JavaJoe Blog

So Why a Solatube?

2009-12-10T16:42:00.001-06:00

Solatubes surpass all other means of bringing sunlight into the interior spaces of your home. As the owner of Room Brite, I've noticed that we don't have to convince those who have seen the effect in person. We simply provide the product. Some months ago, Elaine M. from Waco called the Solatube Premier Dealer that serviced this area for an install of some Solatubes in their new home in Waco. They contacted us, since we are Certified Installers for the Waco, Temple, Killeen area in central Texas.

Elaine and her husband have a beautiful home that they had designed themselves. But they ran into a problem faced by others building upscale homes. Getting the design and spaciousness in their Woodway home to meet their vision was challenging, but not that difficult. What they found more challenging was to position windows and configure room layouts to allow the beauty of natural sunlight to illuminate those spaces. As Elaine wrote so well in her testimonial, Solatubes dramatically improved the mood of her home by capturing the bright sunlight shining on her roof and transporting it directly into the shadows of her hallway and laundry.

The Solatube Effect is subtle and dramatic. The most dramatic effect is the ability of sunlight to bring out the brilliant reflection of the textures and colors in your paintings, woodwork, and furniture; decor that you painstakingly chose for its artistic effect on the mood of your home. Flourescent and incandescent lighting systems cannot begin to match the grandeur brought out by the Solatube Effect. And it is free, (after you pay me of course...)

And subtly, the Solatube brings the rhythm of nature and sunlight back into the home. Have we forgotten the coming of dawn, the increasing light of the early morning while sipping a coffee or tea, the shadow of a passing cloud, the darkening approach of a storm cloud, the grandeur of the return of the sun after the rain, the dimming of the approach of dusk, and the falling of night? Of course, we turn the lights on at that point. :) Unfortunately, for some of us, modernity has removed us from the subtle mental benefits of these seemingly minor details. (I know, I sound a bit philosophical. But I grew up on a farm where the rhythm of nature was an accepted part of life.)

In other places you can learn why the Solatube is the premium product in the tubular daylighting space. I will leave it to another post to muse over the wonderful benefits of installing Solatubes instead of traditional skylights.

So, until the next time, I suggest that you plan to...... Let a Little Light in! JavaJoe

Reaching for perfection in an imperfect world

2008-09-25T09:12:00.002-05:00

Windows are made of glass. www.alside.com Shipping companies have human employees. Their trucks travel on asphalt highways filled with unpredictable drivers. What does this mean? Sometimes the windows get broken enroute from the factory. So when I picked up this window order for a new house at the distributors warehouse, we discovered 2 out of 19 windows had been cracked. And it happened to the round top windows which take 3 weeks lead time instead of the normal two. This makes for a 6 week install cycle. The other trades were waiting in the wings to start their jobs. So, we just installed the two broken windows in their opening, and let the sheetrock installers and the masonry crew start start their work. I will come back to replace the broken windows with the new ones when they arrive. Not much of a problem, except some extra labor. Not worth fussing over, but we will continue to reach for perfection. Contented, JavaJoe

The Finished Look - comes at the end

2008-09-24T11:14:00.000-05:00

This is a republish of something I had written back in February. I thought it would be appropriate for this blog as well. Enjoy!

Remodeling invades our private space. And this means we must learn to endure the intermediary stages of the process. Ideally we could move into another home or apartment for the duration, and come back to see the final product, but that is usually not an option for most of us.

This very dynamic happened this morning. The homeowner looked over the job yesterday evening, and raised some legitimate concerns about how the woodwork would look when repainted.

What prompted the homeowner’s concern was the following. The painters had come in yesterday and done preliminary sanding and painting on the woodwork. But there were a number of imperfections that hadn’t been filled and sanded yet. They were planning to come back in this morning to check for areas needing touching up, (unfilled screw holes, raised areas that needed more sanding, obvious dents and gouges). They had a lot more work ahead of them and were going through the process.

For many trades in remodeling, their job consists of several passes over the same area. And the finished look is reached at the final stage. And by asking, you can inform yourself about the process, because, after all, you are the one paying for the work, and you deserve to know what is happening to your home.

So, it is always good to ask questions that come to your mind. Because communication is one of the keys to a successful remodel job. As a remodeler, I cannot always anticipate the questions that might be important to you, but by asking, we can communicate about those things important to you as the homeowner. I carry my cell phone with me constantly and answer the phone. Usually you can reach me personally to ask questions, so that, together we can arrive at the final stage which presents the finished product.