November 9, 2004 Clearing the Property

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Land Clearing

Clearing the property has been really fun so far. It's nice to be able to start on the house and to get to know the site better. There is a lot of vegetation on the property that needs to be removed and I anticipate it will take some time to clear everything away. I tried taking down one of the numerous cacti on the property, but it felt really weird when I did it. It felt like I was striking an animal and it started oozing right away. Oh well, I'll eventually get the nerve to do it. I've been parking the car on the property and doing yardwork while Walter takes his nap in the car. It literally is the only time that I can do this because it gets dark early.

Unfortunately, Walter likes to play in the trash pile and he's claimed that chair.

We're putting up the temporary fence this weekend so I decided to introduce myself to the people who live in the guesthouse on the adjacent property; afterall, it's going to be placed a few feet from their front door. I was pleasantly surprised when they opened the door because it was somebody I knew from college. Also, just before I was about to make a trip to Home Depot, I found two rolls of temporary fence material and stakes in the dog run on the property. It's always nice to save time and a little money.

I made arrangements with a local who wants to relocate the tiki bar (pictured above, left) on his property. He's very excited and it will most likely be relocated this weekend. He is also an alumni of nearby CalArts (California Institute of the Arts) and a really nice guy. He plans on using it to entertain more CalArts students and alumni. Gosh, this place and Silverlake must be where CalArtians go to die. Anyway, I'm happy to know that he wants it, it sure saves us the hassle.

Modular Home Details

Right now David and I are working through the lighting/electrical plan. We haven't heard from the IKEA planner who is M.I.A and was going to work out the space planning, which is important for the light fixture locations. Since we've had no answer from her after 2 weeks and 4 messages, we've done it ourselves. We're just about done, with one revision tonight; when we're done we'll send it right away to the modular home builders.

Permitting

I picked up our stamped plans from L.A. County Regional Planning today. I also got a better idea of our permit fees and I think that we overestimated our fees by c$4000 since there are no site inspection fees for a modular structure.

Also, I think we'll be able to get the county to waive the soils test, which is another $4000. Our new neighbor, who is building across the street from the property, suggested that we ask the county to waive the soils test requirement. This is something that he contested successfully. Because our property and his are located in the flood fringe, we've both had to hire an engineer for a "scour report." The scour report details the base flood elevation level on the site as well as the recommended footings' depth and finished floor height. The argument in contesting the necessity of the report is that the footings are so deep, and therefore weighty, that the soil report is superfluous. When I inquired today at building and saftey, I was told that there was a process in place to contest this, so we'll see.

Also, our neighbor has just recovered from Valley Fever so we're going to be careful to wear masks when we are on the property during the excavation.