cleanThere was a bit of running around, mostly to the rental center to pick up a heavy-duty hammer drill and 1-1/4" bit so I could drill the holes through the masonry walls that I needed to. 44 bucks, but it worked like a dream, and now I have the two holes I need for the conduit and the third one for the new gas vent.
Yeah, the day started off with the gas company replacing my meter. Apparently the old one was having some issues (it was installed in 1977), so the gasman replaced it, and let me know that my regulator was out of code and would need to be replaced as well. The old one vents through a 1/4" pipe that is run through the freaking basement window frame (idiots), and I'm planning on replacing the windows anyway, so it would have to go. Gasman said that it would take a 1-1/4" hole, and since I was drilling the other holes, one more in the place that I wanted it (rather than going through the window frame) wasn't exactly difficult. Seriously, something like 8 inches of brick and concrete drilled through in about a minute, nice clean hole. Awesome.
There was also a trip to 'Nards to pick up some 30 lb. felt paper that goes behind the Hardiboard, a new carbide blade for cutting the fibercement panels (because a regular saw blade won't do it), and some other miscellaneous materials for the porch.
It was also freakin' hot. I spent the rest of the afternoon between being outside and sitting in the AC trying to cool down. The inside time was put to good use setting up the outlet boxes for the ENT conduit with the right connectors; this involved some drilling and gluing, and was actually kinda fun.
Also managed to drill new through-holes for the low-voltage stuff, which was a bit more of a PITA than it should have been. And I managed to force the conduit rides back into place with some skillfully managed galvanized steel nailed into place in the strategic sense.
I still have some unknowns to deal with. Interior lighting for one, and the controls for it, which also involves routing the wiring and figuring out where it should go to be the least intrusive. I'm currently considering a combination of track spot lighting and indirect soffit lighting.