In my attempt to be a master builder for the ages, I have been neglecting my blog. Quick update:
So things are moving. Things are getting a little hectic, but again... my apologies for the downtime.
as good as it gets
I want to believe that there is going to be a magical moment when my thoughts about how beautiful the symmetry and synergy between architect and contractor can be, comes to fruition. Designer and Implementer.... Imagineer and Manifester....
It could be beautiful.
But instead... it is this.
The this that I speak of is the maylaisse that has me wondering why I'm the only one who wants to finish building this house. I mean... when I go to work, they pay me and I design buildings. Pretty straight forward. But some how, in this C+ student- constant excuse- vortex of residential building "professionals," normal 21st century supply and demand conventions do not apply.
I'm going to try going in to work tomorrow and ... no... actually... I'm going to NOT go in to work tomorrow and when my office calls me and asks me why I'm not there, I'll tell them that I'm waiting for yesterday's paycheck to clear. We'll see how that goes over.
Perhaps the union of which I yearn is an urban myth... a clandestine unicorn... just wishful thinking.
I wish... I wish....
I wish I had the free time, skill, and resources to build this house with friends, family and mid-day cocktails. I wish my house had windows. I wish I hadn't slept through my mechanical systems classes.(All of them) I wish that somebody involved in this project, who is not a loved one or relative, would surprise me with an unprompted, kind gesture.
Who am I kidding... I don't want kindness.... I want accountability.
We've ventured down this path before... so stop acting smug, nephew.
hot water, cold climate
I want to use this water heater in the house that I saw down in Atlanta. This is a tankless water heater. It sits on the wall and uses this internal combustion apparatus to instantly heat water and deliver it where it's needed. So there is no excessive energy wasting when you are not using hot water. It lasts twice as long as a typical tank and uses half the energy.... BUT it costs 2.5 times the price!! From a strict cost/benefit analysis over the probable timeline that I will be in this house... its better to go with a tank.
I am, however, trying to get in the mindset of including ALL COSTS in my new Return On Investment models.
I want to get away from... The laziness of self-reliance.(a phrase I recently coined) What I mean is that I need hotwater to be ready and waiting when I want it. I need to be able to get back the extra $400 I will spend on the tankless heater ASAP. I need to choose a system that most plumbers are comfortable with, so I can get it repaired when I need to.
I am trying to think more about what my neighbors need as well.
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My neighbors need to have available energy.
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My neighbors need to have safe, nontoxic environment to live in.
But back to cost...
If I can't afford to pay the extra cash up front, then I can't look out for my neighbor?
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NO I can't... at least not in this way.
I'm seeing that the "right" choice is very infrequently the "affordable" choice.
I think of it the same way I think about soy milk. I can afford to the pay the extra $0.40 at Starbucks to get soy milk. Drinking soy milk instead of cow milk is relatively unnoticeable in coffee. It has the added value of being a protein rich substitute. More protein from soy milk means that I need to eat less meat to get my needed protein. Less meat consumption, means less over-grazing cows, less cruel stockpiled steroid juicin chickens, and all the environmental nightmares that accompany them... erosion... green house gasses... mad cow... bird flu, etc...
But it all comes back to the fact that my grande soy caramel machaitto meant that my local starbucks had to order their next shipment of soy 12 ounces sooner.
And so I guess I am doing my part to support the growth of an industry I believe in.
on moving forward
As I download my digital photos and unpack a travel bag filled with receipts and brochures recalling eco-friendly promises from unnamed product reps, I am reminded of days past in which my soul moved ever so closer to understanding my continued response to a lifelong choice...
...what to do with the time we are given.
Last Thursday night, I found myself at a conference social. I had arrived late do to my conscious, yet regrettable, decision to relax in my hotel room earlier in the evening whilst watching Catwoman. Nevertheless, the social was housed in an old theatre in downtown Atlanta known as The Tabernacle. After an hour or so of people-watching from various vantage points, I concluded that it was time to depart. Upon moving toward the entrance, I happened upon a young black woman behind a table signing and selling cd's for $20. Intrigued, first because I was no longer the primary source of diversity in the room, and second, because I realized that she must have been the headliner at the function.
Her name was Leela James and she was a small, pleasant, smiling young woman with a blow-out afro. I told her that I had not seen her perform, but that I was interested in her cd.
She turned to her assistant and said, "He didn't even get a chance to hear me sing and he wants to buy the album. Give it to him for $10. "
An unprompted, simple, and kind gesture.
I gave her assistant $20 anyway. She signed the CD and handed it to me. In that brief moment, I started to get it.
What was the true lesson of this green building conference? What is this true meaning of this buzz term "biophillia?"(loosely defined as a passion for all living things) Why did I stumble unto this encounter with Leela?
I leaned close to her and said: "You have very kind eyes... and I am sure your voice is equally as kind. I wish you well in everything you do." And then I turned and walked out of the building.
You don't get it yet, do you?
We are all in this boat together. Our fate, sink or swim, is a collective fate.
I go to GREENBUILD because I get a chance to connect with likeminded folks that... get it. I sit through mind blowing lectures about the impact of the built environment on the real environment because I understand its importance and I need to connect with people that can energize me to choose wisely when I ask myself what to do with the time I am given.
I leaned in to speak thoughtfully to Leela, because...
We cannot be ashamed to be profound.
Galvanizing people to move towards being more comfortable with each other, with the need to think collectively, and with the challenge to be stewards of the environment in which we all exist will happen one kind conversation at a time... one unprompted kind gesture at a time...one blog entry at a time... one blog entry comment at a time.
get it?
biophilic likemindedness
I'm currently in atlanta, georgia attending the GREENBUILD Conference. I have been to a few lectures and I'm about to head over to the exhibit hall, BUT before I do so... I just want to put it out there that if the remaining days of this conference are as inspiring as I hope it will be, I will have a multitude of new insights to explore with you. For example:
Quieting Human Cleverness
interior beginnings
We started framing out the first floor interior wall this weekend and today. I ate lunch over at the house. The downstairs is the only place where there are real partitions in the space, so it was good to be able to walk down the soon-to-be hallway and get a feel for the first floor... right turn, bathroom on the right, bedroom/office on the left.
begging for bean pies
I don't get it. I really don't. Why do these kids have to be out at the traffic light begging for money? Every day I drive to the site and I pass by this big intersection and without fail there are a bevy of young boys and girls with signs and cups begging for donations to their after school program or sports team or something. I don't really care what it is.
STOP!!
I get that there isn't adequate funding for programs that can keep young boys and girls in the neighborhood occupied and engaged. I get that. I get that it requires diligence and a lot of work to find capital to keep youth outreach centers open and keep them filled with qualified and involved staff. I even get that sports are positive ways to keep the seemingly boundless energy of children/young adults, focused and health oriented.
But here's the other perspective...
Day in a day out you are teaching these young black soon-to-be men and women that they can and should depend on the handouts or pity-cloaked generosity of passersby. I think that lesson has the potential to be as detrimental as the ills of society your program is trying to overcome.
My initial thought was... go across the street to one of the three or four gas stations and set up a car wash.
Earn operating capital for your program and subsequently teach lessons about work ethic, entrepreneurship, and determination. Maybe I'm out of touch and you can't do a gas station car wash anymore? Seriously, I'm not sure if this is just me being annoyed with the adults that stand in the grassy intersection median while their minions dash in-between captive audience vehicles and bean pie adorned Final Call vendors. It just irritates me. The other day, this girl, who couldn't have been a day over 12, leaned waist deep into my open passenger side window to ask me for a donation. She was way too comfortable relying on me to financially resolve her agenda.
First of all, shouldn't you be reading a book somewhere?... doing some homework?... helping your parents with dinner?... watching your little brother?.... How do you have time to work this intersection? Second, and more pressing to me...how can she not grow up and expect the same handout from her adult environment?
I think she deserves better.
One thing I've learned, however, is that every dummy with a blog and a mild tempered audience thinks that he or she is the be-all end-all of sound reasoning and socio-political thought. So lest I forget my place and become a panderer of finger pointing, I offer another approach.
Maybe they need help setting up the car wash?
We can't get anywhere as a people if those of us ideologues in the so called creative class are not willing to get our hands dirty and address real social issues in real time.
I'll let you know how it goes.
the revolution, welcome to it...
I am officially launching the site folks. I have kept it under cloak and dagger mystery for far too long. It is beyond me now and that is undoubtedly for the best. I believe that there is an inherent strength in the openness that this format of communication engenders. By opening up this project, and by extension myself, to a larger audience, I think we all will have something substantial to gain. If you're checking out the site for the first time, I want to thank you for logging on. I encourage you to dig in.
I am constructing a house in washington, dc... I am, however, building much more than that.
prisoner's dilemma
So as I was listening to the Lyfe Jennings album, I had a thought recently about the prison system and the disproportionate amount of young black males populating said system. Not so much about the folks that keep going into prisons, but moreso the folks coming out of prisons. For every ten guys that come out of incarceration more hardened criminals, I'm sure there is one cat that just wants to straighten up and never go back, right? So according to Lyfe, it's very tricky to keep on the straight and narrow once you get out, because no one will give you a shot doing anything worth while. I've heard that story many a time before, but I started thinking about what role growahouse could take in the future to consider such a large and needy portion of the community as just that... part of the community. I have an idea for a program that would take 4 or 5 young non-violent, at risk, recently paroled, minority men or women and train them to build. When I say build, I'm not just thinking construction, I'm thinking holistically. I'm thinking... building homes, building relationships, building wealth, building personal health, building confidence, building responsibility...... building opportunities. Let me be clear, I am not interested in a halfway house program that tries to re-acclimate folks into society. I don't think that is what we should go for here. I want to think larger. I'm talking LLC. I'm talking one person is learning how to set the wood framing and pour concrete footers, one person is holding a community meeting to discuss the impact of the project on its surroundings, one person is securing venture capital, one person is at the zoning office filing for permits, and the other is coordinating everybody else.... you understand what I'm saying?
I think that in order to truly bridge the gap between growing a house and growing a village, we will have to elevate the manner in which we conceive of everything.
cooling man in the hot seat
So I got a phone call from the site this morning and the potential Heating/Cooling guy was there sizing up his gameplan to get started. Mind you, this is the first time I'm hearing about this guy and he's ready to start. So I was a little defensive because I felt like he felt he was in the door without my go ahead. Nevertheless, powertrip not withstanding, I started to talk to him over the phone about some of the issues I was concerned about regarding the indoor climate of the house. For example, my thoughts about possible using radiant heat on the first floor. I instantly realized that I needed to look this guy in the eye and see if he was going to be able to do the same. Not that he came off as being shady, it's just that as the project manager, you want to feel comfortable with people. So I drove over there (in record time 6 minutes, No, Dad, I wasn't speeding........ much) and met the HVAC Man. He had a honest shake and a knowledgable tongue. I like that. For a second he might have thought that he could have tossed out a bunch of industry terms like return air, BTU's, and CFM's... he kept referencing the guy that did the drawings and the layout design for the mechanical systems, not knowing that that guy was me. It was a subtle, almost undetectable, but nevertheless existent change in his tone that followed his recognition that I designed all my mechanical and plumbing work as well. He knew that his talk of Brittish Thermal Units was not falling on deaf ears. Not unlike the guys putting on the roof, once you hear me repeat a question I asked in english, in spanish...all of a sudden we all back into this place I like to call: The Respect Room
And honestly, I don't mind.
I'll earn your respect... and you repay the gesture by doing great work for a fair price,?Verdad?
an open conversation
I was able to have a lengthy conversation with my neighbor across the street this morning. Nice guy. As usual, when I have conversations with my neighbors, I am exposed to the unedited reality of my block... a more and more frequent occurence that I am growing quite fond of. I often wonder who the person is that I project to people. I have found my neighbors to be, on average, very open and engaging. Is that a result of them, or me? Do I project an honest non-threatening persona? Or have I just stumbled into an honest and non-threatening community? What about the demographics of this possible pleasantville? For the most part, my neighbors are older and elderly black folks, many having southern roots. What does that say about the neighborhood's lifespan? Is it approaching a crescendo? Mr. Johnson, the man that sowed the structural seeds for this site, was elderly and relatively sickly when he passed. Was he a reflection of his environment? If so, what does it say about the new blood that the growahouse site could pump into this microcosim? I'm not sure. Apparently, when most of these neighbors moved into the area twenty or thirty years ago, it was largely comprised of white residents. Not so much anymore. But what role will history play in the near future?
My studies have helped me to appreciate the nature of how most communities develop as they react to the pressures of time, diversity, amenities, economics, and politics. Often the demographics of an area shift in cycles. Washington, DC, however has a slightly unique and somewhat civic workforce, which skews the easy reading of a pattern. On the Federal side, the population changes with administrations and this transient, but wealthy, group brings continual capital into the city's infrastructure. On the DC Government side... its mostly black folks... mostly middle to lower economic brackets...mostly life long DC residents.
This is an interesting mix in the current light of an unprecedented building boom. A mix that leads to two things, respectively:
But what if you're older?
What if you live in one of the few remaining enclaves characterized as a stable black neighborhood with good stable people, like yourselves? How do you ensure that the neighborhood will live on?
Or should you?
Should you take advantage of the real estate market, sell, and move out to PG County? Do you contribute to your community by having a well earned equity payout that you can pass on to your family... you know ... build some generational wealth? I'm not sure.
many questions remain...
How do you pump blood into the tangible fabric of a community that is fading without replacing it? How do you say that the buildings are important, as well as, the bodies that inhabit them?
like a glove
So the roof is closing up quite nicely. The inspector came to inspect the ground floor column footing. Shingles came in yesterday and they are everything I hoped they would be. These bad boys have a minimum 50-year warranty. AND they look like slate. AND they are made from recycled rubber... basically car tires. Thats how real we keep things over at growahouse. Everything is fitting where its supposed to... well most things.
But nothing that a little elbow grease can't fix.
la puerta grande
So I adressed the issue with my gigantic front doors. I went over the Brass Knob and they painstakenly pulled out all the huge wood and steel doors from my high school (Thanks guys!!). We found the right one in the yard out back. So we will make the swap sometime this week. I want for the doors to be my first "official" project.
I'm going to scrape and sand them down a bit and then...
COLOR
I want to paint them a very bold, vibrant, and engaging color. Keep in mind, you can't just go willy nilly painting for the sake of painting. The doors will need to complement the stucco coloring around the rest of the house, as well as, the interior design of the courtyard area. I have appointed a one woman design team to help with the courtyard aethestic. She's visualizing water, earth, fire, and stone. Its going to be hot.
I have all kinds of help with the nuts and bolts of this project.
For example, I have my NY Storage Maximization team flying in over the weekend. These pros can fit a fit a full linen set in a shoebox... with pillows!!!
all in good time, my friends... all in good time.
I sang a quiet song for you, Rosa
As fate showered me with sunshine this morning, I was able to make it over to the Capital Rotunda to bid a fond farewell to Sister Rosa Parks around 8:30am. It was an encouraging start to a Monday, and by extension a foreseeably long week.
There are always sacrifices that we make for larger agendas, ideas, or beliefs. Those who answer the call to follow their convictions or hearts are often met with obstacles. Some obstacles are intended to stop you, others are intended to help you.
But they are both obstacles.
And they must be traversed, some more lovingly than others, in order to move forward. My challenge is understanding which battles require a kiss and which battles require a karate chop.
But as I said, those are my challenges... and today is not about me.
The growahouse family raises a righteous fist for a righteous sister.
bless.
fingernail dirt, splinters, etc...
Its all about SWEAT EQUITY!!! Today was long, but rewarding. I decided that it was time to start getting more involved in the building of this house. Coordination, design, and construction administration are heavy tasks, but you gotta haul a stack of 2X6's off a truck and bust out your tape measure to get some street credit.
Thats what I'm talking about.
No longer just this mysterious guy lurking around the site from 7am to 10pm... no longer just this guy with sketch pad, a set of drawings, and an unusual knack for on-the-spot translations. (FYI, madera = wood). Now... I'm just that guy in the blue coveralls and the high-tec dust mask, cutting wood like everybody else, right?
NO
Not at all, dummy! I'm the homeowner and designer. That means that I'm up late freeking out about how I'm going to add a new window or how I'm going to haul back one of my gi-mungous front doors to the shop because they gave me a door with the hinges on the wrong side. You think the rest of the guys from the site are worried about the hinges? You think it's keeping them up? Construction is not a take your work home kind of industry. Architecture, on the other hand, is very much a take your work home and make your home your work kinda deal. So here I am... tired and hungry... some might even say irritable. Gues what?
Doesn't Matter.
I still need to deal with the hinges. No cuddle time watching Extreme Home Makeover (Still waiting for that response to my letter, Ty). No waiting in line around the Capital Rotunda to see Sister Rosa Parks laying in State. Did I mention I'm hungry? Anyway... it could be worse
"Its all happening"
Friday evening, I re-watched a not so old favorite movie... Almost Famous. While there are an overabundance of coming-of-age trials to speak of when referencing this particular film, there was one overriding theme that I found to be engaging as I breathed in the film once again.
The death of a musical genre, and the subsequent birth of "an industry of cool."
Although I may have some rock star aspirations (learning the play the guitar for example), I find that is more engaging a theme if I relate it to design.
There are so many things that I want to do with this house. Yesterday, I stretched myself out across the newly laid joists for the third floor. I looked towards downtown and found myself staring at the Washington Monument. I recalled that one of the incredible things I rememebered about being on the roof of the original house was being able to see downtown, focusing particular attention on the Washington Monument and the Capital Building. My current design doesn't capitalize on the view as much as I had originally wanted to. Because the site is on a hill, I knew that looking downtown would be pretty cool. How cool would it be to be able to show folks my view? How cool would it be to look at the city from across the river and then walk, ride or drive into it?
A few weeks back, I told the seventy-year old black man that poured my concrete that it was going to be cool cus I could see the city from the top of the house.
He said, "What do you want to see the city for? It's not for us."
His view, however dismal, speaks to a larger truth. Being excited about this house cannot and must not destroy the original agenda. The truth in his statement comes from feeling like a forgotten people. The truth in his words comes from the downside of gentrification, which originates from the latin gentrificus, which loosely translates into: Making poor or underrepresented people someone else's concern.
The city, not unlike an eight minute guitar solo of the mid 70's, is dying and giving birth to an "environment of cool."
This new environment is paved with camera phones in place of conversation, designer dogs in place of watching your neighbor's children until their parents get home, overpriced natural grocery foods in place of window sill herb gardens, ipod nanos in place of street performers, and ultimately... placing more value on your view of the city, than on the people in those buildings... or better still... the people that used to live in those buildings.
dos cafes? y leche?... bueno
Time seemed to stand still this morning as I waited for my turn to order at the Subway sandwich place near the site. It wasn't simply the amazing one man bangaladeshi operation simoltaneously mastering various pre-packaged meat patties, vegetables, and a new-age hi-fi toasting machine that somehow embodies the ability to cohesively toast sandwiches in seconds ... undoubtedly to the envy of NASA. Nor was it the internal pride I felt having moments earlier eloquently conversed in spanish with two of the workers at my house. That eloquent conversation being the genesis of my sojourn to the Subway establishment. (Todos los personas necesitan desayunar, verdad?) Nevertheless, it was neither of those things. It was , instead, this man.
There are few things in this life that put the world in perspective in as unique and profound a way as a grey haired middle aged man rocking a chocolate brown polyester leisure suit in a Subway sandwich restaurant at 9:00AM.
on the streets
Be it pride or an overwhelming sense of purpose, I have accepted that the growahouse mantra is bigger than myself. In fact, its bigger than all of us. Why do I say this?
There is an undeniable mist of energy that is slowly creeping about. Whispers in the hallways of office buildings... murmers beneath cupped hands of collegiate scholars... and even hearsay of tight fisted street philosophers passionately proselytizing on how the pulse of a people can and will be poised on a single idea.
grow a house. grow a village. grow a city
So that was my epistlary response to the news of this website starting to hit the streets. From lips to ears across the metropolitan area. I'm sure, by day's end, the entire eastern seaboard will have hit the site at least once.
good.
shingle shingle
Got out to the site this morning feeling much better than last night. I'm sorry that you guys had to witnes that display of weakness in the face of exhaustion. Nevertheless, we're all back on track and I'm back to solving problems that I create!! I changed my mind about going with Bob's (Structural guy) reccommendation on how to fix the doorway I placed in front of a column. I decided to move the door. It was the right decision and if we can use scrap brick to patch the hole, I think we will all be better for it.
But on to other concerns. We have to get the shingles for the roof. Mr. Walker estimates that we will be placing those roof trusses by the weekend.
In the spirit of being a Steward of the Environment, growahouse is advocating the use of Recycled Rubber Shingles instead of your typical asphalt shingles.
So I located a place in the metropolitan area called roof center and they carry the rubber shingles (Color: Slate Midnight Gray) in stock.
Note: Roofs are measured in squares, which is a 10' x 10' area.
So don't go up in a roof store talking about your house dimensions or building square footage... they don't want to hear that.
They are roofers... they talk in squares. If you don't know the lingo, you will literally pay for your ignorance. Everyone in this building industry can smell the weekend warrior stink on you if you don't bone up on the appropriate colloquialisms ahead of time.
bearing the weight
Lets start this sequence of information dispersal by stating the fact that I have been operating in sleep defeciency for the past few days. The occupational requirements that led up to that are inconsequential. Just know that I'm beat. I dropped the ball.
I added a door to the house during demolition. The noble intent was to create a more secure entry into the house, but I have, in turn, created another headache for myself. The door is in direct conflict with a structural column. So I had to call my structural engineer, Bob, and have him make a quick stop by the site to help me solve the problem. I should have seen that problem coming. Now I have to find a piece of steel to beef up the lintel of the door.
Whatever.
So that bring me to the point that I am currently existing in. I'm tired, folks. I think that my marathon at my work desk on Monday has dramatically increased my carpul-tunnel-itis? I had to buy socks midday, cus all I could find this morning were ankle socks and jack frost was bitchin all morning... thus my feet were freezing.
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I want to be asleep
BUT... I can't. I have to work on this webpage, cus there are people who support me and want to watch the progress... so I too must find new ways to bear the structural loads of my wednesday.
Oh yes... I almost forgot...NO MORE FREEKIN RAIN!!! Finally, we were able to get a solid day of work in at the house. The second floor deck is almost entirely framed and three of the four stud walls are up. Next stop is the third floor and roof. I might have mentioned that the roof trusses arrived Monday morning. The ground floor is shaping up. It was definitely the right decision to add the two courses of concrete block on the existing walls and raise the ceiling height... it makes a tremendous difference to have such a large volume of space despite its small square footage. Note to self: The Toilet people are coming Thursday to empty the Jiffy John.