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.
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