Just when you think you're done, you're not

I should have written this post awhile ago, but I may have been too frustrated. What you see above is a hole in the counter where the sink was, but then wasn't. Here is the brief, sad tale of two sinks.

The first sink was not level, but after shimming and caulking, it looked pretty good. The inconsistency faced the back, so no one would notice. Then we put water in the sink, and after a couple of days we noticed a one and a half inch rusty line starting from the drain--a crack. Our plumber agreed this was not good and ordered a new one.

Sink two arrives and before it goes in the "old" one comes out, only maybe it should have been checked over very carefully. Maybe I should have looked. But I didn't. I was out on the deck trying to stay out of it. I was reading peacefully when Mike came out and said, "You need to come have a look at the new sink," and I could tell by his tone of voice that things were not good.

This one was worse! There was what looked like a chip on the left front corner exposing the cast iron. No caulk would cover that one.

Remember now, the first sink was out in the truck already. Here's where our patience was tested. "No," we said, "You don't need to put the other one back in." But can't we have someone inspect the next sink to make sure it's not flawed.

I'll leave out the really interesting part where we call the plumber and set things up and miss phone calls and all that, but skip to Friday (four days later) when the third and final sink was installed. It's not perfect either, but it's perfect enough.

There were a couple of other glitches, too, after Mike triumphantly tore up the building permit (I think he tempted fate by doing that).

The building inspector decided only fifteen minutes after he left our house for what we thought was the last time that yeah, those two outlets in question need to be GFI outlets. We had to get Steve the electrician back for that.

But the glitch I love best was when the plumber used a hand cart to bring in sink number two instead of waiting for Mike to help him carry it (those cast iron sinks are HEAVY!!) and he nicked up the brand new stair metals. So, I had to call and ask them to pay for replacements. I hate doing stuff like that.

As of August 25, everything was done. It wasn't quite Thanksgiving, but it was close.