The possibility of a second opinion offers hope.
PROGRESS UPDATE
Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming…
We actually got a lot of things done last week. However, as usual, they are infrastructure things that will never be noticed by buyers. Except maybe the newly painted front door!
Front door hardware is all cleaned up and we had to carefully install all kinds of little new pieces and parts into the old door handle and lockset. The guts were replaced with about $200 worth of parts (something no one will ever appreciate!) I could have easily purchased a new lockset for less money and hassle. I had to drive to 3 different stores, including Architectural Salvage in downtown San Diego, to find all the right pieces so that a new deadbolt and door handle could be installed. The original plain brass interior door knob just pulled out in your hand whenever you tried to open the door. Unfortunately, after many hours of detail work, my carpenter could not get the new crystal interior door knob to sit in straight. It kind of droops a bit, but at least it opens and closes the door fine.
We have finished all the irrigation piping in front yard and we cleaned everything up. Sprayed all the weeds and they are slowly getting removed.
We finished all the deck repairs and 3 large glass panels are installed. I maybe have mentioned this earlier, but I really wish I didn’t have to put on a top rail because it is cutting across the view from kitchen and dining room. Oh well
The garage has been completely cleared out and the ceiling plaster and wall plaster has been pulled off. Also, we have pulled the plaster off the two back bedrooms. The one in the hallway is going to become the staircase and powder room and the back bedroom walls are moving around a little bit. All of this demolition stuff is just lying in piles in the rooms and garage waiting for the dang dumpster.
With the dumpster here starting tomorrow we are going to tear out the disgusting bathroom, remove windows that are not going to be used in the new build, tear down the back fence and anything else we can think of
My carpenter managed to jackhammer one 45’ of the side of the driveway, jackhammer another 2 ft into garage, dig a trench (with the other guys) about 24" deep, tear out old sewer line and install new sewer lines in 2 1/2 days!!! The best part is we were only without water and toilet for 5 hrs. He did the reconnection very fast. We also were very careful to analyze the new plumbing requirements throughout the house and he has two Ts accurately measured and set into the pipe that will go over to stem walls and come up out of the new foundation to support the laundry room, jack/jill bathroom and master bath.
I gave away the Maytag white dishwasher through Craigslist Free Ad and someone is coming tomorrow to buy the 40 gal water heater we took out. It’s in really good condition.
Photos loaded to the Flickr Group
I have talked to two fire sprinkler design guys. One is a big company and another one is a local independent guy (I think he works out of his house). I have sent the plans in pdf form to both of them and I will wait to see what their estimates look like.
^ Now you just have to make sure the guy digging out the driveway doesn’t screw up and rip up the new pipe!
Unfortunately I have to keep the trench open because I need to pass an ‘underground’ inspection when I get the permit. So I’m stuck trying to figure out if the guy can do concrete demolition around the trench or I have to fill it in and dig it up again later for the inspector
Are those “panels” of concrete in the driveway actually separate pieces? If so, a skilled backhoe operator should be able to pry them up and move them to the other side where they can be safely broken up, without doing any damage to the pipes. Some of those guys are really talented and have a lot of finesse, considering they are running a multi-ton piece of equipment moving tons of material.
I highly doubt they are separate panels of concrete, as no concrete installer would take the time to put in a driveway that way. The wet concrete was “scored” when it was initially laid down, to look like separate pieces of concrete, just as cb’s concrete installer “scored” the new walkway , as shown in photo titled “front yard irrigation”.
In my neck of the woods, concrete driveways are always poured with joints because concrete does expand and contract. In fact, we were walking around the new Apple’s Main Street in Cupertino and trying to figure out what polymer was used for such joints in the sidewalk after my heel sunk into one of them - LOL. They kind of looked like one of these materials:
http://www.concretenetwork.com/concrete-joints/isolation-joints.html
Since the driveway was probably installed in 1937 there probably isn’t any rebar or joint separation. I believe it is probably only scored. I’m just going to have to wait for the guy to show up and tell me he has to fill it or he can work around it. We’ve got kind of a chicken and egg problem. We cannot finish our side drains from main line because the giant concrete stump under stairs is over the area that we need to trench for the laterals. But I’m guessing the guy cannot demo out the concrete stump unless trench is filled in. Its all a dilemma.
cb, I absolutely love love love the hardware on the front door. That would be enough for me to want to buy the house!
Today I am going to have to go into the City and figure out what went wrong with two of the reviews. I still do not have the comments back for Zoning and Planning. The engineering firm will not start making corrections until all of the comments are back to them. Zoning and Planning had an internal City deadline Monday May 23. According to their Project Tracking system these plans are still stuck somewhere ‘Assigned’. I have no idea what is holding up the reviews because the City prides themselves on 90% on time. I guess my plans fell into the 10% that are late???
But this is getting critical because I have all the ducks lined up to start demolishing the concrete and grading out the new garage next week. We can demolish concrete (well, technically we do not have a permit yet) but we cannot start grading down the 12" until I can call for an Underground inspection of the sewer lines. Cannot call for an underground inspection until one minute after I get permit finaled and paid for.
One of the key things that are going to hold up the permit is another chicken and egg thing. I am going to have to pay School District Fees because I am adding more than 500 square feet. These have to be paid before the City will issue permit, but I cannot get anyone to give me the piece of paper that I need to drive all the way to some School District Office and get these fees paid.
The Porta Pottie and Dumpster arrived early this morning so we are on a roll now demolishing the old disgusting bathroom and the back of the house. The stairs and back fence are going to get demolished also. And, we are starting to analyze how we are going to keep the house secure during the construction. So, we are going to put in a thick door between old garage and basement area that we can keep locked up.
Also, I changed out the vanity light in hall bath that was too contemporary. I found a nice pewter bell jar style vanity light.
I’ve loaded some more pictures
Good news on the permit front. All of my reviews are finally complete after the squeaky wheel sent some emails and made some phone calls this morning. I have a meeting with the Structural reviewer tomorrow at 10am to review fire sprinkler requirements and I will pick up all the final comments and get them into the Engineering Office.
I have scheduled 3 plan recheck appointments for next Thursday and we will see if the engineering firm can get the plans turned around for those meetings.
Time to look at comparable sales again…
About once a month I need to keep checking comparables and I also watch every single property for sale with email blasts out of the MLS. Here is what is out there now in similar location, size and shape.
ACTIVE
1220 Concord 92106; inferior location, no views, competitor did a nice remodel, slightly more square footage , no enclosed garage $1,495,000 on market over 30 days
1165 Bangor 92106; slightly superior location, huge views, competitor did nice remodel, very small lot, $1,750,000 on market over 30 days
1202 Willow 92106; slightly superior location, views over San Diego harbor, outdated condition but not horrible, nice size lot, great Spanish character $1,950,000 on market over 50 days
4451 Santa Monica 92107, similar location with views out front corner only, good condition but not gorgeous, slightly smaller lot $1,399,000
4505 Newport Ave 92107, same location with views, newer condition, smaller lot, has pool and outdoor BBQ area. Tried to sell for $1,950,000 about 2 months ago. Listed with new agent $1,750,000
PENDING
4319 Del Monte 92107, up the street with no views. New construction 2010 but some flooring needs replacement. Smaller lot. Went into contract in 20 days at $1,295,000
SOLD
3460 Trumbull 92106, slightly superior location, very small lot, new construction, views only from rooftop deck. Sold $1,690,000 in 2 weeks
3280 Trumbull 92106, this is what I want to happen to me… Sold before listed in MLS. ‘newly remodeled’ . Have no idea what it looked like. Superior location, superior views, same size and shape, smaller lot $1,980,000
MOST INTERESTING… I have been watching this house. 1965 Froude, inferior location, extremely small lot, views from upstairs balcony area only, gorgeous craftmanship, but living area and kitchen were very small. Less square feet, beds and baths. Sold over asking at $1,131,000 in less than 2 weeks!!!
4563 Santa Cruz and 1653 Froude still very good comparables but they are getting older and may fall off the radar by the time I sell
BUDGET UPDATE
Here comes the ugly… I have crossed the $100k mark and I’m not sure I have much to show for it at this point. It just astounds the mind
SPENT TO DATE $106,200
Demolition $6,200
Bathrooms $7,000
Plumbing and Electrical $12,500
Painting $2,600
Landscape $24,000!!! unbelievable. I don’t even have plants in yet…
Permits, surveys, engineering, drafting and other nonsense = $15,000!!! unbelievable. And we haven’t even paid the big permit fees yet. Also have to pay for a separate fire sprinkler permit at about $500
Windows and Doors $7,000
Folding Door $5,800
Remainder - miscellaneous stuff and labor and big $5,000 building material order on its way
The good news is that all materials for deck addition, foundation, and about 25% of building materials are purchased and on their way.
Right now I expect final remodel budget to be $300,000 but that is before I know what the fire sprinkler costs are going to be
I like the new light fixture though I find the mirror small.
Madison… thanks or the input. I’m going to wait until I have the vanity top and sink get installed and I will look at the mirror again. It’s my fault we don’t have a vanity top yet because I need to drive down to the fabricator’s yard and find a remnant that I think will work with the design. Then he has to squeeze me into his schedule to get it cut and installed. I haven’t seen a prefab top that I like, so I need to get one made from marble
Also, I am behind schedule to get out and buy my appliances. Need to get the appliances before I can finalize an order for kitchen cabinets. Kitchen cabinets are a long lead time item so I need to get cracking on that!
Regarding kitchen appliances, it seems that all or at least most of the more expensive places have professional-style gas ranges–not cooktops-- and french door fridges.
I like the new light fixture, too.
I can still change to a professional style gas range. Nothing is set in stone. But my agent insists that buyers are looking for wall ovens (two preferred) so I may lean towards her advice. I will admit that the giant professional stoves look nice!
The issue with the big professional range is that I have to be really careful about natural gas consumption on this house. SDGE has informed me that my meter ‘might be undersized’ if I add a lot of additional BTUs. This is the reason that I paid extra for a ‘high efficiency’ water heater that is upgraded for the additional bathrooms but is rated for even less BTU usage than the existing 40 gal water heater that I just sold.
I am also adding a separate small furnace for the upstairs addition. This way there can be two zones and a giant BTU heater doesn’t have to operate just to heat the whole house all the time.
If I get a fancy gas range with high BTUs for the burners, the oven is usually natural gas also. I would have to spend a lot of extra money to get a dual fuel for an electric oven in the range. It will be less expensive in the long run to get separate electric ovens.
Fire Sprinkler Update
I decided to take the pro active approach about the fire sprinkler requirement. I called the Senior Structural Engineer at the City and he talked me through the requirements. He encouraged me to ‘get a 2nd opinion’. I met with the reviewing Structural Engineer today at the City and he showed me the calculations. The basement does not count!!! Thank goodness
Existing Floor Space = 1626 living space + 357 garage = 1,983 sq ft
Addition Floor Space = 1244 living space + 487 garage = 1,731 sq ft
So, I am way over the criteria of addition greater than 50% of existing floor space
BUT, I am only 114 sq ft over the 3,600 sq ft threshold!
By sheer coincidence (lucky for me!!) they are having a Fire Code review on Friday morning and both of these engineers are attending the meeting. He is going to bring my plans and appeal the requirement for my project. I emphasized the historical nature of the existing residence and ‘what a shame if I had to tear it apart’. They are all gung ho on the ‘historical’ aspect (emphasizing that I should have applied for historical designation).
I will know the results of my appeal by Tuesday morning next week at the latest. Worst case, my engineer has some ideas how we can convert about 100 square feet of the old garage into ‘basement’ or ‘crawlspace’ to avoid this requirement.