<p>I was definitely excited about finding the KitchenAid appliances because it is a well respected appliance brand</p>
<p>@aMacMom, you make a good point. In my old house, with my old GE Profile double oven, the control panel “burned out” a couple of times and had to be replaced. I will be more careful from now on.</p>
<p>Side Alley Drainage Issue</p>
<p>Oh Boy, trying to solve this problem is turning into a nightmare. Now that we have finished installing the flashing, siding and windows on the little office I need to tackle how to keep the mountain of dirt from crashing into the little building. I hired a mason to build a block retaining wall. Well, he gets out there and digs around, digs a trench and starts measuring everything. It turns out that we need to build a 8ft high block wall to get to the level of the dirt!!! Are you kidding me ??? </p>
<p>This is ridiculous, an 8ft block wall needs a 18" deep by 36" wide footing to hold it from crashing down onto the building. That is craziness. We have no choice at this point but to get out some shovels and try to move 4 tons of dirt away from the house. No way to get any equipment down from the alley or up from the street. We can see where the natural bottom of this alley used to be… there is about 6 ft of dirt and broken concrete block piled at the top of this alley which is about to crash down onto our little shed. I cannot imagine what will happen if there is a large rain storm that carries tons of water down the paved alleyway into this dirt pile.</p>
<p>I am torn between trying to do the right thing and cost effectiveness. I’ll try to take some pictures of the situation soon.</p>
<p>Meanwhile we have finished all of the plumbing into the office bathroom and new laundry. All of the vent pipes have been installed through the new roofing. All of the electrical is installed except things needed in the ceiling because we don’t have ceiling joists yet.</p>
<p>Discovered that fancy fast plumber has leaks in many joints of his soldering. I called him yesterday and told him he needs to get back to fix everything today. This guy is driving me crazy because he just rushes through everything really fast and is very arrogant every time I question where he is running the lines. Acts like he is God and everyone else needs to change their work. He ran one line too low for the pocket door we need to put into the kitchen wall - he needs to raise it up. The way he ran the line for the shower head is going to cause us big problems with drywall and ceiling joists. And he put his plumbing lines right in the way of where we need to run the ABS air vents up from the toilet and sinks. He just said we would need to reroute the vents. Ummmm… they were there first, very obvious where the ABS pipe is sticking up… why the heck couldn’t you reroute your copper lines???</p>
<p>Well, bummer. I mean, really. 8-foot wall?? Around here that would run you around 10 grand. </p>
<p>Are you saying that you can’t hire someone with a backhoe or whatever to spread it out? Of course the person who should <em>really</em> be paying for it is the neighbor who put it there, and I’m sure he is well aware of it. He only got away with piling this stuff up in the first place because the owner of your place was in such rough shape. If he had been a more typical homeowner, he would have complained to the neighbor or the city when it started to happen.</p>
<p>Is this all a result of your neighbor dumping stuff in the alley?</p>
<p>What is at the top end of those pipes? Maybe you can put a small drain at the top and tie into those pipes.</p>
<p>Doesn’t the city own the alley? What do they say about their property being blocked by a private owner?</p>
<p>In San Diego most homeowners are not cognizant about drainage issues until something hapoens. Not something they would notice while dirt being piled up.</p>
<p>I honestly cannot figure out a way to get backhoe in there with the City barrier at the top of the alley. No way we can come from down below because of the steep slope. It is obvious to me that the City has never bothered to even check this alley. There is so much dirty and debris. A long time ago some homeowner (I’m guessing previous owner of my property) put in those white pipes and connected them with black electrical tape. I have searched at top of alley and cannot even find the end of those white pipes. We are pretty sure that was not a City approved storm drain 
</p>
<p>If you look at the pictures of the slope from below, you can see the white pipes. You then see that they disappear under the dirt. The giant pile of dirt is probably 3-4 ft on top of the white pipes now.</p>
<p>After much discussion with several masons, we have decided that trying to move the dirt is a huge endeavor. Also, knowing my luck, as soon as we have 2 or 3 guys out there with shovels that would be when the City suddenly showed up fining us for messing with the alley. They are not going to believe my story that the pile of dirt was there before. We will get in trouble for messing with a ‘natural slope’ or something.</p>
<p>So, we have no choice but build a retaining wall. After some re-engineering we think a 6 ft wall at the back will hold back the dirt and then we will step it down as we get to the office window so it doesn’t block the view. It’s all about the views!! That will require a very hefty deep and wide footing so I’m renting a jackhammer tomorrow morning to start expanding the footing. Guys are not getting anywhere with shovels because it is solid clay below grade in that location.</p>
<p>I loaded some photos that might be helpful, although it was hard to get a good angle.</p>
<p>WE HAVE A TOILET!!</p>
<p>It’s not glamorous, it’s not luxurious… in fact it is like a glorified outhouse at this point. </p>
<p>It was getting so critical that my carpenter mounted a toilet onto our new cement floors with a thick wax ring and a lot of caulk. We will have to pull it out again when we go to put tile on the floor. But, no privacy! So I rushed home and found some old sheets that we nailed up for privacy around the toilet.</p>
<p>Photos loaded. You are all going to be so envious of our working conditions </p>
<p>Have you looked under the ivy to take a close look at the city’s barrier? It may be possible to remove a couple of bolts and move the cross piece.</p>
<p>From the street level that hill doesn’t look so steep that you couldn’t get a backhoe or bobcat up there. Pictures can be deceiving, but I’ve seen equipment get into some crazy spots… </p>
<p>Also (and again the pictures might be deceiving) it looks like a medium-sized backhoe could reach right over the city barrier and reach most of it. If you haven’t already, it might be worth talking to someone who owns some equipment to see what they can do.</p>
<p>cb, I’m trying to understand the issue but I’m having difficulty. Your photo called “Alley Dirt Above Grade” shows the dirt with gobs of rocks and roots running through it. With so much rocks and roots, it appears that the dirt has been there naturally for decades – not just stuff thrown there in the last five or ten years or so. . I’m confused about why you feel the need to clear it out. I understand that clearing it out means that you need a retaining wall, but what purpose does clearing it out serve? Is it to be able to find and access the start of the drainage pipes? Is it to allow the office to have a view? I may have missed something several pages back. </p>
<p>ETA: I love the archway in the LR.</p>
<p>Thank you for the vote of confidence on the archway. I was leaning towards modern square corners but went back to the original arch blocks that we took out of the smaller doorway. We put them back in</p>
<p>The reason that the mound of dirt is causing a problem is that if water runs down the alley in the back (the paved portion of alley slopes down to barricade) the large amount of water will find the path of lease resistance - which is to veer to left (while looking from top of alley) and crash into the office building and straight towards our house. Soon the dirt will be completely eroded away from the foundations of the two buildings and a large amount of the dirt will cave into the side of the office.</p>
<p>We are going to build the retaining wall first and make it really beefy. Then I think I am going to investigate the barricade at the top and Gee… a couple of bolts fell out of the wood cross bars and had to be replaced (after we get a small backhoe in there).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>But what’s different now? Why hasn’t this happened already through the years?? Or has it?</p>
<p>The large amount of ‘rocks’ in that pile are smashed concrete from neighbor patio. Roots are from them digging up their pond area and the vegetation/roots. However, it is truly difficult to figure out the age of the layers of dirt, concrete and vegetation.</p>
<p>I cannot really see any evidence of major water damage or erosion on my property but this could be for a couple of reasons:</p>
<p>We haven’t had a significant rain for over 2 years - serious drought right now</p>
<p>I believe the top 3-4 feet of the dirt just got moved out to the alley in the last two or three months</p>
<p>OK, I think I understand. I went back and looked through all your pictures. Some of the earlier ones showing the alley show how the dirt is piled up against the shed. I think I get it now.</p>
<p>(But I’d love to see it in person!)</p>
<p>New Roof</p>
<p>Today is going to be a very busy day. We are getting ready to put the new roof on over the weekend. The roof fairy is coming! House will magically have a new roof before Monday morning!</p>
<p>In order to put the new roof on there is a lot of preparation. I have rented a big dump truck from the local equipment yard. We are going to try to back that truck up to the garage. We have to tear off one layer of deteriorated asphalt shingles and the original thick layer of cedar shingles. That will be close to 4 tons of stuff that needs to be carried over to the top of the garage and thrown down into the dump truck. We are going to set up barricades on the sidewalk to keep innocent bystanders from walking on the sidewalk underneath our mess.</p>
<p>From inspection around the perimeter of the house it looks like we will not have to replace any of the wood eaves, which is a miracle. We haven’t found one that is rotted or termite damaged. From inspection inside the attics looking up, it looks like the original wood structure is in good shape. But, we will probably find some pieces of wood that have to be replaced - and replaced quickly.</p>
<p>To get ready for the roof we are madly installing everything that needs a ‘vent’ through the roof. This includes the air vents for every toilet, sink and shower. And the roof vent for the stove vent, bathroom vents and laundry vents. This is taking a long time.</p>
<p>We are estimating 4 hours to tear off old roof and two runs to the dump.</p>
<p>Unknown time to replace any pieces of wood structure. </p>
<p>Then we have to madly nail on a lot of heavy 4x8 plywood onto the original wood structure. Not sure how the original roof held together because it is 1 x 6s that are spaced about 16" apart and the cedar shingles were nailed directly onto those slats. After we get all of the roof sheathing installed we are going to cover with GAF water resistant sheathing. THEN we are going to cover with a thin layer of foil insulation. This is some kind of new product that minimizes the need to even have attic insulation. I’m not sure I trust that theory (or that a buyer’s home inspector is up to date with this latest stuff) but it will especially help the roof areas that are vaulted and don’t have insulation (like the living room).</p>
<p>Then we are going to install charcoal color three dimensional GAF long warranty asphalt shingles, the ridge line across the top and the metal flashing along the sides of the roof. </p>
<p>My roofer guy insists he will be done by Sunday night but I have no idea how this magic is going to happen.</p>
<p>Hey, if he wants to promise that timetable, go ahead a let him. Ask him if he’ll give you a discount if he misses that deadline! 8-| </p>
<p>Back to refrigerator dilemma. Have gone back to the Sears Outlet (don’t ask me how there is enough time in the day for all of this - hauled 40 concrete blocks, rebar and 20 bags of concrete yesterday for the retaining wall, very heavy stuff)… my only choices to replace the Kenmore Elite side by side counter depth is a Frigidaire side by side or a Maytag side by side. Not exactly glamorous choices! I’ll keep working it</p>