The county building inspector approved the permanent electrical power installation at our new house Wednesday morning. Leah and I went to Los Portales for lunch and had huevos rancheros to celebrate.

A requirement for permanent power was that at least 60 percent of the fixtures be installed. I think we met that requirement. We lack only ceiling fans for the living room and master bedroom, vanity lights for both bathrooms, the light over the kitchen sink area, and a couple of random lights here and there. The electrician was supposed to have driven two ground rods about eight feet into the ground next to the electric meter. Unfortunately, that would have mean driving them through eight feet of rock. The building inspector graciously agreed to let them ground the system on the uphill side of the house, which already had one ground rod inserted through the cast concrete basement wall. There is also plenty of depth of non-rock to drive the other ground rod through at that location.

The tile contractor started his work on Tuesday. By late Tuesday he had laid about a third of the tile in the kitchen and had put in the isolating membrane (which allows the tile flooring to expand and contract without cracking) and heating cables in the two bathrooms.

The tile is the latest fad, a wood-look. Leah and I put down a piece of our hardwood next to it; it’s a near-perfect look-alike. The tile color is called mahogany and the oak flooring stain is called cherry. There won’t be any confusion about where the tile begins, but the floor should have a very consistent look throughout the house.

We chose the dark tile because we were tired of trying to keep light-colored tile and grout clean. We’ll never do that again.

The inspector is supposed to contact Georgia Power directly to authorize the permanent power connection. A Georgia Power engineer told me their work would be done by Friday or Monday.  In either event, the hardwood installation will have to wait until the following Monday. I discussed the situation with the hardwood installer and we agreed that we need to get the air conditioning installed to let the hardwood acclimatize before it’s nailed down. That means I have to get the HVAC contractor to install the heat pump compressor on the outside and plumb in the refrigerant lines next week. That will give the wood plenty of time to get used to its new home.

Prior to that I have to prepare a level spot about five feet square at the back of the house for the heat pump compressor pad. I worked on that on Tuesday.

The area above the pad (between the manual compactor and the shovel) used to be a hole. I spent a good bit of time shoveling dirt into the hole. If the world were a just place, you would be able to tell how much work that was, in addition to not having to worry about who’s going to be the next President.

Anyway, the pad is nearly ready. I need to haul a little more dirt from our gigantic dirt pile to make sure the downhill edge is stable, but the pad itself is about the right size, and very close to level.

Our plan for the weekend is to blow cellulose insulation into the attic, and to hang a door between the garage and kitchen. Given the temperatures we have had lately, I expect this to be a draining experience.