Jim approaches projects that he does for us at our house in Northern Virginia, and the house on Runaway Ridge, with the information and experience he has attained as a practicing architect.

An architect who did primarily commercial and educational facilities - not residences.  He has always prided himself on learning from tradespeople on his jobs by observing their techniques and seeking out their professional advice.  He investigates and researches new approaches to old problems.  He has sought out information available from trade associations and councils as he developed his professional levels of expectations for construction quality and performance.  All of this is to be admired and commended in his role as an architect.

When these same expectations are used to measure the success of the achievements of a crew of amateurs up on Runaway Ridge it can lead to disappointment and discouragement.  We all - Jim included - endeavor to give our best to what we’re working on, but sometimes our level of expertise simply makes the final product fall a little short.  However - it’s worth noting, that when the expectations are this high, even falling short means a quality standard higher than what may be expected by most mere mortals.

In the case of our floor tile installation, the Tile Council of North America states in their standard of installation (I’m paraphrasing a lot here) that the “lippage” between adjoining tiles should not exceed the thickness of a credit card.  Well, as you can see in the photo, we didn’t exactly pass the muster on this one.  But I think we’ll still enjoy these floors, we’re still proud of our accomplishment and no one has been kicked off the job!