New House Update

I have had a lot of people ask me recently about the status of our new house. Basically we have been playing an endless waiting game since last June. First we had to wait to buy the house, then we had to wait to apply for permits until we could line up financing, and now we have applied for permits and are waiting for them to come through. The sale finalized at the end of October. We got the financing together by the middle of December and because of the holidays, the application for permits wasn't submitted until the first week of January. It was supposed to be a 12 week process, approximately. Here we are at week 15 with no clue as to when the waiting will be over.

We have gotten a few things done in the mean time however. We got the site tested for water run off and percolation. The city of Seattle requires that any water that hits the house, cannot be put directly back into the sewer system. Instead it has to go through some type of landscaped filtration system, like a rain garden or planted drainage trench. Depending on the slope of your lot and the type of soil there, the amount of water needed to be caught and collected can vary a great deal. Luckily our lot is relatively level and our soil is a good sandy loam, so our rainwater collection system did not have to be too aggressive.

The other thing we have finished, is the asbestos testing and removal. Before we had the house tested, we had our builder identify areas in the house that he thought would likely contain asbestos. In December, Michael outfitted himself in a full tyvek suit and respirator, and spent two days manually removing an entire bedroom ceiling and the entire kitchen floor (including the sub-floor). Oddly enough in both cases, it was the glue that held the ceiling and flooring tiles together, that was the asbestos culprit, rather than the tiles themselves. Once that was done (and disposed of properly of course), we felt confidant that when we actually had the house tested, it would come back clean. In March a company came out to do the testing. The minimum amount of asbestos that is allowed (considered 'safe') is 1%. The tests revealed that the living room ceiling had 2% asbestos. Sigh. We would have to have that removed at some considerable expense (our quote was around $1500 minimum). Fortunately Michael found out that he could actually legally do the removal himself, rather than hiring a special company to do it. The city rules state that as long as the homeowners get a special permit, do the removal themselves (not hiring anyone or having anyone else around at the time) and dispose of the debris in special bags, in a special landfill, they don't have to pay an outside contractor to do it. So that is exactly what he did. It took about a full day's work, but in the end we saved at least $1300, but probably more.

Since the closing date, we have also been able clear the land of much of the overgrown vegetation, as well as strip the house of some of its more 'valuable' things (interior and exterior doors, appliances, windows, water heater, door knobs, light fixtures, etc.) and sell those on craigslist.  Needless to say, the old house currently on the lot is in rough shape. Its missing windows and exterior doors, much of the ceilings have been removed and some of the floor is gone. It was already in pretty appalling shape to begin with (how anyone comfortably lived there before we bought it, is beyond me), and now its just a shell, waiting to be demolished. We hope to hear more definitive answers regarding the permit, by the end of this month or the beginning of next, with any luck. The builder said that we can expect the building process to take around 6 months from the time permits are acquired. That would put us potentially moving in next November or December. Thats a far cry from the builder's initial move in estimate of mid August. At least our current house is comfortable and livable in the mean time. Now that we have been getting some small but necessary things done, we hope that will make the whole process go smoother once we have the permits in hand!



***Update from April 24th***

We just got an initial review (they call it an intake meeting) of our documents from the city. They have told us that our target date for our next file review is May 8th, and that at that time they should have some corrections for us to fix on our plans. After that we might be able to get a firmer estimate on when the permits will actually be ready. Their standard estimate for permit completion after the intake meeting, is 4-8 weeks, but obviously we are hoping that the process goes quicker than that! So the worst case scenario is that they take 8 weeks and we would be moving into the house in January or February 2015. Best case is December 2014. Not really a whole lot of difference there!


Prior Updates:
Dream House - The Beginning