The Fatality of Half an Inch!

While waiting for the verdict on the toilet, let me tell you about another surprise! After just a month of dealing with this project, I can assure you that renovation is a synonym for unpleasant surprise!

Just 10 days ago I was quite pleased with the beautiful new soffit in the kitchen. It looked nice and the ceiling is leveled, gone is the 3 inch height difference corner to corner. The next day the electrician was in to put in the socket for the recessed lights. Things are really moving.

New soffit and leveled ceiling

Recessed bucket installed.

Aside from the ceiling, all electrical wirings in the living room are done. There is a pipe in the concrete trench leading from the kitchen island to the main panel.

So all is well but did anyone forget to measure the height? Apparently so. The cabinets and fridge require a 84" clearance. The soffit was built down to end up having a 84" height between floor and ceiling. That's exactly what happened, but the floor is not in yet, the carpenters forgot that the cabinets are to sit on top of the floor!!! Once the 0.5" floor is installed, there is only 83.5" in height. It's half an inch less than required.

In the mean time the frames and most of the cabinets are done. I posted pictures of those a few weeks ago. And guess what, they are 84". This half an inch is essential, so either the cabinets have to be chopped, or the soffit needs to be rebuilt and the light sockets need to be reinstalled. That's 3 or 4 days of work and materials. Who is going to pay for all this? I don't think it should be me. But even when you've been reassured that that's a mistake and it won't cost you, how do I really know? It's quite hard to say as everything is an estimate after all. This half an inch is very costly.