We just want permits! It has taken months and months to gather all of the necessary plans to hand in to the City for approval. I have literally travelled far and wide, (The wilds of Manotick and Kemptville), just to piece together bits and pieces of the needed paperwork. Just last week, three months later than we had hoped, we finally held a lovely package in our hands. It was complete, and a beautiful thing to behold. While I must admit that some of it looked to me like nothing more than garbled code and squiggly lines, it represented our future. It was with mixed emotion than I watched Aidan walk out the door to hand it in to the City. This precious stack of papers was about to be ripped apart, figuratively-speaking of course, by a man paid to do just that. I think that a writer must feel the same when they hand over a manuscript, into which they have poured so much of themselves, to an editor who is paid to cut it to shreds.
Well . . . two days ago we got an unwelcomed phone call from the City office. "I've never heard of this truss system you've incorporated into your plans. I don't like 'em." Part of me was relieved that he had not taken issue with the inner design of the house, (my handy work.) But perhaps it would have been best if he had. Because to take issue with the very skeleton of the house is to take issue with something that would be devastatingly difficult, and expensive, to change.
After that phone call, an air of sullenness settled upon our house. I would go out with the kids, and it would hit me once more when I walked in the door. Poor Aidan. Just one day earlier we had driven out as a family to romp around our sodden forest lot. Aidan was giddy with excitement on the drive home, (and those of you who know us would know that "giddy" is not a word one wouldnormally associate with Aidan.) He was ready to grab a hammer and get going. This phone call shattered the momentum.
So, this is how it stands:
Best case scenario; we find a cheap way of providing documentation that legitimizes our truss system.
Not quite the worst-case scenario; we spend hundreds, possibly thousands, more on engineering documents validating this system.
Absolutely worst-case scenario: we have to scrap the truss system and re-design our home.
I'll keep you posted.
NOTE: Mini-tutorial on "truss systems" to follow . . .
