I know that our gas meters are wireless and are read remotely. I cannot remember if the electric meter is read remotely. However, even if the meters are wireless you are required to provide a 36" x 36" work area around the meter for the utility company. I can build a planter in front of it that would be about waist high, but it is going to be difficult to hide all the stuff at the top
We are starting to concrete cut and jackhammer open the slab downstairs today for two areas. I have to build a special 12" wide by 12" deep trench for a footing for the exterior wall of the staircase that is being built downstairs. We also have to open up a trench along the back wall for the bathroom plumbing.
After a long discussion with two contractor friends, we have decided we are going to do the sewage sump pump plumbing ourselves. First quote from fancy Yellow Pages plumbing company was $5,500. Second guy said he was ‘too busy’. Cost of the actual pump is only about $700 including special parts. Both experts said that it is not rocket science and my carpenter (who is an excellent plumber) can do the job. So, we are planning to draw a diagram of our system and show it to the City inspector when he comes for first inspection of our foundation trench and see if he will pass the design - before we get started.
And my Historical Review is finally complete so I can go into the City, wait in line forever, pay $2,500 School Fees and probably about $1,000 City permit fees and get the permit issued.
Interesting thing about the Historical Review. I researched and discovered that this property went through ‘Historical Review’ in 2012 when the Quiet Home Program pulled a permit for the windows and AC renovation. The rules clearly state that if a property has been through Historical Review, it is exempt from review for another 5 years. So, I started calling into the City and leaving messages with all of the detailed information. Noone called me back.
Yesterday the Historical Review lady called and explained that Quiet Home Program historical review only went through ‘National Register’ standards, BUT my permit needed to go through ‘local’ standard reviews. So, it is not exempt… . what the hey??? Either way, it was cleared yesterday. Gee, three weeks later it was deemed Not Historical. I could have told them that in 10 minutes.
About the meter…:
Even if it’s impossible to hide the meter and wiring completely, the trick is to draw the focus away to something else more attractive that is an integral part of the landscape design.
On eBay… I submitted offer and I can have it for $850, free shipping. I think this might be the winner
http://products.geappliances.com/ApplProducts/Dispatcher?REQUEST=SpecPage&Sku=CGP350SETSS
http://www.ebay.com/itm/231635232230?_trksid=p2055359.m2763.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
VERY nice. Looks perfect. The GE Cafe line is very upscale.
Very Happy, love your new picture of the cool chair
Yes, I think I’m going to purchase that. I read reviews that Thermador and GE Café were the top ranked cooktops
Great choice. (I like the burner arrangement. Also, it comes with a griddle.)
Looks like a winner! GE parts are cheaper than other manufacturers’. So if the knob or something like that is off… Wait, you already know the number to call - the DW is a GE, right? 
Yes, my new dishwasher front panel already arrived. I don’t dare take it over to the project until the last minute. It’s staying inside my house with a Do Not Touch sign on it
I loaded some photos of the front of the house. Cage is coming off slowly because we are busy with other things right now.
Loaded photos of the most expensive retaining wall ever… well, at least I think it is dang expensive. So far this thing has cost $1,600 in materials and about $2,000 in labor.
How about some marroon shutters on those windows, or something to add a little color and make the windows have a stronger impact?
You are using wood for the retaining wall? Won’t the wood rot out? What do you expect the lifespan of the wall to be?
That wood is special pressure treated expensive stuff. It should last a long time. Was recommended as most cost effective solution by local contractor.
Cost of concrete block masonry wall or those small concrete retaining blocks is way too high for my budget. I would have had to just forgo the retaining wall at that point.
Usually it is the posts that will rot out first. We are using steel posts that have been set deep into the ground with special steel rings set into the concrete that is holding the posts (which prevents concrete from breaking up over time). The posts should last forever - well maybe not forever! Lifespan of the treated lumber is 20 plus years.
If the retaining wall was higher than 36", it would not be a good solution. But it is a low retaining wall - it just looks higher than that because we dug out some of the dirt to install a French drain. There is going to be 24" of gravel in the bottom of the trench with full French drain installed to divert as much water runoff as possible away from the wood wall. Plus, we are putting all of our broken up concrete from the slab trenches into the bottom of that trench against wood wall. Today 10 full yards of gravel is being delivered - have no idea how it is going to be dumped from the big truck down the driveway - another $500 of material!
Mr. B. and I built a lot of retaining walls… Even in the rainy Seattle, pressure-treated wood (rated for ground contact) is OK to use for building retaining walls under 3 ft. OMG, I just realized that the “railroad ties” wall we built at our old place is almost 20 years now and is still standing! We too used metal posts rated for ground contact.
Whose chain link fence is that between your property and the terraced one? If it’s yours, does it enclose the whole property? And are you taking down the span across the back of your house? (I hope )
I believe the chain link fence between the properties on south side belongs to the neighbor. The reason I think that is because there is no fence on the other side of the property, so prior owner probably did not pay for that fencing. It goes all the way down to bottom of the property where there is another chain link fence across bottom between our yard and the apartment building. There is no fencing on the north side of the sloped back yard.
The small span that is down below our back / west wall evidently was for some kind of dog run or something. It is all coming down. I cannot imagine how a dog ‘ran’ around on 45 degree slope
Today over 10 yards of gravel was dumped at the top of the steep driveway. I believe that it is way too much gravel, but we now own it. This means that it looks like that the full 3 ft high next to pressure treated wood is going to be gravel with the French drain. They installed full waterproof black tar paper behind the wood, and the French drain pipe is wrapped in a white sleeve to keep the gravel going into the holes. The dang thing is going to be nuclear water proof!
I feel sorry for the guys because they are trying to shovel, one shovel at a time, from top of driveway down to bottom of driveway where it gets put into one wheel barrow. It turned out that getting wheel barrows up and down the driveway was just to hard, they are sweeping and shoveling it down. The truck driver refused to back down the steep driveway to dump the load of gravel - Gee, I wonder why??? That wheel barrow goes down to a wheel barrow stationed in the dirt and pushed across back of house on the steep slope on some runner boards to the end of retaining area. It is quite an operation (and I can see a lot of labor dollar signs going on)
Today I got the permit ‘issued’ and I am ready to start calling for inspections. It was a huge ordeal and a lot more money than I ever imagined - or had in the budget.
City Bldg Department doesn’t open until 10am on Fridays. I was there by 9:30am waiting in line and put my name in. I was directed to ‘Area 2’. About 45 minutes later I went back to front to inquire how many people in line in front of me because I wanted to see if I had enough time to run to the restroom and not lose my place in line. I find out I was supposed to be in ‘Area 3’ - run over there. They had called my name at 10:13am and I did not show up. To the back of the line and I lucked out and got called again at 11am.
First, because I am converting more than 500 sq ft into liveable space, I am liable for School District special fees. That is why everyone in this County is always remodeling or building something about 499 sq ft just to stay under that threshold.
Then they started handing me some giant form about Waste Management Recycling and fees. I was supposed to fill out something that specifically stated the exact weight of everything coming out of the house in categories such as Carpet, Linoleum, tile, drywall, etc. What the hey??? Noone had told me about this form. I read the fine print… exempt from requirement if remodel/alteration is less than 1,000 square feet. So, I start telling the guy that I should only have 800 sq ft. It turns out that the original permit was set up with some calculation that included all of the upper and lower deck square footage in my ‘fee structure’ and they were charging me permit fees, etc. at 1,200 sq ft.
I got really stubborn and stated that, since they charged me resubmit fees, AND I have removed all the decks from the plans I felt that there should be an adjustment based on the new plans. Ohhh… we cannot do that at this desk, it has to be calculated by the Structural Department. I literally said “I will sit right here while someone from Structural corrects the square footage - the calculation is wrong in your computer system and that is not my fault”. Would not budge. The guy took pity on me and gathered everything up and wandered around the building. When he came back he said I was corrected to 920 sq ft. Turns out they count the staircase sq ft twice… Downstairs and again, upstairs. I gave up, I had made it under 1,000 sq ft which was my goal. This literally saved me $400 fee for Waste Management and $440 in permit fees. I feel sorry for anyone that was behind me in line - it took an extra 20 minutes to get it fixed.
Can you imagine some poor homeowner that didn’t look at all the fine print?? I would have paid $880 more in fees
Here’s a huge example of why I really try to avoid all this if at all possible - and we can start the whole permit debate again
Dumpster Permit $113
Draftsman and plan copies $ 1,100
Structural Engineer $900
Title 24 Environmental Report $250
City Parking $100
City Plan Submit Fee $ $725
School District $2,560
City Final Permit Fee $2,400
Special inspections that will be required because the City doesn’t want to be held responsible $200
TOTAL = $8,348
This equals $10.43 per square foot just to get ready to start work.