Prep Work & Purchases

It was 75 degrees today. So, naturally, I am sitting in my backyard typing this blog post in the soft light of a warm, February evening. The only sign that spring hasn’t sprung is the fact that it will be dark by 6 pm. And when it is spring, that slab will (hopefully) look a little more like our planned addition!

We’ve made some headway since I last checked in. Our plans have been revised and resubmitted to the City, along with a very last minute geotechnical report (it pays to be in the business!). This phase of the project has included lots of planning, lots of scheduling, lots of discussing, and lots of paying. Even though we haven’t broken ground and our house looks virtually the same, we’ve spent quite a few pretty pennies to get this thing off the ground. Permit fees, utility fees, school fees, design fees, fees, fees, fees!

But that’s all about to change. We will still be paying lots of pretty pennies, but things are about to start looking different. Like our money is going into our addition instead of the black hole of building department bureaucracy. But I digress. Before I get into what is planned for the next few weeks, let’s take a quick trip down memory lane…

When we moved in, the west wing had doors and windows, leaked like crazy, and served as additional storage (because, clearly, we needed more storage space?). After far too long of living with that, we finally tore it down and have since used it as a sun-drenched patio.

Now to the present. Justin and my dad demo’d the only remaining portion of the never-beloved west wing. The little blue stove and other miscellaneous crap that has been stored here have found new homes, mostly with other people.

With the patio cover gone, there is so much light in the bathroom! It gets me daydreaming about all the natural light we’ll have when the house is done. I know, daydreaming about natural light… this is my current state of mind 🙂 You can’t blame me; it’s been sunny and warm outside and I’m currently suffering from mid-winter vitamin D deficiency.

On Wednesday (drumroll, please!), the slab will be jackhammered out and the concrete taken to a land far, far away. The following week (weather pending) the crawlspace and footings for the addition will be excavated and things will really start to take shape! Flo is a little unsure about all this, but she’ll love it in the end.

One last thing to report: we recently purchased our doors, windows, and skylights. With the exception of the two windows at the front of the house, all of our current windows are single-paned, likely original to the house, and will be replaced. Plus, lots of new windows for the addition. The windows are nothing too fancy, but I can’t tell you how excited I am about remote-controlled skylights. When those bad boys go in, I’m just going to stand there with the remote for about 20 minutes like a kid in a candy shop!