Post #278472 by Hau 'oli Tiki on Fri, Jan 12, 2007 12:26 PM

We started to take the palapa down, as the winds are shredding the thatch anyways. Of course, the neighbor, Mr Peeper, wanted to know what we were doing. As if he didn't know. We didn't give him the satisfaction. Simply said the winds are wreaking havoc and we want to save the materials from damage. Asshole.

Anyways... thanks for everyone's input!! Cheese and crackers! It's a different sensation to have people support you instead of persecute!

I guess the roof line is A-Line-ish. The roof doesn't reach the ground, but the pitch is pretty severe. We have a call into a County Inspector, not the chick from the City; she's not an actual inspector, just a paper pushing, phone-call bugging, front door lurker (we have about 30 of her business cards, as she leaves 3 EVERY time she comes and we're not home!!) . My Pop's buddy is an Electrical Inspector for the County and thinks if we rebuild under 10x10, we won't need a permit. As far as thatch, he said he's never actually seen anything in the books.

The Mr isn't too sure he wants to switch to a tin roof, as it would be more Carib, less Poly. So I told him we're gonna fight that issue.

Meanwhile, we have removed a lot of landscape from the front yard. It's more in line with a typical neighborhood: plain wrap shrubbery, grass and a redwood. We decided to really piss of the neighbors with full on tropical palms and such and a mess of carved tikis smack in the front (corner house!). That way, we are in keeping with the aesthetic continuation from front to back!

So now our dilemma is how to make the smaller palapa still look tropical, not just a patio caver with thatch. I'm very partial to the Marquesan look. With the steep roof line, sweeping gables and jetting beams. The design was actually loosely based on the hut pictured on the cover of BOT.

We LOVE the idea of planting bamboo! Lined up like warriors, protecting the inner sanctum of the Urban Polynesian Paradise!