September Building Update

Big news, in several ways, this month.  First off, not only is the framing for the bathroom completed but, yesterday, I met with our structural engineer and he signed off on his final inspection.  Which means that the whole, big, complicated structural job that we started over a year ago in the basement is completed, from an engineering standpoint.  He said that it was a very nice job and that everything looked great.

This is a big milestone not just for the obvious reasons but also because it marks the end of the section of the job that I had no experience doing.  The blessedly innocent Alan of 2018 knew nothing of I-beams, steel-reinforced foundations, engineered lumber, or how to get a 400 lb. beam 13 feet in the air.  He also never considered that he would not only be intimately familiar with the Simpson Company catalog, but that he would own his own dog-eared copy of it!

So, at least for that job, we're out of my particular patch of woods.  Now it's just coordinating the plumber and electrician (did that and got the T-shirt when we built out the cafe), hanging sheet-rock (which I hate exactly because I've done it so many damn times), finish carpentry (can do it in my sleep and, in fact, I have), and tile (which I don't do but . . . I know people -- Jim, I'm looking at you).  It'll take time but it should be clear, easy, and straightforward work.

The other piece of big news is that the other, how-the-hell-do-I-do-this? job -- putting in the beams and posts to frame the new front of the building -- is done as of Sunday.  That job has a few wrinkles to smooth out still, but it should be pretty simple as well.  That was just in time because, on Friday, I discovered that they are going to be replacing the sidewalk all along Haight Street over the next month.  Since the current temporary wall that closes up the front of the building is built on top of the sidewalk they're going to replace, it's a very good thing that building the new front is moving along.  Thankfully they're not going to get to our building 'til near the end of the process, so we've got about three weeks to have the new front built up enough that we can remove the temporary one.  I'm pretty sure we can make it but it's going to be a long month for me until we're done.

So, that's were we stand.  There are many possible next steps, several of which can happen at the same time; get the rough plumbing done, get the front built, and, as soon as I'm cleared by the city inspector, start closing up the outside walls of the bathroom (inside walls will have to wait 'til the plumber is done with his work).  I think that next month I'll have even more news of work completed.  And, just possibly, an actual, informed guess about when we'll be moving.

And how damn exciting is _that_?

All Best,
Alan