Porchblogging: Another Go

The concrete is done, but for the ground slab. The wall(s) and stairs are complete. That means it's time to build the deck: a transition point in the work, and a milestone in the contract. (Time to bust out the checkbook.)

But my contractor is wondering how I'm doing on the permit application. Hell if I know. It's been two weeks since I've heard that nothing's been done.

So tomorrow I'll go down in person, and hope (again) for the best.

I'll even bring a picture of my neighbor's backyard, which plainly shows that the other side of my retaining wall is...a void. My neighbors' steps to their basement are on the other side. This means that there is virtually no load coming from that side of the wall. And there's no load coming from my side of the wall. Which means it's more like a masonry fence than a retaining wall...which should minimize the engineering requirements they lay on me.