Sometimes things work out in the end.  I was walking my dog late last night and decided to stroll by the job site to pick up the footing inspection ticket.  We had already finished the forms before the inspector was scheduled to come yesterday afternoon and didn’t bother sticking around and waiting as they always passed our footers in the past without being there.  Walked down to the site and picked up the ticket and my heart plummeted when I saw the box for Fail checked.

The city has hired a new building inspector and he failed us for get this: not having the approved plans for him there to verify that what we did in the field matches with what is on paper.   The nerve of him!  Obviously, I can only blame myself. I had grown accustom to the other inspectors that have not checked the plans during footing inspections and have instead just verified that I am not violating any setbacks and doing everything to code.

I already had the concrete lined up for first thing. I felt like a fool as that past afternoon I told the concrete dispatcher that, “we are all formed up, ready to go and there’s no reason why we wouldn’t be ready.” Idiot.

Called off the concrete truck first thing in the morning. Met the guys in the morning and told them we weren’t pouring and they headed up to Riverbluff.  I ran around town and was able to track down Woody, the inspector.  He gave me a proper scolding, but I showed him the plans and he passed me without having to come back out.  I was greatful for that as you have to schedule inspections 24 hours in advance, so it would have pushed us back by two days. The pour was back on.

Pretty uneventful pour.  Just a whole lot of wheelbarrowing as the truck was able to only reach one corner of the foundation. Sky was overcast and perfect.  The last couple houses we roasted in the hot summer sun. Plus interior footprint was completely dry, so we didn’t really have to slog away.  Montrose was a mud pit when we poured and we had to set this whole series of walkboards to stay out of the mud and even then spilled some full wheelbarrows when we lost control.

One thing that has been working nicely for us is our system for leveling up the footers.  When the excavator cuts out for the foundation, we just make sure he cuts it within an inch of level.  Then, we are able to have enough tolerance to just sit our 2 x 10 form boards right on the dirt. We then take our laser level and mark a level line all the way around the inside of the form, making sure that we maintain at least an eight inch depth. Chalk some lines and then we tack a 1/4″ firring strip up with trim nails that we screed the top of the concrete to that.  It all goes pretty quick as we don’t have to worry about leveling up the top of the 2 x 10s.