Fifty thousand pounds of FirstDay
We sent in our building permit application at the beginning of last week. Godspeed! The building inspector has already spoken to the engineer who stamped the plans about the design and the requirements for our area, so this should go smoothly. We had also met with the building inspector back in January to get the details of exactly what it is that we need to make this process successful. We included all the items he mentioned with our application.
Hopefully, we will be able to find out this week when we will have our permit, as we meet the foundation and excavation contractors on Wednesday to discuss when they will able to get started. Of course, I doubt that this Nor'easter is going to help that schedule much. The house site is at about 1600', which is above the 1500' line that the forecasters had been kicking around as the rain/snow line for this mid April storm. With predictions of 1-2 feet of snow, and the basic fact that the house site is approximately 10 degrees F cooler than the temperature down here in the valley, it could be a bit before the snow is gone, or even low enough that the driveway is accessible.
We did go up yesterday and do some work while Grandma Lana played with the kids at her house. The septic contractor left (at my request) the trees he cleared, piled around the clearing for the septic. I figured "We could use the wood for fires and the masonry heater when it is built, if we stack it right,"and "Hey, we could save money". I never figured on when we would cut and stack it. It turns out that one of the piles sits between the house and the utility pole. This is problematic, as this path will need to be clear, more so if we go with underground power. We have a quote from the excavation folks to trench it, but we need to talk to an electrician about hooking up the main power to the meter and box, as well as a temporary hookup for construction. One more thing on the pile.
So, after staking out the house site (for the power company to come out and talk to us about a temporary power drop, we need to have the house site staked out) and figuring out the height differences for the drain pipe to the septic tank, we cut wood (I with the chainsaw, Wendy with the bow saw) and moved some of it. This was a lesson in how far we have to go. It showed us just how much we are 'average Americans'. We shall go back next week and do penance at the altar of the god of firewood, which will hopefully help to get us in shape. My exercise regimen, while incredible painful at first, has gotten up to 60 squats and 20 push ups a day. I am trying to increase a bit daily to push myself, though with being sick on and off again this past week, I took some time off and I am sure I have regressed.
This whole thing is getting uncomfortably close now. Its like when you decide on Monday to go see a band on Saturday night. As week progresses you get more excited, but something happens during the wait and by Friday night you aren't sure if you really want to go out on Saturday. You can think of a million things you could be doing instead that don't involve getting up off the couch and leaving the house. As we get closer, the anticipation is killing me, but I also feel that this could easily be postponed. Of course, in order to have a house, we have to decide to get off the couch and do it.
This wasn't helped much by a call Wendy made to FirstDay this week. We called to check on things and they asked us when we want to schedule the house delivery. They gave us the Friday before Memorial Day weekend as a suggested delivery date. Memorial Day weekend is our goal to get started on swinging hammers by. I only realized that this is now less than 6 weeks away when I considered that I had wanted it delivered earlier in may so we could get a couple weekends of fabricating posts and beams in before we started building. When Wendy asked about getting it earlier, they suggested we wait till the end of May, since we don't have a building permit or a Foundation yet, and said that we want to make sure we only have to move the kit materials once, since iwe have fifty thousand pounds of house to move. My blood chilled hearing that number. I have never considered moving that much stuff in my entire life, no less by hand.
Once we get started, I think that things will be moving fast enough that I won't be able to obsess on things like that number. We shall see...
Hopefully, we will be able to find out this week when we will have our permit, as we meet the foundation and excavation contractors on Wednesday to discuss when they will able to get started. Of course, I doubt that this Nor'easter is going to help that schedule much. The house site is at about 1600', which is above the 1500' line that the forecasters had been kicking around as the rain/snow line for this mid April storm. With predictions of 1-2 feet of snow, and the basic fact that the house site is approximately 10 degrees F cooler than the temperature down here in the valley, it could be a bit before the snow is gone, or even low enough that the driveway is accessible.
We did go up yesterday and do some work while Grandma Lana played with the kids at her house. The septic contractor left (at my request) the trees he cleared, piled around the clearing for the septic. I figured "We could use the wood for fires and the masonry heater when it is built, if we stack it right,"and "Hey, we could save money". I never figured on when we would cut and stack it. It turns out that one of the piles sits between the house and the utility pole. This is problematic, as this path will need to be clear, more so if we go with underground power. We have a quote from the excavation folks to trench it, but we need to talk to an electrician about hooking up the main power to the meter and box, as well as a temporary hookup for construction. One more thing on the pile.
So, after staking out the house site (for the power company to come out and talk to us about a temporary power drop, we need to have the house site staked out) and figuring out the height differences for the drain pipe to the septic tank, we cut wood (I with the chainsaw, Wendy with the bow saw) and moved some of it. This was a lesson in how far we have to go. It showed us just how much we are 'average Americans'. We shall go back next week and do penance at the altar of the god of firewood, which will hopefully help to get us in shape. My exercise regimen, while incredible painful at first, has gotten up to 60 squats and 20 push ups a day. I am trying to increase a bit daily to push myself, though with being sick on and off again this past week, I took some time off and I am sure I have regressed.
This whole thing is getting uncomfortably close now. Its like when you decide on Monday to go see a band on Saturday night. As week progresses you get more excited, but something happens during the wait and by Friday night you aren't sure if you really want to go out on Saturday. You can think of a million things you could be doing instead that don't involve getting up off the couch and leaving the house. As we get closer, the anticipation is killing me, but I also feel that this could easily be postponed. Of course, in order to have a house, we have to decide to get off the couch and do it.
This wasn't helped much by a call Wendy made to FirstDay this week. We called to check on things and they asked us when we want to schedule the house delivery. They gave us the Friday before Memorial Day weekend as a suggested delivery date. Memorial Day weekend is our goal to get started on swinging hammers by. I only realized that this is now less than 6 weeks away when I considered that I had wanted it delivered earlier in may so we could get a couple weekends of fabricating posts and beams in before we started building. When Wendy asked about getting it earlier, they suggested we wait till the end of May, since we don't have a building permit or a Foundation yet, and said that we want to make sure we only have to move the kit materials once, since iwe have fifty thousand pounds of house to move. My blood chilled hearing that number. I have never considered moving that much stuff in my entire life, no less by hand.
Once we get started, I think that things will be moving fast enough that I won't be able to obsess on things like that number. We shall see...
posted by SKelly | 7:29 PM
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