Coming down the home stretch

Tomorrow it should all be over. The HVAC guys are just a wee bit behind, since they were supposed to do the live test today, but as long as that goes ok tomorrow, they expect to be done by the end of the day. My understanding of the last bits that need to be done are:

• Install 1st floor thermidistat and calibrate both thermidistats for the equipment.
  
• Finish installing humidifier.
  
• Finish closing off one vent and one return in the attic.
  
• Test.
  
• Clean up.
  

I'm not terribly worried if they end up not finishing tomorrow - we're so incredibly busy this weekend that we'd probably not get the house back in order until next week anyway, plus the weather is predicted to be very mild for the next week so its not like we need to run the AC. But it would be so great just to be able to say IT'S DONE!!

I am a little taken aback by how freakin' HUGE the outdoor units are. They're on the side of the house, and not super glaringly obvious/ugly from the street, but we still plan to put up a removable screening fence just to make them not at all visible from the street. It has to be removable, because in order to not put it along the porch, we'd have to install it so close to the 2' high platform they're on that it would make it more difficult to service the units if needed.

Electrician Guy told me tonight that he hadn't been told by HVAC guys that they were putting in a steam humidifier which would require it's own circuit, so there's going to be a wee bit extra cost in his bill. Considering that my estimate left us with a whopping $300 or so left over once the HVAC and electric were both paid, I certainly hope it's not a lot extra. He's also going to wait until I install the basement lights before he has it inspected, since he's certain the inspector isn't going to think highly of walking down the narrow small steep curved basement stairs with a super-low ceiling and no light available. So I need to get that done within the next week or so.

Since the junction box I'll be feeding from is at the far end of the basement from the stairs, I was originally planning on putting in a switch loop with the switch at the top of the stairs and at the end of the circuit. I'd even figured out how to do a switch loop with two lights in the circuit, but the electrician reminded me that I really need three lights - one in the back of the basement (very near the junction box, in fact), once towards the front/near the bottom of the stairs, and one at the top of the stairs. I'm not even going to attempt to figure out how to do a switch loop with three lights, too many places where literally my wires could get crossed, so I'm going to just do it the "easy" (but wire-wasting) way and run wire from the junction box up to the light switch, then back down again to inches from the junction box.