Rules. Gotta love 'em.

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