Everything Happens for a Reason

Last Wednesday, the Building and  Safety inspector came over to look at the foundation structure and give his OK to pour the concrete. Well, it turns out that the trenches were too shallow.  Not by an inch or two, but by 10 1/2 inches! Apparently, according to Darryl, there was a lot of finger pointing between the contractor, the concrete supervisor and the inspector, but ultimately, the trenches had to be re-dug and then re-framed correctly.

Rebar - up close
and personal

So the pour was postponed from Thursday to Saturday and Darryl and I were concerned about losing 2 days and probably having to pay more for the extra work. Then, as you may remember, on Thursday we had that freak rainstorm. It was one of those crazy So Cal things, where the rain was absolutely pouring down but only in very small areas. In fact, when we stood in our backyard, half of it was wet and half was dry. We literally moved from one side to the other and moved from rain to no rain.

Being the newly minted expert on all things building-related, I now know that rain and freshly poured concrete are not a good mix, especially when that concrete is there to hold up your house. So the fact that the pour ended up being postponed was probably the best thing that could have happened. Knowing us, we would have worried ourselves silly thinking about all the potential damage to the foundation.

Darryl was in charge of making sure the cement
truck was working correctly (!)

When I was pregnant, I remember so many women telling me the horror stories about their pregnancies. It was like they were trying to help me, but at the same time they took some secret delight in scaring me. Going through a home remodel seems to bring out that same instinct in some people, and I realize that they're not really trying to scare me, they're trying to initiate me into an exclusive club of people who have been through remodel hell and come out the other side with a beautiful (fingers crossed) new home to show for it. So I tell this story not to scare anyone off from remodeling, but to show that everything happens for a reason and it's just not worth it to worry about every little thing as it happens. After all, you have to keep the big picture in mind (and sometimes I do have to look at the plans to remind myself what exactly that big picture is!). And I have learned that "going with the flow" applies not just to cement but to home owners who are crazy enough to attempt a remodel.


The concrete coming out of the truck into
the pipe