Woke during the night to pounding rain. Faded back to sleep. Woke again later. Waves of torrential rain. I got up and looked out the front window. Water was pouring over the front terrace wall like a waterfall. Great. Back to bed. The whole night and morning went that way. The house sits on a terrace that is lower then the front road. My filling and leveling had been compromised. It seemed the whole world was draining into our yard. Lovely. I like a challange.

So; I started the day by digging a quick trench with the tractor to redirect the flow. Then I went around and opened all the drains which were covered with floating pine straw.

Later I met with the contractor who is going to do some work to beat back some of the wilderness. My chipper was a bit of a ... disappointment. This contractor told me to call the county and rattle them about their road water coming across my yard. Be nice. Call endlessly.

Then we called the country to arrange the final inspection on the building we had errected. They immediately wanted to know about the "termite certification" papers. The "phfawt?" Termite certification. "Ah, ma'am ... it's a steel building sitting on a concrete slab. Is it a new slab or an old slab? "A new slab - we had a contractor do it". Well ... you need ... let me get someone else to explain it. "Five minutes of listening to music on hold". "YEAahH". Ah ... hello ... my name is Gary Barnes. We got a permit to errect a steel building. The lady was speaking about a termite certification .... "Right ... you need a termite certification before you can pour a concrete slab." You do? YES. We'll check and get back.

So - off to call the various contractors to track that down. "Dear God ... tell me they sprayed some termite spray or whatever ..... "

Then we called the cable provider. Went through the worst phone tree I've ever fought. Finally got to explain our issues. Got transferred. Eventually got cut off and had to do it again. After a year or two - we arranged to get a tech out here tomorrow. They suspect something must be wrong with the sytem.

Then off to the hardware store. Got some supplies, and some more pallets to offload the other trailer. Truck now full of pallets. Off to Walmart. Supplies for the lousy head/chest cold I've come down with. Full day. Crossing stuff off the list on one end - adding it back to the top again in a day or so. Go get 'em!!

Pics tomorrow. I tried to take some this evening, but the light was too pour.

GAry

Hey man, we can't have you starving the termites to death..That would br InHumane!! ya have to poison them to death.

Termite certification for concrete and steel, eh?

I knew that the bugs were bad down there in the Florida panhandle, but I had no idea they were THAT tough...

Good luck with the waterworks, we're dealing with the same thing up here in SE AK. No hurricanes (thankfully), just the daily rain.

Hi Rick, Sean. Thanks for posting.

Hello from the previous sunshine state. It's rained since I first scouted the place.

To move our story along - my building salesman once again came through. Seems the concrete guy (MIA) at present ... May have neglected to spray for termites. BUT ... The building salesman flew into action ( once the concrete guy cod not be reached) and he found a termite pest spray guy right here in town. Had him out here in 30 minutes from when he declared he'd take care of it. And he's covering the $360 and WILL find the concrete guy later.

So; the county should be pleased. The required paper had been filed. NOW they want a "roof affidavit ". And the building guy says it should be in the engineering papers. We shall see. So clearly; I've not escaped regulations or beuracrats. I guess they are on the dark side of the moon and in the center of the earth by now. Hope we can pass muster.

I worked on the erosion problem around the new building today. The rest of the property wants to bury it. But I have a tractor and I'll win this round.

Call for inspection again now. When I pass, I can finally move on.

Gary

Gary,

Sounds like you are having a ton of fun. I would expect the termite issue would have been covered in the permitting and inspection process. But, this is Florida. Good luck.

Keith

Hello Keith,

My experiences have been more centered around "rebuilding" then building new. A "Direct and Practical" mindset, is NOT an attribute well suited to meeting the endless rules and regs of the county and/or insurance folk. I'm REALLY trying to be as boring as I can and smile a lot.

I'll make another post with a few thoughts.

Gary

A concrete and steel termite, is a bad bug.