no new house smell

Our painter primed the interior partitions today (the exterior walls are prefinished, and won't be painted), which leads to two thoughts: one, the house is wonderfully bright in all types of sunlight, and two, sustainable paints have no odor.

Regarding the light, the weather changed rapidly and repeatedly today, with intense showers interspersed with strong sunlight. The white primer on the interior walls reflects the light - which is mostly indirect light from the north or from our well-shaded east- and west- facing windows and doors - throughout the house. The result is a diffuse light which reflects off the galvanized surfaces of the roof decking and the light gray concrete floor. The mood of the house changes quickly with the quality of the light outside.

But it was the complete lack of odor today that really impressed us.

steel on site

Structural steel started arriving on site today. The local steel fabricator, who has drilled and welded the steel members according to our prefabricator's digital fabrication drawings, delivered about a third of the steel this morning (the rest should follow on Monday). Our steel erector offloaded the steel columns with a huge crane. Ecosteel's Sam Cubis flew in from Utah to check on the delivery.

The large pieces of steel are sitting on wood sleepers to keep them off the ground. The smaller pieces are locked away in a storage container. On Monday, we're hoping the erector will start setting the columns in place, at which point we'll find out if the anchor bolts are where they ought to be.

our Italian cousin

It seems tin box has a cousin in Florence. This apartment and retail complex in Florence has some of the same material finishes as our house’s exterior: a metallic silver paint and a galvalume coating. We’ll have the silver paint on all the exterior wall surfaces, and the more economical galvalume will be on the roof. It was great to see how the silver paint reacts to bright sunlight. It was particularly nice to see that the reflection isn’t blinding, but instead rather soft.

update: I’ve now stumbled on four electric car charging stations in Florence, and one of my local contacts maintains that the popularity of electric cars owes in part to the fact that they are permitted in the limited traffic zone in the city center. And now I read, via fellow BAC alumn David Silverman, that Boston is getting charging stations, too. And they're cheap...