The heat is on! (but first, the radiators flood the house)

The worst part about this whole thing is neither of us are handy in the least (one of us is learning though (totally not me)) and have never had to turn on a boiler before or really know what a pilot light is, so we kind of started at a disadvantage.

We do the first thing that we think makes sense – pull up the instruction manual. Which helps us locate the knob that turns the pilot light on, hooray!

The instructions are simple – turn on the pilot, turn on the electricity, turn on the thermostat.

Check. Check. Check.

Nothing.

Okay… We open the panel to see if we can locate the pilot light. No idea.

We perform all the instructions again, in forward and reverse order. What are we missing??

And the madness continues… To the tune of $2300 in fines…

As soon as one thing ends, another pops up, right?

The good news is the walls are patched up and the electrician holes are virtually undetectable.

The bad news is that the electrician literally said there would be a delay on scheduling the inspection due to the government shutdown.

Yes. Seriously. We finished patching up the walls a week ago, which he insisted needed to happen before he scheduled the inspection (no idea why, especially if he failed again and would have to reopen the walls), and then he tells our contractor that the federal government shutdown is going to delay him scheduling something with the NYC DOB.

Are you kidding me?? I text back. I went to a state park this weekend! Tell him to schedule it now!

It only took over a month for the electrician to fix his violations

Before we could really start decorating the house, we patiently waited over a month for the electrician to get back to us on when he was going to fix our violations.

First excuse – he didn’t know what they were and he was supposed to be getting a letter in the mail – as was I – that lists all the violations. He didn’t want to start until he got this letter. It could take a while for it to be entered and be sent out. I tell this to my expediter, who, within the week, sends me a link that lists all the violations from the inspection. My contractor goes back to the electrician with the list.

Radio silence.