Decisions and Upgrades

      This week-end, we were able to appreciate the advances made in the structure of the house.  We now have walls on all floors.  The roof structure has been fixed, so that's a good thing. 

      We spent a bit of time deciding on grout color for porch and entrance tiles as well as for bathroom and powder room tiles.  Our contractor had prepared samples for us to evaluate.  We also selected grout color for the ceramic tiles that will cover our front balcony.  Let's just hope that our choices make sense once the house is completed!

      We also went up to the loft to check out the view...

      We're extremely pleased that we took the time to plan this loft carefully to have as much usable space as possible and easy access from the second floor.  The staircase leading to the loft was placed between the kids' bedrooms and the space below the staircase will be used as storage.

      We took time to decide on a few other urgent matters.  The bad news continues with KMEW, the roof maker. Only a very limited series of products and colors can be delivered on time. Since we couldn't get our preferred pale grey color anyway, we decided to upgrade from the Quad series to the Glassa series, which is apparently thicker, requires less maintenance and lasts longer. The difference in cost here is about 500 yens per tsubo.



Current Limited Selection

       As I rode on the train this morning I noticed the sorry state of many roofs along the Chuo line. Some look stunning and I assume must be new, but others have completely discolored. Damage is apparent on both darker and lighter tone roofs. I happened to catch a maintenance worker repainting a roof and the difference between the damaged and the newly painted roof was stunning. So next time, let's ask our architect for specifics on about roof maintenance costs and frequency...


      Next unsolved issue: the current shortage of rockwool. As a result, we are opting for a type of insulation called Moko Foam (MOKO フォム) which is similar to Aqua Foam in that it expands to fill all voids, but does not require water to do so. We need less Moko Foam (16cm) to achieve the same quality insulation as with rockwool.

      The availability of other materials, including kitchen equipment, was confirmed except for our dishwasher.  We hope this will be resolved quickly.