It's Always Something

Just when I thought things would start moving again, there has been another snag. In particular, there’s an inspection issue with the fire sprinkler in the former kitchen space.

The sprinkler itself has always confused me. In most buildings there are either sprinklers in every room or no sprinklers at all. My apartment — and all the others in my building, as far as I’m aware — have one sprinkler, and it’s only in the original kitchen spaces.

On some level this makes sense. Cooking generates a lot of heat, and people often use oil to cook, which is another fire hazard. In a multi-family setting, I can see why it would make sense.

At the same time, it’s bizarre and frustrating. Most acutely, the lack of sprinklers everywhere means that I have to have a second means of egress from my apartment (beyond my front door), which is the reason I have a vestigial door in my bedroom that causes me no end of annoyances for no gain. Remedying that is a future renovation project.

Building inspection had two concerns with the sprinkler as the layout of my apartment has changed due to the renovation. First, that the coverage might not be as good or the same with the layout changes. Second, that the sprinkler might not work as designed because the previous owner did a shoddy paint job. The sprinkler isn’t supposed to be painted.

The delay is annoying on its face. It’s even more frustrating because it has to be done by the company who manages the fire suppression systems for the entire building rather than the contractor. I have to do all the coordination myself, and I’m not optimistic the fire suppression firm will be especially prompt. See also the earlier asbestos incident. Moreover, there was a communications gap: I didn’t hear about this requirement for several days, adding some needless delay.

Until this is fixed, it’s effectively impossible for the contractor to make further progress on the actual construction.

There too it’s hard to stay sanguine. I finally got a revised schedule for the rest of the program. It puts the completion date in mid-September. That’s two months after the original completion date on a project that was only meant to take three months. And the schedule has already been blown: according to the chart they sent, drywall was supposed to happen on Monday. That can’t possibly happen given the delay with the sprinkler.

• Framing inspection (25-28 July)
• Insulation (28-29 July)
• Insulation inspection (29 July-1 August)
• Drywall (1-3 August)
• Base cabinet installation (3-5 August)
• Flooring installation (5-9 August)
• Wall cabinet installation (9-11 August)
• Countertop templates (11-12 August)
• Panel installation (12-17 August)
• Baseboard (17-18 August)
• Priming (18-19 August)
• First coat (19-22 August)
• Second coat (22-23 August)
• Countertop installation (23-24 August)
• Cabinet handles (24-25 August)
• Electric fixture installation (25-26 August)
• Plumbing fixture installation (26-29 August)
• Punch list (29 August-5 September)
• Cleaning (5-6 September)
• Final electrical inspection (6-8 September)
• Final plumbing inspection (8-12 September)
• Final inspection (12-14 September)

I’ll make do — there’s not much choice at this point — but suffice to say cracks are beginning to show in my level of patience.