"The internet is a place where absolutely nothing happens. You need to take advantage of that." ~ Strong Bad
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012 @ 11:25 PM
"Bureaucracy and social harmony are inversely proportional to each other." ~Leon Trotsky
"Bureaucracy and social harmony are inversely proportional to each other." ~Leon Trotsky
Our home renovation is officially concluded. Not necessarily complete, but at least concluded.
We still have a long list of various projects we intend to take on, but all of the work we financed as part of our mortgage is completed.
If you want to be technical about it, the work was finished over two months ago, but it took Wells Fargo that long to get their act together. The period in between was an infuriating waiting game, with plenty of time to reflect guiltily upon the fact that our contractor was waiting anxiously for his final paycheck, but I couldn't sent it because the bank was continuously losing, passing from person-to-person, and forgetting to process the paperwork they needed to finish before sending me the last of the money; Money that in the meantime I was already paying interest on but was not allowed to see.
Even after the tree was cut down, cleared away, and an inspector sent out to verify it was gone, on top of their previous mistakes, a week later they still had not reviewed the final paperwork when I called to ask why I hadn't received the check.
As bad as Wells Fargo was, I'm afraid I can't quite say "never again." There unfortunately seems to be very few lenders that offer renovation mortgages. A few offer the FHA's 203(k) program, but that one is intended for marginally qualified buyers, and requires you to purchase mortgage insurance even if you put over 20% down. Fannie Mae has a program they call Homepath, but it's only available if you're purchasing a property that Fannie Mae themselves foreclosed on and took ownership of. I'll have to settle for merely knowing what to expect if there is a next time.
Meanwhile, the tree has been replaced with a red maple sapling planted a safe distance from the house. I'd have liked to replace it with whatever the old tree was, but I haven't been able to identify it. I'm very slowly cutting out the stump, held fast by a series of 6+ inch roots and a maze of smaller ones, and I have a rhododendron to plant in its place.
Beyond that, lawn mowing has begun again, we bought a kitchen island to add some more cooking and storage space, I'm slowly organizing the garage, hanging curtains, adding some new exterior lights, and waiting for a long enough spell of dry weather to finish painting outside.
Aside from the house work, Kerry and I are taking the dog to obedience classes, I have another, shorter trip to Ireland possibly less than two weeks away, and we're taking a vacation to Arizona to visit my parents in less than 4 weeks.
We still have a long list of various projects we intend to take on, but all of the work we financed as part of our mortgage is completed.
If you want to be technical about it, the work was finished over two months ago, but it took Wells Fargo that long to get their act together. The period in between was an infuriating waiting game, with plenty of time to reflect guiltily upon the fact that our contractor was waiting anxiously for his final paycheck, but I couldn't sent it because the bank was continuously losing, passing from person-to-person, and forgetting to process the paperwork they needed to finish before sending me the last of the money; Money that in the meantime I was already paying interest on but was not allowed to see.
Even after the tree was cut down, cleared away, and an inspector sent out to verify it was gone, on top of their previous mistakes, a week later they still had not reviewed the final paperwork when I called to ask why I hadn't received the check.
As bad as Wells Fargo was, I'm afraid I can't quite say "never again." There unfortunately seems to be very few lenders that offer renovation mortgages. A few offer the FHA's 203(k) program, but that one is intended for marginally qualified buyers, and requires you to purchase mortgage insurance even if you put over 20% down. Fannie Mae has a program they call Homepath, but it's only available if you're purchasing a property that Fannie Mae themselves foreclosed on and took ownership of. I'll have to settle for merely knowing what to expect if there is a next time.
Meanwhile, the tree has been replaced with a red maple sapling planted a safe distance from the house. I'd have liked to replace it with whatever the old tree was, but I haven't been able to identify it. I'm very slowly cutting out the stump, held fast by a series of 6+ inch roots and a maze of smaller ones, and I have a rhododendron to plant in its place.
Beyond that, lawn mowing has begun again, we bought a kitchen island to add some more cooking and storage space, I'm slowly organizing the garage, hanging curtains, adding some new exterior lights, and waiting for a long enough spell of dry weather to finish painting outside.
Aside from the house work, Kerry and I are taking the dog to obedience classes, I have another, shorter trip to Ireland possibly less than two weeks away, and we're taking a vacation to Arizona to visit my parents in less than 4 weeks.
James was... ready for a vacation ...when he wrote this
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Monday, March 5th, 2012 @ 11:05 PM
"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." ~Abraham Lincoln
"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." ~Abraham Lincoln
Our mortgage gave us 6 months to finish our renovation. We could not withdraw any renovation money until relevant work items were completed and inspected (backwards, considering the purpose of a loan), so we had to spread out the work because we didn't have cash to pay for everything at once. There were other things that held us up, too, but the result was we ended up getting a short extension to finish a few items.
The January snow storm kept the bank's inspector away for nearly a week, which pushed us over the revised deadline. That meant they needed us to file another extension request. Then they sent the wrong documents to sign. Then they sent an appraiser to do another inspection. Then they had to review the appraiser report, etc. For each step, they've seldom been faster to respond than 2 days, and if follow-up is needed, that's another 2-days, and nothing happens in parallel. When over a week after the appraiser visited I'd heard nothing, I called and found out someone, somewhere, had lost the second extension request. Everything else was waiting on that, and no one knew it was missing until I asked about it.
Another week went by without any contact, so I called again, only to find my loan agent was on vacation. Due to the mounting complications, I didn't want our file passed to a new loan agent, so I waited for her return, only to get caught in phone tag. 19 days after the appraisal, they finally told me they wanted the maple tree in front of the house inspected by a certified arborist because it was a potential "health and safety issue." I told them it was too late to add new work, to which they responded this was an order made by the original appraiser, 8 months ago. They claim they told us of the requirement when we purchased the house, but couldn't tell me when or how they told us.
The tree actually is too close to the house, so I had intended to take it out anyways at my leisure and got them to drop the arborist inspection if I removed it. They initially told me I couldn't do it myself, but enough trace of humanity was left in the bureaucratic machine for them to realize they had screwed up, and I was short on patience, so they let me forgo the arborist.
While all this is going on, they're sitting on several thousand dollars of my money, and I've been unable to send my contractor his last check for well over a month now.
I rushed out to buy a chainsaw this weekend (a nice orange model, but a different shade than the mower and the trimmer), cut back the limbs that might take off part of the porch, and fidgeted over other ways to minimize the risk of damaging the house. The cut to drop the tree was ugly enough I'll have to remove and burn the stump out of shame, but the tree itself dropped very neatly exactly where I wanted it. It's now a pile of firewood on the carport.
Also this last weekend, we went to the Republican precinct caucus. I'm not entirely sold on Ron Paul, but since he is the only candidate in either party willing to risk telling people what they need to but don't want to hear, I settled on him.
I never intended to do more than vote, but since no one was nominated in my precinct as a delegate for Paul, I had Kerry nominate me. I knew he didn't have much support, but I wanted to emphasize at least at the primary level looking beyond the candidates the media favors. Besides, there was a sizable group wearing Romney stickers.
To my surprise, our precinct picked a Santorum supporter and myself as delegates to the county caucus. So now we go repeat the process at the county level on March 31.
The January snow storm kept the bank's inspector away for nearly a week, which pushed us over the revised deadline. That meant they needed us to file another extension request. Then they sent the wrong documents to sign. Then they sent an appraiser to do another inspection. Then they had to review the appraiser report, etc. For each step, they've seldom been faster to respond than 2 days, and if follow-up is needed, that's another 2-days, and nothing happens in parallel. When over a week after the appraiser visited I'd heard nothing, I called and found out someone, somewhere, had lost the second extension request. Everything else was waiting on that, and no one knew it was missing until I asked about it.
Another week went by without any contact, so I called again, only to find my loan agent was on vacation. Due to the mounting complications, I didn't want our file passed to a new loan agent, so I waited for her return, only to get caught in phone tag. 19 days after the appraisal, they finally told me they wanted the maple tree in front of the house inspected by a certified arborist because it was a potential "health and safety issue." I told them it was too late to add new work, to which they responded this was an order made by the original appraiser, 8 months ago. They claim they told us of the requirement when we purchased the house, but couldn't tell me when or how they told us.
The tree actually is too close to the house, so I had intended to take it out anyways at my leisure and got them to drop the arborist inspection if I removed it. They initially told me I couldn't do it myself, but enough trace of humanity was left in the bureaucratic machine for them to realize they had screwed up, and I was short on patience, so they let me forgo the arborist.
While all this is going on, they're sitting on several thousand dollars of my money, and I've been unable to send my contractor his last check for well over a month now.
I rushed out to buy a chainsaw this weekend (a nice orange model, but a different shade than the mower and the trimmer), cut back the limbs that might take off part of the porch, and fidgeted over other ways to minimize the risk of damaging the house. The cut to drop the tree was ugly enough I'll have to remove and burn the stump out of shame, but the tree itself dropped very neatly exactly where I wanted it. It's now a pile of firewood on the carport.
Also this last weekend, we went to the Republican precinct caucus. I'm not entirely sold on Ron Paul, but since he is the only candidate in either party willing to risk telling people what they need to but don't want to hear, I settled on him.
I never intended to do more than vote, but since no one was nominated in my precinct as a delegate for Paul, I had Kerry nominate me. I knew he didn't have much support, but I wanted to emphasize at least at the primary level looking beyond the candidates the media favors. Besides, there was a sizable group wearing Romney stickers.
To my surprise, our precinct picked a Santorum supporter and myself as delegates to the county caucus. So now we go repeat the process at the county level on March 31.
James was... sitting by a warm fire ...when he wrote this
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Saturday, January 21st, 2012 @ 11:02 PM
"If a dog jumps in your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer." ~Alfred North Whitehead
"If a dog jumps in your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer." ~Alfred North Whitehead
The first test of navigating in the snow around our new home was a tough one: the maximum depth I measured during the past week was 12.5 inches. That includes a lot of settling, since mid-week I measured 11 inches, and about 6 more inches fell after that.
It started falling Saturday evening, as we came back from taking a ferry to Port Townsend to visit one of Kerry’s aunts. The hill on our driveway was the biggest challenge, but we found if the snow was packed down and we hit it at 20 mph, we could just about coast to the top. Meanwhile, one of the neighbors found out 4-wheel drive and knobby tires aren’t a substitute for driving smartly. I don’t know how he unstuck himself, but there was ample evidence the next time I passed that he had stopped just short of sliding into the creek and had plenty of trouble getting back on the driveway.
The main roads were generally sufficiently plowed and sanded, however, and most of the other drivers I encountered seemed competent. That was a pleasant surprise compared to living in Lynnwood. Last year, in the first 5 minutes on the road the first time it snowed, I avoided being hit once due to luck and a second time by getting out of the way of an out of control truck. During the second snowfall, my normal route to work was impassable; Six lanes of traffic and a bus stop were all blocked by three buses and who knows how many cars that had all attempted the same hill without chains.
Interestingly, Tuesday, when the heaviest snowfall occurred, was the best commute I’ve ever had. Despite needing to drive a little slower, the lack of other drivers meant far fewer red lights and no boneheads to deal with. I think it was actually a couple minutes faster than normal, which really more than anything tells you how poorly programmed the traffic lights in Snohomish County are.
Meanwhile, our new fireplace proved its worth. Our power went out yesterday while we were at work, and although we had very little dry firewood, it warmed the downstairs up nicely in lieu of the heat pump. Power was restored after a little over a day.
Capping off a busy week, Kerry finally talked me into getting a dog. One of her clients found a family with a good litter of 8 week old yellow labs that had three females left. We named her Eliza Doolittle. That cat is dealing with it surprisingly well.
It started falling Saturday evening, as we came back from taking a ferry to Port Townsend to visit one of Kerry’s aunts. The hill on our driveway was the biggest challenge, but we found if the snow was packed down and we hit it at 20 mph, we could just about coast to the top. Meanwhile, one of the neighbors found out 4-wheel drive and knobby tires aren’t a substitute for driving smartly. I don’t know how he unstuck himself, but there was ample evidence the next time I passed that he had stopped just short of sliding into the creek and had plenty of trouble getting back on the driveway.
The main roads were generally sufficiently plowed and sanded, however, and most of the other drivers I encountered seemed competent. That was a pleasant surprise compared to living in Lynnwood. Last year, in the first 5 minutes on the road the first time it snowed, I avoided being hit once due to luck and a second time by getting out of the way of an out of control truck. During the second snowfall, my normal route to work was impassable; Six lanes of traffic and a bus stop were all blocked by three buses and who knows how many cars that had all attempted the same hill without chains.
Interestingly, Tuesday, when the heaviest snowfall occurred, was the best commute I’ve ever had. Despite needing to drive a little slower, the lack of other drivers meant far fewer red lights and no boneheads to deal with. I think it was actually a couple minutes faster than normal, which really more than anything tells you how poorly programmed the traffic lights in Snohomish County are.
Meanwhile, our new fireplace proved its worth. Our power went out yesterday while we were at work, and although we had very little dry firewood, it warmed the downstairs up nicely in lieu of the heat pump. Power was restored after a little over a day.
Capping off a busy week, Kerry finally talked me into getting a dog. One of her clients found a family with a good litter of 8 week old yellow labs that had three females left. We named her Eliza Doolittle. That cat is dealing with it surprisingly well.
James was... listening to a puppy complain about being kennel trained ...when he wrote this
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Monday, January 16th, 2012 @ 10:17 PM
"Don't throw away the old bucket until you know whether the new one holds water." ~Swedish proverb
"Don't throw away the old bucket until you know whether the new one holds water." ~Swedish proverb
The conclusion to my previous post isn't quite as dramatic as the waiting suggests, but it had far more plot twists than I wanted.
Since the leak was slow, I didn't intend to remove anything until I had all the parts on hand to replace it. Gingerly scraping with my pick, I uncovered more of the pipe, being especially careful around the PVC upstream of the valve. Nonetheless, somehow the lightest of bumps cracked the PVC, which despite claiming to be rated for 160psi, was half as thick as normal schedule 40 pipe. The trivial leak was now more serious.
So Sunday afternoon, I shut off the water to the house. I hurried to uncover enough of the pipe to make a fix, cut out the bad section, and then rushed to Lowes to get replacement parts, only to find they closed two hours early on January 1. From there we rushed to Home Depot, arriving at 7:01, unsure what we would find – they were locking up. We dashed through an unlocked door while an employee's back was turned and hurried over to the plumbing aisle where someone caught up with us.
To my relief, instead of kicking us out, he asked if he could help us find anything quickly. Home Depot earned serious appreciation from me that night.
Which I wasted. When I arrived back home, I realized I'd bought everything I needed except a couple simple copper fittings.
Fortunately, following the Scout motto, I had several gallons of emergency drinking water bottled up - more than enough for a night without water.
Monday, I had to finish hauling trash to the dump so I could return Steve's truck to him. After completing that, I returned to my plumbing task, hooked everything up, and found myself rewarded with three leaks! My next move was uncertain because with the pipe full of water to absorb heat from the torch and impossible to drain since this was the lowest point in the whole plumbing system, re-soldering was impossible.
Disconnecting a threaded fitting, I was able to use my bicycle pump (after my lungs failed to do the job) to blow water backwards through the system and then attempted to repair my solder joints. It was after 1 AM when I gave up, but I left it hooked up and leaking so I could shower away the two days filth I'd accumulated hauling trash and laying in a muddy ditch.
Tuesday, I had to work. Returning home, I cut the faulty section out and soldered it again, only to be baffled as it leaked once more. Repeating my bicycle pump tactic, I carefully desoldered everything to inspect it. To my surprise, every joint that I had soldered in the comfort of the garage had wicked a perfect joint. Every joint I soldered in the rain and the confines of the trench had wicked almost no solder.
Wednesday, I emailed work to excuse myself and started over with new pipe and fittings. I spent over an hour deburring and cleaning the joints, which I then fitted and soldered with the utmost care one at a time instead of the easier method of aligning everything at once, protected by a makeshift rain cover and after bailing out the remaining water from the trench by hand.
By this time, the last thing I wanted to do was turn the water back on. It was obvious I couldn't win. I had already accepted I must have angered some demon with the evil power to prevent capillary flow such as of solder in a pipe joint at will, and henceforth he was determined to make my life miserable.
So when it finally worked on the 4th try, I didn't actually feel excitement. At first it was just numb sense of disbelief (or maybe that was just cold, wet hands and feet).
Whether it was overcoming prior sloppiness or a demonstration of the power of prayer, after three days of fumbling our water was back on.
Since the leak was slow, I didn't intend to remove anything until I had all the parts on hand to replace it. Gingerly scraping with my pick, I uncovered more of the pipe, being especially careful around the PVC upstream of the valve. Nonetheless, somehow the lightest of bumps cracked the PVC, which despite claiming to be rated for 160psi, was half as thick as normal schedule 40 pipe. The trivial leak was now more serious.
So Sunday afternoon, I shut off the water to the house. I hurried to uncover enough of the pipe to make a fix, cut out the bad section, and then rushed to Lowes to get replacement parts, only to find they closed two hours early on January 1. From there we rushed to Home Depot, arriving at 7:01, unsure what we would find – they were locking up. We dashed through an unlocked door while an employee's back was turned and hurried over to the plumbing aisle where someone caught up with us.
To my relief, instead of kicking us out, he asked if he could help us find anything quickly. Home Depot earned serious appreciation from me that night.
Which I wasted. When I arrived back home, I realized I'd bought everything I needed except a couple simple copper fittings.
Fortunately, following the Scout motto, I had several gallons of emergency drinking water bottled up - more than enough for a night without water.
Monday, I had to finish hauling trash to the dump so I could return Steve's truck to him. After completing that, I returned to my plumbing task, hooked everything up, and found myself rewarded with three leaks! My next move was uncertain because with the pipe full of water to absorb heat from the torch and impossible to drain since this was the lowest point in the whole plumbing system, re-soldering was impossible.
Disconnecting a threaded fitting, I was able to use my bicycle pump (after my lungs failed to do the job) to blow water backwards through the system and then attempted to repair my solder joints. It was after 1 AM when I gave up, but I left it hooked up and leaking so I could shower away the two days filth I'd accumulated hauling trash and laying in a muddy ditch.
Tuesday, I had to work. Returning home, I cut the faulty section out and soldered it again, only to be baffled as it leaked once more. Repeating my bicycle pump tactic, I carefully desoldered everything to inspect it. To my surprise, every joint that I had soldered in the comfort of the garage had wicked a perfect joint. Every joint I soldered in the rain and the confines of the trench had wicked almost no solder.
Wednesday, I emailed work to excuse myself and started over with new pipe and fittings. I spent over an hour deburring and cleaning the joints, which I then fitted and soldered with the utmost care one at a time instead of the easier method of aligning everything at once, protected by a makeshift rain cover and after bailing out the remaining water from the trench by hand.
By this time, the last thing I wanted to do was turn the water back on. It was obvious I couldn't win. I had already accepted I must have angered some demon with the evil power to prevent capillary flow such as of solder in a pipe joint at will, and henceforth he was determined to make my life miserable.
So when it finally worked on the 4th try, I didn't actually feel excitement. At first it was just numb sense of disbelief (or maybe that was just cold, wet hands and feet).
Whether it was overcoming prior sloppiness or a demonstration of the power of prayer, after three days of fumbling our water was back on.
James was... not quite trapped by the snow ...when he wrote this
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Saturday, January 14th, 2012 @ 12:28 AM
"Little by little, one travels far." ~J. R. R. Tolkien
"Little by little, one travels far." ~J. R. R. Tolkien
Because I've been so delinquent, this will be a long post. You might as well grab a glass of brandy or bourbon to sip while you read.
Since I wrote my long list of renovation work, we've completed a decent amount more. Given the pitch of our roof and some complications with the existing brickwork, I swallowed my pride and paid to have the fireplace insert installed, although first I had to install a combustion make-up air vent. The insert took two experienced men working together about 4 hours to install. We then hosted Kerry's family for Thanksgiving dinner, which turned out to be an unwise time to try out the new fireplace. Fumes from the heat-curing paint set off the smoke detectors, but otherwise dinner went well.
Kerry took initiative on getting the bathroom painted, while I rebuilt the drain under the kitchen sink. Our friend Steve spent the better part of a day helping me blow more insulation into the attic. Then we took a break for Christmas, which started with a small party at our house with a group of Kerry's college friends. We spent Christmas Eve with Kerry's family at her sister's house.
Christmas Day was with my extended family at my uncle's place, where despite very deliberately holding my speed on the driveway to 7 mph, his neighbor once again bellowed angrily at us to slow down as we left. Then most of my immediate family spent two nights at our house. The maximum count was eleven people, who accepted patiently the piles of boxes they had squeeze in around.
During my time off work for the holidays, I hauled three tons of renovation debris and ½ ton of wood waste to the transfer station and then tried to find and fix the water leak under our deck.
That turned out to be one of the larger mistakes I've ever made. Any sensible person would have lied to their lender about such a small leak so they could wait until summer to take care of it, especially if they had any foreshadowing of how much effort it would take.
Tearing apart a section of deck was the first challenge. The deck had been painted, filling in the screw heads so that removing them first meant painstakingly picking the paint out of each and every board I removed. Trying to trench between joists on 16" centers was even less fun, but ultimately it led to finding a brass valve that for unknown reasons, someone had buried. Unsurprisingly, several decades of direct contact with the soil had caused enough corrosion and rot for a pinhole leak to form.
This is where the story gets exciting, but although the post isn't yet as long as I expected when I started, a few days wait before I tell the rest will heighten the dramatic tension...
Since I wrote my long list of renovation work, we've completed a decent amount more. Given the pitch of our roof and some complications with the existing brickwork, I swallowed my pride and paid to have the fireplace insert installed, although first I had to install a combustion make-up air vent. The insert took two experienced men working together about 4 hours to install. We then hosted Kerry's family for Thanksgiving dinner, which turned out to be an unwise time to try out the new fireplace. Fumes from the heat-curing paint set off the smoke detectors, but otherwise dinner went well.
Kerry took initiative on getting the bathroom painted, while I rebuilt the drain under the kitchen sink. Our friend Steve spent the better part of a day helping me blow more insulation into the attic. Then we took a break for Christmas, which started with a small party at our house with a group of Kerry's college friends. We spent Christmas Eve with Kerry's family at her sister's house.
Christmas Day was with my extended family at my uncle's place, where despite very deliberately holding my speed on the driveway to 7 mph, his neighbor once again bellowed angrily at us to slow down as we left. Then most of my immediate family spent two nights at our house. The maximum count was eleven people, who accepted patiently the piles of boxes they had squeeze in around.
During my time off work for the holidays, I hauled three tons of renovation debris and ½ ton of wood waste to the transfer station and then tried to find and fix the water leak under our deck.
That turned out to be one of the larger mistakes I've ever made. Any sensible person would have lied to their lender about such a small leak so they could wait until summer to take care of it, especially if they had any foreshadowing of how much effort it would take.
Tearing apart a section of deck was the first challenge. The deck had been painted, filling in the screw heads so that removing them first meant painstakingly picking the paint out of each and every board I removed. Trying to trench between joists on 16" centers was even less fun, but ultimately it led to finding a brass valve that for unknown reasons, someone had buried. Unsurprisingly, several decades of direct contact with the soil had caused enough corrosion and rot for a pinhole leak to form.
This is where the story gets exciting, but although the post isn't yet as long as I expected when I started, a few days wait before I tell the rest will heighten the dramatic tension...
James was... sipping Maker's Mark ...when he wrote this
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Sunday, November 6th, 2011 @ 10:40 PM
"The fellow that owns his own home is always just coming out of a hardware store." ~Frank McKinney Hubbard
"The fellow that owns his own home is always just coming out of a hardware store." ~Frank McKinney Hubbard
Since I've been continually distracted from writing, here's where things stand officially with our renovation:
Work completed (* = by contractor):
Work in-progress/remaining:
That's what needs to be done to conclude the renovation to the bank's satisfaction and/or bring the house up to a suitable condition for the winter. After all that is done, we have list of long-term items to work on, including fencing the yard, wiring the house for ethernet, planting trees, replacing the interior trim, and hopefully eventually replacing the kitchen cabinets. Pictures of the work so far will be forthcoming, but I can't promise when.
Meanwhile, there's been plenty going on to keep us from getting the renovation done. In particular, we spent two weekends in a row at out-of-town weddings. One was in Portland for a friend from home. The other was in Spokane for a college friend of Kerry's. She was the maid of honor, while I helped out by lectoring and then MC'ing the reception. Since it was just one week short, we made it our 1st anniversary celebration and stayed in the historic and very fancy Davenport Hotel.
And last on the great long list of things that have happened since I last wrote, my parents have nearly finished their move to Arizona, after roughly 28 years in the house where I grew up.
Work completed (* = by contractor):
- Installed new water heater
Installed new kitchen stove
Replaced garage vehicle door *
Replaced garage entry door *
Replaced all windows in garage *
Replaced all windows in house *
Replaced crawlspace vapor barrier *
Repaired crawlspace vents *
Added handrail to deck *
Covered attic insulation with sheetrock *
Extended bathroom and kitchen ducts to terminate outside instead of in attic *
Added proper sheething to exterior walls *
Replaced vinyl siding with Hardiplank *
Rewired garage and brought general electrical up to code *
Wired for outdoor lights over deck *
Installed heat pump *
Rerouted dryer vent and replaced flex duct with rigid duct
Replaced broken (and hideous) over-range microwave with range hood
Demolished interior workroom walls in garage (now Kerry's car fits)
Heroic amounts of lawn mowing due to the late spring
Work in-progress/remaining:
- Add insulation to attic peak to minimum R-30
Install wood-burning fireplace insert *
Repair slow leak in water service line
Caulk sinks and tubs (30% complete)
Refinish deck
Finish painting exterior walls (75% complete)
Finish painting interior walls (75% complete)
Replace front porch steps *
Seal and re-insulate HVAC ducts to R-8
Improve kitchen drains to code
That's what needs to be done to conclude the renovation to the bank's satisfaction and/or bring the house up to a suitable condition for the winter. After all that is done, we have list of long-term items to work on, including fencing the yard, wiring the house for ethernet, planting trees, replacing the interior trim, and hopefully eventually replacing the kitchen cabinets. Pictures of the work so far will be forthcoming, but I can't promise when.
Meanwhile, there's been plenty going on to keep us from getting the renovation done. In particular, we spent two weekends in a row at out-of-town weddings. One was in Portland for a friend from home. The other was in Spokane for a college friend of Kerry's. She was the maid of honor, while I helped out by lectoring and then MC'ing the reception. Since it was just one week short, we made it our 1st anniversary celebration and stayed in the historic and very fancy Davenport Hotel.
And last on the great long list of things that have happened since I last wrote, my parents have nearly finished their move to Arizona, after roughly 28 years in the house where I grew up.
James was... covered in concrete dust ...when he wrote this
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Sunday, August 21st, 2011 @ 7:03 PM
"A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body." ~Benjamin Franklin
"A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body." ~Benjamin Franklin
This morning, when leaving for Mass, we strolled out the door, walked 30 feet, and got into our car.
It was that easy. I didn't have to puzzle over where I'd been forced to park the car the night before because there are almost no unassigned spots near our apartment. I didn't have to walk 200 yards (I've paced it out) to get to it, and I wasn't even particularly worried about someone breaking my window to steal $2 worth of change from the ashtray overnight.
That's just one of a long list of reasons I'm really glad to be moving out of the apartment and into our house.
The renovation work is continuing, but the biggest parts are mostly done. The windows have been replaced, the siding is nearly finished, the furnace has been replaced with a heat pump, we've installed a water heater and a kitchen stove, and the disaster that was electrical wiring in the garage has been completely replaced.
So while there's still a fair amount of work left to do, we're to the point that this weekend we moved in.
We spent most of the week painting, including staying up until 2 AM Friday to finish the master bedroom, then got up at 6:30 to finish packing boxes before our help arrived. Two friends from work helped cut the moving time from all day to being finished before the heat of the day.
Kerry and I are now officially moved in.
It was that easy. I didn't have to puzzle over where I'd been forced to park the car the night before because there are almost no unassigned spots near our apartment. I didn't have to walk 200 yards (I've paced it out) to get to it, and I wasn't even particularly worried about someone breaking my window to steal $2 worth of change from the ashtray overnight.
That's just one of a long list of reasons I'm really glad to be moving out of the apartment and into our house.
The renovation work is continuing, but the biggest parts are mostly done. The windows have been replaced, the siding is nearly finished, the furnace has been replaced with a heat pump, we've installed a water heater and a kitchen stove, and the disaster that was electrical wiring in the garage has been completely replaced.
So while there's still a fair amount of work left to do, we're to the point that this weekend we moved in.
We spent most of the week painting, including staying up until 2 AM Friday to finish the master bedroom, then got up at 6:30 to finish packing boxes before our help arrived. Two friends from work helped cut the moving time from all day to being finished before the heat of the day.
Kerry and I are now officially moved in.
James was... not regretting moving one bit ...when he wrote this
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Thursday, July 14th, 2011 @ 12:03 AM
"For every action there is an equal and opposite government program." ~Bob Wells
"For every action there is an equal and opposite government program." ~Bob Wells
I got building permits today for the renovations to our house. I've always thought of building permits as a grey area: Their purpose is to ensure building codes are upheld, for the mutual safety of occupants and neighbors, so if a homeowner can achieve that on their own, especially on smaller projects, a permit is just a formality.
However, we have a bank involved, and banks like rules. They're loaning money for the renovation, so they get to refuse to release a single dime until we show them the permits.
The Snohomish County permitting website is unfortunately a disaster. It's loaded with information, or at least text, so I started there. That only created myriad new questions like, "Do I really need a scale drawing of the entire property showing all existing and proposed structures and easements and before and after detail of a water heater being installed exactly like the old one?"
So ultimately I concluded the sentence, "Permit applications must be submitted in person by appointment only" took precedence over "Apply online here" written a couple lines below that and called to schedule an appointment. The clerk who took the call couldn't answer any of my questions, but said that I did not need an appointment. After taking time off work to go to the courthouse during the 6 hours per day, 4 days per week that they're open and waiting 15 minutes, it took about 3 minutes to find out I actually could do everything I needed to from the website.
Don't think it ends there, though. They require not only the applicants, but also involved contractors to register before a permit will be issued. Why? I have no idea. Every contractor is already registered with the state, and the county can verify their records automatically.
After that was taken care of, I finally got the permits. It turns out you need a permit for just about anything more complicated than changing a lightbulb. I don't need to replace a toilet, but that was one of many examples that surprised me.
There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's probably an administrative fee involved.
However, we have a bank involved, and banks like rules. They're loaning money for the renovation, so they get to refuse to release a single dime until we show them the permits.
The Snohomish County permitting website is unfortunately a disaster. It's loaded with information, or at least text, so I started there. That only created myriad new questions like, "Do I really need a scale drawing of the entire property showing all existing and proposed structures and easements and before and after detail of a water heater being installed exactly like the old one?"
So ultimately I concluded the sentence, "Permit applications must be submitted in person by appointment only" took precedence over "Apply online here" written a couple lines below that and called to schedule an appointment. The clerk who took the call couldn't answer any of my questions, but said that I did not need an appointment. After taking time off work to go to the courthouse during the 6 hours per day, 4 days per week that they're open and waiting 15 minutes, it took about 3 minutes to find out I actually could do everything I needed to from the website.
Don't think it ends there, though. They require not only the applicants, but also involved contractors to register before a permit will be issued. Why? I have no idea. Every contractor is already registered with the state, and the county can verify their records automatically.
After that was taken care of, I finally got the permits. It turns out you need a permit for just about anything more complicated than changing a lightbulb. I don't need to replace a toilet, but that was one of many examples that surprised me.
- Basic toilet from Home Depot: $78Plumbing Permit Issuance Fee: $80Plumbing Technology Upgrade Fee: $2.61Toilet Replacement Permit:$7Using "code enforcement" to earn money on routine household maintenance: Priceless
There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's probably an administrative fee involved.
James was... sipping Dry Fly whiskey ...when he wrote this
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Tuesday, July 5th, 2011 @ 11:07 PM
"Old houses mended, cost little less than new before they're ended." ~Colley Cibber
"Old houses mended, cost little less than new before they're ended." ~Colley Cibber
Although Kerry and I had a great time in Ireland, I'm going to save that for a future post. I've got more to write about than energy to type with at the moment. I'm just about recovered from working 55 hour weeks for a month straight, while trying to get a mortgage application processed from 4000 miles away, and taking a European vacation with Kerry all at the same time. Not that I'm complaining or would do anything different if I had the choice except maybe spend even more effort sightseeing, but it was exhausting.
However, it was really satisfying to arrive back home just in time to close the sale on our first house. The house was a short sale, but scheduled to foreclose on a Thursday and be auctioned off for cash on Friday, while we were anxiously waiting for the final loan approval. We had genuine concerns that Wells Fargo might drop the ball and we'd lose out on the sale, but fortunately our real estate agent was on top of it and knew the right people to talk to for making sure they didn't delay. Our sale closed the day before foreclosure.
So now we are the proud owners of a 3 bedroom, 1.75 bath home on 1.7 acres outside of town but within reasonable driving distance of work.
We're almost caught up on the backlog of yardwork that had accumulated while it was for sale, and we'll be doing a moderate amount of renovation work on it including replacing siding, windows, and a few missing appliances, adding a heat pump, and doing some miscellaneous repairs. We hope to move in by the end of July.
Which means in August there's going to be an awesome house-warming party.
However, it was really satisfying to arrive back home just in time to close the sale on our first house. The house was a short sale, but scheduled to foreclose on a Thursday and be auctioned off for cash on Friday, while we were anxiously waiting for the final loan approval. We had genuine concerns that Wells Fargo might drop the ball and we'd lose out on the sale, but fortunately our real estate agent was on top of it and knew the right people to talk to for making sure they didn't delay. Our sale closed the day before foreclosure.So now we are the proud owners of a 3 bedroom, 1.75 bath home on 1.7 acres outside of town but within reasonable driving distance of work.
We're almost caught up on the backlog of yardwork that had accumulated while it was for sale, and we'll be doing a moderate amount of renovation work on it including replacing siding, windows, and a few missing appliances, adding a heat pump, and doing some miscellaneous repairs. We hope to move in by the end of July.
Which means in August there's going to be an awesome house-warming party.
James was... impressed with Kerry's half marathon time ...when he wrote this
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"If God had wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates." ~Jay Leno
Since there's now less pressure to get work done on the house, I finally had time two weeks ago to use my Christmas present from Kerry: an "Astronaut" level membership to the Museum of Flight. Aside from unlimited entry to the museum that I intend to make good use of, it also came with several guest passes, so if anyone is in the area and wants to visit, let me know and I should be able to share some tickets.
One of the lesser highlights since I last wrote is buying a new microwave. That shouldn't be exciting, but after spending two years with a microwave too small to even fit a bag of popcorn or our plates properly (and becoming a boring married couple?), sometimes little things become exciting.
Last weekend was the county Republican caucus. I was expecting it to be a little longer than the precinct caucus, which was finished before lunch time. A couple days before it, they finally released a schedule that suggested we'd finish in time to be home for dinner. With all the interest this year's election is generating, attendance was far higher than in the past, and there was a huge number of candidates for state delegates to choose from. When I left at 11 PM, after 15 hours in a school gymnasium and not having eaten since lunch, we had only finished electing delegates and did not have time to vote on the party platform for the year.
The caucus was a worthwhile and interesting experience, however, starting with the chance to hear some of the candidates for local offices speak, and lots of time to talk to other residents about various topics. It was also interesting to find out that support for Ron Paul is far higher than the media seems interested in admitting, as precinct votes for our district were reported as being 33% for Paul, 32% for Romney, and the rest split between Santorum and Gingrich. Unfortunately, with the way delegates for each candidate were coordinating votes to hold back the biggest perceived threats, only a couple Paul supporters were chosen as state delegates. However, nearly all of the alternate delegates selected were Paul supporters.
We have two more weeks before Kerry and I fly down to Arizona to meet up with Joe and Susan plus Dan and Sarah to visit our parents at their new home and go camping on the Havasupai Reservation. Since the weather was great today, we spent our Easter afternoon hiking at Wallace Falls to get in shape for that trip.
Hopefully, there are no conflicts with work. I'm expecting to go back to Ireland some time soon to help finish the installation work there. The last schedule I saw had me leaving this weekend. I had specifically asked my project manager whether my planned dates for visiting Arizona were acceptable, and was told that since the project's schedule was too ambiguous to ask people to try to fit their lives in around it, I should make my plans and not worry about it. So in theory, unless some major emergency comes up, there should be no complications with the Arizona trip.
James was... glad he didn't lose his $30 state park pass ...when he wrote this
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