Let the Sun Shine!

The U-District basking in a sun beam

Readout from one of our two inverters

We must be a little obsessed - the highpoint of our Christmas day was cycling over to the building site and watching the electric meter run backwards. There have been big changes from the last post, the roof is on, the solar panels installed and we're producing electricity.  The production meter isn’t hooked up yet, that will happen sometime in the new year.

Roof, solar array, siding, and bubble wrap rain shield

The roof itself went on very quickly, much to the detriment of the workers installing the siding. For some odd reason the gutters didn’t go on until they had put the siding on two walls.   Until then, every time it rained water sheeted down the slick metal and glass, cascading over them like Niagara falls.  They rigged up awnings out of bubble wrap and other plastic sheets they had on site.

So many things seemed to happen nearly at once, the doors are all installed, the insulation went in, the heating system is operational, and in the past week drywall has been hung and the interior painting started.  

Panoramic view of the top floor with drywall

We occasionally meet one of our future neighbors when we’re out visiting the site.  "Are you moved in yet?" they wonder.  The house is still lacking in some basic amenities, such as light switches, plumbing fixtures (aside from one bathtub that that is boxed in with plywood to prevent it being damaged) or even flooring.  

The garden

All the former lawn areas are now mud wallows. I did ask them to kill the grass.  But not the creeping rosemary or the lavender bushes, and I fear for the health of the pear tree underneath the rubble.

The original estimated finish date was Dec. 24th.  We’re hoping for March. 

I worry that the weeds will get a head start before I can get in a crop of ground cover.  I can’t plant anything until the cleanup is done, the last thing they do before handing over the keys.

Even so, it was a nice Christmas present to ourselves to finally have solar panels of our own.