Overdue Update - Rough Inspections Passed!

Have been busy again, here.

My dad was here on Monday when the inspectors came.  The plumbing and pre-drywall passed no problem.  Just a reminder to put some supports on the drain pipe.  The rough electric was a bit sketchy - have to use tamper resistant outlets (OK), and need to install a plug for the dishwasher (OK), and also had to put metal plating over the horizontal runs of wire in the walls.  This is apparently to satisfy NEC 300.4(A), but the logic is flawed, if you ask me.  Now I understand what all the people on the DIY forums were talking about.   Interpretation of the code is to the discretion of the local inspector, and this one determined that the front of the drywall is a nailing surface.  Most inspectors (and the 2 retired electricians I talked to at Home Depot) only consider the front face of the stud/furring strip to be a nailing surface, and require nail plates only in those areas.

Luckily, my dad worked in a machine shop for a LONG time, and he is one with sheet metal.  He suggested we get some metal plates and he cut them into 1 and 1/4 inch strips to place over the horizontal runs of wire.  So that got taken care of.

He lent me his chop saw and showed me how to use it.  We cut 1x3's into short pieces to make blocking for the suspension rail of the top cabinets.  Drilled into the boards and then attached them between the furring strips with 2 inch masonary nails.  Hammering masonary nails is not fun, but that is done.

I also put up some 3/4 inch expanded polystyrene foam (EPS) board insulation between the furring strips. This took some time, to trim it and fill in gaps, etc. - and clean up the little pellets of styrofoam that flaked off everywhere.

Today I finally got the old vent out of the wall.  It was actually falling off.  The only thing holding it in place was caulk.  It was destined to come off, and I can't believe rain wasn't leaking in around it.

I mixed up a bit of mortar, and filled in the hole with bricks.  The bricks I got were a 1/4 inch smaller than the ones on the house, but I'm tired of running to the store, so I used the short bricks.  This means you can really see where the patch is, but I don't care.  Sometime down the road, we can hire a mason to come in and make it look just like the rest of the house.  I never did brick work like this before, and I think it came out really good for a first project.  Pictures are below.

Now I can get into putting up the vapor barrier and start drywalling.

Here's the patch from the outside.  I think the new bricks are set back from the others a bit, but I'm not going to be concerned about it.  I have to get out there and wire-brush the morter on the brick faces before it hardens too much.  Also put up some pastic because it's going to pour rain in a little while.

These are the nail plates.  You can see the vent sticking through the wall.

The dishwasher outlet box is at the bottom under the right side of the window.  You can see some blocking on the top of the wall.  All the insulation is in place.

This is the partition wall.  The are some nail plates here.  Also can see the blocking at the top of the exterior wall.

This is the back exterior wall.  The vent is gone.  You can see the blocking at the top of the wall.  Now I just have to refit the insulation and I can put up the vapor barrier.  Also have to note where the centers of the furring strips are (and the wires) for future reference.