Fences
So I don't write much here as I can usually find a better use for my time, but sometimes I find the need to vent my frustration.
Today, it's the wall/fence behind my house. You see the architect designed this modest 70 cm (28 inch) wall behind our house. Only she didn't take into account the grade. So this modest wall actually became a six to eight foot high retaining wall. It was nice to sit on it. It was set up for lights in it. It was comfortable.
But then it wasn't to code. You see, in Israel, you need to have a 110 centimeter wall or fence to prevent falls. So Sharleen went and ordered a fence (another ordeal I probably will never share about) figuring that it would make up the additional 40 centimeters.
But that's not what we got, You see if you stick the fence into the top of the wall (cutting off the electric to our lights), the extant top of the wall becomes a step and you have to go 110 centimeters up from there.
Which is what they did. Sharleen cried when she saw it; it felt like a prison to her, and it looks awful. I had the good sense to tell them to not concrete it in: we'll cut down the wall and reset the fence after we have our certificate of occupancy. But it's not exactly cheap to have 15 or so meters of foot wide reinforced concrete cut down.
And it's on us. But that's not all. The architect had the same height walls on our balconies. When I went back into one of her sketches, I saw prison height fences. So maybe it was on me to ask, but I don't know why you would do that to a person. Of course, we noticed this when it would have been a major hassle to build up the wall the extra 40 centimeters (but it probably still would have been cheaper than the solution we ended on).
You see, if the fence on the inside lines up with the inside of the wall, or is inside it, then you don't have the "Step." so what we have is a custom piece of fence that attaches outside, but arcs over the wall so that the inside rail is above the inside of the wall. You can't sit on; maybe you can put a plate or a cup of coffee on it.
I'm reminded of advice I heard a while back. Don't ever hire anyone when the recommendation comes with a warning. Our neighbor used the same architect, but he said "You've got to ride her." The thing is when a person is ready to accept less than the best from himself in one area, it's likely to carry over. And if it rises to the level that someone is irritated enough to say something, it has already risen to the level of a red flag.
And we'd spoken to someone else we liked a lot, but she was from a different regional council, and she cost 17% more, and we figured we'd stick with the local talent. She knew the players here and whom to see to get things done. But none of that was to any avail.
We're looking on a wall that's going to cost us quite a bit more than that 17% to cut down. And that's just one of many screw-ups.