By the time I pulled it together, fed P+T, coffeed myself up and got going, our contractor, Bob, was instructing the roofing crew.
Bob, aka Bob the Builder, is doing a very good job with the project. He's probably in his late 50s or early 60s, very friendly, and always has a great attitude. He is clearly very proud of his work and wants the house to be a success. His voice is rather similar to Mr. Haney from the old TV show Green Acres, not only in the way he enunciates, but also in the way his voice slightly warbles and cracks every now and then.
This morning, we were in the basement working on how to best distribute the heating/air ducts around the space and feed the rooms above, with the minimum amount of disruption to the basement ceiling. One area in particular was difficult to get a supply duct to, and we decided to each ponder it further and reconvene on that issue later in the week. "We'll figure it out betwixt us," he said, confidently.
We walked through the project and I told him some changes I wanted to make with the electrical rough-in, which was in progress. That's where they run the wiring and set the boxes in the rough framing, where the outlets, light fixtures and switches will be installed later, after the drywall goes on the walls. My comments were mainly things like, "Move these outlets to line up with those over there, so they look more uniform." At one point, I remarked offhand that I was sorry for having him redo all this work that had already been done.*
He stopped. "Don't say that. We want it to be right."
That's when you know you have the right guy running your project.
Then it started raining, which put a bit of a damper on things. So, there wasn't a lot of sexy photography to do, and there wasn't much going on that made anything look much different from the day before.
The other thing that happened was that there was a crew spraying greenish-colored expanding foam insulation into the roofs from below. (I almost just wrote 'rooves' like the plural of hoof. I think I've been playing way too much Cow Clicker on facebook. But I can't help it. I'm addicted.)
And, in the end, it was as good a day as any for a rainy short day on the site, because I had to leave early to drive down to Atlanta, to hang out with the Atlanta Objectivist Society, for their monthly social. Shout out to the AOS!
Next month, I'm presenting a special event in conjunction with this group: a Thursday evening lecture on my design process for this house, followed by a Saturday tour for them of the site (for the first 30 of them to RSVP, that is). I'm extremely excited about the event, and looking very eagerly forward to it.
And speaking of the AOS and their social tonight, I think it's time I wrapped up this post, which I've been typing from the patio of the Gordon Biersch in Buckhead, and go inside and get a beer with my people!
Hopefully it will be a nice day tomorrow, and I'll have more pictures from the site. Until then, Cheers from Atlanta!
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*Please take note that I would never make such a statement to a general contractor on a large commercial project. Those relationships are very "by the book" and the chain of command is strictly observed. On a small project like this, it is in my interest to have a good relationship and a very team-oriented approach with the contractor, and certain key subcontractors (like the framer and cabinet maker in particular, on this job.) We are definitely allies on this project, and such a remark is, I think, appropriate.
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