Wires and energy

From this past Sunday, as usual. This time I went by myself, which allowed me to indulge.



It doesn't look very different in the large, but there's one important thing: we have shingles (not varicella). The lighting makes them hard to see in this picture, but further down is one from the back so you can properly admire them. In an ideal world, we would have a tiled roof, but it was not meant to be.




Soffits. I assume the grid of holes is for ventilation.




Some electrical wires. And I've figured out what those pipes with the black insulation are.




See the chimney near the upstairs window?




We will have power outside.




2 can lights and a mount for a ceiling fan above the patio.




Water supply, I believe.




Something "in here." Presumably that's where the power comes in the house, since there's a crudely sketched meter next to it.




From the other side.




Breaker box. Lots and lots of wires.




Master bedroom. If you look closely, you'll see the boxes that will hold the wall sconces.




This is another wiring panel, but for low-voltage wiring. We'll have a single point where TV, phone, Internet, etc. all enter the house and then get routed to the various rooms.




Privacy glass above the shower.




We have a fireplace. I know, what's the point in Texas, right? But it would have cost not to have it, because it makes the house harder to sell for the builder if we flake out. Pointless or not, people expect it.




The other side. It's a fully-integrated gas fireplace, with (I assume) electronic control. I'll have to rig up a speaker for crackling log noises or something.




That's a lot of switches. It's going to take me years to learn what they all do.




Call me old-fashioned, but I'm pretty sure the door shouldn't do that.




Oh man, more switches?




2 can lights and a ceiling fan in the breakfast room. Gonna have to make sure the blades are short.




6 cans in the kitchen (it's hard to see the furthest pair). The middle pair will be controlled by one switch, the other four with another one. That way we can have 0, 2, 4, or 6 lights on, depending on what we want, and also pleasing symmetry.




The dining room will also have wall sconces.




I have no idea what those things are. We probably don't get to keep them.




This gives you an idea of how much easier it is to route things through these engineered trusses (you may have to click through to the larger size). No need to route around or drill holes and compromise their strength.




These beams still impress me. They'd be more impressive if they were solid instead of composite, but no doubt much more expensive and probably not as strong.




The attic over the breakfast room. This won't be (easily) accessible when the house is done. However, it'll need to be semi-accessible because....




... I may be running cables through here. That's over the family room. On the far side is a similar attic space over the master bedroom, where that low voltage wiring panel will be.




Dunno if I ever showed the bench that will be at the top of the stairs.




Hmmm... I wonder what's up there...




Climate control.




A maze of ducts.




These must be for condensation to drip safely outside.




They go out to where I showed in the picture way at the beginning of this post.




The cinder blocks were an upgrade.




More switches!




Lots of bricks. We definitely picked the least of evils on the exterior. I can't stand mixing stone and brick, and none of the stone looked good. The brick selections were oddly limited; we managed to find almost a dozen houses in the neighborhood whose brick we wanted to copy, but they were all from a different builder. Ah well. After seeing it, I think it'll be ok.