First inspection today

The big event of today was our first or "rough" inspection. The city I live in is notorious for really tough inspections and all the contractors warned me that they would find things to fix. I was really pleased with how well we did. The inspector (who was really nice) only found 4 things, and they were all minor. The first was that the plumber was supposed to be on site for the inspection for a water pressure test. I forgot this, so we have to be reinspected for this. Second was one electrical switch was missing a ground wire (a 5-minute job). Third was the bathroom fan needs a duct to vent the air it pulls outside. We have the duct and the hole in the roof already, there just wasn't time to get it installed. Finally, the inspector needs access tot he attic to look at the heater. Our new trap door wasn't cut yet and only access would be through the open ceiling in the bathroom. We know about this, and it will be done soon. So, this is really good news. All the things he found are minor and were going to be done anyway. We just have to fix them and have him come back to look at those 4 things.

The contractore had his crew start demolishing the front wall. This makes me so happy! The wall is really ugly and falling down. They managed to get the wrought iron off today. Here is a shot of the progress:






I had purchased some cheap cabinets and countertops from Home Depot, and have decided to return them because they no longer work with our kitchen design now that we got rid of all the old stuff. I'm really happy about this. I was able to arrange to have them pick the stuff up. They are not great with phone calls and follow through. When I spoke to the manager Saturday, he said they would call me early in the morning (6 to 8 a.m.) on Tuesday to let me know what time the truck would be here, and that he (the manager) would be in at 9 a.m. By 9:10 I had not gotten a phone call, so I called the manager. His extension put me into an unexplainable transfer Twilight Zone (transferred me to another desk, back to switchboard, etc). I finally managed to get a person on the phone who told me he wasn't in yet due to the rain. When I asked if someone else could help me he said no, but then said the manager was on the phone. After I held for about 5 minutes, he came back on and said "nobody has seen him in the building." OK, I understand the guy isn't there, but why would you tell me he's on the phone with as if you know he's there?

I finally reached the manager about 9:50, and he said he would have someone call me in 20 minutes. When no call came, I decided to wait until 11:00 before calling back. It was just before 11:00 that the pickup came. I was really happy, because now I have a "blank slate" in the kitchen. The Ikea cabinets will be nicer and cheaper.

Whlie I was waiting around (it was raining and cold), I worked on the kitchen design some more. There are so many little details to consider. I know from watching HGTV that you have to consider all the little things and not leave them to chance. There's the basics, like where the trash, recycling and compost go. Then there's other needs like where spices go, where vitamins go, where kitchen utensils go, etc.

In the afternoon, I ran to city hall to get a "no parking" permit for the street in front of our house for a concrete dumpster. I was shocked that I had to pay just to have exclusive use of the street for a few days. The dumpster is for the remains of the wall out front and the foundation in the backyard we are getting rid of.

I also tried to get ahold of the guy who worked with us at the window store. He is really lame, and didn't return two calls from me.