When the law is stupid….
Posted in farming, Life in NZ on 08/19/2005 12:15 am by Stephen….people will break the law.
Had yet another “final” inspection on the shed on Monday, this time by the council’s plumbing/drainage expert. It seems simply having a downspout from the gutter that runs over the hillside into a paddock is completely inadequate. What we need is a larger-diameter underground drain piper (buried at least 350 mm underground), running down the bank to a concrete culvert in the middle of the paddock.
What the $^%&?!?
When the required work is pointless, expensie, and oh-so-clearly “square peg-round hole”, it pisses me off. This is an inspector who does not want to think for himself, so he will just apply the city/suburb rules to a rural building. Argggh.
So, we have to put in the new system, and then call him out for another inspection before we bury it. And did I mention all this work has to be done by a qualified drainlayer? My plan is to talk to our drainlayer (neighbor down the street), then do 99% of the work myself. I will have the fellow come for the inspection. And once he leaves I am pulling all those (expensive!) components out of the ground, and returning them to the store. We will have a signed-off building, with a pipe going over the hillside. And I think we will have all learned an important lesson here. Well, all of us but the inspector. Did I mention “Argggh”?