#FAIL
Oh how I wish that hashtag was in reference to some cheeky Internet meme. Instead, it’s about the result of our deck’s footing inspection. Sigh. Picture us singing “you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and there you have, the facts of DIY life.”
So here’s the deal. We scheduled the inspector to come look at the six holes we had dug for our footings. By my understanding, he’d simply be looking at each one to make sure they were in the correct spots and dug to the right width & depth. Pretty straightforward by my assumption.
But if you recall, we chose to go above and beyond by having some of the ledger boards attached so that the inspector could check those for us too. I figured it was best for him to see that before I went through the trouble of finishing the whole darn thing (in our county, the second inspection happens after the entire deck is completed) – that way he could catch any errors sooner rather than later.
And boy did he catch errors.
As soon as he rounded the corner to our job site, he did three things that made my heart drop:
- He shook his head.
- He said “we’ve got some problems here.”
- And then he silent started writing in his notebook.
It was around this point that Sherry, whom I had tasked with taking some covert pictures of the inspection from within the house, snapped this picture out the guest room window. Don’t I look like a happy camper?
Despite being the bearer of bad news, the inspector was fairly helpful in explaining what the issues were (once he came out of the silence that had me sweating bullets). First, I had overlooked two tiny (yet apparently critical) letters on one of the diagrams in the county’s deck building guide. That “P.T.” highlighted below means that the house’s rim board where I attached my ledger board on the siding side of the alley needs to made from pressure treated wood. Ours was not.
So although we had added the required water-proof flashing behind our ledger board, the inspector said that if I wanted to put a ledger board on that side I’d need to also either replace the rim board with a piece of pressure treated wood (but messing with the structure of the house does not sound like my idea of a good time) or lower my deck by about two feet so that I was bolting into the masonry foundation instead.
But that ledger was only half of the reason for our failing grade. He told me on the other side of the house that I wasn’t permitted to screw into the brick side of our house because it wasn’t sound enough to bear the weight. I had read about this online before beginning, so I told him I thought I had solved that by purchasing screws long enough to go through the rim board of the house as well (for added stability). But apparently everything you read online isn’t true (go figure), so he explained that it still wasn’t acceptable in our county.
He even drew this little diagram on my ledger board to explain why it was wrong. Don’t you love having the error of your ways illustrated? The problem is that the air gap that is left between brick and the house (which I knew about, but didn’t realize was problematic) prevents the load from ever being fully transferred from the brick (which is just built to bear the vertical weight of itself). Again, my only solution here was to lower my ledger by about two feet so that I was going into the masonry foundation instead.
The other option he gave me was to forget the ledger boards and just built a free-standing deck – i.e. one that’s just supported by posts in the ground. Since Sherry and I didn’t want a deck that was two feet lower than our doorway (we wanted to just walk out there and eat, without having to carry things up or down stairs or worry about people tripping out of the house), it quickly became clear that free-standing was our best option. Translation: we had to revisit our plan, dig more holes, and attempt to pass our second inspection after our little course correction…
At that moment I was pretty close to devastated because it almost felt like starting back at square one. But I held it together long to get a few more questions answered by the inspector, thank him for his time, and wish him on his way. But I did take a second to pout at Sherry when I saw her snapping this picture through the window.
Of course, the inspector then handed me my official rejection receipt. He really knows how to twist the knife, doesn’t he?
When I walked into the house Sherry said she heard everything. I told her I need a few moments to be upset. If I were a drinker, I’m sure there would’ve been a beer or three involved. But instead, me and my sober self enjoyed a few moments of self loathing. I was mad at myself for wasting my dad’s time. For delaying our building progress. For ignoring my instincts to build a free-standing deck in the first place. For having to tell my dad we had more holes to dig. For (despite having done hours of research and planning) not having done it carefully enough.
If you couldn’t tell, I’m pretty good at beating myself up. Though I was also a bit ticked off at the permit office that okayed my plans in the first place (I was right there if they had any questions for me to clarify before we spent days executing a plan they approved!). In their defense, they didn’t have the info about what type of housing I was attaching to, but I wish they had at least asked. As you may remember, I was all dressed up in my permit-getting outfit and ready to be grilled that day (more on that here)…
… but they didn’t ask me a single thing, and sent me on my way with a nice big “approved” permit to hang in the window.
Soon enough Sherry swept in with a positive spin on the situation. Number one: She wasn’t upset – she had actually expected that we’d fail at least one inspection (we’ve heard that more people fail then pass in our county, it’s apparently very strict and it’s sort of a miracle if you get through both inspections without having to redo something unless you’re a repeat pro builder who works with the county a lot). She pointed out we were much luckier to catch this early (if we hadn’t started on the ledger board until after our hole inspection, we would have built The. Entire. Deck only to find out that it wouldn’t pass at our last inspection and the whole thing had to come down). Point taken. This was starting to feel less like the end of the world. I might have even been writing punny titles for this post in my head to cheer myself up, like “The Petersiks: We Put The “F” In Footing Inspection.”
Sherry was also glad the inspector had been helpful with his suggestions so we knew what to do from here on out. And she was glad to have a learning experience that we could blog about. Seriously, she hugged me and said “this’ll be a funny story someday – and it’s just another example of how DIY isn’t always easy, but in the end it’s always worth it.” So before long I was out of my funk and was on the phone with the county’s building inspection making an appointment to get this:
That’s our new plan. The inspector suggested that I meet with the reviewer who okayed my first plan and just have him draw me a new one for a free-standing deck. Part of me wondered why this wasn’t offered in the first place (certainly would’ve saved everyone some time!), but mostly I was just glad to have the very people drawing my plans who would later approve them. He was also considerate enough to keep our new post holes to a minimum (7) and to try to work with as many of the existing materials that we had already purchased (we’ll still need to pick up some new stuff, but it could have been much worse). The best news is that he believes we can still use our ledger boards – but as rim boards instead (with flashing over them as well, which we’d planned to add from the get-go). Even though they’re not approved to bear the full weight of the deck – those seven new footing holes will do that – he’s confident they can still be used as the stabilizing rim boards that I’d be required to add around the perimeter of the deck anyways.
So the only real change from our original illustrated plan below is that there will be seven posts added to convert this to a freestanding deck with girders (which are boards that will run in the same direction as our ledger boards, but they’re attached to the posts, so no weight is put on the house).
Overall it was a good, quick meeting that – if nothing else – helped open a line of communication between me and the building department (I have since called this same guy with two follow up questions). Perhaps I won him over with my more casual-slash-approachable-revised-plan-getting outfit:
So that’s where we are folks. We’ve got some more holes to dig (btw, my dad took the news very well) and a few more materials to pick up – but we’re gonna wait on getting those until our footing inspection is successful. Fingers crossed! Hopefully by this time next week I’ll be running around singing “The hills are alive with the sound of an approved footing inspection!”
We’ll definitely keep you posted on this roller-coaster of real-life DIY tribulations. But now it’s time for your failed inspection stories. Or really any general life failures are fine by me. Let’s commiserate. Especially if your story has a happy ending to go along with it. I just keep reminding myself that Sherry’s right about DIY not always being easy, but it has definitely been worth it when we look back at all of the major things we’ve accomplished in the past five years (like a bathroom gut job, two kitchen overhauls, built-in laundry cubbies, a built-in double desk, a 12′ long console table, and our big patio project). So I’m keeping my eye on the prize: a new deck that we’ll spend lots of family time on someday. And even with all of these snafus, it’ll still be a lot cheaper than hiring someone else to build it. At least I hope so. Off to knock on some wood…
Lucy says
You poor things, I know the inspectors are there for a reason but sometimes you want to swear under your breath at them!
We have finally just got our certificate for our multi fuel burner we have had installed after 9 months of waiting for it. The reason was because they were unsure as to the make of the burner and could not guarentee its safety despite it having its British Standard number and safety check and being bought in B&Q ( I presume you have this massive warehouse DIY stall in USA so know what I mean!) They wanted us to trace the person who had done the testing and check credentials and have the stove’s testing card sent through – obviously because of manufactures secrecy they are less than agreeable to this being done by an ordinary person because they think you are going to steal the information so you can build your own stove! In the end it resulted in a formal complaint being put through to the inspectors about our handling that shifted them along and made them sort the information!
But now we can keep cosy and warm legally!
Starr @ The Kiefer Cottage says
I love hearing about mistakes only because Bloglandia can seem so perfect and make us mortals feel inadequate. My BIL had many failed inspections related to a deck he built for his parents, and he had to go back and undo a lot of expensive work. Thank goodness that your dilemma, while a big PITA, isn’t costing you zillions.
As for me, this story reminded me of when I almost failed my driving test back in 1997. The lady let me pass only because my mom was very charismatic and charming. I think my mom still regrets it when she gets into the car with me.
May you pass soon!
Maureen @ This (Kinda) Old House says
This totally blows. On another note, I wish I had 1/100 of Sherry’s positivity. I am pretty much doom and gloom and my husband has to pull me from my irrational brain state quite a bit. :)
Amanda says
I totally would have cried in front of the inspector. Not to get him to change his mind or anything, but just out of exasperation. Poor John.
Sorry about the set-back! You’ll get there!
Amanda says
Oh John, chin up. :) LOL Gosh, you’re permit outfit #2 pic is so cute. Ahh frustration… something about it unexpectedly brings out the hotness of people. I’m sorry it didn’t work out the first time. Maybe the quickness of that first permit meeting was a red flag. They really should have taken a harder look and asked more questions. If it makes you feel better, I blame them! lol Good luck with everything Petersiks!
Jen says
Wouldn’t be reading this blog if everything always worked out. Straight home reno is fun but it’s when you have to problem solve, adjust and sometimes start from scratch that you actually learn! Some of the protects people take on are more complicated than meets the eye – shows that even with all your research and careful planning sometimes plan b, c, and d are inevitable.
Jen
P.s. aren’t dads great???? Both of our houses we’ve owned have had a dad involved in almost every big or small project. One day you’ll be helping Clara with a deck with this extra wisdom you wouldn’t have if all had gone smoothly the first time.
Aislynn says
Oh yes building departments are oh so much fun to deal with! I’m a house designer, so I deal with them on a daily basis.. I understand your frustration and hopefully everything gets sorted out!
Brick is a pain the rump to deal with – especially for attaching stuff to! Hopefully you guys found something that works for your building department and for you!
Aislynn says
And if you need to pick a designer’s brain feel free to send me an email ;-)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks so much! You’re too kind!
xo,
s
Jesse B says
Oh, so you guys aren’t perfect! I say that in the most sincere way!!! ;) You guys are incredible and every post shows what rock stars you guys are. I’m just glad to know you are human and I’m not the only DIYer that has had some interesting moments. Cannot wait to see the plan B done!!!
Shauna says
Take courage John! It is so frustrating to plan carefully and still get rejection, but I think the communication you’ve established with your county planners is probably well worth the “setback”. Those guys really know their stuff, and the better you know them, the more likely you are to get to your goal. We had a similar experience with wells, septic systems…I won’t bore you with details, but yeah, communication is vital. Smart as you guys are, this’ll blow over soooo quickly!
EB says
So sorry the inspection didnt go well! Unfortunately they are not always there to HELP the DIY’ers. my story is that we were goign to tear down our little tiny home and build a new bigger one in the same spot. Well, the town approved our demo permit and delined even LOOKING at our building permit info and plans that i brought with me that day. Then after demo was complete they denied our building permit and informed us we needed to apply for a variance which took THREE months to get! So we were homeless for an extra 3 months that we could have avoided if the town had been more proactive, KNOWING we were goign to GC the job ourselves. so frustrating! well you;ll know for next time! Deck is gonna look awesome when youre done!!
Shelley @ Green Eggs and Hamlet says
Dealing with government agencies is SERIOUSLY so frustrating! I would be so mad if they’d given me a permit and then later gave me a failed inspection – so annoying.
You guys are handling it with a great attitude and the important thing is you’ll end up with a beautiful, safe deck!
Brittany O says
We are working on a complete reflooring of our house (950 square feet) from carpet and crappy laminate to a “luxury laminate” which is basically a mix of engineered hardwood and laminate. Anyways, we’ve never done this before and did a bunch of research on installing the floor, doing baseboards, etc. However, we missed the part about how closet doors more than likely won’t fit back on because of the height of the new laminate compared to the old floors which were cheezy and very thin. We tried cutting down the doors and that exposed a hollow door which then caused a bunch of other issues. And to add peach to the pie, we have an area where the floor is 2 different levels agains 1 wall which made for some fun jimmy rigging of a baseboard. Oh the joys….
In a way I am glad you guys didn’t pass inspection, it makes me feel better =)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw man, that sounds like a ton of work! Good luck with everything!
xo,
s
Lauren M says
Wait, this doesn’t sound right. If they approved the plans, the inspector should not be able to insist on a change of the scope like that.
Have you thought about appealing? I would.
YoungHouseLove says
I guess they reserve the right to change their mind when they see the job site (you can only see so much on paper). I think if they asked some questions when we applied for our permit it would have cleared a lot of stuff up, but thankfully now we have a line of communication open with them so we’ll just call them with questions and hopefully itll be really clear from here on out.
xo,
s
Ashley@AttemptsAtDomestication says
Bummer! Sorry guys! And I didn’t realize things were so strict around here! Geez!
Ofelia, México City says
Oh man! What a frustration feelings! But thanks for share not only the good, by the bad and the ugly (I think this can be call both of them, aren’t they?). I’m not a great DIYier, but to me, a free standing deck have a lot of sense. Go ahead and good luck!
Laura @ Cookiecrumbs and Sawdust.blogspot.com says
In the words of Mike Holmes “Make it right. It’s not hard.”
No biggie, we make DIY mistakes ALL THE TIME, that’s the only way we’ve gotten better and learned. Your a DIY pro, you know that.
Don’t beat yourself up. It could ruin your more casual-slash-approachable-revised-plan-getting outfit. :)
Laura
Lesley says
I love the look of having the deck be level with the door. BUT we had huge problems with that. Rain and snow can splash up onto your door and casue rot in both the door and door frame. We had rot on our door from this and the contractor told us that code around here is now to have decks be a foot or so below doors. Not sure if the type of door makes a difference bu it is just something to think about.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes it’ll be a bit lower (that’s code) but not a full foot lower- so it’ll just be a few inches lower like a small lip to keep water and snow from collecting next to the door! Thanks for the tip!
xo,
s
Lou says
Aw. Now THAT is what makes a good partner.
Jill says
Although we have never failed an inspection, they just say fix it and still sign off on our paperwork. EVERY SINGLE TIME we do anything on the exterior of our house we get Code Enforcement visiting us… Never fails… He gets called on us because we have the worst neighbor in the world who is upset he wasn’t offered to buy our house from my husband’s grandfather.. Umm it’s been in the family since it was built in 1908 and passed on to generation after generation.. So every time we do anything outside (we always get permits) he calls code enforcement to complain about us. Literally we are on a first name basis with the code enforcement inspector. He has to stop every time because there was a report made.. One time he came back after hours sat outside and had a beer with us and filled us in on a little tip.. Our neighbor had SEVERAL expired and uninspected permits on his house.. Now usually we are not the vindictive type but we made a report to the city and he had to pay over $500 for new permits and to get his work all inspected.. Which ironically enough was by our same code inspector! When life gives ya lemons make lemon drop martinis! :) (sorry for the long post, but it could always be worse)
Nadine says
I’m sure that’s exactly why one gets so annoyed at contractors who tell you that everything is going to be fine, then you sign the first check and they’re on their way, and then they discover that there’s this big problem that they somehow didn’t know about, and that wonderful project you’ve been living with in your head, has to be turned upside down. You just got that first-hand and it’s painful, but you’ll get right in the end, Sherry has it right.
Looking forward to the end result, will be smashing!
Jen @ Domesticated Nomad says
I don’t know if the inspection receipt was really a twist of the knife because next to “fail” it did say “temporary” not fail for all time. And, no charge, so that’s always good. Would have been worse if they charged you AND failed you, right? You should totally frame that baby. Once it’s done, it will make you laugh – especially the pouting pictures. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, yeah we need to frame it with the pouting pics!
xo,
s
Kim says
Aww, John, I’m with you — I can’t imagine how crushed I’d be if that happened to me. How frustrating! But you’re lucky to have Sherry to provide the positive perspective. And we’re lucky to be learning about deck building right along with you guys.
I’m impressed you rebounded so quickly and made an appointment to get a new plan drawn up. Maybe I’m weird, but when I get that peeved, I have to step away from my project for a few days and regroup.
vicky s says
Sorry about what happened! And the thing is that inspectors can be wrong too! That happened to us after we had completed our addition! Keep up the good work and think of it as a learning experience! The lesson I learned: when it’s a big project hire an architect!
Gotta Garden says
Well, my worst house failure…so far…was a shower re-do that cost 3k (and six months of my DH’s life as he was in Afghanistan earning the extra dough for stuff like this). I went to a fancy tile place where they assured me they are so much better than the big box stores. Bought expensive Italian tile. Was so happy and excited. Until…the day the installers came, I was called down the street to help an old friend who has MS badly. They almost never need help, but this day they did and so I went. Didn’t get back until around 5:00 pm….when I saw that the installed tile was not the tile I had purchased!
Back up…while they were packing the tile in the warehouse (wrapping in bubble wrap, etc.), I asked if it was the correct tile…and was told that, of course, it was. Silly silly me, I actually believed them and never unwrapped or opened an expensive box. Just carefully carried it into our living room to await installation. Seems really stupid now…
I cannot even tell you how devastated I was/am. It’s brown tile! Who likes brown tile?? The trim, instead of being a nice floral, is brown flowers! Yuck. The tile is the darkest version of what I purchased (I purchased the lightest). Being a gardener, brown flowers are a total turn-off…brown = dead. Apparently, the labeling on the display tile had an incorrect number on it. Duh.
The tile place never called me, even though the installers called and told them. When I finally got up my courage (and stopped crying) to go to the tile store, the most unhelpful gal told me, “Oh, I thought maybe you liked it better now.” Really??
Even thinking about it angers me anew. Sigh. Lessons learned: People/businesses who tell you how wonderful they are…seldom actually are. Check and check again, after all, it’s your money. More money does not equal better, smarter, ethical, you name it. In fact, I suspect a big box store would have at least tried to accommodate us in some way. The tile store: nothing.
Worse…it totally ruined all the plans for the rest of the bathroom…as there was/is no way I’m purchasing more of that ugly expensive tile to do the rest.
So, I’ve done nothing…but close my eyes while I shower (smile). If we were DIY-ers, like you guys, the options would be better. Plus, I think I would have been more savvy from the get-go.
Anyway, always check your tile…first! I’ve since heard several more horror stores about wrong tile, so I guess it happens.
(puts the inspection failure in perspective…ha)
YoungHouseLove says
Oh my gosh, how frustrating! I agree that I think other stores might have tried to make it right! We have had great luck with The Tile Shop if that helps (their employees seem especially knowledgeable and they even offer a YHL discount to anyone who asks!). And I love your way of looking on the bright side, showering with your eyes shut sounds fun. Haha.
xo,
s
Ally says
When I read this, my heart sank for you, JBoom…and I’m pretty sure I would have had the same ‘constipated’ expression on my face, too :)
Take your sweet little Clara’s advice…”Turn Around”(that frown!)and NO whining :)
xox
YoungHouseLove says
Hahaha, Clara gives the best advice. Maybe by take turns she means alternate between failing and passing, which means hopefully we’ll pass next time!
xo,
s
Karen J says
Sorry you didn’t pass; but you’ll get them next time. Now, based on your experience, would you recommend waiting to buy your supplies until you have passed first inspection on a project like this? Also, would John ask more questions during the permit process? Just wondering what, if any, changes you would suggest to other DIYers.
YoungHouseLove says
I actually think if we waited to buy our supplies we would have failed the last inspection and had to take apart our entire deck! It was helpful to have the materials and start on the deck construction so they could see it at the first inspection and tell us we had to change things sooner rather than later! I think we would have tried to make an appointment to talk with the plan reviewer instead of waiting for them to ask questions since they didn’t and that’s why we got approved and proceeded with the initial plan. But other than that, the best learning experiegasbags been to start as much as you can before the first inspection to catch things early (much better to fail up front than fail at the end and have to undo the entire thing!).
xo,
s
Alison says
I’m so sorry for the pain and hassle. Just want to give you props for actually getting the permit and having inspections. I know lots of people cut that out during the building process (like ALL of my neighbors!), but even with the headaches you get, you’ll feel safe on it for years to come. Good luck with the rest of the deck.
Annemarie says
You two are so positive. That’s a letdown but I love how you focused on the end result, spending lots of family time out there! I can’t wait to see the pictures of you all enjoying time out there once it’s built!
jane says
Hi-love your blog! I now have a strange request-so one day you must have linked to a friend’s blog but I cannot for the life of me remember the blog name or the woman’s name. BUT i do know that she has a little boy and is pregnant and said that you were the first person she called when she found out she was pregnant with her first child. ok, im embarrassed but i really really wanted to get back to her blog….:-)
YoungHouseLove says
That’s Katie Bower! We actually get to hang out with her this weekend while we’re in Georgia! Her blog is bowerpowerblog.com. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Ami says
Oh bless your little pea picking hearts. That STINKS! I am so sorry. And Sherry is right and has awesome perspective but I completely understand John’s disappointment.
I had a recent FAIL myself. I recently tried repainting a set of Ikea Billy bookcases white and discovered the hard way that I should have taken the extra time to poly them BEFORE I tried to put the shelves back in b/c I so put huge scratches in my nice white paint and then I wanted to take an axe to the whole project. You can see pics on my blog here: http://ilikesparklyobjects.blogspot.com/2012/04/whats-taking-so-long.html I was SO not happy.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no Ami, that stinks! I feel your pain!
xo,
s
Mairi says
I just love you guys – I’ve been following you since last fall and feel like you’re my compadres in DIY. I live in Charlottesville and have a total friend crush on you in that “you-share-your-whole-life-with-me-but-we-haven’t-met” kind of way, like how you feel with the newscasters on TV. You know?
We most recently failed on replacing the gutters on our house. It’s an unfortunately long story, but I’ll tell you that the gutter companies are extremely picky about the state of your drainage pipes that the downspouts connect to. We had spent several days removing the 1949 gutters and downspouts, then scraping, bleaching, filling, priming and painting the fascia boards around the house. We prepared the drainage pipes (1940s terracotta pipes, ugh) only to find out that NONE of them were up to the gutter man’s standards. Fail. And then what should’ve been a simple matter of adding couplings and PVC to the pipes turned into 3 or 4 trips to Lowe’s and several hours of elbow grease because as it turns out, there were 4 different shaped/sized pipes to connect to out of 6 downspouts. But at last! We have new gutters and we can sleep at night knowing that water isn’t running into the house.
So now when you have a party on the deck you’ll know that that bad boy is super sturdy and no amount of jumping and dancing will make it tear away from the sides of your house and go crashing to the ground. Party on!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man that sounds like a ton of work!
xo,
s
Piper Patrick says
Once upon a time I worked in the City of Houston Code Enforcement division (I worked in the office, not out in the field, but I did manage to learn quite a bit by talking with the inspectors day in and day out). I am sorry that you didn’t pass the inspection on the first try. I know that is so disappointing! But you’ve got the right idea…take the information and end up with a better end result. Twenty years from now, the couple week delay won’t feel nearly as painful and you’ll be thankful that you constructed a superior quality deck.
I also just wanted to mention that if you ever need a fall-back way to earn income (not likely because your site is awesome!) that you could consider being a “plan runner” for construction companies. Basically, there are individuals that set up their own businesses to run the plans for various customers and companies through the planning department. They also go buy the permits and get inspections scheduled for the different trades throughout the project. Individuals and companies are willing to pay $$ for someone else to do that for them either because they don’t want the hassle of doing it themselves or they are intimidated by the process. Plus, established plan runners develop a great rapport with the city planners and inspectors and can help customers bypass some of the unexpected hurdles a “newbie” might have. It’s a pretty sweet gig, and it is relatively interesting to see new projects as they go from plan to completion.
Anyway, you hang in there. That deck will be beautiful and completed before you know it!
YoungHouseLove says
So interesting! Never knew “plan runners” were a thing!
xo,
s
Erin @ His & Hers says
Eeeeek that stinks! It’s stuff like that that makes me want to run screaming in the opposite direction of DIY. You know, toward “hire someone smarter to do this for me even though it will cost way more” instead. (HSSTDFMETIWCWM? No wonder it doesn’t have an actual acronym.) Glad you were able to come out smiling, though, and in such perfect permit-getting attire. ;)
Jen says
You think you’re city permit department is strict? My mom’s house had some water damage due to a significant wind storm that blew some of the roof shingles off. Her homeowner’s insurance is taking care of things on their end, but in the meantime, she’s been living in a hotel for the past 7 months while her house sits completely gutted down to the studs waiting for the city to approve the plans.
YoungHouseLove says
Wow! That’s a lot to desk with! Your poor mom!
xo,
s
Ginger says
Aw, sorry, man! This is why my husband hates permits and inspectors (he deals with them at his job a lot too) and will probably never do anything with a permit on our house.
Kacie // A Collection of Passions says
Ahh, so sorry! What a frustrating day. You guys will (and looks like you are) figuring it out.
Kacie
http://www.acollectionofpassions.com/
Valerie says
Oh my, I feel so bad for you all. That really sucks to do all that work like that. :( I’m sure it will be awesome when you do get it done though. BTW, I L.O.V.E. Ed-the-bed in it’s new *resting* place. ;)
Sylvia says
*sigh*, I’m not really much for DIY myself (I read your blog vicariously), but I did hav a rubbish failure a few months ago.
My research proposal for my PhD was rejected (by a very snarky letter!) I couldn’t believe it because I had thought I’d followed all the rules and both my supervisors had said it was good…
Anyway, I’m still waiting on feedback from the resubmission (fingers crossed!)
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man that stinks! I hope it all works out in the end!
xo,
s
S'Mo (aka Sarah) says
Oh my gosh, that terrifies me. I’ll be submitting my own dissertation prospectus in the spring…
Jenn Leigh says
We had some “adventures” with our first electrical project when we changed out our old lamp. Lessons learned and we can continue to do it ourselves and save some money. Check it out if you have time!
http://www.homestylereport.com/2012/06/brassy-glassy-no-more.html
YoungHouseLove says
Love that story! Thanks for sharing the link!
xo,
s
Jeremy says
When I move the Laundry to the Garage (SoCal, you can do this), I pulled a permit and too was very nervous about the final inspection. I found that the Inspectors were very helpful during all stages of planing and inspection. They are human too and I think that they understand that DIY is not always going to be perfect. They even let me slide on insulating the Hot water pipes because I promised to do so later.
Imagine having to redo a PVC drain that was glued together–there is no do over.
YoungHouseLove says
Yay, so glad you got through it!
xo,
s
Barb says
So sorry about the failed inspection but you and others are all right in looking at the bright side. Love your blog and how you keep it real, mistakes and all. Now, how am I going to get the annoying Facts of Life song out of my head???
Sabrina says
Don’t feel bad, John. I found my husband in our basement eating a Costco size jar of nutella with his finger after our pipes burst while we were away lol He said he just needed to be alone!
YoungHouseLove says
Hahaha, that sounds like something John would do.
xo,
s
Allison says
We were 6 months behind on finishing our house and set to have new tenants in our rental house Dec 31. In early Dec. we had our first round of final inspections and got a two page list of corrections. Many of them were small and we could knock out several in a day. The big one was our garage door. We got it off Craigslist like a year before (cute carriage style for $400 with opener). Found out it wasn’t up to code (needed metal “ribs” to hold up to 90mph wind rating) and a special sticker that says it meets that code.
So, we tried like crazy to figure out the manufacturer and order a “rib kit” to no avail. No one would talk to us since we didn’t know the model number and no one had “rib kits” in stock. We were stressing out big time because we were 3 weeks away from being homeless! “Lets just order a new door from Lowes. Get the cheapest one they’ve got!” But no one carries them in stock and it would be at least 4 weeks before an ordered one got here. I called the inspector and asked if we could just take the door off. As in, do we have to have a garage door? He said, no, we don’t have to have one and he would pretend he never saw one. If a door is there, it must meet code, but no door is required.
We were about to do that when my mother in law saved the day. No idea how she found this company, but they were able to sell us a “rib kit” and came out that very evening to take measurements and were back the next day to install it. $500 later our door not only met code, but was also insulated. Sure beat $1200 on a new one! We passed and got moved in Dec 12, 2011!! This all happened within about 48 hrs. Most stressful day of construction. I definitely had a panic attack.
YoungHouseLove says
That’s amazing!! So glad it worked out like that!
xo,
s
meredith foushee says
so sorry! i know that is annoying, discouraging, etc, but this was one of your more humorous posts :-) i was only laughing with you promise!
Liz says
But, 7 posts…HEY, that’s your guys’ lucky number, right?! It’s a sign that it was meant to be :) And Sherri’s totally right: at least you didn’t build the whole deck only to have to get it redone (or have it come crashing down at some point in the future.)
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no but it’s 7 additional holes along with 6 existing ones… Which is… 13!!! Ack!
xo,
s
Chrissie says
How crushing to have done all that work and be set back by one small thing! Poor John. I am glad he had you there to cheer him up though, Sherry. You seem like you’d be a great cheerleader in hard times!
RMC says
Wow! I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t pass the inspection!
And just in case the inspector didn’t tell you, bending in bolts, anchors, screws, or anything threaded bad. (basically the two surfaces that are being connected together with something threaded have to touch. If they don’t, the bolt can bend back and forth and eventually break) Did that make sense? Sorry to be the nerd in the room, but the engineer inside of me had to tell you.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip!
xo,
s
Megan @ Two Live Colorfully says
So sorry about that! But I’m so glad you guys are taking it in stride. I know the finished deck is going to flippin’ awesome!!! Lots of good luck wishes!!!
Jessi says
I second the pouty face pics…. what a bummer! As novice DIY-ers, our house/yard are full of these re-dos, so I definitely feel your pain. Reading YHL has actually motivated me to be a lot more careful w/ planning + prepping, so here’s hoping my re-do stats begin to improve. :)
My most recent flop was caulking both of our showers/tubs with the wrong kind of caulk AND misreading the directions before patching some areas of grout. We were showering with strands of ‘melted’ caulk and chunks of grout for dayyys. Here’s hoping we both get it right the second time around!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no! I hope it gets easier!
xo,
s
laura says
I would expect this from the City of Richmond but not Chesterfield county. ARGH!