One thing he explained is how he was going to mount the basement ducts a couple inches lower then I had first assumed. He said these critical few inches would make the ducts that much more quiet, as they would better isolate the vibrations of ducts and movement of floor. Brilliant! He was also very concerned with the placement of vents for cosmetic and functional reasons. He explained many situations where ducts would be a problem. If it were up to me I would have ended up choosing locations that would have essentially heated the outside and the furniture. Nothing like a great HVAC contractor to save the day!

Next was the Stafford Electric team. Kris came in on Thursday and walked through the entire space with me and Jason from Stinson Builders. Even though we had blueprints (do they still call them that?) and had previously discussed many of the options, Kris insisted on walking through every detail again and making sure we were all on the same page and that we were moving forward in the best possible way. As we walked through, Kris proposed new options that were better then the old, like recessed lighting in the basement guest bedroom and workout/craft area. Jason and Kris pointed out that those spaces would benefit by having finished ceilings. I am so happy that I began this process with Stinson Builders; Jason’s subcontractors are friendly, committed to the job and my satisfaction, and unbelievably helpful.

One exciting idea Kris cooked up, for the rest of the basement was to put in conduit and cage lights, in between the floor rafters Something like this (but cheaper, more industrial, and steel instead of brass):

This is perfect for the industrial look I am going for. I had the ceiling spray painted with BIN paint which has shellac in it (the only thing sure to lock out the lingering dog and cigarette smoke odors.) which I tinted a light blue-grey. I think it’s going to look great. Thanks Kris!

As we walked around the space I got a glimpse at the complexity of a good electrician‘s job. The melding of practicality, ease of use, efficiency, code compliancy, cosmetics and the like creates for a difficult terrain. Make sure you have a great firm like Stafford Home Services’ electric department to navigate the landscape or you may find yourself pulling things out later (at much higher expense), and being disappointed with the results.

One simple, electrical Green Renovation solution that Stafford is installing is dimmer switches at all locations. (there are even 3-way, adjustable light switches!) Did you know light dimmer switches were Green? Well they are. Kris and Dan told me about a Green Home workshop they attended that trained electricians and home services on going Green. Evidently the human eye only needs about 80% of a room’s full lighting. They were shown a demo and said they could not tell the difference, once their eyes adjusted. I assume that’s a 20% savings in lighting bills! Nice!

As we walked through the space, Kris stopped one of his electricians and had him move a flush, floor-mounted electrical outlet. It was just a rotation of a outlet that already had been installed. The electrician did not look happy but Kris insisted. I went back later and saw why: to rotate the box, there had to be new framing to support each unit. To think, here they are making more work for themselves, work that I would not have thought of until another contractor was done and gone, and they doing it just to make sure the aesthetics are just right. That’s the kind of electrician I want!

All said and done, this has been a good week. Stay tuned next week for updates on the Green electrical and Green HVAC installations.

-M

Kris and Dan, partners at Stafford and Jesse, head of low-voltage, came in and created a whole slew of new opportunities for the house. It’s amazing what you learn and what opportunities can be opened up by people who really know their stuff and work together well. It’s also very helpful to have all of these people under one roof, as their work is so interdependent. Not only did they come up with better ideas (IMHO), they also save us time by communicating more fluidly then disparate subcontractors. And, like all of Jason’s subcontractors, they are perfectionists, care deeply about their work and are easy-going and fun to be around. Seriously, I can’t imagine working with a better team.

For our little project they will be doing the following:

• Redoing most of the electrical in the home while bringing up the old wiring to code
  • Moving the electrical mast to the garage.
  • Installing a 150AMP service (50 to the garage, 100 to the house.)
  • Installing 220V in the garage (for welding, air compressor, etc…)
  • Running the electrical from the garage, through a trench (which we dug) to the house.
  • Moving the panel to a better location (allowing us to move the stair and consolidate utility space.)
• New electrical for the kitchen
  • Kitchen lighting.
  • Wall oven.
  • Cook top.
  • Bar refrigerator.
  • Under-counter lighting.
  • Counter-top power.
  • Exhaust hood.
• Cleaning up the gas line in the basement
• New lighting
  • Dimmer switches for better efficiency.
  • Recessed lighting for higher ceiling clearance.
  • Under-counter lighting.
  • New entrance lighting
• Installing a new furnace.
• Installing a new AC unit.
• Installing an Ecobee HVAC controller for greener heating and cooling.
• Installing recessed speakers in the kitchen.
• Installing a media room in the basement.
• Installing HDMI cables, USB and speaker cables so we can centralize the media source (PS3, Wii and Blu-ray on every screen!)
• Installing a security system in the entire house, including basement and garage.
• And a whole slew of other things (will be updated)

Stay tuned for updates from the Stafford team!

Stafford Home Services