Long-time followers of the renovation at 649 6th know what I mean when I say we put a lot of work into the design. Not castle-in-the-sky planning either. We researched building codes, considered the input of several professionals, and spent a compulsive amount of time documenting our design in scaled digital drawings (many of which grace this blog). Some of you may recall the post in which we expressed our doubts that the contractor and his engineer truly grasped what we had in mind -- a feeling that was not eased by the fact that construction plans were not updated to reflect changes to contract, eg no 2nd floor extension and no bathroom on 2nd floor.
So 2-dimensional plan was modeled in 3. Don't recall if we've specifically stated just how useful this little fella has been -- from getting the dormer ceiling raised as high as it could go without crossing over into a true vaulted ceiling (beware of change orders!) to illustrating the size/location/alignment of the dormers (thanks to the additional information conveyed by taping out the end walls in blue painters tape on the 2nd floor when it still looked like a barn up there). I fear what we'd have wound up with if framer had actually followed the construction plan. For example, he thought we were having balconies outside dormer windows on front and back, due to poorly detailed plan plus the fact that it still shows a door that would have led to roof of 2nd floor extension. As a result, he over-order 2x6s (which I really hope we can find a use for before they rot in the backyard).
In fact by the time the 2nd floor had been restored, the framer was using the model to ask us further questions about layout of 3rd floor. Had the satisfying sense of real collaboration and understanding -- a rarity in this field I'm beginning to think.
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