Breezeway 3: electrical, HVAC, and masonry

This week, as we suspected, the big work slowed down so progress looks less dramatic. But some critical infrastructure got put in and we are definitely seeing things come together.

First - the electrician came and wired us up! Nothing is live, but they fed the lines into the basement where they are ready to be linked up to the circuit breaker box. Here are outlets, switches, and (in the next photo) the recessed lighting:

 Here's the wiring to the back patio:

And here's the line to the basement, complete with giant hole in the floor:

You may have noticed in picture one that we also have a fancy new garage door (beat the plywood board from last week. The mason came to remove the brick work and raise the door up the level of the future floors Here's the view from inside the garage:

They made progress on the front wall too, installing the Hardiboard and starting to do some of the decorative work that will make the wall blend into the rest of the house's style. In addition, they pulled up the big slate squares that led to the now defunct entry AND pulled out our mailbox, since the placement doesn't make any sense now without a door there (even if a future owner potentially uses the garage, it still seemed odd to have a post mailbox right there near the house - it would make more sense at the end of the driveway).

Our mailbox is currently hilariously propped up beside our front door (it's on the other side of the door now, but this is a good view of the gigantic post):

We need to decide on a new mailbox. We are leaning towards some kind of wall-mount one right below the entry light on the brick, like this one from Home Depot:

Any opinions, pros, or cons? We could definitely use some suggestions here. No door slots, as we like our front door. Having some security (like this model) is nice, but then we're forced to use a key every time to get the mail out (recall that we don't even use a key to get into the house anymore, thanks to keypad entry).

Finally, onto HVAC. Today the AC people came and hooked up our vents. We have an intake/return (this one here) and two vents - one at each end of the room. This room, while not fully insulated, is now officially "conditioned."

Earlier this week, our heating guy came and put in hot water pipes from our heating unit up to where the baseboard will be installed once the drywall is in.

Stay tuned for the next exciting installment. In the meantime, tell me your mailbox ideas!