Weather Is Not Cooperating

It rained a lot last night but nothing today. The landscapers did not show up due to the standing water. Hopefully next week will allow them to start.

Still no electrical. Chris was here only one day this week. T and I went to pick up the stained glass for the bar cabinet. They look great. We took them up to Bob's (cabinetry) office. Bob was not there, but we left them for him.

Mike stopped by this afternoon. He looked around for the fireplace wall switch and remote and could not find them either. Mike has no memory of ever seeing them. He said he would work with Bobby to get replacements.

The overhead technician (Randy) showed up as scheduled. I went over the issues we were having with the courtesy lights. Thankfully, they acted just as strangely for him as they did for me. He called the Lift Master help line and described to them what we were observing. They told Randy that the wall control boxes needed to be at least 12" apart. If they were not, they might interfere with each other. This struck me as very odd and spreading these control boxes out along the garage wall was not acceptable. The control boxes are hard wired to the door opener motor. The courtesy lights are wireless. I asked Randy if the courtesy lights received a signal from the wall switches or from the motors. He said they were activated by the motors. Therefore I suggested we might just have to re-learn the courtesy lights to the appropriate motor. While it took a couple of iterations to convince Randy, he finally agreed to re-learn the lights. This took about 60 seconds and, once done, everything worked perfectly. Thankfully, we did not have to move the wall control boxes.

Randy also checked out the door operation and said they looked good.

For several months now, Mike and I have had on-again, off-again discussions about installing an attic ladder in the garage. The issue has not been whether we want to install such a ladder, but finding one that will fit. The rough opening width is 22.5". The ceiling height is 11'9". Finding a ladder with this narrow width and this height has been the challenge. Werner makes a ladder that will accommodate the height, but only with widths of 25". Today I found a ladder made by Louisville that can handle ceiling heights up to 12' and uses a opening width of 22.5". It is aluminum and has a 350 pound capacity. I can order it through Home Depot for pickup around July 21. I am not familiar with the Louisville brand and I've sent the information to Mike for his input/approval.

No Rain Today

The sun actually came out for a little while this afternoon. Despite the deluge we have experienced over the past week, it only takes a day or so for the pond in the backyard to soak in and disappear.

As expected, a person (not Bobby) showed up today to finish the fireplace installation. He was irritated that there was no power to the fireplace. The wires were there, but power is not turned on. Hence we could not "fire" it up and do a complete checkout. I noticed that there was power to the breaker box in the connecting porch, but the breakers were not labeled. With all the loose wires hanging around, I was not willing to attempt to find the one to send power to the fireplace. The installer did install the interior wall tile, the fire logs and the glass and mesh screens. There is a mesh screen on the exterior side of the fireplace, but we cannot determine how to get to it in order to close it. He also asked where the wall mounted controls and the remote controls were. We looked everywhere we could think of, but they could not be found. I called Mike to see if he knew. He said he had no memory of ever seeing these things. The remote is also the thermostat, so we must find them. Hopefully now that we have this done, we can go after installation of the stone on the chimney breast. But first, we have to install the mantel and the side wood paneling. Before installing the side wood paneling, we have to install the fireplace wall mounted control. Before we install the fireplace wall mounted control, we have to find the fireplace wall mounted control.

I got a response from Kim (stained glass). The windows are ready. She will let Bob (cabinetry) know and she will have them ready for us to inspect on Friday.

I called Michael (overhead door) again today and left him another message, making it clear to the receptionist that I had left a message yesterday and Michael never returned my call. That must have done some good as Michael called back shortly thereafter. I told him that the doors now had power if they needed to check anything. He said they did not. Then I tried to explain to him the issue I was observing with the courtesy lights. It was obvious that Michael really did not want to talk with me and suggested I talk with their service department about a warranty repair. This conversation brought back the memories I have from trying to deal with Michael before, so I accepted his offer to transfer me to the service department. We have now arranged for someone to come out tomorrow evening.

We got a note from Bob II (landscaping) saying the picture sent of the drain pipes yesterday did help and they were exploring what legal options we have. The forecast is for 50% chance of rain on Friday, but then dry through next Thursday. Maybe we can get some landscaping done! We also got a project sequence schedule from Bob.

Rain Out

It rained intermittently through out the night and continued today. Bob II and Drew (landscaping) stopped by to chat with T and myself. We had a constructive discussion which included interaction with Mike's work. We told them that, while they were hired by us, we expected them to coordinate their work with Mike. One discouraging bit of information was that the company who "washes" the Old Monroe aggregate for our walkways is underwater due to flooding of the Mississippi River. Not sure when they will be back in production and how it will impact our schedule. Another topic was the drains that interfere with the walkway between the sunroom and the garage. There are two drains, a 4" and a 6" side-by-side. They are going to tie the sunroom downspout drains into one of these. They suggested they could install a brass cover over the drains. It would be flush with the walkway and not look too offensive. T said it sounded OK but wanted pictures.

We were at least hoping Chris would show up today to continue with the sunroom wiring. Mike expected him yesterday, but he never showed up. So far, no show today either.

Before noon, I called and left a message for Michael (Overhead Door) telling him that we finally have power to the garage if there is anything they need to test/adjust on the overhead doors. I put light bulbs in the overhead door courtesy lights. These are supposed to turn on if the associated door is opened, if it senses motion or if someone walks through the open door. They seem to work OK, with the exception that two of the lights go on when only one door is opened. No response to the message I left. I will call him again tomorrow. These people have not impressed me with their customer service.

I also sent a note to Kim (stained glass) seeking a status of the bar cabinet door windows. It has been three weeks since they sent us a picture of the window panes prior to leading it all together. She responded that the window are ready. I asked if they had communicated that with Bob (cabinetry).

Yesterday evening, I got another call from Betsy (solar). She said due to the rainy weather, and other obligations, it will be next week before she and Josh come visit us. She said Josh wanted them both to be in attendance so that they could discuss why certain decisions regarding our system were made. Whatever.

Late in the afternoon, Mike stopped by. He wanted to ensure we were ready for Bobby (fireplace) to arrive tomorrow to complete the fireplace installation. Mike reminded me that he would not be in attendance (funeral). We discussed where to position the wall mounted fireplace control and how the stone would interface with the interior glass panel. I suggested that hopefully Bobby would be able to answer some of our questions. Mike said that he has gotten the impression that Bobby is not too sure about it either. Great! I also reminded Mike that, months ago, Bobby told me that they could finish the installation once natural gas and electricity were supplied. We have natural gas, but still no electricity. Chris did not show up either yesterday or today.

I also mentioned to Mike that Bob II and Drew (landscaping) stopped by this morning. I relayed to Mike that they were told that we expected them to coordinate their work with him to minimize conflicts and avoid rework. Mike was in total agreement. We also talked about the drains which are in the sunroom-to-garage walkway. Mike was not sure why we had both a 4" and a 6" drain side-by-side. Later, I called Bob and Drew and we re-discussed these drains. They said their plan was to tie the downspout drains into the 6". Both the 4" and the 6" would need to be covered. They were not sure why we had both of them either but said the installation surely conformed to City sewer codes. I asked them about angling both of these so that they would emerge outside of the walkway. They said that would be preferable if it were legal. They would investigate our options. I subsequently sent them a photo I took on September 3, 2014. The 4" is a clean out for the 6". It angles into the 6" a couple of feet underground.

September 2014

Landscaping

The landscaping crew showed up this morning. We were a little surprised due to the intermittent rain. They unloaded a Bobcat and parked it beside the garage. They could not bring it into the yard too far or it would have sunk in the mud. They cleaned up along the fence line and marked where the walks and walls will ultimately be positioned. I talked with Bob II (foreman) and asked him to move the four Azaleas and the Rosa Sharron around to the front yard. Tomorrow, they plan to trench to tie the sunroom gutter downspouts to the sewer line and for yard drainage. In fact, a supply truck came by to drop off a bunch of piping and fittings. Bob II asked if we would like to have a schedule of their work so we could follow their progress. I was shocked. No one has offered (let alone provided, even when requested) such a schedule for any aspect of this project. I told Bob we would love to get one and requested he give one to Mike as well.

Mike came by mid morning. He reinstalled the plywood panels in the sunroom. I took a picture of the vent in the connecting porch and sent it to Bob (cabinetry) in case he needs to do some measuring for his wall panels. This vent has turned out very inconspicuous. When we put a decorative grill over it, it will not be noticed at all.

I mentioned to Mike that it will certainly be nice when the have electricity gets turned on. He pointed out that Chris turned on the power to the garage yesterday. We now have overhead doors that operate. The wall mounted door opener is very quiet.

The fireplace people should be out on Thursday to complete the installation. Once that is done, we should be ready for the stone to be installed on the chimney breast. Mike said the same masonry company that did the brick work (but a different crew) will install the stone.

I got a call from Betsy (solar). She and Josh were supposed to come out today to discuss the solar system performance, but with the rain, she said they would try to be out Thursday or Friday. Whatever.

Good Bye Mr. Tyvek

Sunday evening, I got a call from the landscaper saying they expected to start their work the following day (today). They got no argument from me, but I told them to coordinate through Mike. They assured me they would do so and said they would be working whenever it was not raining.

Today started out humid but dry. Mike and Nate started putting up the cement board on the sunroom exterior. We will not be sorry to see the Tyvek sheeting covered up at last. Chris was still working on the sunroom electrical. The landscapers did indeed show up and it appears they dropped off their tool boxes, some plastic drain pipes and hauled off the pile of bricks.

T and I left about 12:30 pm to run some errands. As we were leaving, we noticed the painters were sitting in their truck out front. Probably waiting for Mike to finish installation of the exterior cement board so they could paint it. A strong storm moved through while we were gone. By the time we returned, 3:00 pm, everyone had departed except for Chris. The weather forecast is for intermittent thunderstorms throughout the week.

I noticed the landscapers trashed our butterfly bush so that they could position their tool boxes where it was. Grrrrr! I mentioned to T that we need to decide if we are going to attempt to salvage the azaleas before they destroy those as well.

I got an unexpected call from Betsy (solar) this evening. She said that she and Josh are hoping to come by tomorrow around noon to look at the solar installation and discuss its performance. She made the declaration that, based on the photos I sent to Eric last week, the performance issues were clearly shade related. I took issue with that declaration and she backed off on the statement. I pointed out to her that, while there is some shade in the morning, by noon, only about 25% of the panels still experience dappled shade. By 2pm, the shade is essentially gone. The performance after noon however does not seem unsatisfactory. I also pointed out to her that according to the literature Eric brought last week, the inverters are supposedly equipped with the ability to "mitigate the effect of shade". It will be an interesting meeting, if they show up.