M went to meet the building inspector at his site, roughly the same way one goes to meet one's executioner. He'd already been on the phone with the inspector to ask questions, like "Do you think 5/8" rebar would work there? Because the engineer says 3/4" is too much, but that's what the plans call for, so..." Yeah, he was just hoping the inspector could look over what we'd done so far and give him a heads-up as to mistakes we'd made, because the forms and reinforcement were clearly not yet ready for a sign-off.
Then he came back all excited and told me, "I've got a sign-off!"
Because there's one way in which this is a great place to live. Government-nanny types don't thrive here. "Yeah, 5/8" rebar is more than enough for the purpose, and we see that you understand that you need to install some, and while if you go ahead and pour concrete without installing them we'd have a problem, clearly you see that you'd have an even bigger problem if you did that so we know you're going to do the right thing and there's no reason to delay the pour just to jump through a bureaucratic hoop. So here's your sign-off, and go ahead and schedule the pour."
Gad, I love it here.
Memewhile...
7 minutes ago
3 comments:
Good for M! Pour the concrete, it hides all sins!
Congratulations!
Now watch for the old trick used by A$$hole concrete truck drivers: they aim the chute directly at one edge of your forms, and the huge weight of the rapidly dumped concrete wrecks your hard work.
Make them pour in the center and rake/slump it out to the edges, don't let them shoot the wet concrete directly at the form.
Good luck.
Oh, no no no. Mr. Concrete Truck never comes near the forms. This is usually because we build in ridiculous, unlikely places and the trucks can't get close enough. But even when they can, most folks still use pumper trucks so that they don't have to schlep the damned stuff around. With a pumper, all you have to do is move the hose, and the concrete goes where it's supposed to.
Usually. If the hose doesn't clog. And the pump doesn't break down. And the driver doesn't get lost. And the mix isn't too stiff. All these things have happened in my experience, which isn't even all that extensive.
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