(A post written in October) I hadn’t written a while because I was mesmerized by gorgeous October and preoccupied with getting laneway house access.
In the blink of an eye, nature came to its most ostentatious and October moved across the seasonal catwalk in its most cheery brilliance. Not a single day of rain… just perfect for conducting my field experiments! Tree canopies hung over residential streets in a magnificent rainbow of colors, waving clouds of sparkling leaves in my bedazzled face. Crisp air filled my lungs, and sunshine gave me sunburns… truly the most beautiful month this year.
I love hygrothermal building science, but the world of acoustics is just as alluring. Unlike my colleagues studying rain penetration effects on building envelopes, I need dry, non-raining weather for my acoustical experiments. So I am very grateful for the answered prayers for a completely dry month of October, without which my field experiments may be dragged on for another year!
My work through October happened through classic Vancouver residential neighborhoods. I spent weeks walking, trekking, driving, and biking through various neighborhoods, searching for testable laneway houses and delivering mail. Why deliver mail? Well it’s not just any mail. These were carefully and fearfully crafted access request letters to laneway house residents and owners, cordially inviting them to participate in my thesis study. I even posted on Kijiji. I actually thought about posting here, too, to see if anyone has a laneway house they would like to get measured for sound isolation performance!
After sending out five dozen request/invitation letters, I received two positive responses from laneway home owners. Sigh. (When I finally posted this article, I have gotten all of my laneway houses and have completed all the sound tests! Hooray!)
This was truly a unique experience. It was different from being an apprentice engineer or an assistant to a “master” consultant. I, even as a complete newb, was “out there on the front lines,” sort of carving my own path: foraging mostly alone into the unknown “field”, reaching out to strangers and trying to establish a relationship with them— meanwhile improving my very limited, still-developing knowledge about the test I would be conducting on these newly-built, precious laneway homes, and the acoustical theories behind these tests.
Other than the challenges in reaching laneway homeowners (without being spammy or invading privacy) and getting them to participate in this study, there were MANY other obstacles along the way. I had to think up all sorts of solutions to all sorts of logistical hindrances, from patching together a sturdy tripod stand that could extend 8ft tall, to opening a new bank account to get a Zipcar pass as a transportation back-up. Truly the stars had to line up for me to do a laneway house test: weather, equipment, transportation, laneway house availability, and helper availability… Each time I conduct a field test it was a massive coordination game!
To find out more about my thesis work, check back for upcoming posts!