flooring. We are installing the hydronic radiant heated floor. It has lots of pipes in it and therefore required mechanical/plumbing inspection. However the concrete slab they are going to pour will be our finished floor. We don’t really want contractors dropping tools on it after it is poured, or spilling compressor oil etc etc.. Therefore we planned to finish as much as possible prior to pouring the floor – then come back and do the hydronics/concrete/polishing.

There is one exception: the main floor windows and doors. The doors have to go in after the floor, as they sit on it! Also, the window height for some windows (such as pass-through kitchen window) will be based on the floor elevation – which we will not know until after it is poured.

So what our plan is (was) looks like this:

1. finish wiring
2. finish plumbing and gas (but not heating)
3. install spray foam insulation in perimeter walls (it uses chems that we don’t want on final floor)
4. install piping for radiant floor
5. pour floor
6. install windows and doors

This all seemed good to us – except that it is not the typical order that things are done in. For example:

• we need to have the plumbing inspector come before the plumbing for heating is done, so he can inspect domestic water installed in perimeter walls prior to spray foam
• we need a framing inspection of perimeter walls to do spray foam, even though windows are not in yet (don’t want to get any spray foam residue on unfinished wood on interior windows.

New Water Line into House (the white line is new)

So I phone for plumbing inspection. The only thing he really needs to check (that he has not already seen) is the new water line into house – which we moved 5′ so that it comes into the new boiler room.

Buddy shows up and asks “why am I here?”. Rick tells him “new water service; we want to cover it”. Buddy says “you don’t need to call me for that!”.  I am thinking Like hell we don’t! If we don’t call him and he sees a new water line that he did not inspect he will bust our balls! Anyway, I say nothing and he fills out a form and we are done.

One down, two to go.

I can’t call for the electrical inspection. The whole permit process is separate and different for electrical (it is national building code – not bc building code), Anyway, the electrician needs to call for this, so he (Rein) does. He won’t be here when the inspector shows, so he has given me strict instructions: say nothing!

Chappy shows up and asks “why am I here?”.

I remember what Rein told me don’t say anything but I have to answer. Hmmm.

I tell Chappy “we need to spray foam insulation into the perimeter wall cavities, so we need to know the electrical is OK before we do this”.

“Why are you spraying foam now?” he asks.

“Because we don’t want to get the oily messy chemicals on the windows or floor or anything”.

“Then why don’t you use batt insulation?” (he is referring to standard fiberglass insulation)

“Because you guys told me that I have to insulate to R20, and I have 2×4 walls” I say – while thinking to myself don’t say anything.

One of our many piles of junk! This one is old electrical wires waiting to go to recycling for cash!)

“You could strap out the walls”, he suggests.

“I could”, I say.

“Am I just checking downstairs” he asks.

“Just downstairs.” I reply, and I turn and walk to another room to avoid continued discussion. I pick up some random junk and toss it in the ever increasing junk pile. I look up at the bathroom fan. I make a mental note to drill a hole for the vent pipe – probably should do this before the foam guys come.

From the other room I hear Chappy ask “what’s this”. Uh-oh I think to myself as I walk in to where he is. Don’t say anything.

Vent stack and wires for the new island.

He is looking at the vent stack for the kitchen island, which is next to a piece of conduit through which we pulled the wires to for the microwave and power outlets that will be in the island.

I contemplate saying “it is a wire in a pipe” – but decide against it.

“There is an island going here, and it has a microwave and power outlets.”

“Where does this pipe go?” he asks as he gestures to the conduit.

“Oh, over here”. I walk over to the other side of the laundry area and point behind the dryer.

Chappy doesn’t even move or go to look. He just says “it’s N M D. Needs to be N M W”.

I have no idea what he is talking about, and I tell him this. Decide it is better to play stupid. I tell him I am just the home owner and I will get the electrician to look at it. Sidebar: Chappy knows the electrician. He goes for beers with him, and even works for him on the side when he needs extra cash. I wonder if this is some kind of contest between electrical pros to see who can find fault with the others work. Whatever.

But Chappy continues “… the conduit is in the slab … it is considered a wet environment. N M W cable can be direct buried, so it is suitable for a wet environment. N M D can only be run in a dry environment …”.

“Oh – I get it” I say, “W is for wet and D is for dry. I will tell the electrician – but I am not sure how water is supposed to get into the conduit, which is a single piece of plastic pipe encased in concrete – and where the concrete is sealed from below with vapor barrier”.

“It is the code” he says.

ka-ching, I think to myself.

Chappy continues on his inspection. He stops by the kitchen window and asks “what is going here”?

I think to myself it is on the plans, you could just look at them, but I decide to be polite. “Twelve feet of counter, starting at that wall. There is a 36″ sink in the middle. This is a big window behind the counter.”.

“Where is the power for the counter?”.

“There is power on the wall there” I say as I point to the place where I will eventually plug in my espresso machine “and there will be an outlet on the end of the cabinet base near the doors, as there is no back splash. The counter runs right through to the window”.

“That will look cool” he says with a funny tone in his voice – I can’t really place the tone – is it sarcasm – or evil intent … “unfortunately you need more power outlets”.

Sidebar: we knew this could be an issue. Code says there must be an outlet with in 36 inches of any place on any counter surface in a kitchen. This means that outlets need to be a minimum of 6 apart. The distance between the edge of our sink and the nearest outlet will be 48 inches.

“There is no where to put them” I say, ” and there is a sink here. We will not be using this counter for food prep”.

“It is the code” he says.

ka-ching ka-ching, I think to myself.

I ask him what he suggests, and he seems to like this. He starts looking around at the construction and wiring in the area – clearly he is in problem solving mode. I make a mental note Chappy likes to be involved … best to share the problem with him … make it his as much as mine and then he owns it as well and maybe he will back off a bit.

Sink Counter with Outlets

He says “You could put a pop up plug right here …” he is pointing to the counter area right behind the sink, where the tap will come through the counter”.

“So it can fill up with water.” I reply … I just could not help myself.

“It is GFI”, he says, “all your kitchen plus have to be”.

“Right” I am getting annoyed “so the water can run into the box, trip the GFI, and then run into my counter space and rot out the building. I am not sure the building guys are going to be so pleased with this.”. I decide it is time to end this discussion before I get myself into trouble “… anyway, I understand, you want more outlets … we will come up with something”.

But he is not finished (I guess he realized how silly the behind the sink idea was) “you could put a pop up right here in the middle of the counter”. He is pointing to the middle of the 4′ counter to the left of the sink.

I think I replied with something like “This is a counter right in front of a pass-through window. There will be trays of beer going back and forth. We don’t need something to knock the tray and spill out beer! Anyway, we will think of something.” I just want to end the discussion.

But he doesn’t want to end it “… you could put a power outlet in the face of your cabinetry”.

“We will consider that” I respond, while thinking not a chance.

Finally Chappy moves on. Another thought occurs to me … these guys are busy and must only get 15 to 30 minutes at a site … in future I should leave one obvious flaw and then use all his time arguing about it … so that he doesn’t have time to pick apart ever other little irrelevant thing.

Electrical Room Layout (as per out plans)

Now he is in the electrical room. He asks “what is this space?”.

“It is the electrical room” I say.

“Is there a door?”

“Not right now, but there will be some bi-folds”.

“No there won’t”.

I am speechless. Not sure how to respond. I am thinking don’t say anything. I just stand there.

Awkward silence.

Electrical Room Layout (with full door stipulated by chappy)

Finally he says “You need to install a full door that swings inward towards the panel, like this…” and he proceeds to stand in the doorway and demonstrate how the door should open.

I am now speechless and confused. I try to ask a sensible question, but just sort of babble incoherently as I am unable to phrase anything that is not offensive. So I just stand there.

“I think you are going to use this room as a storage closet” he says, “so I require that you install a door that swings inwards so as to prevent you from storing things in this room”.

“But then I will not be able to access the panel if a breaker blows! I will have to wiggle in past the door, then close the door. What if a fire starts at the panel? I will be trapped in the room!!” I say.

“It’s the code.”

I stand there. Already in my head I have concocted a couple of alternate plans. No point in playing these cards now.

Finally, mercifully, it is over. He writes up an inspection card and leaves.

Two down – one to go.

—

Framing inspection is the next day. I had called it in and requested a “partial framing inspection”. We aren’t finished building – so we just need the perimeter walls checked.

Our typical inspector is a fellow named Neville. He is a good guy, very reasonable. Today I answer the door and there is a completely different inspector. She looks very serious.

“You called for a partial framing inspection” she says, “we don’t typically do partial inspections. Why do you need me here?”.

Here we go again I think to myself …

I tell Missus “we need to spray foam insulation into the perimeter wall cavities, so we need to know the perimeter walls are all framed properly before we do this”.

“Why are you spraying foam now if you have not finished all the framing. You are supposed to finish the framing and then call for your inspection” she tells me.

I start my little story “We are pouring a concrete floor ….”.

When I finish she says “You have other options, you could strap out the walls”.

“That will cost me more money. What I want to do is install R12 batt insulation, but you guys are forcing me to upgrade my 2×4 walls to R20. Other municipalities like Burnaby are fine with older 2×4 houses insulating to R12. I don’t understand what is so different between Burnaby and North Van”.

“It’s the code” she says.

“OK, so where do you want to start?” (I decide we just need to move this along)

“Do you have the Engineers Field Report” she asks.

Some background: since this house is built with large posts and beams, it does not fall under section 9 of the BC Building Code (BCBC), which governs wood frame construction. As such the District of North Van would not approve my plans without them being reviewed and approved (stamped) by a Professional Engineer. Luckily my father (John) is such an Engineer, so he was able to do the engineering and verify that my beams can support the required load etc.. On of the caveats is that he must make field visits and review the construction to ensure it is being built as per his approved design.

“It is right here…” I shuffle through my files and hand her the field report. She doesn’t even look at it – just files it in her bundle of stuff and moves on to look at my walls.

She walks around silently, observing things, and then stops and writes some notes on the inspection card.

Eventually she says “We require that the building envelope be sealed prior to insulation. You do not have your windows installed, and the windows are an integral part of the envelope. We need to know that the building is protected form water ingress before you add the foam insulation, which is waterproof. If water could get into the walls between the foam and the sheathing you could end up with rot or mold.”.

She is correct of course, and this makes total sense. However we are in a bit of a catch-22. The final install height of the windows is governed by the height at which the doors are installed (tops of windows and doors need to line up), and the finished height of the floor depends on how thick the concrete is that is poured, and the concrete depends on how flat the floor is and how the hydronic piping goes down.

I explain this to Missus, and she leaves and walks outside. She comes back in and says “… you have not finished the wall-wrap or rain protection. I am not going to make you install the windows, but you do need to wrap the outside before you spray …”.

Very reasonable I think to myself.

She continues “One more thing …”.

Here we go I think to myself …

She walks into the media room and asks “what is going into this old fireplace? Is this insert staying?”.

We have a wood burning high-efficiency fireplace insert. It works great, and we plan to keep it.

“Yes” I say, we are keeping the fireplace insert. It works great!”

Wall in Den. Framing is too close to back of fireplace – needs to be torn out and fixed.

“Then you need to fix this wall” she says, “BCBC requires 4 inch clearance between the back of a masonry fireplace and any combustibles.”.

Our wall is framed with only 0.5 inches of clearance. We did this because the insert is shrouded with metal and gives off very little heat from the back. I have tested it, and I can touch the back of the insert with my bare hand (and keep my hand on it) when it is fully fired and glowing orange! Definitively no fire hazard.

I explain this to Missus, and she replies “BCBC does not make any allowances for wood burning inserts. Your masonry fireplace and any adjacent framing structure must conform to the building code. It does not. Furthermore you have this hardy board on the back. Why is this here?”

“We put that on for additional fire protection!” I exclaim, “… it is safe without it …. we are just trying to be extra careful!”.

“We consider this board a combustible as it has composite fibres in it. You would need to use concrete board. However this is not to code. Code required that your masonry fireplace be 7 inch thick with a minimum 2 inch firebrick liner. You will need to fix this.”. She starts writing on the inspection card.

ka-ching ka-ching ka-ching, I think to myself.

Missus presents me with her inspection form and takes her leave.

I go pour a glass of beer.

——-

In the next few posts I will go over how we plan to address these issues.

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