Toad in Residence

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This guy was inside our master bedroom closet, behind some water soaked cardboard boxes. The boxes turned to mush when it rained, and the contents spilled out when I picked one up. The electrical box was an expected find, the toad, however, was not.

The house is coming along as the masons / carpenters are busy building the walls and the necessary forms for the poured concrete portions of the wall. This method of construction is NOT electrician-friendly. In New England, where the walls of homes are generally constructed of wood frame, sheathing, fiberglass insulation and plaster or sheetrock interior finish, clapboard or shingled exterior. Wood frames are drilled and romex is fed throughout the dwelling, relatively easy stuff.

In the Caribbean the emphasis is on the strength of concrete blocks and concrete, and the inherent resilience to sun, wind, fire and rain; did I mention Hurricane? (note the capital letter).

So, the process for me, viewed strictly as an electrical contractor, is thus: dimly lit. In other words, there has to be a better way than this to construct concrete block homes! I've shown you photos of the work in the slab, before the concrete was poured over it, creating the (almost finish) floor for the first level of our home. I am told that the electricians hereabout don't often do elaborate electrical stystems installations, such as I have in my own dwelling. I admit that I may have gone overboard in some areas of the installation, with stereo speaker conduits, telephone, coaxial television and Category 5e data lines; a low voltage lighting installation that is high tech and different, but really............

From what I have observed, and experienced first hand, getting conduits to conform to your blow torch's heat, breaking away more concrete and mortar mix than I ever want to see again, (you should see my knuckles, scarred and torn from the harsh surfaces) ..and basically following along closely with the masons and get your stuff where you have to have it! Lights fixtures, properly centered in a space, how is that possible in this world of gray matter and aggregate? Aggregate?, I'll tell you who's aggregated!

It is not. Possible that is, possible to properly locate a wall sconce, and do it in increments of eight, eight and sixteen (= inches in a single concrete block).

I had conduits sticking up out of the floor in various places (see photo)

before the floor was poured. The measurements used for locating the various partitions and bearing walls were derived from the foundation as it was constructed, as opposed to as was written in the house plans themselves. The original contractor told me I couldn't see a 1/2 inch error in a 24 foot expanse of wall being square or out of square with another wall.

He was likely correct in his assessment. Funny thing? He didn't ask me if I could tell if there was a variation of three inches in that same 24' expanse of wall! Our Master Bedroom Suite (Bed & Bath) now has the following dimensions: 24'-1" on the South wall, the West wall is 16' 3-1/2", the North wall, which adjoins the Great Room, is 23'-2", the East wall is 15' 11-1/2"! My son James asked me if I had purposely designed a trapezoid, or was that unintentional? The latter is true. Did I mention that the whole wing is shifted to the East 5", yes, it is so. The old joke is that somebody rubbed the little marks off their ruler, ya think?

Anyway, measuring off an already unsquare building is kind of hit or miss, in this case (especially mine) the walls were shifted to and fro so as to throw my conduits in a hallway, instead of the bedroom partition, under a steel rebar, inaccessible, useless or damn near it.

I was after these guys at every turn, almost it seemed, that they would much rather have me off-site at times, instead of right there watching there every move, trying to keep from getting buried (literally and figuratively) in concrete dust, blood, tears and perspiration. Which reminds me, don't stand down-wind of a mason as he dumps shovelful after shovelful of cement into the screen, especially with a sweaty body. Water, salt brine, epedermis = closed skin pores and trouble for the person peppered (or seasoned) in this manner.

As a result of this method, and in order to keep the peace, (I guess) the electrician is forced to accept the building method as it was presented to him, and (usually)didn't go the extra (expensive) mile to ensure code compliance. The inspectors (note the lack of capitalization) are usually no-shows at inspection time, allowing the builders to continue along concrete block after concrete block, to the level of the bond beam; often way out in front of the plumbers and electricians. They cope, I do not. My house is my home and I want it wired properly and that is that, deal with it!

One of the guys said he thought I was wiring a radio station, instead of a home; laughingly I told him it was a television studio, the anttenna would go up next! He laughed.