Buyer Be There

HI...I am the other half of this project....I can't say the brawn, because we will both be working together on all of the constuction....I just wanted to touch on the last 24 hrs. right now....Shopping for tools and materials can be time consummeing and expensive, so I like to shop weeks or even months before I need something.....You get to educate yourself (I have changed my mind about purchases several times) and find the best prices, recognizing a "good deal" when you find it.....So as much as I didn't want to leave home, I spent the last 24 hours on the road picking up bargins , Driving a 400 round trip. I now have soft closing drawers slides(15 pairs)...a savings of $32 each...wow!!!.....and have saved myself the price of a new table saw by upgrading my saw fence, and finding that for $150, saving $179 over a new one....I am now watching the ads for some logs that I can cut into 2x4's .....Ha ha ha......When I returned home today...my new tools arrived. A rotary hammer, and a nail gun with a coupon for a free grinder, all at about 25% off...Aren't sales great.......

Remodel Plans are at the County Buidling Department

Yesterday our plans went to the County Building Department. Yes, I can hardly believe it myself, the engineer is finished with all of his calculations and input, the truss company and their engineer are finished and we finally have plans, real plans.

The county estimates it will take approximately 3 weeks before we hear anything. I'm sure if there are any problems we'll hear something sooner. So for now "No News is Good News". We've got a few projects we'll be working on while we are waiting.

The house currently only sits on piers and posts and has no real foundation so in the next three weeks we'll be digging footings for the foundation under the old section of the house that will remain and get a major remodel. Digging the footings will no doubt be a wonderful adventure as one wall of the house is a cinder block/cement wall so the house can not be raised while we dig the footings. The remaining footings (2) have to be dug by hand because of this and oh did I mention the digging is in slate!

Additionally, we have to set up the 5th wheel including plumbing it to the septic tank, plumbing the fresh water supply to it and setting up electrical service to it. I've all ready decided that remodeling requires a lot of digging. Oh well, we're in gold country so maybe we'll strike it rich! HA!

How We Got Here

On January 1, 2008 we sold our 2500+ square foot home which was designed and built by my husband. We moved into our 540 square foot "cottage" that we'd previously kept as a rental property. Just the downsizing was incredibly amazing and somehow we've managed to adjust with our reduction in space over the past year. A remodel and addition was always in the plan and so we began the arduous task of designing, drawing plans, consulting the engineer, and we are finally at the point of submitting our plans to the County Building Services Department.

Just getting to this first critical step has been an adventure. The house currently sets on 1.5 acres but the house itself sets within 10 feet of one of the property lines. This was our first hurdle. How to add another 500 square feet and not go any closer to the property line than 30 feet! A minor readjustment in our initial plan of "just adding out the back" but one that will leave us with a very cute, functional addition that will now also provide a nice private deck.

So this blog will chronicle the remainder of this journey from clearing the county and obtaining a building permit, demolition and construction, inspections, etc and all the agreeing, disagreeing and squabbles that will inevitably result.

By the way, did I mention that during all of this we'll be living in our 27 foot 5th wheel? Oh yeah, the two of us, the two dogs and the two cats are downsizing even more for the duration of the project. It is a good thing we like each other. The true test will be if we still like each other when all is said and done!