The meter socket is installed along with a 12 foot mast and insulator for the service to be connected. Since it will only be a 110 volt single phase service and the service cable is a #6 guage wire, I put in a 50 amp breaker in the bottom of the meter socket. In rural Ecuador electricity is a new thing so there is no 200 amp, 120/240 volt single phase service, just enough to run the lights. As a matter of fact, that's what the locals call an electric service - luz.
I'll put a little stucco on it and a little roof over the meter at some point.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, cost. Meter socket - $20, 50amp Squre D breaker - $3.50, 2" conduit for the mast, about 10 feet - $12.50, insulator for the top of the mast - $6.00. I don't know what they will charge me to hook it up, when I went to Nabon to tell them I was ready they wouldn't take any money, my guess is around $25.
Since I am old and the property is right around 10,000 feet in elevation, I will be doing the footer for the addition in sections. The first section will butt the existing front wall because I need a mixing pad for all the cement I will need to mix, footer cement, mud slab and block mortar.
A little gravel for grip and rebar and we're ready to pour.
This will be a 12" wide by 6" thick footer with 1/2" rebar railroad tracks with the cross ties at 2 feet, a little overkill but I like to sleep at night. The rebar should be in the bottom half of the footer but at least 2" from the bottom - better strength from a vertical load.
I will probably be splitting my time between the addition and putting in shop space because part of the addition requires windows, doors and roof trusses and so will the main house and the chicken coop and the green house and the goat shed and rebuilding the old adobe house. So a shop is pretty high on the prioity list.
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