cushtie.com

Something in the basement…

The day didn’t start that well, when our contractor called up to say that the existing foundation needed to be demolished and replaced. I had expected this might be the case, but to hear that it was:

cracked
had no footings
had a number of cold joins (where they just add extra concrete to an existing wall)
made from concrete that hadn’t used the correct amount of cement
was missing rebar

At this point, if you’d told me the foundation had been made of stale gingerbread I wouldn’t have been surprised. Now, we hadn’t budgeted for a full demo and replace, but this is a cost we have to bear because it’s not at a point where you can stop now. So onwards we go. I’m reasonably confident this is the biggest surprise we’ll have, but I shouldn’t jinx things by saying so…

Ten minutes later the contractor called back to say the architectural drawings are out by 6", so the concrete sub doesn’t know where to pour the foundation. So, er, this is exciting. Further, frantic calls with our architect got us an annotated diagram that’s now off by about 1.25", but still, that was not relaxing.

We asked the girls to be quiet while we took a call, which they took as instructions to re-enact the Normandy Beach landings from D-Day, and it’s really hard to concentrate on the technical details of building work while also trying to tell your kids to quieten down. Onwards, ever onwards…

The rest of the day was pretty much a wash. I had a few calls, sorted some things out but my concentration was blown. Tomorrow, I hope, will be better. Onwards, ever onwards.

Exit mobile version