And she's buying a stairway......

I'm on the 3rd floor with my back to Main Street. The stairs lead up to the roof deck (notice the light on the wall at the top of photo).

I like the stairs more everyday. And I've always liked them so that's saying a bunch. The risers are a steel beam and the treads are wood. These treads are temporary; the permanent treads are made of reclaimed wood from floor and ceiling joist.

Notice a couple of details that I hope the Historic folks let me keep. The bricked in door behind the stairs used to lead to the building next door. I love it. It was bricked in with less than perfect masonry work, giving it a very authentic look. I hope I can leave it as it is. The other detail is the writing on the wall that you can just see at the top right hand corner of the photo (black and white block lettering). This is advertisement of W. R. Murray and Sons music store that was in the building next door that I wrote of the "murder mystery". I definitely don't want to cover that up.

Outlook: Showers Expected

The master bath and shower begin to take shape. A few weeks ago I showed the massive skylight going in above the shower. Now that the walls are going in you can get the whole view.

The framing at the top defines the entire bathroom space, with the framing at the bottom showing where the shower will be. On the left wall will be bathroom cabinets/mirror/sinks/lights. The doorway in the middle will be to the toilet (left as you walk in) and linen closet (right as you walk in).

On the wall in the shower space you see some plumbing rough-ins. The top one will be a shower head, and the 2 below will be controls for the shower heads; one for the "normal" shower head and the other for the rain head.

The walls around the shower will be glass. I think. We're still negotiating with vendors on price and as you know, this may change the design.

For what it is worth: this week the Triangle has seen 4"+ of rain and winds gusting to near 40 mph because of Tropical Storm Ida. I would not be using the rain head this week.....

They sing: I'm on Top of the World

The rooftop deck is finished (mostly). Here is the view you get when stepping out onto the deck near sunset.

Excellent!

The decking is wood (not composite that was scheduled but changed for cost reduction). The rails are 1/4" x 1.5" iron; with steel cables strung horizontal and capped by a handrail that is made of stainless steel. Iron gates are made of the same material. The effect is perfect; you feel secure but look through the railing as if it isn't there.

The other view is looking back at the structure that now pops up off the original roof. The walls are concrete board painted gray. The roof of the structure is galvanized aluminum, with an aluminum gutter that feeds a rain-barrel.

The windows let sunlight in; sort of acting like a functional skylight feeding both living floors. A slight overhang will provide some shade from the midday sun. But, in late afternoon it washes the walls with an orange glow. Awesome!

You get a better look at the rails and gate from this view. Again, notice that you see them when you look at them but they go away when you're looking at something else.

More singing "....looking down on creation and the only explanation I can find....".