Bathroom Progress & Electrician Reports

Well I've made it through 4 Electrician bids, and miraculously, I have not passed out at the sight of them yet. Okay I've only received 2 of the 4 so far, but while they were high (so high...), there *is* good news. and bad news. Here's the lowdown:

Electrician #1: You don't need a new box, there is room in this box to add a circut for the new bathroom. But, you should replace this box because this brand is known to start fires. Electricity & assorted wiring total bid: $1600.

Electrician #2: Oh you're going to want to replace this box. this company's box has the problem of the switches not shutting off if they get overloaded sometimes & it could start a fire in the wall or at the box. That's $1200 just to replace the box. I do 4 of these a week. Other Electricity & assorted wiring total bid (including 1 hardwired smoke detector)- $1200. Adding the new box= $2400

Electrician #3: Yup I can add a circuit. You want wiring where? Okay. Me: I've been told this is a bad box, & should consider changing it. what do you think? Him: well, this company gets a bad rap. sometimes it can start fires but I wouldn't worry too much about it unless something happens. (uh? Like, a FIRE?) Me: I already got a permit for this as well. Him: Oh.....huh. Me: checking furiously on the card to see a CCB #, Lic & Bonded status....NOTHING. Noted. Don't expect I'll be getting a bid from him...conveniently I wasn't planning to hire him anyway!!

Electrician #4: Yup I can add a circuit. Oh you want the world don't you? This is going to be tough. Yeah this is going to be a lot of work. (read: THIS IS GOING TO BE EXPENSIVE) Yeah, we can do it, it's going to be a LOT of work though... We're booked 3 weeks out, is that okay? (Yup, probably won't be hiring him either....)

Bottom line, looks like Electrician #2 is the Lucky one of the day... I'll wait & get the other two bids on Monday, but I'm planning to call #2 on Monday afternoon & see if I can arrange him to come in a week. Believe it or not I actually spent about a day and a half thinking about whether I should replace the box (that's the "not so good news") now or later. Then I realized that it was dumb I was even considering not to. Why mess with something as dangerous as Electricity? Maybe I could wait another year to replace it, but what if I waited & it turned out I SHOULDN'T have? duh. Guess I just needed a day or two to talk myself into spending another $1200...

SO- with that, the plumber is coming on TUESDAY! Yay! I'll have pipes in my 2nd floor next week! My friend Scott that helps me build was over one night this last week & we put the last of the studs up for the bathroom...Here are a few pics from the building night:

We decided when we started the bathroom it would be wise to bring the Compound miter saw up from the basement to the 2nd floor. The other stuff we had been cutting with the circular saw, but I have to say, the miter saw is SO much more fun to use and SO much easier!! (and Faster!!)
I know I know, I keep showing pictures of those ugly stair railings....seriously they will be gone soon!! You might notice that there are now only horrid stair railings on *two* sides of the stairs! We'll be drywalling over a 2nd side, and fully replacing the 3rd side. Oh I cannot wait for that day!
One of the downsides of this project is that my only hallway light had to be disconnected...this means we can't work at night for the next few weeks (at least not with much light)...but it will be well worth it when I have TWO new lights on my second floor!!
We had to brace the wall against another wall to get it attached properly. Fortunately it worked, although I was nervous we were just going to punch a big hole in the existing wall!!
Getting those last screws in! Not looking forward to the drywall on this one...okay I've found I really don't love drywalling at all, but given the aforementioned Electrician's bills, it looks like we will be doing the drywalling ourselves on this one as well!!


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