Let the Demo Begin!

Today is the day that things start to get rolling. The very first demolition activity is to take a huge dying tree down. About half the tree has been dead since we moved in and, frankly, I'm amazing it hasn't fallen on our (or our neighbor's) house yet. So today he comes down (we will be planting many more in his place after construction). We're going to chip up as much as we can to use for mulch in the "tree farm" area of our back yard where we have planting a bunch of saplings and random others things to establish themselves before placing them in another part of the yard.

Monday is when the real fun begins though. That's when they'll start taking the HOUSE down. And according to Justin, the contractor, that should only take about 3-4 days. By the end of next week our house will be half as big as it is now. Then they will have a surveyor stake out where the new foundation will be and they'll begin to excavate. That should take about 3 days. Next comes the foundation, which should be poured and finished within a week. After that, the framing begins.

It's all becoming very real and exciting. Justin says they're on schedule to complete the project within 3-4 months. I'm putting this down on the blog as evidence, because you and I both know we should expect more like 6 months. I haven't met a person yet who has been through a renovation that has been completed on time. Nonetheless, it's great to have things rolling because at least now the end is in sight!

Permit Granted-Again!

So I've been too bitter to update the blog lately, until today. The short version of the story is that after we got county approval (the first time, in December) our contractor realized that he could save us about $7000 if we made a few changes to the foundation (basically by using less concrete). He promised me he would make the changes and get them approved by the county, which he finally did yesterday, but it was a long and stressful journey. After many meetings with the county, the structural engineer could still not understand why the county was so reluctant to approve plans that still met Arlington county building code. My theory: in a down economy, when you work for a local government that is dependent on funding from the state (who is teetering on bankruptcy), what is one way to ensure you keep your job? Look busy. And that is precisely what our plan reviewer did-for about two and a half months.

We're all just very happy that the final approval has been given and now we can get started! Let the bulldozing begin!!!!