Let Me Call You "Sweetheart"

Josh and I met Steve W. and the crew at the house this morning to go over the design of the window seat and built-in shelving in the master bedroom, the stair and balcony railings, the phone/cable wiring, and a few other details. Since Josh had limited time before he had to leave for work, he went upstairs with Steve and John to work on the built-ins while I went over the electrical plans with Jim and marked the locations where we wanted phone, cable, and internet jacks installed.

Jim is relatively new on the scene. I met him last week when I encountered him in the front yard holding a large piece of metal. He introduced himself as "the flashing guy," and then after a somewhat awkward pause that begged for a joke I hadn't known him long enough to make, he held up the piece of metal and said, "This kind of flashing, that is." Thank goodness! Well, today Jim was the wiring guy. After we went over the plans, he reviewed them with Steve W. and then went right to work installing the boxes. From left to right, that's John, Steve W, and Jim. I don't think Steve was thrilled to have me taking photos...
It turns out Jim used to work at Discovery as an engineer, so we reminisced about the good old days and talked about the season premiere of Deadliest Catch, which airs tonight. Most of the guys on our crew are big fans of the show, so they were excited about the new season and interested to learn that not only did I watch it, too -- I'm not exactly the target demographic -- but had written a bunch of quizzes for the show's web site.

Anyway, after we had finished going over everything with Steve, Josh headed off to work and I stuck around a little longer to take some photos and see if Rob had any other questions for me. We went upstairs with Louis, the HVAC guy, to go over the placement of the air conditioning registers in the ceiling of the master bedroom. That's Louis in the black shirt.
I couldn't help giggling over the fact that Rob kept calling Louis "sweetheart," especially when he seemed a bit exasperated with him. Of course, Louis is Rob's uncle, and they're pretty chummy with one another, but still... How many grown men -- or anyone, for that matter -- call their uncle "sweetheart"? I actually asked them if I could mention it in my blog, and they both said it was fine. Rob told me that the first time his uncle came over to the house, he and Paul were working in the basement, and Louis walked right up, gave him a big bear hug, and started dancing around the basement with him -- all while carrying on a rather mundane conversation about the HVAC system. [While Rob was telling this story, Louis helpfully demonstrated. I'm sorry I didn't snap a photo -- it was adorable.] Paul had never met Louis and had no idea who he was, so he wasn't sure what the heck was going on -- and probably still didn't even after Rob explained that he was his uncle. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall...

Elsewhere in the house, the stairs feel much more light and open with the windows in.
And the big egress windows in the basement are now in, so it's nice to have a bit more natural light down there, too.
I'm sure I've mentioned how amazing it is to see how much stuff is running through the walls and ceiling -- plumbing, HVAC ductwork, electrical wiring, exhaust fans, solatubes, etc. It's like one of those creepy human body exhibits where you can see the skeleton and internal organs that make the whole organism work. Here's the mess above the master bathroom.
We also have an Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) above the closet in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Because our house will have a very tight envelope when it's all done, there will be very little fresh air coming into the house when the windows are closed. The ERV is like a whole-house exhaust fan that brings fresh, filtered air into the house and helps control the humidity levels. In the winter, it uses the heat from the warm air it in the house to warm up the fresh air it brings in; and in the summer it uses a similar process to cool the fresh air. In this climate, where it is hot and humid in the summer and cold and dry in the winter, it will help keep the house very comfortable all year round -- and vastly improve the indoor air quality. I noticed we have fancy copper flashing on the roof. That will add a nice architectural detail to the house as it ages and develops a patina.
Out back, the deck of the temporary porch has once again been reclaimed for some other use. The scaffolding materials are ready to be assembled for the stucco guys, who I imagine will get started once it stops raining. Steve W. said the scaffolding will be up for about a month, since applying stucco is a long, involved process, so we'll see some dramatic changes to the exterior soon.
Out front, Ben the electrician is talking to Dane (in baseball cap and black jacket) while Rob checks in with suppliers on his cell phone.I'm trying to get more photos with people in them, but I can't do it while I'm talking to them, and I don't like to distract or annoy people while they are working on my house. I need to bring someone with me who can take some good candid photos while I function as The Distractor...