This is not at all inconvenient...

Hey, would you look at that? Someone got a Port-O-Potty installed on their front lawn. Hey wait! That's MY HOUSE!

GAAAAH!

Thus begins day two of my home addition.

If you have been following my blog you may or may not know that I have been in the long process of trying to add an extra room and bathroom to our home. As much as my wife and I would love to pack up and move into a nice school district for the kids it's unfortunate to say that homes in Southern California exist in the price median of about $420,000 and you can look upwards to a median of about $650,000 or more for a home in a good school district. Coupled with the fact that homes are not selling in this economy we decided we would add to our home and take our chances with private school (which is also astronomically high priced)

I hate California...

So here's the current state of my studio...

As I write this I've got two guys tearing out the drywall right behind me. Why you ask? Well in my stupid town the city regulations state that every home HAS to have a functional garage. When I first bought this home the garage was already converted into a studio, and that was one of the appealing things I liked about the place. The fact is that in order for us to build onto our house our home has to be brought up to code, meaning, that my wall has to be torn down so that the garage on the other side can open and close. When you make a city approved addition to your home a city inspector has to come and inspect the construction site during various stages of development to make sure everything is up to code. In order for a city inspector to approve of any of the construction work involved your house to be up to code. That means I have to have a garage....

So, I work in a garage.... for now...

Getting a building permit from the city was a whole other headache in itself. I won't go into details but it isn't cheap and it took over eight months to obtain. The original idea was that we would have this addition so that we could accommodate our kids and I could still have my studio.

The first step in all this is demolition and tearing down all the junk we need to get rid of. Since this is an addition (and not a remodel) there's not going to be that much demo work involved but here's what they've done so far with a 60 lb jackhammer.

They have to tear out the concrete in our yard because the addition is coming out 17 feet from the existing home. That also involves moving plants, and the sprinkler system.... It's a headache.

Oh, did I mention this should all take about six months to complete? (We're shooting for four)

I'll be sharing this whole process with all of you as I go along because misery loves company.

Take one last look at the back of this house because hopefully by July/August it will be all over....

Comments

[Blake Himsl Hunter]

Dan, you are hilarious! The port-o-potty comment had me in tears.

You are a brave man, but your kids will love living in a construction site. My dad was a general-contractor and the house I grew up in was never done, but I had fun growing up in it.

[kelmurphy]

No lines for the bathroom anymore! Head out to the front lawn, brother! I can't imagine this is going to be fun, but the end product will be great!

[Nina]

Should be interesting....hang in there! Luckily, kids roll with it better than we do. I just imagined the big green alien from your new (most excellent) book cover on the front of that port-a-potty!

[Do']

Good luck!

[Simon Brown]

Dude, I am so coming over to upper deck your port-o-potty. Beware.

[Lucky]

So that's what those porta-potties were for.