The Trouble With Sun Pipes

I'm not going to say that building this house has been an "easy" project but certainly some aspects of it have been easier than others. You make a plan, you execute said plan, all goes according to plan (occasionally), you end the day and pat yourself on the back for a job well done and giddily anticipate the next plan. Lather, rinse, repeat. Right? Well, perhaps in a perfect world. But notice how the words sun and pipe were not mentioned in there. Anywhere. Aah, sun pipes. We knew they would be a challenge, what we didn't know was how much of a challenge they would be. If we could have known, and if I know my dear husband at least as much as I think I do, there would not be any sun pipes going in this house. They are a good idea in theory. Let the natural light in, save some money on electricity by not having to use the lights so much, you get the idea. However, the emotional expense of getting said pipes into place, far outweighs any cost benefit they may have had. According to my calculations, they should pay for themselves in approximately 300 years. 

But I digress.

These cool, fall mornings are beautiful in their own way.

We had the added bonus of having Phil's dad helping this weekend. The Lord knew we needed him! Thank you Dad for all your help!

Phil gets to work grinding through the metal. It's pretty hard to watch a hole being cut into a perfectly good, brand new roof. This is going to have a good ending, right? Right?

Even the cat was wondering what in the world we were doing, as he climbed up for a closer look.

Almost through.

There it is. And the rain poured in. Sigh.

Aside from the company giving us the wrong size of measuring tool to mark the circles, which resulted in Phil having to re-cut the holes bigger, this part was relatively easy.  But that is pretty much where easy left the building. Tedious and laborious soon joined us and were our constant companions for the rest of the installation.

Phil and Ben take a moment to observe progress. 

So far, so good.  

Ok, I can almost hear you saying that those holes do not line up with those windows and that it looks terrible. I may or may not have thought this myself. But before you say it, consider this as I had to, that the hole that Ben is in, fits perfectly between the two windows which will be in the library area. It also is centered on the heat pump which will be in that room as well. There is a wall between that hole and the one that Phil is in, which is in the bathroom. It will look a little off from the outside which is unavoidable and might annoy the occasional person driving by that may notice and care about these things. I, however, will be sleeping soundly at night, knowing that it does all match up on the inside. 

Here is where things got interesting. As Ben prepared to go up on the roof to attach another safety line for Phil, I began fretting (is that an appropriate word? I think I'll go with it) about him going up on the roof. On the already steep and slippery roof. In the rain. It very quickly became clear that Plan A, which was installing the flashing from the outside, was not going to be easily accomplished, if at all. I have no photos or video to prove it (it's hard to take any with your eyes closed and your hands over your ears singing, "La la la la la la, I'm not watching!!") but trust me, it was difficult for them to even stand up let alone work hands free.

Moving on to Plan B, which for me, was to forget the whole idea of sun pipes, nail a patch on there and celebrate no one getting seriously injured with a hot cup of coffee inside by the heater. Phil concluded that we were in too far to turn back now. He figured since he could fit through the hole in the roof, he should be able to fit through the hole in the flashing and do the work from the inside. Should being the operative word. 

Ben and Dad prepare the flashing to be pulled up on the roof.

Phil receives the flashing easily enough but remember, he has to get it into place and come up through it to finish the process. I know, right?

This proves to be extremely difficult, as expected. The flashing will not fit properly into place. There are slits cut in the roof and it has to fit under the roof above the opening but stay above the roof below it. Does that make sense? The strapping on the roof is preventing the flashing from going up all the way. Dad takes a crack at it.

There are three generations of men working together here. Oh yes, this problem will be solved.

And solved it is. Phil cut shims to hammer in between the metal and the strapping giving Ben and Dad just enough room to slide the flashing into place. 

Getting it just right.

Ta Da!! *insert church bells ringing* And what is that? Could it be blue sky? The Lord's mercy knows no bounds. 

Phil now has to fit through the hole if he wants to finish this from the safe side of the roof. This is Phil getting stuck in the hole. There were a few tense moments as I wondered if we would be making a second phone call to the fire department in the span of a couple weeks which would be more than a little awkward considering we know half of them!

The Lord's mercy is displayed two fold here as firstly, Phil was able to extricate himself safely from his confinement and secondly, as he had to remove all outerwear to be able to fit through the hole, the rain subsided and it was actually quite pleasant outside. 

To Be Continued.......

Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.

Proverbs 17:6