OK, It’s time to share the answer to the most recent AR “Vacation Architectural Brain Teaser”- what is the braded steel cable stretching across the space for? What purpose might it be providing? Drumroll please! The answer is that steel cable is acting as a tension member to counter the outward movement of the eaves, a phenomenon called ‘eave thrust’. Eave thrust can be illustrated very effectively by setting a hard cover book on a smooth, flat surface with the book opened up to 90 degrees and the binding edge pointing up. The two opposing hard covers will want to slide outwards… that outward movement is what the steel cable is preventing. Associated with eave thrust is ridge drop- which if you look closely- you can also see occurring in the exterior pictures of the building. Several of our social media friends nailed it… we’ve got some pretty sharp followers… nice job!