Ask the Architect

All this over a shower door?

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Q. We had our bathroom renovated recently, and were down to the last details. The shower door needed installing, and we got a handyman, because the contractor thought it was too small for him to do. The shower door guy came and couldn’t fit the door in, he said, because the shower wasn’t installed properly. What do we do?

A. We spoke, and then you put the shower door handyman on the phone. Let me digress by saying how glued I was to a video, at the Airpower Museum in Farmingdale last weekend, for over an hour, watching how the Air Force trained and sent men into battle on D-Day. The listening, the following of orders, the timing, the fact that leaders presumed 50 percent loss of life in just landing troops there, and yet these incredibly brave young men sacrificed everything so we could be free is something every American should see.

Back to the shower guy. The owner tells the shower door guy, “Here, I got the architect on the phone, please tell him the problem.” Muffled voices, then, “Hi, the shower is out.” Hmmm, I thought, how do I interpret this, and how do I not offend the offender, who, it seems, does not want to communicate? “What do you mean, out?” I ask. “Not aligned,” he says. “What is not aligned?” Pause. “The shower. It’s out, and the track won’t be straight.”

Several more leading questions later, I realize that this person really doesn’t want to do the job. He states, “I don’t want to be responsible if it leaks after.” The R word got to me loud and clear. The rest of the one-syllable words in each of his previous sentences had less meaning, but the word responsibility resounded, loud and clear. Now, most people who call probably don’t realize that architects aren’t the EMTs of the building trades, with flashing lights on top of their vehicles or an S emblazoned on their undershirt, because descriptions of such emergencies are often followed by, “How soon can you get here?”

I arrived much later, hoping the owner had an alternative shower to use, and examined the situation. The shower was clearly not “out,” even though, at first glance, the tile joints weren’t parallel to the front of the shower and the floor wasn’t level. There definitely was a slight skew of a quarter-inch, so the track base needed shimming, a setting bed of sealant and leveling into the waterproof setting bed, but the job will be carried out and there will be a working shower. … Which leads me back to those soldiers, who had to communicate, had to see the goal ahead of them, had to be responsible for every person around them, and could not fail, or they would all fail. The shower guy didn’t see his task the same way. Responsibility and communication get the job done.

© 2016 Monte Leeper. Readers are encouraged to send questions to yourhousedr@aol.com, with “Herald question” in the subject line, or to Herald Homes, 2 Endo Blvd., Garden City, NY 11530, Attn: Monte Leeper, architect.