Building Supplies are starting to take over!

My husband and I have a 'bad habit' we love to shop online and in the discontinued and damaged areas of stores. One of our favorite haunts has recently become the Re-Store from Habitat for Humanity. We have purchased several things from these two stores in our area with significant savings to boot. This house is going to have beautiful solid wood doors that cost us $600.00 for the entire house. Granted we will have to build casings for them, but we have also found a local company that will build them for supplies and $20.00 each.

We have also found stuff online on Craigs list. We got the double drainboard sink I had been searching for for $75.00. We also found 3'0x5'0 windows, high energy efficiency, double pane glass, vinyl for $350.00 for 6 of them. The windows alone are a $650.00 savings!

One of our favorite purchases was one I found at a local LOWES. I was on the way home from the property one day and stopped at our Lowes on the way home. I was looking for bath fixtures and in my wanderings found a box marked $50.00 on a tub. I inquired with the salesperson in that department and she told me I'll show it to you but you probably won't want it because it is cracked. She pulled it out and it was indeed cracked at the top side and all the way through as well. The tub was plastic, a Kohler and a Jacuzzi! I still was not certain about this 'bargain' but waited until my partner in crime came home from work and had eaten dinner.
I told him of my find and his remark was, you bought it, right?
I said no I wanted him to see it first.
His first reaction was let's go now and check it out.
We got to the store and pulled out my 'prize'.
Yep it's cracked, he remarked. We'll get it anyway because I can probably use fiberglass to fix it.
Images of Chris's past boat repair adventures flashed in my mind.
This is not fiberglass it's plastic.
Then epoxy will fix it.
It appeared his mind was already made up.
We loaded our treasure onto a cart and then the murmurings began, a man remarked, Where did you find that? Another, Found you a bargain huh? Wow! said yet another. Chris's grin was evident by the time we got to check out. The girl at the counter said was that price for real?

The original price for the tub was $499.00. We walked out for $54.50. We got home and looked online for repair options and found a product called Plastiaid. 3 days and about $35.00 later we had a tub with lovely seashells made from candy molds adhered onto the surface and a crack repaired. All told it was a fun project.

If you are willing to take a chance on scratch and dent, the savings can be significant.
Look for the bargains they are there!
Oh wait I was probably ahead of you!

Batter Up!

Not a baseball term at all! At least I think they are called batter boards for the foundation. Chris stands in the dirt for the foundation that he helped to spread. We always enjoy the work involved in this project and this was no exception. One truckload was enough and until it was spread, Chris thought it was too much! Now it is settling a little while waiting for the plumber.

Speaking of plumber, we are using a guy highly recommended by one of our neighbors. He is reliable and prompt. Here comes the problem, (and when you are building a house there is always a problem). We have had several days of freezing temperatures, lots of people have frozen, split, busted, gushing pipes! Every plumber in town is having a field day! Needless to say this is putting a damper on our plans to have the foundation finished by the end of this week!
Our plumber has also never put in pipes on a concrete foundation, so he has enlisted the help of a friend. Now we have to wait for the friend to finish the job he is on to come work on my house! To add to my grief, Chris has not gotten any other estimates, so this guy is our "go to" guy. I am nervous about what the other plumber will charge to work with our man. What to do if he goes over what Chris thinks it should be! Tell them to stop and not do the work, continue and we bite the bullet, I know I don't know plumbing!
To add to the frustration, they will not start work until about noon today and it is supposed to rain for the next 2 days! We may not get the inspection and concrete poured by the end of the week as we had hoped.

Once we get the plumbing in, we can:
Call for an inspection for plumbing.
Get the foundation sprayed for termites.
Get insurance on the property.
Get a load of gravel for the underlayment.
Call the concrete guys.
Order concrete.
Call for another inspection, I think for the concrete work.
Take camper over to spend weekends in.
Order building package.
Take delivery of said building package.

My carpenter brother will be ready for the roughing in next week! He his giving us 2 weeks of his time to get us to the blacked in stage. Blacking in means we will have windows, doors, and finishing work can begin. Hopefully we'll have a foundation to put it all on!

Requesting Permission to Build Sir!

All the hoops we have had to jump through of late have me reminded of the military. I know that the 130 mph windzone codes come from FEMA, but sometimes they are downright annoying. Hurricane straps will now make your house not come apart in pieces, but will now tumble as one single entity down the street. We are also 19 FEET above sea level, so water is not an issue.
Our saga began with us buying this little piece of heaven in Fairhope for a very good price in August of 2009. We tried very hard to save the structure that was there, but my head started thinking and taking over instead of my heart. Too many issues with plumbing, electrical, cracks and the discussions about how to do things were pulling Chris and I apart. I made the fateful decision to tear the structure down after 2 1/2 months of trying to save it. Chris really was trying to save it for me and my romantic, idyllic, artistic way of thinking as well as out of his love for me. This was the middle of October. We found Cottage plans on the internet and ordered them thinking hey this will work!

Forward to November, Structural Engineer says plans are not 'plans' and we need to get them drawn as such! More delays, more expenses, more frustration. In the meantime, Chris decides to build his workshop to store all the stuff we have purchased for our "dream home". I am happily painting plein air one Friday morning and get a call from the company building the shop. "Ms. Chavez, the city won't let me have a permit to build." My heart sank into my shoes, my head started getting dizzy, and my stomach, well...............
Called the city permit office~no answer, left a message.
Called the Surveyor~ no answer, left a message.
Called the City Inspection Head~ no answer, left a message.
Chris was at work so I called the shop at the mill. Chris was not there but one of his friends said they would get to him. Chris recalled the friend saying 'Hey man your wife called, she NEVER calls you at work, you better get back to her.' Chris called a few minutes later, while I was still waiting for answers from ANYONE! Chris told me to call the head inspectors cell phone (HE has his personal number!).
When I did, the Inspector told me he was about to call me! He told me that they had a long discussion about this and here is what I need you to do. ' Get your surveyor to lay out where the house is going to be placed. Then you will get the permit because I know you are going to build.' It seems there is an ordinance in the city of Fairhope that basically reads, you can't put a workshop on property until there is a permanent home. The inspector helped us to get around that.

Now back to the "plans" we had to have them re~drawn as official plans and taken to a Structural Engineer. This all started about Thanksgiving~what IS it about Holidays it seems everything comes to a halt then! The workshop was started at that time as well. The inspection for the pre~concrete pour was delayed for several days because of Thanksgiving. We finally picked up plans after making some minor changes and getting them to the Structural Engineer to get them stamped. We picked the plans up on Christmas Eve. The following Monday, December 28th (Our 31st anniversary) I took plans, plot and myself to the inspection office to drop them off. I was told it would be 7~10 days before they would get back to me. My heart sank, that meant I most likely would not see plans until January 8th or later. I knew it was necessary and said I would look forward to hearing from them.
I was working at the house in Mobile when I got a phone call at 7:15am Wednesday December 30th from one of the inspectors at the city. The plans were only stamped on one page and needed to be stamped on all pages. I drove to Fairhope to pick up the drawings and meet with an HVAC man with a license to work Baldwin County. I dropped off the plans with the surveyor who in turn took them to the Structural Engineer. Our surveyor then picked them up and delivered them to the office on December 31st saving me a long trip!

I knew they would not even be looked at until Monday the 4th at the earliest. We got a call Monday afternoon from the Surveyor telling us we were approved but there was still a little work to be done. I called Tuesday morning and the lady said yes it was on her desk, but she would have to get back with me on the total that afternoon. She called me later that day and gave me the total, $1215.00! For a permit?!?!? I said thank you to the nice woman on the other end of the line, hung up and promptly had a mini panic attack! I went to the website and could not figure out why it was so much.

Long and the short of it, I went to the office Wednesday Morning and picked up the paperwork after asking about the charges. Turns out that they charged us for the underground electricity $500.00 so the permit was not so............ bad? $715.00 OUCH!

I signed the papers, tried to fill out the forms correctly, (I don't know much about electricity, our son is doing all that). Talked with the Electrical Department, and the Head Inspector looked at the plans as well. Paid the fees, signed more papers, Picked up a very expensive piece of plastic and thanked all in attendance.

The city of Fairhope is really easy to work with, personable people, easy to understand, and willing to answer all questions. After all is said and done, a relatively pleasant experience.

Permission to Build Sir! GRANTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!