Here’s another photo essay of 20 of the world’s most unusual buildings. Check it out at MatadorNetwork!
Check out these solar “ivy” leaves! Solar and wind-power combined that you can add to your house, beginning this October. Read and see more about it at inhabitat.com.
The house we bought in 2002 came with this crazy 3-level deck, part of which—a ramp leading to the sort-of attached garage—was covered by a very sloped little roof. No part of the deck was really quite large enough to be useful for entertaining or relaxing, so it became kind of a storage space for plants, a potting table, recyclables, plastic chairs, etc. I don’t think I was able to get my husband to spend more than one or two short spells out on the deck during the entire eight years that it existed!
…on air…it took three tries to find a crew of tape, float and texture guys who could (and would?) do our job in our timeframe for our price, but these two guys who came late this morning were fantastic! Very nice, very professional (as almost all of the workers we’ve had have been), and they did a beautiful job!
Woo-hoo! Something else went right!
The insulation inspector came out yesterday, poked his head in the attic, and gave it the thumbs up. Excellent. No having to wait around all day for an inspection before scheduling the next step! Our wonderful general contractor got right on the phone, and made arrangements for the drywall crew to come today.
Wondering if perhaps we should have opted for a solution like this instead?:
This morning, work started early on digging holes to sink the posts for the pergola, while our contractor, Tom, was at the City Code office trying to sort out a permit snafu. When Tom arrived here, he brought bad news. We are not going to be allowed to build our deck until the Board of Adjustment approves a variance and issues us a permit for our garage. Now, mind you, this garage came with the house when we bought it, but had never been permitted — a fact we had never been made aware of throughout the entire house-buying process.
The city code inspectors came today for the first inspection of framing (attic and deck) and wiring (fire alarms in series, which we have to do because we’re having any electrical work done, so-o-o-o, since we’re adding some wiring to the attic, we have to spend an extra several hundred dollars to bring our 1937 house up to 2009 code standards). Our contractor, Tom, was sitting out in his truck waiting for them for 3 hours. (Just fyi, he was absolutely welcome to hang around in our house, but it was his choice to stay outside in the cold).
Design Inspirations
