April Fool's Day

I was not expecting any activity today. It was supposed to be a really nice day weather-wise. However, with a chance of thunderstorms this afternoon plus having already had our quota of two (partial) days of activity this week, I was very surprised to hear loud voices just after 7:00 am this morning. Looking out the window, "Our" Mike was there with Nate, Frank (HAC) had both John and Tim with him and there was also Josh (electrician).

Josh went over the electrical wiring plans with Mike and proceeded to add more conduits to the floor. He left around mid-morning. I found this strange since Josh had the City Inspector out yesterday to inspect his work. There will not be an opportunity to inspect what Josh does today, but I am not going to worry about it.

Frank, John and Tim started installation of the ground insulation and circulation tubing for the radiant floor heating. They will not finish today.

Ground insulation in place

Stapling the plastic tubing to the insulation

The cement floor will be poured on top of this grid

We have steps!!

As they approached the fireplace with the tubing, I mentioned to Frank that we were going to have a hearth. This was a surprise to him and started asking me the size and what it would be made of. I suggested he talk with Mike. Looks like they got it sorted out.

Frank also asked me about when the slab on the east side of the house would be poured. This is where the AC condensing units will be relocated. Frank is very anxious for this to be done and has asked me about this before. I told him again that he needed to talk with Mike. I don't know if he did or not, but before the end of the day, Mike told me that he had scheduled "Concrete" Mike to be here next week to pour the sunroom and garage floors. I asked Mike if they were going to pour the east slab at the same time. Mike said "probably not".

Later in the afternoon, after everyone had left for the day, I got a call from Bob and Drew (landscaping). They apparently had just received a call from Mike asking them if they would take responsibility for pouring the slab on the east side of the house. Mike told them that "Concrete" Mike would not do that job. They wanted to know about the footings required by the solar inverter panels. I told them that Mike should have those details, but the main requirement from the solar company (other than the overall size) was that the Unistrut posts had to be perfectly vertical. The solar company was going to charge us an unreasonable charge to ensure these posts were installed vertically. Mike had assured them that he could do that. What Bob suggested was to have the AC people (Frank) move the AC units now to a temporary pad and then, when the landscapers come in to install the other walkways, they would pour the pad at that time, using the appropriate exposed aggregate. They said they would get back with Mike for the details of the inverter rack and, if necessary, contact the solar company.

Mike and Nate worked on installing the remaining sunroom fascia boards and the cement panels above the connecting porch door and window and on the exterior north wall of the sunroom.

I asked Mike about his intention with regards to drainage underneath the hot tub deck. Being a concern to us, I have asked about this before and have never gotten a clear answer. I am not sure he had thought it through, but ultimately Mike said he would have them contour the cement slab below the deck toward the surface drain in this area. This sounds reasonable if it happens. I will watch.

While I was impressed with all the activity which started this morning, to my shock, just before 3:00 pm, the roofers showed back up!! They arrived to start work later in the day today than when they quit yesterday. They did not bring any additional shingles but, using the few remaining shingles, resumed the shingling around the two south dormers on the main house. They were gone by 4:15 pm.

Frank asked me if I ever talked with Patrick (ventilation engineer). Frank had recommended that we consult with him regarding our ventilation requirements. I related to him my experience with Patrick and how I have never heard anything back from him in the past two weeks. I told Frank that, while I would have expected Patrick to communicate to us if he did not intend to work with us (out of common courtesy), that message has been received by his failure to respond to my email or return my call. Frank was very disappointed and said he would call Patrick. I told Frank that it was no reflection upon him and that we appreciated Frank's willingness to help us on this matter. No one else seems to care much about it. If Patrick does not have either the interest or the time to work with us, then we don't want him to feel pressured to be involved.