<p>Something I have done in getting concrete into tight spaces is to use one of those large cardboard tubes that are used when make a temporary form (about 12 inches across. Shovel concrete in top, let it slide on down… You could also use a 4 inch PVC pipe with a funnel of some type.</p>
<p>^^^^ I’m thinking pastry tube . . . . </p>
<p>Five gallon bucket with a hole cut off center, attach pipe via rubber sleeve…</p>
<p>Cb, I’m impressed with what you’ve accomplished given all of the many obstacles. Can’t wait to see the finished house. Hope you get top dollar for it.</p>
<p>Great ideas! They ended up mixing it in a wheelbarrow on the bathroom floor and using a small shovel to get it into the foundation stem wall that had all kinds of obstacles on the top. To fill the foundation pier under the house, they had to pass buckets down through the old heater grate in the living room and pour one bucket at a time. I don’t think we got smart enough to think of all the ‘pastry tube’ alternatives 
</p>
<p>Meanwhile, of course they ran out of cement right at the end of each pour and I had to do two emergency runs to Home Depot. We really suck at estimating the amount of concrete needed !!</p>
<p>I’ve loaded some photos that show the stem wall and concrete pour. And, our $400 Simpson Strong Wall contraption that the structural engineer insists we have to install.</p>
<p>Today was two steps forward and one step back! I have a feeling it is going to be like this for a couple of weeks.</p>
<p>Pulled the forms off the concrete stem wall and foundation pier and we’ve got our anchor bolts and post bottom all set into the concrete. </p>
<p>Built out the new closet for the back bedroom - the original closet was a little 3’ x 3’ door type closet. I bumped the closet into the back bedroom 12 inches to give more room to the bathroom and it is 6 feet long - much larger closet and more useable. It took forever to get it framed because my guy had to go into the attic and add support and underneath house to make sure there was proper support. And, he had to tear out the original hardwood floor because it didn’t make any sense because there was only 12" of hardwood and the back 12" of the closet is going into the original bathroom and had no floor. So, that makes 2 closets that won’t have any flooring in them.</p>
<p>But then we had to start tearing out our finished drywall around the front entry area. We have to close in the wall between front door to the first pillar post because engineer is making us put in a shear wall in that area. Also, the front door is going to get recessed even more to make sure we have the full 36" landing required for new code. So, went backwards in that area.</p>
<p>A couple of photos loaded.</p>
<p>We drove by this house late yesterday afternoon while reacquainting ourselves with the Ocean Beach neighborhoods. That’s some pipe going down the hill! Just for fun I climbed the front steps. Lots of work still to do - that side yard looks bigger than in the pictures - should be very nice.</p>
<p>Thanks for stopping by Marilyn. Those giant white drain pipes are visible in the photos. They were installed about 4 years ago by the northerly neighbor - put together with black electrical tape. One of them is broken but we were able to dig them out and get them re-attached at the top of the alley. I have no idea whether they even catch any runoff coming down the alley and do their job, very hard to tell</p>
<p>Where’s it located?</p>
<p>I think it might be better not to publicize the address of this project at this time. The project is located in Ocean Beach area of San Diego on top of the hill.</p>
<p>PROGRESS UPDATE</p>
<p>Continuing our two steps forward and one step back type of progress.</p>
<p>We have moved all the walls in the main bathroom and framed in the closets and the bathroom. We had to build a special shear wall where the studs go up all the way to the roof (instead of 8 ft tall to ceiling joists). This was bolted down into two large anchor bolts that came up from the new foundation stem wall. </p>
<p>We have framed in the new entry area for the front door (partially backwards because we already had it framed in, but we had to recess the door even further and add a shear wall area)</p>
<p>Tore off two walls of plaster where engineer is requiring new shear wallw - going backwards.</p>
<p>cb, I’ve followed all of your flip threads. This one isn’t the most fun overall (though it has had its moments such as discussing light fixtures), but it has been the most interesting. Are you at a point yet where you have best case and worst case dates for completion or are you still too much at the mercy of the inspectors? Thanks again for sharing the journey </p>
<p>I am hoping and praying that we will be ready for photos and listing by, at worst, January 20th. The worst part about all this is that I have to keep putting off my trade subcontractors and re-scheduling them. I have no idea whether they will be able to come in and get these done on my schedule because Christmas holidays are coming. There are four long lead time tasks where I am dependent on other workers - Drywall installation, tile installation, refinishing hardwood floors and countertop installation. I keep updating them all on when I need them, now it looks like 1st and 2nd week of January.</p>
<p>After January 20th I have to wait a couple of days before we can get listed and then we will still be working on a million details to get ready for Open House. In my business there are really three separate big deadlines (well, not to mention all these City inspections):</p>
<p>Ready for Photos for Listing - a lot of things do not have to be completed or working, just looking good. For example, usually don’t have water hooked up to all the faucets, garbage disposal doesn’t need to be installed, might have some painting touchup needed</p>
<p>Ready for Open House - more things have to be done. Water hooked up to faucets (in case someone turns a faucet on!!), paint touchup complete, finish all the landscaping</p>
<p>Ready for Home Inspection - after we go into contract with a buyer. We might still be installing Water Pressure Regulators onto the main water line, cleaning out the crawlspace, installing blow in insulation into attic, carbon monoxide detectors (this can be done at last minute because no one is sleeping in the house)</p>
<p>My biggest concern is dry wall installation. Because of City inspections I cannot just plow through it. Right now I have to get ready for the big inspection which is framing, plumbing and electrical. But then I have to have a special inspection for these anchor bolts and then another special City inspection for shear walls. Then separate inspection for installing insulation (which probably has to happen before the plywood shear walls go on) and then another City inspection to check the screws in the drywall. All this has to happen before taping and mudding of the drywall which takes forever because you have to wait for the coats of mud to dry before you go on to the next step of mud and sanding.</p>
<p>My goal was to try to get framing/electrical/plumbing inspection by Dec 15th but it doesn’t look like that is going to happen so I am busy trying to find someone I can hire to come help with framing and plumbing so we can get over this hump. More money $$$</p>
<p>I can’t believe that someone has to inspect the screws in the drywall!!</p>
<p>I hope you make a buttload of money off this. </p>
<p>
Is this an earthquake issue?</p>
<p>I have no idea why… they have to inspect that the drywall got screwed properly before we are allowed to tape or mud anything. It’s a real pain in the butt because it wastes at least 1 or 2 days in timing. I would prefer to have drywall installer put sheets up and then someone else comes right behind and starts taping and mudding the joints and screw holes. But no, we have to get it all installed, wait one day for inspection and then start the taping and mudding.</p>
<p>I found this: <a href=“http://www.smgov.net/uploadedFiles/Departments/PCD/Permits/Inspections/Inspection-Checklist-Drywall.pdf”>http://www.smgov.net/uploadedFiles/Departments/PCD/Permits/Inspections/Inspection-Checklist-Drywall.pdf</a></p>
<p>It looks like they are checking to make sure the right kind of drywall is installed (i.e., firewall or not), and the right number of fasteners have been used. I guess if you mud over the screws you can’t tell what the screw spacing was. What a PITA.</p>
<p>We don’t have to get a drywall inspection in my area, AFAIK.</p>
<p>Saw this article in tomorrow’s New York Times Real Estate section, and it made me think of coralbrook. It discusses a relatively new profession – ''expediters," or fellows who stand in line for you to get permits, etc.</p>
<p><a href=“Renovating? Don’t Forget the Expediter - The New York Times”>http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/14/realestate/renovating-dont-forget-the-expediter.html?hpw&rref=realestate&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0</a></p>
<p>PROGRESS UPDATE</p>
<p>It has been a very busy week for us, but the progress being made isn’t really obvious to the naked eye. Lots of tearing out existing walls to get ready for shear panel installation - it looks like we went backwards </p>
<p>The framing of the new main bathroom is complete. Electrician is about halfway done with wiring everything, we just need to get the ceiling fan and ceiling light wiring installed. </p>
<p>I had to pay the electrician to do the stucco repair around the new electrical panel. For some reason I thought the electric panel had to be open and exposed for the City inspection. So, when the stucco repair guy came I put a big ‘No’ sign around electric panel and he did not repair the open stucco around the panel. This has been causing me to lose sleep because the whole panel and wiring is exposed during the rains and we have a lot of plastic covering the panel. Then the electrician comes and tells me that it has to be repaired and closed up before City inspection! Ooops, big mistake on my part. </p>
<p>Had to pay electrician to move some wiring that is now in the way of the expensive Simpson Strong Wall we have to install. Can’t get it installed until we move the wires - it was a pain in the butt because one of the wires crossing the area was a main feed that had to be re-routed under the house. This is under the budget as ‘going backwards’</p>
<p>We tore apart the front porch area and discovered that this is the one area of the house that has termite damage. The prior owner did not install the cheap aluminum windows properly with window flashing and water proofing so water was leaking down into the framing and studs. We replaced all of the damaged wood. Then we discovered that the corner post for the porch area was still the original 1936 ‘spindle’. Inside all the drywall and wood was this spindle. It is still solid and structurally OK, we are hoping the City will let it ride because it is going to be very difficult to replace it. See picture</p>
<p>We had to put in new window framing in this area because the window locations are moving due to having to recess the front door even more inches for the City inspection (going backwards). Unfortunately we now have the entire front of the house opened up with flimsy plywood over the windows - and we are having some big rain storms with more coming.</p>
<p>Which leads us to the emergency craziness of replacing the roof. I am livid about this roof business. We were all ready to put on a new roof Oct 11. That would have been just fine because we would have had weeks to get it all buttoned up properly without rain. But NO… we had to delay for 8 weeks. Now we are trying to install a roof in between rain storms with a roofing crew that can only work on nights and weekends, they are moonlighting from their regular roofing employment. </p>
<p>We had everything lined up perfectly to start at 7am on Saturday. I was panicking because we needed a dumpster or big truck to haul away all of the old roof. My roofer talked his dumpster company into stealth delivery. The dumpster got delivered at 9am on Saturday and will be picked up and hauled away early Monday morning. Otherwise, I would have to go into City again, wait in line and get a $100 street permit for the dumpster. I just didn’t want to waste the money and I was prepared to rent a big truck for about $200 and go back/forth to the dumpster about 6 times.</p>
<p>There were 5 guys working on the roof doing the tear off and installing new plywood sheets onto the roof. Because we have 1 x 4 skip sheathing (1 x 4 slats across the roof rafters every 12") the City required us to use long 3 1/4" nails versus the normal length of about 2 1/2". Well, guess what!! I walk into the living room and look up and there are giant holes punched throughout the plaster roof. The 3 1/4" nails were punching through the plaster roof in living room area because that is a vaulted ceiling without an attic. Big mess. I ran out side and stopped them immediately and they changed out the nailing for the vaulted areas of the house.</p>
<p>In addition to the 5 guys on the roof, there were 2 guys from the roofing material company delivering the materials with a special conveyer belt and then we had 2 guys on the ground all day just picking up the debris and hauling it to the dumpster - one small trash can at a time.</p>
<p>So, by the end of Saturday we had the old roof off, had to replace some roof rafters that had rot damage, replaced some shiplap overhang that was damaged and put all the plywood on. The plywood sheets have openings that leave us exposed to the elements. They cannot come back until next weekend to put on the shingle layer. I begged the City inspector to let us put on the waterproof paper/plastic layer because there are 2 more rain storms coming this week. Guys are coming back today (Sunday) to put on all the waterproof layer - in our case it will be GAF plastic membrane. Hopefully that will keep us somewhat water tight this week while it is raining. The City inspector will come on Monday and we will have to lift up the plastic for a nailing inspection and then attach it back again.</p>
<p>Wheww! This is probably just going to be a disaster </p>