Today I dealt with the local land use permit people. I won't go into details except to say I learned several new things.
1) The map we got with the sale of the house is grossly inaccurate.
The township claims their right of way for the road is actually 18' from the center line of the road. That would put the curb about in the middle of my swimming pool at its current location if they widen the road. It would also take out the two lovely, large spruce trees that screen the house from the road.
Time to plant a "second line of defense" against that future...
2) I can't put up a deck off the barn loft.
The barn sits in front of the front face of the house. Buildings that sit in front of the house can't be expanded. Period. Apparently a second story deck is an "expansion."
3) I should have gotten a demolition permit for the dangerously rotted out 6' by 6' deck and stairs that led to the loft until a few months ago.
They're going to let me slide on that one...
4) I can only replace what was "pre-existing" on the barn.
So a 6x6 foot deck will have to go back in there. (Though I doubt it had a permit either.) They didn't say I couldn't park a trailer alongside the deck and sit on it's roof... ;) Or put in REALLY big doors so you could sit inside the barn and enjoy the view. But I was looking forward to sitting there on sunny, cool days in the fall, enjoying the view and the air.
5) Once a bedroom, always a bedroom.
We're converting two bedrooms in the present house into office space, removing closets, etc. The third presently existing bedroom will become the new second floor bathroom. We'll be adding one master bedroom/bath in the new addition. So we're taking a three bedroom house and essentially making it a one bedroom house. But for them, it's still a three bedroom house, because you COULD use those offices for bedrooms... (Don't tell them that you COULD use the library as four bedrooms if you wanted to. And you COULD use the third floor workroom as a bedroom if you wanted to. And you COULD build an apartment in the barn if you wanted to... But hey, if they skip the sewer inspection and approve the land use permit, I'll be happy.)
[begin irony] I can't wait for the actual building permit process... [end irony]
On to other topics...
The barn is wired. Ta da!
BUT. (You knew there had to be a but, right?)
It's been beastly hot and humid here and I've hidden out in the worst of it to read up and research some more about wiring shops/barns. Turns out I made some boo-boos according to code and "best practice" so I want to go back now and correct them. I used metal handy boxes; they need to be grounded properly to the ground wire. And I didn't take a turn of electrical tape around the outside of switches and outlets to make sure they don't contact the inside of the box. I should probably have used conduit instead of Romex, but I can shield the wires from mechanical damage so they don't get banged up.
I found a really neat old local lumber yard and they deliver for free! Haven't taken the time to compare prices/delivery costs, but I really like the guys there. They're knowledgable and friendly. Goes a long way with me. The lumber to replace the north door header is in the shop, ready to go! Now all I need is some scaffolding and we're ready to start!
I've worked out a system to figure out which wire is which with regard to the "extra wires" running through the conduit from the house to the barn/shop. Hope to hop on that tomorrow morning and get those labelled.
I've got a meeting with the cabinet guy later in the day to finalize cutouts for the appliances.
Word to the wise: when you're holding a handy box against a concrete block wall and hammer drilling through the box into the block so you can fasten it with a Tapcon screw, keep your thumb OUTside the box. You will save some sore muscles and keep your skin intact. Otherwise the drill might suddenly lunge forward when it goes through the wall of the block and the chuck (with those lovely grooves where the key tightens it up) could come into contact with your thumb. ...
I have to say, my first thought was not, "Praise the Lord!" That came later. Thank God for Neosporin and bandaids.
I want to vacuum the loft first thing in the cool of tomorrow morning, then make the wiring fixes, then figure out the conduit wires, then see the cabinet guy. Not sure what I'll do after that. My 'to do' list is four pages long, double columned. I'll think of something... :)
Cheerz, my friends,
Doug
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
June 21 - update
Catchy title, eh? :)
Since I last wrote we've been finishing up plans (seems like there's always another "layer to the onion" as we nail down successive layers of details), working on the yard (so we can manuver around in it without thumping into rocks or brush) and continuing to bring civilization to the barn/shop.
Today was a microcosm of the effort. I spent the morning dealing with the kitchen cabinet folks. They took me on a tour of the facilities, which felt a lot like home (my dad was a building contractor and kept a wood mill for cabinets, etc.). There's no smell like a wood shop. Then I wrote them a check for about half what my folks paid for their 3 bedroom house and 10 acres of land in N.J. in 1945. Whew! Biggest check I've written in a while. But these guys do quality work and have put a lot of effort into the planning and layout.
I stopped in the local burger joint and treated myself to a mushroom swiss burger, and half an hour in the A/C. Today was a GORGEOUS day, but it still felt good to cool off a bit.
Then it was on to Walnut Hill, to tackle the wiring in the shop/barn. I kept rough track of my time and it takes me about an hour to run wire and set a box. Sheesh! At that rate I'll be on Social Security by the time I finish the wiring in the house. ;) But there are now lights and eight functional outlets in the shop area. I will probably want to expand and upgrade that at some point, but it's something I can work with for now. I was able to use some of the existing wiring, but the connections were all weird so I ended up redoing almost all of them. Added box covers, added boxes, put in six new outlets and redid all the existing ones. Turned out I needed heavier guage wire than what I'd bought so I had to make a run to Lowes and stock up on more stuff. I figure it take 1.5 to 2 hours for a Lowes run. Whew.
I'd debated over whether to work outside today or do electrical chores. As it turned out, rain came through around 5PM and it was good to be inside and able to finish up my task.
I've got to research the code on securing the wires on block walls, but it's functional for now.
Hopefully next week we can get going on replacing the north door header. Once that's taken care of, I can build and install a barn door. Then we'll be able to move in a table saw, etc. and really go to town.
I priced windows while I was at Lowes and had a bad case of sticker shock. I think I'll go to a place I found about an hour away. They do "odd lots" of windows and other building materials. I don't need perfect nor fancy for the shop. I just need something to let in the light and keep out the wind and rain. The good news is that the window rough opening in the barn takes a standard basement window perfectly. I'd like to lower the sill on the eastern windows to let in more early morning light. I think I can take out a course of block and be in good shape.
Early next week I'll tackle the upstairs electric situation and make sure I can run the vacuum up there. The loft is full of broken glass, rat dung, etc. so I've been working at using the shop vac to clear it up before I store anything up there. Once that's set though, I'm going to pretty much empty my garage here at the old house.
This weekend I'm out of town and I'll probably spend most of Friday morning preparing for the trip. It will be good to spend time with friends, but I'll miss pressing forward and keeping the momentum up.
Well, it's late, I'm rambling and I need to get to bed. Thanks for tracking our progress!
Doug
Since I last wrote we've been finishing up plans (seems like there's always another "layer to the onion" as we nail down successive layers of details), working on the yard (so we can manuver around in it without thumping into rocks or brush) and continuing to bring civilization to the barn/shop.
Today was a microcosm of the effort. I spent the morning dealing with the kitchen cabinet folks. They took me on a tour of the facilities, which felt a lot like home (my dad was a building contractor and kept a wood mill for cabinets, etc.). There's no smell like a wood shop. Then I wrote them a check for about half what my folks paid for their 3 bedroom house and 10 acres of land in N.J. in 1945. Whew! Biggest check I've written in a while. But these guys do quality work and have put a lot of effort into the planning and layout.
I stopped in the local burger joint and treated myself to a mushroom swiss burger, and half an hour in the A/C. Today was a GORGEOUS day, but it still felt good to cool off a bit.
Then it was on to Walnut Hill, to tackle the wiring in the shop/barn. I kept rough track of my time and it takes me about an hour to run wire and set a box. Sheesh! At that rate I'll be on Social Security by the time I finish the wiring in the house. ;) But there are now lights and eight functional outlets in the shop area. I will probably want to expand and upgrade that at some point, but it's something I can work with for now. I was able to use some of the existing wiring, but the connections were all weird so I ended up redoing almost all of them. Added box covers, added boxes, put in six new outlets and redid all the existing ones. Turned out I needed heavier guage wire than what I'd bought so I had to make a run to Lowes and stock up on more stuff. I figure it take 1.5 to 2 hours for a Lowes run. Whew.
I'd debated over whether to work outside today or do electrical chores. As it turned out, rain came through around 5PM and it was good to be inside and able to finish up my task.
I've got to research the code on securing the wires on block walls, but it's functional for now.
Hopefully next week we can get going on replacing the north door header. Once that's taken care of, I can build and install a barn door. Then we'll be able to move in a table saw, etc. and really go to town.
I priced windows while I was at Lowes and had a bad case of sticker shock. I think I'll go to a place I found about an hour away. They do "odd lots" of windows and other building materials. I don't need perfect nor fancy for the shop. I just need something to let in the light and keep out the wind and rain. The good news is that the window rough opening in the barn takes a standard basement window perfectly. I'd like to lower the sill on the eastern windows to let in more early morning light. I think I can take out a course of block and be in good shape.
Early next week I'll tackle the upstairs electric situation and make sure I can run the vacuum up there. The loft is full of broken glass, rat dung, etc. so I've been working at using the shop vac to clear it up before I store anything up there. Once that's set though, I'm going to pretty much empty my garage here at the old house.
This weekend I'm out of town and I'll probably spend most of Friday morning preparing for the trip. It will be good to spend time with friends, but I'll miss pressing forward and keeping the momentum up.
Well, it's late, I'm rambling and I need to get to bed. Thanks for tracking our progress!
Doug
Friday, June 08, 2007
It's June, and we're busting out all over.
Greetings, family and friends!
I've been busy chasing down loose ends at the end of my school year so I haven't done much on the house or on here the last few weeks. My apologies to all those who are tracking our progress and hanging on every word. :)
Today we visited the local building code inspector and learned two things of supreme importance.
1) Anything done within the existing structure does not need a permit nor an inspection.
You could have knocked me over with a feather when they said this. This means we can build, renovate, etc. within the "old house" at our own pace, without waiting for inspections, etc. It also means that if we get that done, we can move in there and work on the rest of it a bit at a time. Yeah! (Right now we're paying rent AND a mortgage...) It won't be convenient, but it could be done in a pinch.
2) We do not need to use licensed tradesmen to pull permits and do the work.
This frees us up to do more of the work ourselves (and with trusted friends), thus lowering the cost of the project. There are still two things I absolutely want to hire out, the foundation and the roof. The first because I don't have the expert knowledge to make no mistakes on it, the second because I don't like heights. :)
We also visited our friendly local insurance broker. The bad news on the day is that we can't get liability insurance to protect us against injuries on the place. But the house itself will be insured against loss of the building, etc. before the week is out. Guess I have to stop making jokes about burning the place down and starting fresh. :)
We can't get homeowners until we live there, but even if we had it and they found out we're doing construction, they'd cancel it. So we're stuck with this situation for the forseeable future. You'd think a country that could land a man on the moon 38 years ago could figure out how to insure against injuries while you worked on it...
Our last stop of the day was Lowes to buy some boxes and electrical parts so I could try to get the electricity in the barn figured out and straightened out. It's a rat's nest in there.
I have an existing conduit that comes up out of the ground with about eight wires in it, none of them tagged. None of them romex. They're all braided wire, not solid copper. Out of that bunch I have two white and six black. There should be half and half in my book, but that's not what I've got, so it's really "mix and match".
After the better part of *six* hours work this afternoon and evening I have got one matched pair hooked up to the pool circuit, with one outlet solidly mounted inside the barn that's "hot." That will get me power to tools in the shop with extension cords for the time being.
It took so long in part because the breaker panel is in the basement of the house, and every time I wanted to figure out which of the three circuits out there I was dealing with, I had to walk inside, hop down the stairs (they are rotted off half way down), trip the breaker and then clamber back up/out and across the yard again. The good side of this is that the basement was about 55F and a welcome relief from the 95F outside. (A very intense thunder storm rolled through about 7PM and -really- cooled things off, whew!) I've identified the two black wires for circuits #2 and #3, but I've only got one white left and not sure which one it goes to. There's got to be a way to do this, but it'll take some research.
One other weird thing is that they installed three, count them, three, wires out to what we call the chicken shed (but they used it as a kids hang out we think). Not sure why they needed three wires out from the barn to the chicken shed, because the feed all came out from the house through one set of wires. Oh, well. Another mystery to ponder...
Nah.
I disconnected those three wires and I'm going to re-route that "chicken coop" circuit to the barn, so I can have one circuit for the loft upstairs and another for the workshop downstairs. It'll take some work, but it's inside, a good rainy weather job.
My previous theory about where the power came from and went to re: the pool, etc. turned out to be all wrong. Once I started disconnecting things and really analyzing it, I found out that my first idea, the logical way to route things with a minimum of trenches, was really the way it was. So I thought I was wrong, but it turned out I was right at the start. :)
I took the little push mower back over in the truck, anticipating getting some mowing in, but the heat really didn't make that look like a good idea. I tinkered with the barn electricity instead. The grass will have to wait for another day. My blood hasn't thinned out to summer consistency yet.
Did I mention that the starter on Eloise fried several weeks ago? I've been having to roll her down a hill to start her, and the most suitable hill is on the back of the property, which means she sat outside for a few weeks. Not a good idea. So last time I ran her I put her in the barn, which means I either had to get a new starter (hard to find) or use a hand crank (easy to find on eBay). Remember the Model T's? Cranking over the tractor is supposed to be like that apparently. I just have to remember to keep my thumb outside the handle in case she kicks back.
Well, I bought a hand crank for Eloise off eBay and it arrived this week. It was supposed to be painted red, to match the tractor, but arrived bare metal. The seller was notified but hasn't responded to my request for a 1/3 rebate. I'm anxious to see if it will work, but forgot to take it with me today. At some point I need to replace her starter, but tracking one down and installing it is more work than I want to get involved in right now.
Tomorrow we're going to go look at some kitchen cabinets. They've quoted us about $25,000 for a very complex and complete kitchen. That's a huge chunk of the budget, so we'll see if we can lower it a bit, but it's really a good deal for what we're getting.
Need to hit the shower and then the bed. I didn't do a lot of heavy lifting today, but I'm a bit pooped. :) More another day.
Doug
I've been busy chasing down loose ends at the end of my school year so I haven't done much on the house or on here the last few weeks. My apologies to all those who are tracking our progress and hanging on every word. :)
Today we visited the local building code inspector and learned two things of supreme importance.
1) Anything done within the existing structure does not need a permit nor an inspection.
You could have knocked me over with a feather when they said this. This means we can build, renovate, etc. within the "old house" at our own pace, without waiting for inspections, etc. It also means that if we get that done, we can move in there and work on the rest of it a bit at a time. Yeah! (Right now we're paying rent AND a mortgage...) It won't be convenient, but it could be done in a pinch.
2) We do not need to use licensed tradesmen to pull permits and do the work.
This frees us up to do more of the work ourselves (and with trusted friends), thus lowering the cost of the project. There are still two things I absolutely want to hire out, the foundation and the roof. The first because I don't have the expert knowledge to make no mistakes on it, the second because I don't like heights. :)
We also visited our friendly local insurance broker. The bad news on the day is that we can't get liability insurance to protect us against injuries on the place. But the house itself will be insured against loss of the building, etc. before the week is out. Guess I have to stop making jokes about burning the place down and starting fresh. :)
We can't get homeowners until we live there, but even if we had it and they found out we're doing construction, they'd cancel it. So we're stuck with this situation for the forseeable future. You'd think a country that could land a man on the moon 38 years ago could figure out how to insure against injuries while you worked on it...
Our last stop of the day was Lowes to buy some boxes and electrical parts so I could try to get the electricity in the barn figured out and straightened out. It's a rat's nest in there.
I have an existing conduit that comes up out of the ground with about eight wires in it, none of them tagged. None of them romex. They're all braided wire, not solid copper. Out of that bunch I have two white and six black. There should be half and half in my book, but that's not what I've got, so it's really "mix and match".
After the better part of *six* hours work this afternoon and evening I have got one matched pair hooked up to the pool circuit, with one outlet solidly mounted inside the barn that's "hot." That will get me power to tools in the shop with extension cords for the time being.
It took so long in part because the breaker panel is in the basement of the house, and every time I wanted to figure out which of the three circuits out there I was dealing with, I had to walk inside, hop down the stairs (they are rotted off half way down), trip the breaker and then clamber back up/out and across the yard again. The good side of this is that the basement was about 55F and a welcome relief from the 95F outside. (A very intense thunder storm rolled through about 7PM and -really- cooled things off, whew!) I've identified the two black wires for circuits #2 and #3, but I've only got one white left and not sure which one it goes to. There's got to be a way to do this, but it'll take some research.
One other weird thing is that they installed three, count them, three, wires out to what we call the chicken shed (but they used it as a kids hang out we think). Not sure why they needed three wires out from the barn to the chicken shed, because the feed all came out from the house through one set of wires. Oh, well. Another mystery to ponder...
Nah.
I disconnected those three wires and I'm going to re-route that "chicken coop" circuit to the barn, so I can have one circuit for the loft upstairs and another for the workshop downstairs. It'll take some work, but it's inside, a good rainy weather job.
My previous theory about where the power came from and went to re: the pool, etc. turned out to be all wrong. Once I started disconnecting things and really analyzing it, I found out that my first idea, the logical way to route things with a minimum of trenches, was really the way it was. So I thought I was wrong, but it turned out I was right at the start. :)
I took the little push mower back over in the truck, anticipating getting some mowing in, but the heat really didn't make that look like a good idea. I tinkered with the barn electricity instead. The grass will have to wait for another day. My blood hasn't thinned out to summer consistency yet.
Did I mention that the starter on Eloise fried several weeks ago? I've been having to roll her down a hill to start her, and the most suitable hill is on the back of the property, which means she sat outside for a few weeks. Not a good idea. So last time I ran her I put her in the barn, which means I either had to get a new starter (hard to find) or use a hand crank (easy to find on eBay). Remember the Model T's? Cranking over the tractor is supposed to be like that apparently. I just have to remember to keep my thumb outside the handle in case she kicks back.
Well, I bought a hand crank for Eloise off eBay and it arrived this week. It was supposed to be painted red, to match the tractor, but arrived bare metal. The seller was notified but hasn't responded to my request for a 1/3 rebate. I'm anxious to see if it will work, but forgot to take it with me today. At some point I need to replace her starter, but tracking one down and installing it is more work than I want to get involved in right now.
Tomorrow we're going to go look at some kitchen cabinets. They've quoted us about $25,000 for a very complex and complete kitchen. That's a huge chunk of the budget, so we'll see if we can lower it a bit, but it's really a good deal for what we're getting.
Need to hit the shower and then the bed. I didn't do a lot of heavy lifting today, but I'm a bit pooped. :) More another day.
Doug
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