Yes, cb, that was just for illustrative purposes. If you replace the grey with white, all you will see is white! Agree that white may not be a good choice.
I think you need to spend the extra on aluminum. My hubby would be very, very concerned with a door of that massiveness made of vinyl. Of course, he is the guy who would do happy backflips seeing your French draining efforts… 
Others might not care.
This manufacturer uses the same aluminum interior core for the door framing, but instead of being faced with aluminum clad, it is faced with vinyl. Still researching to make sure I totally understand the materials
I took cell phone photos of all of the detailed building plans and they are loaded to Flickr… for those that actually want to try to look at them
If the doors are using the same metal frame, then it good. I have seen very flimsy vinyl-covered doors and windows… The metal frame inside was so flimsy they looked like solid vinyl. I am sure the co that you are going with does not make that kind of crap, but some buyers might not like vinyl because of their past experience.
The Can of Worms has Started
I knew that this 2nd story addition was going to be very hard. But, we are discovering just how difficult this is going to be already.
On May 31st, a concrete demolition contractor is going to show up and demolish the driveway, retaining wall and haul away all the concrete, including the giant red brick fireplace thing on the back patio. Turns out that the red brick is really concrete brick so it will qualify for concrete recycling. He estimates that there is 40 tons of concrete to be hauled away. Then he is going to bring in his bobcat and grade the new garage pad and driveway.
The new garage has to be dug down 12" below the grade of the existing garage. This is the only way that we are going to get a legal height for the new garage and be able to install a standard height garage door so that modern cars can get into the garage.
So, I started to realize that we are going to have to grade down the new garage area at least 16". 12" for finished floor and at least another 4 - 6"" for the new garage concrete slab. That’s a total of 18" to 20" that a bob cat is going to be digging down. We know that our main sewer line runs under the existing driveway. Yesterday I decided that we needed to cut some holes in the driveway and dig down and figure out how deep the main sewer line is.
Of course… it’s only 12" deep at the top of the driveway. Bottom line… we now have to cut a trench 48’ out to the alley and completely replace the sewer line to at least 20" deep at the top of the driveway sloping down to the alley. So now we suddenly have a new emergency project that has to be completed by May 31.
Oh, and did I mention that I paid a plumbing company to do a full camera scope of the main sewer line about 2 months ago? Obviously that was a waste of money at this point
Well, let’s look on the bright side. 
You realized all of this before one of the following Bad Things happened:
OR
Just call me Pollyanna.
Good news Bad News
The good news is that the City has completed all their reviews!! I picked up the review comments today
The bad news is, through some crazy calculations, I am required to install a fire sprinkler system throughout the entire house. And, there is a big possibility that the new sprinkler system is going to require me to upgrade water meter and the main line up the slope. I don’t think it can get any worse than this. First, how am I going to run fire sprinklers in the old rooms with the coved and vaulted ceilings? Am I supposed to run some ugly pipe across the wood ceiling? Second, fire sprinklers are just plain ugly. Third, my agent says it does not add any value in a buyer’s mind. And fourth, every time I see those in a house all I can think about is “what if someone accidentally knocks it and sprinklers start going off”???
The reason this is happening is new fire requirement if all new construction OR total new build is 3,600 sq ft AND addition is more than 50% of original square footage. I thought we were OK but it turns out that they count “floor space”, not liveable square footage. So they are counting two garages and the basement area and the upstairs decks… These add 2000 sq ft to the calculation and they are claiming it is over 3,600 sq ft!! I don’t get to sell it as 4,300 sq ft. And they are counting garage and deck additions so we are over 50% added sq ft
This adds a whole new can of worms to the flip
I’m sitting in a rented vacation place that has a sprinkler system. I didn’t even know it was there until DH pointed it out to me. It’s not ugly in the least. The sprinklers are actually flat white disks flush with the ceiling. The actual sprinklers drop down when on.
Of course…that doesn’t solve the installation issue!
I didn’t know about the flat white disks. Ive only seen ugly sprinkler heads. Maybe there’s hope.
Regarding the folding doors… they are sending me samples of the beige vinyl and dark aluminum. Ill make final decision after I see the samples. He warned me that lead time is way out to August.
I can’t imagine there are many flippers out there who go to these extremes to flip a property! I’m in total awe of your perseverance and I commend your efforts.
Grasping at Any Nugget
I continue to try to find the bright side of my insanity. Yesterday my agent was showing a buyer homes in Pt Loma. HIs price range is lower than my target. He is the owner of several popular Sushi restuarants in San Diego. He was viewing properties with his father and a contractor he uses to build out his restaurants. They stopped by to look at the project. Turns out the contractor is doing several high end flips in La Jolla and Rancho Santa Fe. He took one look at the property and said he would have bought it in a heartbeat - it was an incredible property with tons of potential.
I ran with it… a competitor thinks I made a really smart purchase.
Cb, that is a good sign! This is your first second story addition, right? So you are gaining valuable experience, even though you might spend more energy and $$ on this project than you planned. Next second story should be a breeze!
In the spirit of total disclosure, here’s my permit experience leading up to this
First time pulling permits was Fall 2012. Did a new master suite addition to a North Park house. Kept it under 500 sq ft because there’s a bunch of extra costs charged if over 500 sq ft. Had to move the gas meter and it turned into a disaster because gas company discovered there was a shared main line with neighbor coming across back yard. Had to work through getting permissions from neighbor, coordinating Gas company tearing up his yard (luckily he didn’t have any landscaping and he was very cooperative). There really weren’t any extra costs, just two month delay. That project taught us foundation requirements, laying new main sewer line and roofing. And gas line building codes and testing.
Next one was CC Flip #1 where SDGE had red tagged house for gas line and I had to totally rebuild garage with permits. More gas line building code requirements and gas line testing.
Next one was Hoarder House where I had to go through a lot of hoops to get through City, and a lot of structural requirements. More foundation pour, learned how to do balloon shear wall structure, Simpson strong walls (metal shear panels) and put on a new roof for a utility shed. Lots of hold downs with special inspections for epoxy. Major plumbing code requirements.
Next one was Liberace House. This was our first staircase and it took some extra time to teach ourselves staircase structure (with mentoring from a contractor and now we know how to do that). A lot of shear walls and ceiling joist structure. Also learned out to trench new concrete footings for wall support into existing concrete slabs.
So, the things that are going to be very new for this build are:
V Lam beams and tie ins
Dumbwaiter shaft and electrical
Building decks and balconies on a 2nd story platform (waterproofing and slope requirements)
Fire Sprinkler design and installation (not even going to try to mess with that ourselves, need to find a subcontractor)
Pouring new driveway- leaving that up to concrete contractor
Exterior shear walls (the North Park build had minimal shear wall requirements)
And, it appears that because we are adding XX square feet we have to lay some roof membrane stuff, but I think we have already done that on all our other roofs. I leave that up to the roofer.
Oh, and I forgot to mention. FAA certification requirement again. The planes from San Diego Airport are evidently going to hit the roof on this house also. Once again… What the heck??? The house is not on the top of the hill, it is on the other side of the hill from airport.
Yes, but planes are now making those sharper turns over the water to head east so you never know!
Really? How do you get that FAA approval? And is it hard to get?
Luckily, Engineer just has to put some language on the plans and I have to fill out a form guaranteeing that I am self certifying myself. And I have to pay for a special Pre Construction Inspection where the City Building Inspector comes out and checks planes will not run into the house.
At the Hoarder House he came out, stood in the yard and said “Nope, planes not going to run into house”
Oh my! How technical…not!