Winter Solstice

Yesterday was the last full day of Autumn 2014. Today, in about an hour (5:03 CST), the Winter Solstice occurs. We've had about four inches of snow so far this season, all of it in November. December has been relatively mild. Forecast is for rain tomorrow, with mild weather through Christmas. It appears we will have no "white" Christmas this year.

Yesterday afternoon, Spenser and I were again enjoying our new connecting porch when a couple of Tyler's girls stopped by for a drink out of one of our backyard mud puddles. Perhaps they were fishing for shrimp.

I also found a piece of slate on the connecting porch. I assume this was left by the slate roofer in response to my request to be allowed to review and approve the slate they intended to use on both the sunroom and garage gables as well as to replace missing or damaged tiles on the main house. Their proposal specified this as a non-fading green slate attached with copper nails. T said she would call it a grey-green color and asked "why copper nails?". While the proposal does not specify the warranty, I assume it is probably 100+ years. While we will not be there in 100 years, the copper nails will be.

While T has the final call, I was concerned that it was not anywhere near the color of the slate we have on the main house. There are two questions to answer. First, will this slate on the gables of the new sunroom and garage coordinate with the main house? Second, is this slate acceptable to replace missing or damaged slate tiles on the main house?

I have several pieces of slate that have fallen off the house over the past 12 years. Here is a side-by-side with the proposed new slate. Spenser is waiting for his dinner, that is why he is showing interest.

This comparison does not look too bad, that is to me, being color blind. T indicated she would accept the proposed new slate on the gables of the new sunroom and garage. That answers the first question.

 I also took photos of the existing slate on the three sides of the main house.

West Gable

East Gable

North Gable

The east and west gables appear, to me, to be much lighter color. The north gable is a mixture, probably reflecting past tile replacements.

T has the final call and she is going to sleep on it. I am afraid we have plenty of time for her to consider the answer.

Weekend Wrap

No outside work was attempted this week. Next week is Christmas week and the weather is not forecast to be as nice as this week. Other than the update we got from "Our" Mike on Thursday and a short followup phone conversation Friday morning, no other news from him. We are still hopeful we might get the new power line installed before the end of the year, getting that behind us.

We did get a note from Tyler (architect) informing us that Mike had relayed to him our desire to see what the design of vaulted trusses in the sunroom might look like. He said he would come up with a "good looking" truss profile which could then be turned over to the truss manufacturer to be modified for structural requirements. Later, Tyler sent the following profile.

This looked pretty good to both T and myself. We would have to see if and/or how the truss manufacturer might modify it to achieve structural requirements. For comparison, below is the last rendition of the original truss. The new design still has the same basic concept, just slid up with the center point of the truss.

Along with the new profile, Tyler fulfilled his "obligation" to point out that he did not "think this will look as good as the original flat bottom profile of the trusses". He went on to observe that:

"By pushing up on the bottom chord, the truss will effectively disappear up against the ceiling.  The profile becomes very shallow, which is further exaggerated by the height and the angle of view from below.  When the bottoms are flat, then they hang down in the light of the glass roof vault to become highlighted for full view, which was the original intent.  It is a more interesting and rich layering of the design in my profession view."

I thanked Tyler for his opinion and told him we would take it into consideration in making our final decision. From his note, I am not sure what is his current opinion of vaulting the west gable trusses. Originally, he had them with a "flat bottom profile" and "wrapped" so that the view of the glass roof was partially blocked from the sunroom. How his original design contrasts with what he is saying now, that the flat bottom profile of the trusses would "hang down in the light of the glass roof vault", I am not sure, but it does not sound consistent.

We will ponder the issue over this weekend, but talking with T this morning, my new default position is to go with the vaulted trusses on the west gable, but keep the originally designed, non-vaulted, sunroom trusses. While T may have an epiphany at some point which would change my mind, she believes there is no wrong answer (which comforts me). She had held the belief that I had a strong inclination towards vaulting all the sunroom trusses. I reminded her that my suggestion for vaulting all the trusses was in response to the views presented by both "Our" Mike and Tyler that, if we vault the gable trusses to view the glass roof, the remaining sunroom trusses would still obscure the view of the glass roof. One solution therefore was to vault all the trusses. Otherwise, as I assured her, I only want the solution that she believes we will enjoy the most!

If anyone has any suggestions or comments on the truss design, we welcome it!!

On Friday, we did get over to the office of Bob (cabinetry) to pick up the sample of Sapele. Here, it is shown with the smaller sample of Tiger wood (for the hot tub decking) and the sunroom ceramic floor tile. T noted that the similarity and compatibility of the Sapele and the Tiger wood was the reason for choosing them. She claims the finish on the bar, made of Sapele, will give that windowless side of the room a "glow" and will be charming! T believes she has a very clear vision of all the surfaces in the sunroom and how they will all coordinate. I am very thankful to have her.

Update: Tyler just wrote to clarify that he is now supportive of vaulting the gable trusses as opposed to the original flat profile design. He still is not in favor of vaulting the remaining sunroom trusses. I have sent a note to Mike asking him to get with Frank (HVAC) to reaffirm that the interior unit of the heat pump can be mounted in the area on the west gable above the glass roof. If so, then the gable chapter of the truss drama is concluded. Only the sunroom truss mystery remains to be resolved.

Update Thursday

It was a week ago yesterday that "Our" Mike had anyone here working. Since then, no work. While it rained this past Monday, otherwise, the weather had been good.

Yesterday was a bright and brisk. Spenser and I spent some time sitting out on the new connecting porch. While I read and synthesized vitamin D, Spenser was entertained by Tyler's girls. Tyler and Elizabeth have five chicken hens who decided to check out the bugs along our west fence line. Spenser kept watch through our yet-to-be installed connecting porch door.

Yesterday, we got an email from Bob (cabinetry) telling us that he has obtained a sample of the Sapele wood that we can pick up to do some staining tests. I need to send a note to "Salesman" Mike (Marvin dealer) asking if we can get a representative sample of the window frame to include in our testing. We already have plenty of samples of truss wood.

This afternoon, we got a call from "Our" Mike with some updates. He said he had received cost quotes on replacing all the existing sunroom trusses with vaulted trusses. The quote was much lower than either Mike or I expected. I asked if he could send us a sketch of the vaulted truss design? He seemed surprised that Tyler had not given that to us, but said he would send it to us. I was surprised that Mike indicated that Tyler had designed the trusses since Tyler told us that the truss company would design them, not Tyler. Anyway, I told Mike that I was concerned about how "dense" the design had become and if we might run into an air flow issue. We had decided to mount the heat pump interior unit on the west gable above the glass roof. If the truss design gets too "dense", we might have an air flow problem. Mike did not believe that was going to be the case. We will see when we get the design. Mike said we could expect the new trusses in about a week after we place the order. Of course the holidays may impact that prediction.

Mike also said he had received prices on the 1x6 pine board options for the roof. He had brought us samples last week of two different grades, a #2 (top board in picture) and a "select" grade (bottom board). The price difference is roughly twice as much for the "select" grade. It is knot free and straight grain. The #2 grade can have knots up to 2" in diameter, but they should be "tight", with no holes. Since these boards will be stained, undoubtedly the knot-free boards will have a more uniform and formal appearance. The price information is on a linear foot basis. While Mike is going to determine the number of linear feet we would need, I had previously estimated we needed about 480 square feet. Therefore, I am guessing we would need roughly 1,050 linear feet. The price differential is $0.84/ft, so the cost of going with the select grade would be an additional $882. I think I would go with the "select" grade, but, T will make the final decision.

Mike had talked with Rob (electrical). The request to Ameren to relocate the power line to the new underground conduit was submitted on December 11. Ameren said they would have someone out within one to three weeks. That would put it by the end of the year, but again, with the holidays, we are not holding breaths. I forgot to tell Mike that I have taken down the telephone wire.

Yesterday, Mike forwarded to us a proposal (dated December 3) for the slate work. When I got the proposal, I responded that we would want to review and approve the slate to be used and the proposal needed to specify if it included repair of the slate on the main house that we had requested. Today, Mike said he was getting some slate samples for T to review and said he would have the proposal modified regarding the main house slate. From what Mike said, I do not believe the proposal included the repair work. I told Mike I do not want any more surprises and will no longer accept any assurances that are not in writing.

Mike also said he got a call from John (solar). John had promised us that he would continue checking with Mike. Mike said he suggested to John that he should check back in a couple of weeks. I doubt much will be different in a couple of weeks however.

I asked Mike if he expected to be back out to do more work before the end of the year. While he said he would like to, he made no promises. I am not holding out much hope that anything significant will take place between now and the end of the year, with the possible exception of may be getting the power line relocated. After the first of the new year, weather may have more influence than it has up to now.

Beautiful Friday

Sunny, mild, calm, dry. Perfect weather to be outside working. Unfortunately, no work in our backyard today.

We did get an email back from Tyler (architect) confirming the plans and dimensions for the interior fireplace hearth. In my note of thanks to Tyler I noted that due to the unexpected duration of this project and "the apparent number of inconsistencies, errors and omissions in the drawings", Mike is having to make a lot of judgement calls during the construction. I emphasized that we expected Tyler to be very diligent in keeping track of Mike's progress to ensure nothing is overlooked which might necessitate costly rework or result in a less-than-perfect final product. I do not anticipate this will change what Tyler was planning to do anyway, but I wanted to make our expectations clear...again. We've had three costly errors show up over the past two weeks. I believe theses are due in part to the less-than-accurate construction drawings and the amount of time that has elapsed (four months since we received the construction permit and nine months since we hired the architect).

I also got a confirmation from the fireplace vendor (Bobby) confirming the installation documentation we should be using. All this information has been passed on to Mike. No further word from Mike on truss designs or costs or on the cost of the pine roof boards.

The weather next week, last full work week of the year, is not forecast to be as nice as this week. High probability of rain on Monday.

Thursday Respite

No one showed up this morning to do any project work. Not surprised. We have had roughly 2-1/2 days of work this week, which is actually about average over the past four months. Unfortunately, it turns out that some of the work accomplished this week will have to be undone and/or redone due to a breakdown in communications. Don't know if there will be any more activity this week or not. The weather is supposed to remain good through the weekend.

I did go out and look at the work done by the cable company yesterday, hoping to acknowledge a job well done...finally! The job was not overly complicated and they finished almost all of it. The only thing they failed to do was to hook up the ground wire on their junction box located on the back of the house. In all fairness, this wire was probably cut by the electricians when they relocated the power meter over to the new meter box. There is a red tag on the ground wire cautioning that the cable company should be notified if the wire is removed. Why the cable guys did not reconnect it, I do not know. Obviously they considered it not worth their effort. "Our" Mike also told me that, as he was leaving yesterday evening, he asked the cable guys if they were going to remove the existing overhead cable after running the new cable through the underground conduit. The told him that if he would cut the overhead cable at the house, they would remove it back to the alley pole. Really?!?!? Mike cut the cable (snip!) for them, and they did pull the cable down. I guess they are not permitted to use sharp tools. I found the wire in the dumpster this morning, which I believe is illegal. We were not impressed at all with Charter Cable and doubt we will be a long term customer. I hope I have the opportunity to let them know what I think of their service. If they are smart (no indications of this yet), they will not ask for a review of their performance.

Disconnected Ground Wire

New Cable At Alley Pole

Yesterday "Our" Mike told us that the City had completed their electrical inspection and we are now ready for Ameren (power company) to come out and relocate their overhead power line to the underground conduit. Let's hope someone has so notified Ameren. Once that is accomplished, the overhead lines will no longer be an impediment to starting the truss installation. Mike says he still has some more work to do before the trusses can fly however and he is still trying to determine the best means of lifting the garage trusses into place. He said he found a crane that is adequate for the task and which is mounted on a truck small enough to navigate down the alley, but it is on another job over in Illinois. 

Not having any adult supervision in the backyard today, I decided to take down the telephone wire. It is coiled up and hanging on the alley pole.

Telephone line along west side of house

Coiled telephone line on alley pole

The only overhead line remaining is the power line.

An Einstein Moment and a Busy Day

Albert is given credit for this definition of insanity:

"Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

This morning I called the cable company for the fifth time in the past two weeks. Thus far, I have talked with Agents Adam, Eileen, Kay, Dee, Charmone and Supervisors Brian, Walter and Mike. This morning, I talked with Supervisor Mike's Supervisor, Eric. When I asked Eric who I would talk with next, assuming results of today's discussion will be similar to my previous results, he said the next level would be an Operations Director. I told Eric I hoped that would not be necessary.

I patiently went over the situation again with Eric, but explained to him that I felt I was reaching my Einstein moment. I also told him that, while shear incompetence is a potential explanation for their inability to execute our simple service request, I was starting to believe there might actually be an elaborate conspiracy afoot to lose our business. I suggested to Eric that it would be far easier to just tell us to "go away". Eric assured me that, despite all indications otherwise, they wanted to retain our business. If so, then I must conclude that we have indeed struck a rich vein (the Mother Load) of incompetence within their organization.

As always, Eric was very pleasant, calm and sympathetic. I give this company credit for training their people on how to remain calm with irate customers. He said he is located in Florida and would personally call me back with a status report before the end of today (4pm CST). In turn, I explained to Eric, as I did to Walter yesterday, that we are getting close to the point at which this issue will become a delay to our project. When that happens, I will cut their cable.

"Our" Mike and Nate are in the back yard this morning and Matt (electrical) is again in the basement. The weather is brisk and I noticed a few snow flurries during my walk this morning with Spenser. Mike and Nate are spending the day building up five layers of 2x4 on top of the hot tub bay window framing, on top of which, the new glass window will be positioned. It looks very stout indeed. Mike pointed out that the end of each member is beveled so as to overlap, providing a solid foundation for the glass roof structure. We found out later that they were going to have to remove two or three of these layers. Apparently Tyler had notified Mike of this back in September, but that information was forgotten. That is another problem with how long this project has stretched out.

I took a few minutes this morning to modify a sectional drawing of the sunroom to reflect the possibility of vaulting all the trusses to conform to the glass roof contour. When I brought this up to T yesterday, she was skeptical. When I suggested it to Tyler yesterday when I talked with him, he was definitely against the idea. Therefore, with this encouragement, I decided to see how the drawings would look if we went forward. The first drawing below is how the glass roof will appear with the current truss design. The second drawing is the view of the glass roof with a vaulted truss design. The exact design of the vaulted trusses is not known at this time.

Current Sunroom Trust Design

A Vaulted Sunroom Truss Design Approach

While I was working on these drawings, T informed me that, upon overnight consideration of my suggestion of making all the sunroom trusses vaulted, she is now of an opinion that this approach has merits and may indeed be the correct answer. I showed her my drawings and she suggested we ask "Our" Mike to stop by and talk us before he leaves for the day. When I later approached Mike, he said that he had given Tyler the new design for the girder truss this morning (presumably, designed by the truss company). While there may not be a wrong answer as to which truss design to use, it was absolutely wrong that the promise to explore this issue was not addressed prior to the trusses being fabricated. If we go the direction of a vaulted truss, and the existing trusses are abandoned, it will represent a significant waste of time and money, and an issue I will bring to Tyler's attention.

Matt ran out of supplies and left shortly after noon. He did get the new 240V recepticle moved to the west wall for the dryer. T is very happy and, therefore, so am I. Matt said he was not certain when he would return.

It was about 1500 hours when the main surprise of the day occurred. A cable company truck drove up and a man came to the door saying he was here to reroute the cable. This evening, it has been done. I will inspect it in the morning before announcing a successful end to this unbelievably stupid drama.

Mike stopped by as requested to talk about the trusses. We reviewed the drawings I put together and debated whether we should vault all, some or none of the sunroom trusses. It became apparent that the main resistance to vaulting all of the trusses stemmed from not wanting to waste the ones that we have already had fabricated. Once we got beyond that concern, it was easy to reach a consensus to replace them all. Yes, we should have had this discussion prior to fabricating the trusses. This was what T and I believe we had all agreed upon four months ago. Yes, it will cost us several thousands more to replace them all. Mike is going to have the truss company work up the designs and get a cost quote, but I have little doubt we will replace them all. This evening, Tyler sent out dimensions of the new vaulted girder truss. I sent him a note telling him that we expected to replace the others with vaulted trusses as well.

While Mike was here, I asked him if he was aware of the interior hearth that we wanted on the fireplace. Based on what I am seeing out there, it was not clear to me that he was. Indeed, he was not and said he would have to modify the framing once he gets the dimensions. A couple of drawings show a hearth and other drawings do not. No where is it specified or detailed. I sent a note to Tyler for details.

Tuesday Tuesday

We got an email from "Our" Mike this morning with the latest Lincoln door/window quote attached. It looked OK except that the doors were listed as "in-swing" and did not specify either right-hand or left-hand. I replied and quoted the note I sent to Mike last night, specifying right-hand out-swung doors.

I called the cable company this morning. I asked Dee, who first came on the phone, to talk with her supervisor. After about five minutes, Walter came on and addressed me by name. I went through the whole mess with him again. In the end, trying to keep it as simple as possible, I told him that if the construction is stopped due to their cable, I will cut the cable line, throw it into the street and cancel service. Walter said he understood and would get back with me today. Why should I have any doubts???

This morning, we have the usual cast of carpenters ("Our" Mike, Nate, "Little" Mike) in the back and the electricians Josh and Matt (his new helper) in the basement. I asked Josh about the power outage Mike mentioned yesterday. Josh predicted he would cut the power around 1000 hours, with it being off for a couple of hours. Sounds like we will go out for brunch today.

"Our" Mike left around 0900. I call him shortly thereafter and confirmed he got my email about the swing of the garage doors. He said he did and forwarded the note on to the Lincoln dealer.

Nate and "Little" Mike left shortly after 1000 hours this morning. Don't know what they accomplished, but they were done for the day. Don't know when they will be back.

Without notice, Josh cut the power off at 0945 hours. Thanks! We left the house around 1030 hours and had lunch at Molly's, one of our favorite Cajun bars in Soulard. Their oysters on the half-shell were delicious! After brunch and going to the store, we got home around 1300 hours, expecting the power to be restored. It was not back on until about 1415 hours. But, the new meter box is in place, the old one is gone and the new breaker panel is install in the basement. The inspection by the City is expected tomorrow. Then we will await Ameren (utility) to pull the new power line. Matt will be back tomorrow to install the new 240V outlet for the dryer.

During lunch, we got an email from Tyler (architect). He said that "Our" Mike had talked with the truss company and they could design and fabricate a vaulted girder truss which would conform to the contour of the glass roof for a "relatively small" additional cost. Tyler asked us for permission to accept the offer and for him to work with them on the details. He got our permission plus a comment that it was what we had requested four months ago. I also asked if the trusses already built could be modified to the new configuration? Tyler responded that it would be cheaper just to waste the ones we had and build new ones (guess who pays for the ones we will not use). Later, I called Tyler and we chatted about this. He said he was surprised at the ease and "relative low cost" of this vaulted truss design. I commented it was unfortunate that this option was not explored, as we were promised it would be, prior to having the trusses built. He agreed it was unfortunate. I am sure he is not too upset since it isn't his money that was wasted! I also told him that I had suggested to T that we could consider modification of all the other sunroom trusses to have the same vaulted configuration. This would address essentially all of the aesthetic drawbacks Tyler had brought up in regards to changing the girder truss to a vaulted design, i.e., the inconsistency with the other trusses. While he acknowledged this, Tyler said he was not in favor of changing the design of the other trusses. He thought it would look better to have those trusses retain their original design. I am leaving the decision to T as I no longer have much faith in Tyler's opinion or judgement. If I see him tomorrow, I might ask "Our" Mike his opinion. I have not lost confidence in his judgement.

At the end of the day, no call back from the cable company! What a surprise!!! Tomorrow I call AT&T about new internet and TV service. Enough is enough.

Busy Monday

"Our" Mike, Nate and "Little" Mike showed up this morning and finished framing of the connecting porch before starting on the fireplace. Mike said that, while it is muddy, the ground is firmer this week than it was last week. Mike asked me if Tyler (architect) had been given the specifications for the fireplace to develop his drawings. I assured him that he had. I later checked and found that I sent Tyler the dimensions and specifications on April 25. The fireplace, along with the hot tub, were decided very early in the project. The reason Mike asked is that the foundations, poured per the drawings, don't seem to be quite right for the dimensions of the fireplace. Mike said they would make it work however.

We can actually step out our back door for the first time in about four months!!

Connecting Porch

Fireplace

Josh (electrical) showed up with a helper and began installation of the new 400 ampere power meter box on the back of the main house. It will be significantly larger than the old 200 ampere meter. They knocked out a brick in the basement wall to bring in the new cable. "Our" Mike said they will need to shut off the power for a couple of hours tomorrow morning to make some tie-ins. Once they are finished with their work, it will be inspected by the City before Ameren (power utility) will come out to relocate the main power cable to the new underground conduit. Mike assured me that they will relocate the 240V outlet for the dryer so we can relocate it to the west wall in the basement.

New Meter Box

Chatting with Mike at lunch, he said he got the note I sent last Friday and would get the price information on the select pine boards versus the Ponderosa pine siding. He also mentioned he got a call from Tyler about the gable trusses. It turns out that Tyler's offer to discuss the matter with the truss company, in reality, actually meant he would call Mike and ask Mike to talk with the truss company. I apologized to Mike but he said it was not a big deal and he would let us know.

Mike said he got the quote for the gable slate and asked if we wanted to use 10" wide slate tiles or 12" wide. He said the 12" wide are actually less expensive, but the main house has 10" so we will go with that for consistency.

Mike also said he was expecting an updated quote from the Lincoln door/window supplier. Mike asked us to confirm which way (inwards or outwards) we wanted the doors to swing and the handings of the doors. Conferring with T, we determined all three should swing outwards and the primary door will be on the right when exiting the garage. This means the doors will all be right-hand outswing doors.

The insurance agent came by as scheduled this morning and we had a nice chat. No surprises.

The time window for delivery of the new 65" television was between 1500 and 1800 hours. It arrived at 1715 hours. They hauled it up to the MIL room, unpacked it, installed the stand and placed the unit on the table. They suggested not to plug it in for a couple of hours to let it warm up. While they were supposed to haul away all the packing materials, they declined to do so. The Chromecast streaming unit showed up as well. We will enjoy learning what we can do with the new toys.

We had a hawk overseeing the progress today. No doubt protecting us from marauding squirrels. We're glad we did not cut down the Ash.

Guess what? The cable company did not call today as was promised. Not surprised, just frustrated.

Potentially Nice Week Ahead

The 5-day forecast for the upcoming week continues to look good. Little chance of rain, mild temperatures (40's-50's) and some sun. The lake in the back yard is not gone, but it is much diminished. Don't know if anyone will show up to work out there tomorrow or not. It will be muddy, but we only have two full weeks remaining for the remainder of the year. The 10-day forecast looks good right now as well. If we don't make progress, it will not be due to the weather.

We expect to have the new 65" sunroom television delivered tomorrow afternoon. We will set it up in the MIL room for now. The "small" 32" TV that was in the MIL room is now in the master bedroom. The "little" 22" that was in the master bedroom is now in the Red room. The old CRT that was in the Red room is now in the closet.

Last week we bought an Amazon Fire TV streaming unit. With the promotions that came with the new 65" TV, the Fire TV was effectively one-half the regular price. T really likes it compared to using the WiFi abilities built into our DVD players. The Fire's voice recognition capability is very good. Last week I also ordered a Google Chromecast streaming unit, which was about two-thirds the price of the discounted Fire. The Chromecast should be delivered tomorrow. We'll see how it compares to the Fire.

We are expecting our insurance agent tomorrow morning to review our homeowners policy and the construction project.

Of course we are expecting to hear from the cable company on when the next appointment will be for the relocation of the overhead cable line. Maybe we'll find out something about relocation of the power cable as well!

We may go down to the lumber yard tomorrow and compare the cost of the siding "Our" Mike showed us last week to the pine board that Tyler recommends we consider for the exposed interior roof and gables. We are also looking forward to hearing what Tyler finds out about the gable truss alternatives, per our discussion Friday evening.

Cable Company Drama

On Friday, the cable company failed to show up for their fourth appointment to relocate their line to the new underground conduit. On three of the previous four appointments, they just did not show up. The one occasion they did show up, they did nothing and departed. This morning I called their service number and talked with Kay. I explained to her that my patience was running out and that there was no excuse for the service failures over the past two weeks. Kay agreed and could not offer an explanation. I informed Kay that, going forward, there were three possible course of events: 1) a new appointment is made and the company completes the work satisfactorily, at which time all of their past sins may be forgiven; 2) a new appointment is made and they again fail to show up, at which time I will personally cut their line and cancel our service; 3) a new appointment is made but, prior to that appointment, the construction project is delayed due to the overhead line, at which time I will personally cut their line and cancel our service. Kay talked with her supervisor, Brian, and assured me that either Brian or the service dispatcher will call me on Monday to let me know of the new (fifth) appointment. I assured Kay that the outcome of this mess is up to them and if I end up cutting their line and canceling our service, I will ensure they are exposed to a lot of unfaltering publicity.

Rainy Friday

With 100% probability for rain today, it is almost comforting that it is, indeed, raining. It should stop raining by this evening. This is good because if the water standing in the back yard gets much deeper, the trusses, which will be exposed in the sunroom at the end of the project, will be sitting in water.

The current forecast for this weekend and next week remains favorable. Cool, but dry and mostly sunny. That may change, but for now, our hopes are high that we might get a lot accomplished next week. At least the weather will not prevent progress.

I called the cable company at 0800 hours this morning expecting, for the third (and last) time, to make an appointment to have the cable line relocated to run through the new underground conduit. Upon telling the automated voice that I was calling in reference to an appointment, the machine checked and informed me that there was an appointment for us scheduled for today. OK!! That is good in that it saved me the irritation of a verbal confrontation with someone who really does not care if our cable gets relocated or not. The last time I called (Monday), I was not so much irritated by having to call them again, the really irritating part of the call was the redundancy of scripted apologetic statements I had to endure, knowing the person really could not have cared less. If they show up, and actually get the job today, I will forgive them for their past three appointment failures. By 1530 hours, no one had shown up so I called their automated voice again and was told again by the computer that there was still an appointment scheduled for today.

We have invited Tyler (architect) over to talk with us this afternoon. The primary topic will be the west gable (at the hot tub end of the sunroom). Prior to getting the construction permit in early August, we were reviewing the permit drawings and raised the question of the gable surface below the interface with the glass roof over the hot tub. The drawings indicated the gable would be "wraped" and extend down to the same level as the other roof trusses. This would create an enclosed "box" similar to the one on the east gable, but not as wide. We are OK with the "box" on the east gable, and in fact, we had considered installing the inside HVAC unit inside of it. On the west gable however, it seemed to us that such a "box" would obscure the interior view of the glass roof and it would not be appealing from the exterior, viewed through the glass roof. In a meeting with Tyler and "Our" Mike at our house in late July, we broached this concern with them. Their response was that they did not see any reason we could not work with the truss design and be able to have the gable truss follow the contour of the glass roof. This was very comforting to both T and myself and we put the concern out of our minds.

When the trusses were delivered earlier this week, I asked Mike about that contouring of the gable truss and, to my surprise, he expressed surprise at my question and responded, "oh no, the truss has to come all the way down". I did not comment more at the time, but reflecting upon it, I came to the conclusion that what he must have meant that the truss will come down to the same level as the others, but the solid gable surface (the "wrap") would follow the glass roof contour. While this is not what we were led to believe would happen, I decided that they must have come to the conclusion that this was the best solution. To satisfy my curiosity, I wrote a note to Tyler asking for clarification. While Tyler said he remembered the conversation we had four months ago, it became clear to me that he never intended to alter what the permit drawings showed. This upset both T and myself since this was a concern we had made a point of bringing up. Now it seems, the concern is being brushed aside by both Mike and Tyler. Rather than trading emails of a potentially increasingly contentious nature, we decided it would be better to ask Tyler to stop by and talk through the matter. We are expecting him at 1630 hours.

The meeting with Tyler went very well. Tyler explained that the major change between now and, what we thought four months ago, was that the trusses selected for the west gable are girder trusses and not standard trusses. Tyler was very patient in explaining the difference, which is basically that the standard truss is designed to only hold vertical loads while girder trusses hold both vertical and horizontal loads. Although I asked several times, I still do not fully understand, and Tyler could not adequately explain, why the decision was made to use the girder trusses. Tyler did not know if the people who designed the trusses were ever asked to consider a truss design which would follow the contour of the glass window. We asked Tyler to speak to the truss people to find out what such an option would require. Better now than after the trusses are in place.

We also discussed the exposed interior roof material and the material to be used on the interior of both east and west gables. Bottom line is that the gable material will be the same as that used on the interior roof. We showed Tyler the pine tongue-n-grove siding that Mike brought to us to consider. Tyler's opinion is that, compared to the other elements in the room, it will look too casual. He suggested we have Mike get a price comparison between the siding and a clear select grade 1"x 6" pine flat board. I have written an email to Mike asking for this price comparison.

It is 1900 hours and no cable company guy has shown up. I just called their robo call center and we are still scheduled for an appointment today. I will call them again on Monday.

Guess What?

The cable company did not show up....again. I will call them, for the last time, tomorrow. Thank goodness they are not the only game in town. We may be switching to AT&T!! One way or another, the cable is coming down!

Very light, intermittent rain today...no work in the yard. Tomorrow, 100% probability. Guess what?

December 3

Noticed Nate's truck parked out front around 6:45 am so I went down to the basement, unbarred the door and turned on the lights. This may be the last dry day of the week. Forecast is for 40% probability of rain on Thursday and 90% chance on Friday.

We got a note from "Salesman" Mike yesterday evening acknowledging that he has received the needed dimensions from "Our" Mike. The Marvin windows can now be ordered. Hurrah!! "Salesman" Mike also gave us the "tight" dimensions of the picture window glass above the south door ( 29 7/8’’ wide, 32 1/8’’ tall). I passed this on to Kim and Gerald at the stained glass company. These will also be the dimensions of the stained glass. I also sent to them an annotated sketch from "Salesman" Mike showing how the art glass will fit into the picture window frame, behind the insulated double paned glass.

"Our" Mike, Nate and "Little" Mike are back out there this morning, huddled around the drawings. They started yesterday to "cleanup" the back of the main house where the porch will connect to the back door. There is a bit of repair work to do, including some tuckpointing, where the old porch had attached to the house. Mike was showing me yesterday that the drawings were missing some details in this area and contained others that just were not correct as drawn. 

Connecting Porch Floor Joists

Attached to the main house

Flooring

Hurray!! The gravel arrived today.

First Load

Second Load

We got an email from Bob (landscaping) asking about our progress and telling us he was sending us a plan and proposal for the Phase II plants and lighting which were removed from the Phase I scope of work. He also sent a new Phase I proposal showing the new total after reducing the fencing not needed since our east neighbors are extending their west fence to the north. T will be reviewing the plant listings and giving Bob some feedback.

While Spenser and I were talking during our afternoon walk, we remembered a discussion we had with "Salesman" Mike (Marvin dealer) a couple of months ago regarding getting the locks on the garage french doors specified so that they, along with the sunroom doors, can all be keyed alike. When we got home, I called Mike and left a message asking him to send me an email detailing what "Our" Mike needs to specify on the Lincoln order for the garage doors. "Salesman" Mike responded and I have passed on to "Our" Mike that the Marvin doors will come with Schlage brand locks. If possible, we need to have the Lincoln doors similarly equipped.

Before they concluded for the day, Mike, Nate and Mike got the connecting porch framing in place. For the first time since early August, we can (except for the brace across the door) step out the back door again. Cannot go very far, but it is progress.

The bar sink disposal arrived today. The new TV should arrive on Monday. 

Mike pulled a string through both the underground conduits today. Hopefully, the cable company guy will show up on Thursday. Mike had no further information on the power line. We have to get the overhead cables down before the trusses can go up.

Hello December

Thanksgiving is behind us and December is here. Sunday night, we had freezing drizzle and Monday morning everything was covered in a sheet of ice. It did not reach above freezing on Monday and nothing was done in the backyard. This morning however, "Our" Mike, Nate and "Little" Mike arrived at 7:00 am. It is supposed to get above freezing today. While perhaps a little more comfortable, temperature wise, it is going to be a muddy mess out there.

Yesterday (Monday) we got a couple of emails from Tyler (architect) in response to the emails I sent out last week. One touched on the window above the south door. Tyler expressed his opinion that we should strongly consider putting our stained glass pane behind a double glass insulated window, as opposed to just a single pane of glass. We agree. The other email ignited a little more conversation.

I had sent out a note summarizing the various species of wood that are going to be exposed in the sunroom and sought input on being able to coordinate the staining of all these. That list included:

Bar and wall paneling - Sapele
Exposed trusses - Select yellow pine
Door and window interior sashes - pine
Hot tub decking and interior steps - Tiger wood
Exposed interior roofing - #1 Ponderosa Pine siding (proposed)

My note was prompted by a discussion on the proposed material to be used on the exposed interior of the roof. Mike had shown Tyler and myself a sample of cypress, which we both liked, but turned out to be very expensive. Mike had also suggested using a spruce product. Tyler expressed a concern about how the spruce would take a stain and suggested a siding material. These discussions got me thinking about all the different wood species we are going to be using. I thought that, before we made the final decision about any of the woods (no orders have yet to be placed), we needed to ensure our decisions. Later, just before Thanksgiving, Mike stopped by and showed us the tongue-n-grove siding that Tyler had suggested. It turned out to be made of #1 Ponderosa Pine. This siding was shown in my post of November 26. In Tyler's email of yesterday, the only reservation he had regarding my list of woods was with the "standard" pine to be used on the Marvin windows and door sashes. His concern was "The standard mixed grain pine can vary in from light to dark in each piece of wood, so they will not all match around the windows". He went on to suggest that "Typically when the windows are going to be stained, people will upgrade to 'straight grain – fir'”. While we have had this discussion before, it has been awhile, and does not do any harm to reconfirm our previous decision. We talked with "Our" Mike and "Salesman" Mike (Marvin dealer). The result was the same as the last time. Both Mikes disagreed with Tyler's concern. "Salesman" Mike again assured us that, due to the care taken by Marvin in their wood selection process, upgrading the wood sashes as suggested by Tyler would not be a good use of our money. This issue is concluded...again!

"Salesman" Mike also told me he was still waiting for "Our" Mike to give him the dimensions for the south door side windows and the picture window above the south door. With this information, plus our decision on the specific picture window we want above the south door (single versus double pane), he can get the Marvin order placed. I encouraged "Salesman" Mike to pester "Our" Mike for the dimensional information he needs. I reminded "Our" Mike this morning that "Salesman" Mike was waiting to hear from him with the dimensions. "Our" Mike said he already had the side window measurements and proceeded to measure the opening above the south door. Hopefully he will remember to give this information to "Salesman" Mike.

I called Gerald (stained glass company) to discuss our revised plans for the stained glass above the south door. He was not available, but I talked with Kim, gave her the proposal number that Gerald had provided to us back in September and told her that we wanted to talk with Gerald about modifying the design so that the Gothic Arch would be in a rectangular glass setting. She seemed to understand and said she would have Gerald give us a call. I then called and left a message with "Salesman" Mike asking, once he gets the opening dimensions of the window above the south door to let us know what the glass size will be so we can pass this along to Gerald when he calls back. I did get a call from Gerald later in the day. We went over the changes we were wanting and the coordination with the window company. Everything seems set to go.

As for the overall question of coordinating the staining of the various woods, "Our" Mike is going to talk with the painter/stainer about doing some testing in which T can participate. I also called and left a message for Bob (cabinetry) to see if we could get a sample of Sapele for testing and to get a confirmation that Bob was recommending finishing the cabinetry on-site. Bob returned our call this afternoon. We went over the staining issues and he agreed that we need to get samples of all the woods to the painter/stainer so they can experiment. Bob confirmed the recommendation that the final finishing be done on-site so the painter/stainer can see it all together and make any required adjustments. Bob also said he would get us a sample of bare Sapele and call us when we could come pick it up. Bob also said we could borrow his stained Sapele cabinet door display sample as a guide.

I also called the cable company yesterday and rescheduled the rerouting of the cable line through the underground conduit for today. They offered no explanation as to why they did not show up last week as scheduled.

In talking with "Our" Mike yesterday, he told us that he is expecting the trusses to be delivered on Tuesday (today) and was working with Rob (electrical) to get the utility scheduled to pull the power lines through the new underground conduit. While this is required before we can install the roof trusses, Mike said they still have a lot of carpentry work to do before they are ready for the trusses to fly.

Nate and "Little" Mike finished application of the Tyvek wrap while awaiting the trusses, which arrived about 10:00 am.

Mike measured to see if the truck could maneuver down the alley. It was going to be tight. I suggested that, as an alternative, we could check with our west neighbors to see if we could use their drive and take a section out of our west fence. Mike did ask and Jeanie said it would be OK. They are great neighbors.

As the trusses were being unloaded, it was noticeable that the delivered garage trusses were not exactly as portrayed on the Permit Drawings.

The 6 foot horizontal "head knocker" is much higher, probably 10 foot. While I like this, the original design was presented to the City claiming that the 6 foot truss brace made this space uninhabitable per code. I mentioned this to "Our" Mike, but he did not seem concerned.

Permit Drawing Garage Truss

Delivered Garage Truss

The sunroom trusses are consistent with the revised Permit Drawings, eliminating the one horizontal member.

Sunroom Trusses Delivered

Permit Drawing Sunroom Truss w/revision

Once the trusses were unloaded, the remainder of the day was spent working on the connecting porch interface with the main house.

The cable company representative did make an appearance, but left without doing anything. According to "Our" Mike, he expected to find a string had already been run through the conduit for him to use to pull his cable through. Mike told him he would do this and the fellow said he would be back on Thursday. I won't hold my breath.