Day 36: The Roof, The Roof, The Roof is on The House

The framing continues, with the roof beginning to form (the planks have been placed across the top of the addition).


Looking through the future doorway to our master bedroom (from the family room)


Looking from the back of the house, into the future French doors opening to our bedroom.


The side upclose, looking through the future window into the family room.

Day 35: We Have Rooms! And Glendale Gets Richer

The framing is all up, and for the first time we can get a real feel for the size of the new rooms. I gotta tell you, at the moment I feel good. The master bedroom definitely feels larger than our current tiny room -- I'm even beginning to imagine where the furniture is going to go, and can see how there will be a nice bit of empty space to roam around. The closet is also a nice surprise: It seems like a pretty good size! I mean, nothing major, it's still not a walk-in closet, but its a good size. (The bathroom, meanwhile, I'm still not so sure about.)

The family room also seems like a decent size -- and will definitely be a gathering place, with the kitchen overlooking it. It'll be nice to have a place for Evan to hang out.



Now, on to less pleasant news. Architect Joseph spent a chunk of yesterday at Glendale's Building and Safety Dept., getting approval on the garage. Today, I went down to the city to pay the permit fee. $650. Ouch.

Here's the salt in the wound: The permit fee is based on the estimated cost of construction. It dawned on me that on our first permit, we included the price of the garage in our estimated costs. That means we essentially paid twice to build the garage.

There's some hope: The Building and Safety people told me to write a letter to theier supervisor, and with some arm-twisting I should be able to get a chunk of that money (probably $400) back.

One more thing that I just don't understand: Per Glendale city dode, new construction requires fire sprinklers. Even the garage. Have you ever heard of a garage with fire sprinklers?

I swear, when this is all said and done, I'm going to compose an op-ed piece for the Glendale newspaper about how ridiculous and anti-homeowner the city's policies are.

Day 33: We Get Framed

The framing has begun, and it feels like we've hit another milestone. It's still slow-going, as we've only had two workers in recent days. But they're good workers -- we especially like the guy who's here day in and day out, and always smiling.

They've layed out the design of the addition in blue pencil on the floor, and lemme tell you -- the master bathroom is SMALL. Don't know how they're going to fit a jacuzzi tub, sink and toilet in there.

Meanwhile, Joseph is still at work on designing the garage, which we should have approved early this week.

A few more pics:

Day 30: Insulated

Finally! Some movement! Insulation in the floor boards, as seen above. Of course, a quick look underneath revealed that they didn't bother to clean up the crawl space beforehand. So stray pieces of wood and nails await whoever crawls down there. Nice.

Days 25 through 29: Waiting.

Not much to report, I'm afraid. The rough plumbing was finished on Friday (although I swear I can smell some gas, which I've got to check out tonight)... as you know, at a $1200 premium.

Since then, the work site has been mostly quiet. Job foreman Paco says he's been having a rough time with the city inspector -- he thinks the guy wants to be greased. Not gonna happen -- even if it means delays in getting things approved.

Day 24: Mo' Money, Mo' Money, Mo' Money!

Above, workers dig trenches to the guest house (yeah, I'd say the grass is dead now). All of our added plumbing stuff is really costing us an arm and a leg more. If you recall, we're already paying the plumber $700 more to put in the new gas line to the guest house.

Now, he informed me today that all that sewer drainage work the city made him do wasn't included in the price. Plus, if we want copper pipe to deliver water to the guest house (the previous pipe was plastic, which he'd replace for free -- but copper is much better), it'd be extra as well.

So I haggled an additional $500 for both (he originally wanted $600 more for the sewer pipe and $300 for the copper pipe). Sigh. That means $1200 total for the plumbing.

That brings our cost overrun to (drumroll, please) $6200. Ugh.

Meanwhile, there may be a positive outcome to our garage problem. I hit the city's inspector office this morning, and they hit us with the bad news: We need plans and another permit to finish off the garage. Architect Joseph told us it'd cost $750 more for him to do it. Maria got on the phone with him today, though, and told him straight out: No way. We don't have that money. She asked for his help but said we'd do the new plans ourselves; she also dangled Universal Studios tickets and CDs to convince him to work for free. He relented, and even agreed to draw up the plans. (If any engineering is required, it's still on our dime -- so keep your fingers crossed.) Finally -- a solution to a problem that didn't involve us opening our wallets deeper.

Days 21, 22 and 23: Yet Another Hitch (Sigh)

The inspectors were scheduled to make a return trip to the house today, to approve the rough plumbing (as seen above, the plumbing for our second bathroom, underneath our current bedroom window). The workers burned the midnight oil on Wednesday -- well, they stayed until 8 or so -- to get much of it done.

But -- sigh -- speaking of inspectors, a new wrinkle has arisen. The inspector isn't letting us build the garage just yet. He wants to see plans -- and there aren't any. Architect Joseph didn't draw any, since it was a simple move and expand the garage job. Uh, no. Maria and I thought everything had already been squared away once the plans had been approved. Uh, no. Was it a miscommunication? I dunno -- but probably. Now, the plan is this: I'm heading early tomorrow to hopefully meet with the inspector and ask if some details would do, since it'd be redundant to draw up a whole new, separate set of plans. This is one job, afterall. Hopefully he'll take pity. Otherwise, we have to go to Plan B: Either demand Joseph draw up some plans... or we do it ourselves.

Meanwhile, this ain't pretty -- but luckily, as part of our $5,000 extra garage arrangement with Contractor Menny, we're getting replacement wood for the back of the house. Look at this edge, also near our bedroom window (where the water heater was until recently):



I guess 80 years of termites will do that to a house. Question is, wonder how bad the rest of the house would be if we stripped everything off.

The construction hasn't been dramatic over the past two days, but here are more shots of the foundation and floor joints:

Day 20: The Floor Begins to Form

It was another long day, at least for a couple of workers (one of whom stayed at the house until nearly 7 p.m. on Sunday). But we've now got the skeletal formation of a floor! More happy news: I stood on it, right where our French doors will be (both on the bedroom and family room side), and we still have a bit of a view!

Day 19: We Have Foundation!

The cement hose sure looked messy, but by the time they were done, the workers had cleaned up things nicely.



With the cement in place, it's now time for the pier blocks. And believe it or not, we've got workers coming by this (Sunday) morning. It does feel like the construction is starting to move quicker... keep your fingers crossed!

Day 18: We Have Cement!

The inspector did indeed come on Friday... and so far, so good.



The one thing the workers apparently had to do was replace the remaining clay sewage pipe with more plastic pipe (this part had previously been under the concrete patio behind our house; with the concrete gone, it was now accessible). Apparently clay pipe is not allowed under new construction.



The good news: I believe all of our sewage pipe is now brand new, or just 2 years old (from our initial problem, back when we first bought the house). That means we should have no sewage problems for years to come, methinks.

Now, with everything apparently looking good so far, the workers were at the house bright and early Saturday morning. And with them, brought... cement! It was a pretty messy-looking affair, as a large tube carried the cement from the street in front of the house all the way to the back. The workers seemed to use the cement hose haphazardly, going from one side to the other...









And here's a shot of the cement truck, in front of the house:

Day 17: The Inspector Cometh?

Things seem to be moving a little more smoothly -- that, or maybe I haven't been paying as much attention the past few days, and am just hoping that things are running smoothly.

Either way, it was exciting to hear this morning that it's already time for our first city inspection. The workers are ready to pour concrete for the pier blocks that will make up our foundation... but first the city has to sign off. Keep your fingers crossed!

Our faithful worker, the guy who's there every day in and day out, told Maria last night and me this morning. While other workers come in and come out, the one guy is there every day -- and last night was there until nearly 8 p.m.

More shots:

Days 15 and 16: Plumbing Fun

Above, a closeup of the gas pipe that runs from our house to the guest house. It looks pretty corroded, and even though I don't smell gas or hear a hissing noise coming from it, I'm really not a big fan of keeping this under our new addition. (As referenced in the last post.)

Our usual plumber, Tom, came by late Tuesday night to give us an estimate: $1200. Yikes -- that's more than our construction plumber. Tom also said he didn't think our construction plumber was doing a good job, and pointed out some problems.

That didn't make me happy. I called up Contractor Menny and told him I wasn't happy with the plumbing. I also talked to plumber Angel the next day, and he explained some of the issues: Some things were temporary, and others were necessary for our home. Menny told me Angel was his best plumber; I finally decided to let things continue. If there's a big problem, let's hope the city inspector will find it.

In the meantime, I also haggled Angel down to $700 to replace the gas pipe. Actually, it was pretty easy to talk him down to $700; I should have tried $500. But after Tom's huge $1200 quote, I felt like $700 was suddenly a deal.

So for those of you playing at home, we've now added $5700 to our initial $90,000 job. Let's hope the insanity ends there. Of course, if you go by the yardstick that all projects go over by 20%, we still have a long way to go to $18,000. But that ain't gonna happen; we don't have that money!

Meanwhile, plumbing continues. The workers need to connect a new water pipe to the guest house, and also a sewage pipe from the guest house (or at least, from the clay pipe that still exists) to the main sewage line. Prep for the foundation also continues.

Some shots from Thursday morning:


The trench behind the house


The garage, as it slowly morphs from one car to two


The backyard

Day 14: Not Such a Gas

Few new problems: One my concern, one the contractor's problem. First, my concern: In digging the new addition, the workers uncovered the gas pipe that was previously buried in the dirt. It looks pretty bad. The plumber says we need to replace it.

His price: $900.

Whoa! I called the Gas Company, and talked to an operator who sounded like she didn't know what the hell she was talking about. She said she couldn't send out a worker unless we suspected the pipe was leaking (which I don't believe -- there's no smell and no hissing sound). In that case, she said not to worry -- we didn't need to replace the pipe.

What, me worry? Well, this story, for starters, makes me worry. But I don't want to shell out $900 either. I'm having our regular plumber, Tom, check it out tonight. Hopefully he'll have a more reasonable quote.

Second problem: There's no water service in the guest house anymore. Apparently the workers cut one of the pipes that brought water to the guest house. But hey, they cut it, they've gotta fix it. So the plumber was supposed to spend part of today re-establishing service. Guess we'll find out tonight if it worked.

Days 11, 12 and 13: The End of the Garage

The crew got busy on Saturday, and we met our plumber for the first time. I think the plumber was expecting a much easier job; but there's a lot to do in terms of moving gas lines, moving the hot water heater (which is now temporarily on the side of the house), rerouting water lines to the garage, etc. Not to mention the task of bringing in plumbing to the new master bathroom. But that's why we're paying the big bucks.

The big news, however, was the official demolition of the garage. Just three years old, our garage was problematic in its short life: A leaky roof, and mold in the corners. Hopefully our guys will build it much better than the contractor for the con artist who sold us our house. (Bitter? OK, maybe a tad.) We kept one wall of the garage up, in case the city decided to get cruel: There's an outside chance that we'd have to move the garage inward (an impossible task) if we completely demolished it. Hence the lone wall:





Now, the view from the side, as more digging has taken place... and more pipes have been sliced out:

Day 10: A Productive Sick Day

While I slept through much of Thursday, trying to recover from my bronchitis, a lone worker spent much of the day digging around the garage to prepare for the foundation. Here's how it looks:



The lone worker also grabbed his hacksaw and continued slicing and dicing pipes in the backyard. Which, of course, freaked me out. What are these pipes, and why did the workers think they were unnecessary? I was especially panicked by the pipe RIGHT NEXT TO THE GAS LINE which he cut off with his electric saw, sparks flying everywhere. I decided to relocate to Evan's room, just to avoid the impending gas explosion that luckily never came. Below, pipe remnants:



Later in the day, after I returned from treating myself to a Foster's Freeze soft serve, three more laborers had shown up to clear out the garage and place the belongings in the metal container we rented ($300). I wound up helping them carry stuff; my real motive was to make sure everything was put away neatly and semi-organized in the unit.

Below, our now-empty garage (save the washer/dryer, which we kept there overnight for some furious last-minute laundry)...



... and the container on the driveway:



With the stuff out of the garage, next the plumber has to come and move the water and gas lines. After that, it'll be time to build our new two-car garage.

Day 9: More Calm Before the Storm

The pathway of our addition is now more easily defined... and sheesh, it still seems small. The job foreman told us that everyone says that; I still worry. I also realized today that by extending the house and building a two-car garage next to it, our view of the hill behind us will disappear. I enjoyed that view; it was a strong selling point for me for the house. But whatcha gonna do... I guess I've got to keep my eyes on the prize: A bigger house. A garage with room for Maria's work studio. And although we're losing much of our backyard, there's a new park opening up around the corner come December; I'm sure we'll be taking Evan there often.

Day 8: $5,000 Poorer

Well, we met with Contractor Menny last night, and practiced the art of the compromise. He wanted $7500 more to cover the cost of a new garage, plus to replace the rotted (from water and termite damage) wood on the back of the house. We brought him down to $5,000. Not pretty, but at least I could feel better by reminding myself that the other contractor had bid $24,600 to re-do the garage. At $5,000 more, Menny is now charging us $25,000 for the garage -- but that includes replacing the wood on the house as well.

But sigh. That's $5,000 that could have gone toward putting down sod around the house or landscaping (which we'll end up doing anyway).

Other shots: