Too many weeks of excessive hoop jumping have finally birthed a building permit from the City of Loviisa… or that’s my less-than-fluent interpretation. I have many shortcommings and the Finnish language is definitely swimming proudly in the incompetence stew. Decades of professional architectural experience have been confounded by the local process: contrary all wisdom, historical preservation review was a slice of pie, yet plan review wanted everything but stamped engineering drawings and a thermos of warm blood for a veranda renovation.

Placed an order with a local wood mill, Puutavara Eero Koskela, for some custom cured 5×5-ish posts. Was hoping to get them before midsummer but it seems everyone is wanting wood for summer projects. The idea is to open the veranda, which is more similar to how it would have been prior to the (1970s?) construction where it was enclosed with siding which made no attempt to match the existing house. 2×4 framed walls will be replaced with a few columns and a guard wall similar to the adjacent vertical siding.