March 7, 2005 We Totally Screwed Up

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Permit Progress

When we filed our permits last month we were unaware that we needed to file separately with the fire department. We submitted three copies to building and safety desk and the plan check engineer said that they would then disperse the copies to different departments. We really should have asked exactly which agencies were being forwarded a copy; we assumed the fire department was included since their desk is literally only a few steps away. We assumed that we only needed to make a fee payment. The plan check engineer was very unclear about a lot of things when we filed and we’re going over the list to make sure nothing was missed. Only when David submitted our Fuel Modification Plan last Wednesday the 2nd, he found out about the separate filing. He was told to expect a maximum of 20 working days for approval. Oh well, there’s nothing we can do about it now.

In an attempt to make the situation seem better, I noticed that the Fuel Modification Plan takes 10 working days anyway. The clerk at the fire department said that 20 working days was the maximum for their department; so I figure it might only put us back a week or a week and a half.

Meanwhile, here’s a list of what we’ve cleared:

• Both water agencies
• Geology/soils
• School districts
• Road department

Also, the sanitation department approval is nearly complete and we’re expecting our changes from building & safety tomorrow or the next day. After that we have drainage/grading (no grading involved), the forestry division and of course the fire department.

Foundation

Hi, David here.

The foundation design furnished to us by Irontown’s structural engineer’s was a little bit too massive, and our general contractor is sure we can tone it down a bit and save some money.

Their initial design called for 20” wide footings, and an 8” wide foundation wall. They assumed that, because our foundation has to go 6’ below grade (for flood scour), we would be digging a very wide trench and setting up very tall wooden forms to pour the concrete into.

However, we’re convinced that we can have an earth-formed foundation wall by just digging a trench, throwing the steel reinforcement in and pouring the concrete right in. This would avoid a lot of very expensive formwork below grade. However, we would want to compact the first 3 feet of soil to help the trench remain competent.

I’ve been consulting with a local foundation contractor who thinks this is feasible. We’ll just dig an easy 12” wide trench all the way down. The footing can be 12” wide, the same as the foundation wall.

Irontown’s structural engineers were a little skeptical, but I asked them to design the minimum foundation that meets all our requirements, and let us decide how best to accomplish it. We’ll submit these changes along with the revisions given to us by the county.

Ikea

Sara again.

I spent a whole week reviewing and revising half of our order from Ikea. It took a long time because they itemize everything separately and there was a bit of a learning curve, then I also had to compare it with my list.

We’ve been assembling a very detailed model of our house but I have been stalling because I really don’t like the colors I chose for the exterior. I chose a palette with a bamboo-ish yellow and a light and dark gray. Our red kitchen looked out of place, so I changed it to white with dark wood countertops. I am expecting the rest of the Ikea order to come any day now and I think that will be my last chance to change my mind about any of the items.