Cold weather is still here. Electrician stopped by.

The cold weather decided to stick around a little bit more.  We've had some warm days, but not with enough consistency to allow for slab construction.

Here's the kicker.  With the LiteDeck in place, the inside of the basement is like an icebox.  What does that mean?  There's frozen ground in the basement that isn't melting very quickly.  We've unblocked all the openings to allow more airflow and hopefully warm the ground inside the basement, but it has accumulated enough water and melted snow that it's like an icerink in there.  So much so that the post that's holding the main beam has lifted a bit and the beam is not sitting in the pocket.

Our options are to wait and hope the frost melts under the footing and drops the beam back down.  If that doesn't happen, then any pockets under the footing have been filled and we'll have to cut and reweld the post to the beam.  All I hear is "delay, delay, delay".

 I've been in talks with the DTE coordinator about pulling power out to the house.  She requires electrical boxes to be installed before she surveys the site to determine the route through the property.  My neighborhood only allows for underground utilities.  There's a power junction up the driveway near the street, but a trench will have be dug about 200 ft up the side of the driveway to a ground transformer cabinet.  We'll have that as far from the house as we're allowed, about 100 ft.  From there, two lines will run to the house.  The above picture shows two meters and a construction circuit, but it doesn't show the main box.  The two meter boxes you see there are for electric vehicle charging and geothermal.  DTE offers reduced rates for these services so separate meters are required.

 Just a picture of how the wrap around porch beam terminates into the house.  The standard pocket isn't there, but the post in combination with the mechanical fasteners should do the trick.

Here's a shot looking at the gable end of the garage.  You can get a feel of the height difference from this angle. Since getting around this side of the house will be difficult, we're thinking of making a little deck around this part.  Even this will offer a nice view.