It's helpful to know the code requirements and unfortunate that the builder was not familiar with them and did not follow the contract documents. Your builder and architect should have already presented you with all of the possible alternatives. One alternative should be to remove the non-complying work and building the roof as required by law and the contract. Section 9.19. Roof Spaces 9.19.1. Venting 9.19.1.1. Required Venting (1) Except where it can be shown to be unnecessary, where insulation is installed between a ceiling and the underside of the roof sheathing, a space shall be provided between the insulation and the sheathing, and vents shall be installed to permit the movement of air from the space to the exterior. 9.19.1.2. Vent Requirements (1) Except as provided in Sentence (2), the unobstructed vent area shall be not less than 1/300 of the insulated ceiling area. (2) Where the roof slope is less than 1 in 6 or in roofs that are constructed with roof joists, the unobstructed vent area shall be not less than 1/150 of the insulated ceiling area. (3) Required vents are permitted to be roof type, eave type, gable-end type or any combination of them, and shall be distributed, (a) uniformly on opposite sides of the building, (b) with not less than 25% of the required openings located at the top of the space, and (c) with not less than 25% of the required openings located at the bottom of the space. (4) Except where each roof joist space referred to in Sentence (2) is separately vented, roof joist spaces shall be interconnected by installing purlins not less than 38 mm by 38 mm on the top of the roof joists. (5) Vents shall comply with CAN3-A93-M, âÂÂNatural Airflow Ventilators for BuildingsâÂÂ. 9.19.1.3. Clearances (1) Except as provided in Sentence (2), where venting is provided to a roof joist space, not less than 63 mm of space shall be provided between the top of the insulation and the underside of the roof sheathing. (2) Where venting is provided at the junction of sloped roofs and exterior walls and where preformed baffles are used to contain the insulation, the baffles shall, (a) provide an unobstructed air space between the insulation and the underside of the roof sheathing, that is, (i) not less than 25 mm in dimension, and (ii) of sufficient cross area to meet the attic or roof space venting requirements of Article 9.19.1.2., and (b) extend vertically not less than 50 mm above the top of the insulation. (3) Ceiling insulation shall be installed in a manner that will not restrict a free flow of air through roof vents or through any portion of the attic or roof space. 9.19.1.4. Mansard or Gambrel Roof (1) The lower portion of a mansard or gambrel style roof need not be ventilated. (2) The upper portion of roofs described in Sentence (1) shall be ventilated in conformance with the requirements in Articles 9.19.1.1. to 9.19.1.3.

NJDEP is notorious for taking forever to approve or disapprove of anything. They are understaffed, and have been a revolving door with all of the budget cuts. In addition, you will also have stormwater management to consider, as the rules changed in 2003 for construction on property that is one acre or larger. As the stormwater plan was designed for the subdivision prior to 2003, chances are it is not grandfathered in, and you may have to foot the bill for a whole new plan which is very costly. Realize that the stormwater management rules require the amount of run off to not exceed what currently runs off now....the answer of which is derived from very simplex engineering calculations which usually requires an licensed P.E. who specializes in this area. Kaching, kaching. And, as you are adjacent to wetlands, this could get even more complex. IMO, the costs you will most assuredly incur to get this house built with NJDEP, wetlands, etc involved will probably exceed what you could buy a newly constructed home for on the same size lot or larger. Also, realize that you will probably have to test for two perc fields for septic, as a back up in case the first field fails. Last but not least, NJDEP may require an alternate type of septic system (mound, etc) due to the wetland issue. You really have a tremendous amount of research to perform beofre you can make an educated decision.

Unfortunately the last person to touch the window order was the last person who could have avoided this error and unfortunately it appears to be you. I made a mistake on a window order recently and it cost me $6,000 but the owner was protected. Paying for your errors is something you must accept if you take responsibility for material ordering. It may be time to ask how long it will take to get the new windows and move on to the next issue. The engineer might tell you that only a steel beam can span such an opening with a depth of 6" or that it is impossible. It depends on the load above and you haven't told us anything about the structure above. You need to be more proactive about this error. If you give us the section showing what structure is above the window (second floor or roof rafters) we can probably tell you how to raise the original beam with the permission of the engineer. By the way, the mulled windows are probably just screwed together with a thin cap on the outside so they can be separated and studs can be installed between them. A nailing fin might have to installed where they were separated. If they are Anderson windows that's more complicated but probably not impossible. Don't take simple answers as fact. Send us drawings of such conditions. It troubles me that your architect isn't taking the lead in solving this problem. A simple structural revision should not take weeks to approve.

Just got done with the meeting with Project Manager and Framer.. As suspected the Project Manager did not understand what walls I was speaking about as he was only mentioning the kitchen wall.. I then began to mention all of the other areas noting that some were extremely minor while others, like the kitchen, stairs, and master bedroom walls, were a bit more important.. At this point both of their faces dropped and the plans came out.. They both began checking and measuring and in the end the Framer owned up that he misread the plans which offset everything else.. So they began scrambling around checking the walls and double checking.. According to them everything is fixable with the exception of two walls.. So here is a list of the modifications that will be made: The master bedroom wall that butts up against the stairs and master bathroom can only be shifted where the bathroom is.. The part by the stairs will have to be furred out to make it even with the part from the bathroom wall.. Closet wall that adjoins the master bathroom will be pulled out accordingly. Stair case will be re-framed to the correct specs. This will require moving beams in the basement. This also requires a wall on the first floor to be moved that holds up the floorjoists for second floor over the garage. To move this wall they will be sistering the floor joists of the second floor to extend them to the new wall. All bedrooms on second floor will be pulled out into the hallway as per plan. Master bedroom wall that adjoins the hallway will be moved in 5 inches to align with new staircase. Kitchen wall will be re-framed according to plan. Side entry door will be re-framed to adjust opening. Master bedroom window will be re-framed to adjust for wall movement. Master bedroom door opening will be re-framed to adjust for wall movement. Second floor hallway window will be re-framed to adjust for all movement. Parallam that runs between first and second floor above dining room will be moved to be even with wall that's to be moved with staircase. I think that pretty much covers all the changes.. Honestly, I don't know how this is all getting fixed.. Main beams are being moved that have framed walls sitting on top of them.. I just don't see how this can be structurally sound after its done and how it won't effect everything above.. I mean floor boards are nailed under the framing of second floor perimeter walls and they are moving beams below that are nailed and glued to them.. I have the mentality that once you open something up it is never the same as when you started.. Things loosen up, shift, etc.. I guess we will see what happens.. At least they took responsibility for their mistakes and owned up to it.. Let's just see how the adjustments turn out.. I just pray that they are not making changes that shouldn't be touched, although I can't see them alter something that would effect the structural integrity of the house or result in a poor quality result.... These are not the complete plans, but just to give you an idea of the work that is being changed..