the metal window corp windows arrived. a perfect order, not a single return (thanks to mark at mwc and daniel at
sbs in glendale). all are framed in white aluminum except for the rear elevation which is black anodized to fit into
the zinc siding. originally they were designed to be floor to ceiling operables without a horizontal mull, but both
the budget and the city said no. because two of the windows are fire egress, large fixed glass panels were not an
option either. to stay consistent, we created a mull line for all windows at 3ft a.f.f. with fixed panels below and
casements/awnings above, each maintaining the absolute minimum frame width possible. all of the windows
come pre-configured so there is no additional framing or mulling that occurs on site. this allows for a cleaner
install without secondary framing members but means they are extremely heavy for phil to lift into place.
waterproofing went on during (another) rain. we used a higher quality membrane than the building paper typical in
residential construction so that it would double as air barrier / underlayment for the metal roofing. the original
system we designed to - the vmzinc dexter panel - comes with its own underlayment to effectively weep water
away from the zinc, as it is highly corrosive with water. this would have been in addition to a separate air barrier.
when the system was ve'd we wanted a single layer to work both as the vapor retarder and air barrier for the metal
roof - which will have a high thermal absorption, high thermal conductivity, and low reflectivity. although our
weather is exceptionally mild, at 40mm thick, the membrane will help keep the heat on the metal and out of the
interior during the summer.
an excellent overview of underlayments for metal roofing can be found here: metal roofing underlayments
holidays and rain delays coupled with an added 4 week window lead time has focused our (very slow) forward
progress on the interiors. because the client wanted to purchase all fixtures, outlets, lighting, and appliances
independently, it has made drawing coordination for heights and sizes more difficult and resulted in a lot of
drawing holes directly onto walls. but all of the plumbing and electrical is prepped for outlets and fixtures and the
tortoise-esque speed has allowed us to point out potentially awkward conditions and interactions (like the
housing sizes and placement for integral lighting or the heights of the wall mounted toilets below) that we are
crossing our fingers will get resolved cleanly.
