We’re outta here. Headed to the Big D from the D. Now that we have a move date we’re putting up for sale pretty much everything. Click over to the 4sale page and keep checking — as we post stuff and items sell we’ll be updating in this central location. Thanks!
Category: Owning A Home (Page 1 of 2)
1st time home owner projects
In an effort to make the basement a more useful & livable space, I’ve been trying to do various projects and little bits here and there as time allows. So I built a wall. Not only does it have a cool opening the perfect size for beer distribution, but we now have a hidden storage area under the stairs, and DOUBLE the amount of usable power outlets!
We’ve had this oddly shaped storage area at the top of our stairs under-utilized since we moved in. C has a lot of shoes. What better way to merge the two problems into one solution, than a giant walk in shoe room! $60 and a Sunday afternoon later, here’s the results.
Yuck.
There are reasons why I haven’t kept up on posting regularly about that LITTLE project we’ve been working on for the past few months. Lots of them. So many there was rarely a day that went by I didn’t utter many four letter words that show up as #&^% in the comics.
That’s all behind us though.
We’re done.
You can follow the 2 month progression with pictures over in the gallery…
So I cordially invite everyone over to sit on the porch with a beer, stare at it, and say “yyyyyyyyep” for an hour or two.
14 days and $70 later, the nightmare officially begins; we got our building permit…
I could have taken the easy way out on my porch project, but I didn’t. I could have put ugly green Astroturf to hide the crumbling steps, jammed a bunch of concrete into the part on the side crumbling and painted it, or just fucking stuck a huge flower pot in front of it to hide it. Nope, we chose to take it out and rebuild it to improve the aesthetic of the front approach to our house. Seemed like a good idea at the time…
So I went down today for the second time to apply for a building permit to rebuild my porch. The first time I went I got a brief overview of what I needed to submit, so I went back this morning to submit it hoping I could get started working this weekend. Apparently that won’t be happening. After speaking with the building inspector, he apparently has taken an interest in my project because now he is requiring:
- A site visit to verify construction materials & the dimensions of the old porch
- Verification that my new porch will not encroach farther than the average porch of every house within 650 feet of either direction of my house on my side of the street
- Pictures of the old porch
- A property survey
- 12-14 days for plan verification before approval
That’s all super fantastic except that:
- I don’t have a fucking property survey, so lets add another fee to my list of costs I wasn’t planning
- I have a huge fucking hole right outside my front door which I can’t do anything with for 12-14 days while he verifies my plans, construction materials, and old dimensions
I would like to give the city the benefit of the doubt and think that they (Ferndale) appreciate my youthful enthusiasm and willingness to learn about home-owner processes, but if there is one thing I can’t stand is all this bureaucratic bullshit.
While I may not be the most mechanically inclined person on the face of the earth, I spent an hour tonight fixing the kitchen faucet which had been pooling water underneath the cupboard for an unknown amount of time. Of course the job only needed some patience and plumbers tape, but I’ll leave it up to you to guess which I had readily on hand (clue: I had the tape). Good to know I can at least put my tools and obscene vocabulary to good use…
Ahhh springtime, I had almost forgotten how good you feel. The time of year where the sun warms & the permafrost rolls back to reveal FOUR MONTHS WORTH OF DOG SHIT IN THE BACK YARD.
Par for the course as a dog owner. I guess you can count this my official 1st day of spring. Welcome back to the new weekly yard work routine…