Can of worms

I opened up a can of worms this morning by inviting our architect1 to come by the house.  He asked a bunch of very good questions about the structure that I could not answer.  So I put a call into the engineer to get some confirmation.

Our architect wanted to know why SOME OF THE ANGLE IRONS DON'T TOUCH THE WALL THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO SUPPORT.  Ummm, good catch!  I have no idea...I can't think of any good reason for this...I think someone f*cked up.

He also doesn't understand how we could demolish two interior (formerly exterior) walls without bracing them in order to support the force of the earth pushing in on them....Ummmm....errr...what?  No seriously, WHAT!?!?! Apparently the 'right thing to do' was leave a stub wall when they demo'd.  About a foot stub would hold back the earth.  We have no stubby walls....now what? I dunno...hopefully the engineer thought this stuff through before he ok'd it.  If not he will need to think up an alternative solution because those steel angles that don't touch, well they are right in that vicinity.

Finally, our architect has never seen the black dimple sheet on the inside of a structure.  He thinks its a MOLD MAGNET.  He was suggesting some product that you spray on the wall to make it water tight. Something  he thought Holmes recommended.  This I know a bit about...The black dimple sheet was installed before the floor was poured.  So it is cemented in between the concrete and concrete.  This leaves room for any moisture to seep down and find the weeping tile.  Or at least that's the explanation I got from the contractor.  Is this good enough?  I will see what the engineer says. (Besides, I've seen it done on HGTV before)

So my walls could cave in...and if they don't, we will die of some sort of respiratory illness from over exposure to mold.  Grrrrreat.  So how do you get resolution?  You know that the engineer and contractor will defend their work.  Not to mention I have never seen two contractors in agreement.  Building inspectors have been here, the engineer has been her several times...we have done everything we are suppose to do...now who to trust?

1   He is really REALLY talented...we would recommend him to all of our friends, if they had the patience to go slow and make every detail purrrrfect.  He is also your best resource for 'clean air', he knows all about off gasing & chemicals (he wont go anywhere near air fresheners)