When we decided to renovate the house and build the addition, we had no idea that the same Murphy's Law that tormented us with the sliding door in my office would continually haunt us throughout the entire renovation. This whole experience has been a total comedy of errors. It started with the original "contractor" and his arguments with the permits and codes office, then the fact that he had the framers build the addition even though he didn't have the permit in hand. It continued to the point that we had to fire him for sending unqualified people to do shoddy work that had to be redone by a real professional. We've had failed inspections for stupid things like calling them in in the wrong order and having an electrical junction box that was two cubic inches too small. We've tried to upgrade things that we didn't even have to and make wise choices that will serve us well in the future. We haven't skirted any significant rules though we did move the toilet without a plumbing permit but lord knows what kind of red tape and how many failed inspections we'd have had if we'd have put in for a plumbing inspection. We tried to get a pass on the light in the bathroom, and even thought about skirting the rule on it since they just changed it last May but in the end we complied with their silly rule. I'll know soon enough if it's now too dark in the shower to shave my legs without a flashlight.
I'm annoyed that even though we hired professionals for some things, we got so so work that is no better than what we could have done ourselves. The drywall guys were sweet, but some of their work sucks and I'll eventually go back and fix it when I've recovered from this trauma. The siding guys did an ok job, but there are still little things that I don't think are right. The flooring guys did a fantastic job and the floors are beautiful, but they ran two boxes short so our master isn't complete and we can't set our furniture up in there because they will need the room to work when they come to finish. I also can't finish things in the master bath because there was a miscommunication about some shoe molding and I can't set up the new vanity until that molding is in place and painted. *choke*
Our latest run in with Murphy's Law involves our final inspection. The same guy came that has been inspecting the framing from day one, so he's familiar with all of the crap that's gone on. He even admitted that he thought the original contractor was a jack-ass which made me like him that much more. He's been pretty decent as far as giving us a head's up on things to complete so that we don't fail. When he showed up today for the final inspection, he pointed out a couple of little things that our new contractor took care of immediately. He marked those things as complete and proceeded to check other things. He measured the window in the master bedroom, the same window that's been there since he came for the original framing inspection. That's when all hell broke loose. He stated that it was too small to be considered as an egress for the room because the code states that it has to be something like 5.8 cubic feet and ours is like 4. Now this window has aggravated me since the beginning because the contractor measured our other windows so that they'd be the same size, but actually this one should have been bigger because the other windows are replacement windows and therefore he should have measured farther out on the windows than he did due to the way that replacement windows are installed. If you don't know about replacement windows, you should know that they cut out the window but leave the original window frame and set the new window inside the old frame so you actually end up with a slightly smaller window than you started out with. So back to the inspector, we were kind of shocked that he'd make such a fuss over that window at this point in the game. He said that we failed the inspection because that window (which is the same size as all of the other windows but due to the fact that it's new construction is held to a different standard) was too small. Our contractor did his best to talk him into a pass and they chatted back and forth for a bit before we all decided to call it a day and mill it over more later.
After the inspector left, our contractor suggested that it might pass because it is a double hung window and therefore can actually have a much larger opening. He called the office to check but of course no one answered at 3:00 on a Friday afternoon. He also suggested that we write a nice email to the inspector and his supervisor and politely explain and recap the situation and ask for a pass on this. I mean really, it's about a piece of paper rule and not an actual safety thing. I know that the windows in bedrooms are supposed to be that size because they need to be large enough for a firefighter in full gear to get through, but in all honesty since it's an addition and all of the other windows in all of the other bedrooms are the same size I really wish that they'd let it go. I mean I go out that window all the time and though I've never had on a raincoat and scuba gear, I'm confident that I could make it through if it really mattered. I'm really pissed that he's just now bringing the window size up now. Isn't that something that he should have checked in framing? You know, before the siding was up and the drywall was finished, and the brand freaking new floors were in?? The fact that he didn't check it then alone should make it a pass. He should have said "ooh, I goofed so I'm going to let you slide, but if you ever add on again or replace this window make sure that you get larger windows".
So what are our options at this point? Well, there are a few. 1. We can write a pleading email and hope that they feel it in their hearts to pass us. 2. We can rip out the window, enlarge the opening, and add a larger window. OR 3. We can do nothing. I mean what are they going to do? Yes we'd have an open permit and yes we'd have to bring it up to code if we were going to sell the house, but by that time I'm sure they'll have changed their software and or lost the notes about the window. We've agreed to do options 1 & 3 because quite frankly I am not interested in cutting into my house again and I'm sick of hemorrhaging money. We just want and need for this to be over. We need to function as a normal family again, and feel like normal humans for a while. This project should have not been this complicated or took nearly this long. I'm not sure why we always get the most incompetent people and have the worst experiences every time we try to do the right thing. If you have a great experience with something, you should thank us because chances are that if we tried it we'd have the worst luck ever so you're welcome that we absorb all of the worst case scenarios. Now that I've finished painting for today and the next several weeks, I'm dragging my tired, frustrated, disappointed ass to the kids' shower before inflating my air mattress in my new unfinished not to code bedroom and passing out. If there is a fire, just know that I'll be sailing through that window like a tiger at the circus and they can rescue me with a step ladder since I'll be standing on the roof of the front porch. ~Kellie~
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