Levels? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Levels

The next day the foundation was set to start in earnest. But it rained. It rained Wednesday, too. And Thursday. On Friday, for variety, it poured. Friday afternoon our contractor calls to tell me the mason would be there on Saturday, and would work the entire weekend to make up for lost time.

Saturday the mason and his crew arrive around Noon (I guess they didn't feel all that compelled to catch up). They lay one row of cinderblocks, measure a lot, stop and talk for a while, and then leave around 2. They don't come back, either that day or the next.

Monday morning the contractor calls and says we have a bit of a "situation." It seems the reason the mason stopped working was because he suddenly discovered the back corner of our house is 1 1/2 inches lower than the front. So that slight slope in the dining room I always sensed wasn't my imagination. Anyway, we have two choices: either make the addition perfectly level and have a small step up from the kitchen into the new dining room, or else slant the addition to match the house.

Two problems with the first option. First, if there is a step out of one doorway but not the other (into the living room) the house will look like an Escher drawing. Second, we happen to have a lot of what I will charitably call klutzy friends and relatives... even a tiny step would be an accident waiting to happen. Option number two seems the most practical, since the slant isn't really all that noticeable. Except to me.

A few questions before we decide. How do we know the original structure won't sink any more? The contractor tells me the height difference isn't from sinking, it's that the house was built crooked. I guess levels weren't in popular use until the '70's. Okay, will the addition sink at all? I ask. No, it is so reinforced it isn't going anywhere. So, if we match it we'll be fine. Then that's what we'll do. I get to make the most interesting decisions by cell phone.

Monday the 8th it rains. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday it's still bloody raining. Finally, there's a slight clearing on Friday so they can actually finish the walls of the foundation. That afternoon the building inspector comes by, looks, and says yup, seems like a foundation to me.