Soffits, and why I love my contractor.....

Soffits, and why I love my contractor....

August 21st -- The contractor stopped by early this morning as I was getting ready to leave for work.  He told me that he was getting antsy because he wanted there to be more progress on the house. Wow, I thought to myself, shouldn't I be the one telling that to him?   This is just one of the many reasons why I love my contractor.  He is eager to "close up the house," which means getting the windows into the addition along with installing the roof shingles, the siding, and the soffits.  More on soffits in a minute. 

 Also, he was waiting for the architect to stop by because he was concerned about whether the view from the windows in the gathering room would be obstructed by the overhangs (soffits).  He was concerned about whether the windows should actually be lowered about 2 inches.  Really?  Wow.  It turns out that the two windows in question are on the southwest corner and given the concerns I've had about how the blazing summer sun will overheat the gathering room, the architect designed the window overheads to help keep that room reasonably cool during the summer, but to also have good sun exposure during the winter when the sun is lower in the sky.  Ironically, it is my contractor who is always telling me that the architect is more OCD (than the contractor)!

Here is a photo of one of the two windows in the southwest corner of the gathering room and the overhang (soffit) in question.  This is what I saw when I got home, but I still don't know what they decided to do about the position of the windows.



Here is a view of the other window from outside the house and again the lovely soffit on the southwest corner of the gathering room addition.



         And here is the view of the soffit on the north side of the gathering room and the stairwell to the basement.

And here is a view of the back of the house with the soffits!  You will also notice that the second window in the upper level master bedroom has been cut (and the view from there is really something!).

Speaking of the stairwell, we now have treads!  When I asked my contractor if it was ok for me to go into the basement to do my laundry this weekend, he said yes, but cautioned me several times that these are temporary treads and that they can be very slippery if there is construction dust on them so that I have to be very, very careful.  Yes, another reason why I love my contractor.

 As I was walking out of the house this morning to get to my car, I saw my contractor talking on his cell phone and pulling weeds that had grown in the flowerbeds in the front of my house.  When he got off the phone, I thanked him for pulling these weeds for me, and he looked at me and said that he just can't help himself when he sees weeds growing within flower beds and he has to pull them.  OCD much?   And, that is yet one more out of what may seem like a bazillion reasons for why I love my contractor!