Jason PeacockAn easy act to follow

After some record-breaking procrastination I’ve finally turned over my remodeling project to my father to manage.  In the last 3 weeks he’s done more than I was able to do in the last 2 years!

We now have contractors (with quoted prices) all scheduled to complete the exterior of my house:

• Backfill the foundation & install runoff drains
• Install a french drain in the back yard & general landscaping
• Frame the new additions & install roof joists and roofing
• Fencing
• New water main, electrical, cable, and phone connections

And they’re all biting at the bit to get started – if Bellevue wasn’t buried under snow they’d already be working….

Backfill the foundation & install runoff drains

After the foundation was poured, the trenches outside the forms were not filled in.  I thought we needed to install footing drains, but after talking with an inspector we learned that was not needed.  Yay!  Less work to do.  There were drains for the downspouts though to catch all the rainwater, we’re going to have those installed again for all the new additions and have the foundation backfilled so there’s no longer a gaping trench outside the forms.

Install a french drain in the back yard & general landscaping

My backyard is generally soggy through the winter and spring, this is due to my property being downhill of 4 neighbors.  In fact, one neighbor landscaped their yard to improve their drainage – right into my own yard!  After talking with the city, they’ve approved us installing french drains & connecting them to the stormwater runoff system (AKA the ditch by the street).  This will require cutting the sidewalk behind my house & installing a 6″ drainpipe to go from a silt collection chamber on my property to the ditch on the other side of the sidewalk.  Which of course requires another permit :)

While the contractor is doing this, they’ll also be re-shaping my yard and removing the old trees and shrubbery, cement patio, and deck.  Then we’ll need to put in a couple inches of bark/topsoil to cover the bare dirt to avoid erosion and muddy runoff.  Finally once the yard is done we can call the gas company to relocate my gas line which currently goes through the new master bedroom foundation.  They won’t relocate the gas line until the yard is at its final grade because the gas lines need to be 2 feet below the finshed surface.

Frame the new additions & install roof joists and roofing

We found some carpenters to build the new additions – garage, bonus room, and master bedroom.  This includes pretty much everything: exterior walls, interior walls, roof joists, new windows, house wrap, cut back the eaves, and remove an old skylight.  Framing is pretty quick, but I’ve never done structural framing on a scale like this.  It’s much quicker to get a team of people who already know what they’re doing.

The contractors looked at our plans and told us we were silly to not have them do as much as possible.  Only having them do exterior walls and us do interior walls doesn’t actually save that much money but would take (us) much longer to do.  And they’re right :)

All the windows in the house are being replaced (vinyl-clad double-pane), none of the current windows are worth saving an and many have broken seals.  Additionally, all the new windows are difference shapes & sizes than the existing windows so again it’s quicker to let the contractors do the work.

Finally, we’re having them cut back the eaves to allow more light into the house.  I have a really steep roof with a short ceiling, this means the eaves actually come down below the tops of the windows and block a lot of light.  Cutting them back would really brighten the interior, and it’s another good job for a contractor – not because they’d do it better, but also because it would just suck to do yourself!

Fencing

This is what my neighbors have been waiting for since day two of the remodel.  Now, 3 years later, I’m finally putting back in the fence along my backyard.  Currently my whole yard is visible from the street behind me, in all it’s abandoned glory.  In talking with fencing contractors I wanted a low-maintainence fence that looked good.  At first I was thinking of concrete fences, but apparently they cost 10-12x more than wood fences – wow!  We were recommended Trex fencing instead, it’s only .5x more than wood and meets all our desires for a fence, including looking good from both sides!  I’m very excited to have a fence again, as will be my neighbors.

New water main, electrical, cable, and phone connections

When I first started the remodel, I looked into what it would take to bury the electrical connection to my house which currently drapes across the street from behind my house.  There is a power pole on my side that I could dig a trench to, but the power company said that pole wasn’t rated to run a power line to (despite their own meters using it?!?!).   That meant I’d have to cut a trench through the street, which was lots of $$$, so I put off the idea.

Now I’m doing it!  When my permit was approved it was required that I install residential fire sprinklers, but my water main is too small (only 3/4″), I need to install larger water main (1″).  The city hasn’t upgrade the water mains in my neighborhood yet, so I need to pay for this all myself – which includes cutting a trench across the street to the main water line.  That sucks, but it does mean I’ll now be able to bury the electrical connection as well!  And while I’m at it I’ll bury the cable and phone lines too, which means my house will no longer have ugly wires hanging from it.  That’s what I call lemonade :)