We finally got electricity run to the house. It had been over 2 years since the house last had power, so we had to have it reinspected before the power company would turn it on. We don’t love the look of wires overhead, so we had it run underground. It was a little more expensive, but we’re very happy to look like an Amish house now! 😉

As is typical with an old house, one project always leads to another. We wanted to move the electrical box to a different location, so before the electricians could do their work, we had to prep the side of the house.

On a side note, electrical code requires the panel to be in a space of 6 feet from a window or door, and this was the only spot on the house that had a 6 foot gap! We knew and loved that this house had a lot of windows, but we didn’t realize it had that many!

So, first we had to replace a beam under that part of the house….

Then we took the siding off, added some new studs, reframed both doors, put sheathing on, taped all the seams, covered it with tar paper, and then added furring strips to make an air gap for ventilation.

We didn’t have time to insulate from the outside, so later we will pull the shiplap off and insulate from inside.

Once this was done, the electricians could come out. It was a 2 day project. The first day they disconnected the old box, and also a big crew came out and dug the trench.

The next day, the power company came out. They set up a new pole, moved everything over from the old one, and ran the wires underground.

They re-connected everything and it all passed inspections!

We got 1 outlet wired inside, and now we can run extension cords for tools!

This was a huge step. We no longer needed the noisy generator to run a saw.

A little while later we had another outlet run upstairs in the 2nd floor, so now we have 2 working outlets.

The whole house needs to be rewired, eventually, but for now this is enough to power our tools.

Over the next few months, we removed the rest of the siding on that wall, saved as much as we could, and then scraped and primed them on both sides. (Priming on both sides makes it expand and contract more equally).

Most of the siding has been put back now (it’s currently Dec. 2025 as I’m writing this) and the doors are reinstalled-though eventually those will be replaced with historically accurate ones.

We had to build a scaffold to work on the 2nd story part, and still have a little more to do above the 2nd story. The window was reframed, but it’s currently filled in with plywood until we finish restoring the window.

Next big project: the porch!