LET THERE BE LIGHT!

Howdy Y'all!

We have windows! 

The Anderson Window technicians arrived yesterday with a truckload of glass and started putting the window sections together. We were actually surprised to learn that each large window is separately made to preserve the integrity of the bonding (each window has an inert gas between the panes that acts as an 'insulator'). The frames are then attached together to form the entire window structure. (Somehow we missed all of that in the showroom discussion, but all is well.) They also don't make 10 foot windows in one complete piece (or none that we were willing to pay for!), so much of the time was spent assembling the biggies. There are three small sunlight windows that are up at 24 feet high in the Great Room, and we couldn't get any of the technicians to commit as to who was going up there to install those, but someone ended up doing it. (We'll warn you in advance - this could get pretty boring looking at doors and windows, but what the heck!)

Upper Great Room skylights

Exterior (duh!) Great Room French Doors w/upper skylights

Interior view of the same French doors (missing one)

Dining Room window (as opposed to a door)

With the number of arches in this house, you would think this is a church! All that's missing is the local priest.

One of the Master Bedroom windows

Alongside the window guys this week we also have the plumbers poking pipes through wall studs. (Do any of you remember when pipes were galvanized or copper instead of PVC?) Between vent pipes, hot and cold water pipes, drains, outdoor faucets, etc., it is starting to look like a maze of pipes. One thing we learned a long time ago was to take pictures of every single wall that has a pipe in it (for future reference when you drive a picture nail through one of them. Yep, been there, done it.) 

Okay, enough plumbing pictures. If you've seen one, you've seen them all.

As if we didn't already have a number of people working in the house, the HVAC guys arrived and started unloading the three air conditioning systems that will go into the house. Ours will be a tight fit for the systems since we do not have a 'second' story. (Note to self in the future - make sure that the architect leaves enough attic space so that the installation crew doesn't need to become contortionists in order to get the systems in.) The more technical reason, however, is that Spanish tile roofs cannot be over a certain pitch in order not to disrupt the integrity of the tile installation, normally a 5:12 pitch. While our roof is high, it isn't necessarily steep, unless you happen to fall off of it. This means that the roof pitch, along with high ceilings, makes for tight attic crawl spaces. What looks good on the architect's plan doesn't necessarily work in a real build plan, but we are thankfully okay.

And, along with the window folks, the HVAC crew, and the plumbers, we also had the roofing team (well, two guys) up laying roof felt and the 'ice and water armor'. (Great marketing-speak!). This is the undercoating of any roof, and I'm told could probably last for a few years without the tile. Roofing technology has come a long way in the last few years, such that 50 year warranties are now pretty commonplace. (Jan and I are hanging around for the next 50 years just to get our monies worth and see if the roof really does last that long!) 

This next picture is a two inch aluminum circle that is used to hold the roofing material on the roof (the black stuff). The roofer places this, and a roofing staple, on the roofing felt to attach the felt to the roof. There is a technical reason they use this, but I haven't had it explained to me yet. (The picture looks like a moon in deep space. Cool!)

But Wait, There's More....

We ran across this guy (not literally) this morning grazing on our dirt driveway. Normally, the steers move when they are approached by a car, but Brutus decided to stand his ground and stare me down. Okay, we finally moved the car...

That's all for now.

See ya later.

John and Jan