Alarm bells!

The big switchover from old septic tank to new occurred yesterday.  Yay!  Finally!  Other than the giant hole in my bank account, this should be a cause for celebration!  But no.  Sadly there was a complication.

Did you know that our new septic system has an electronic monitoring panel hooked up to a phone line, so it can be monitored remotely (at significant expense to moi) to make sure it is not overly turdy?  And of course, what would an electronic monitoring panel be without a high-pitched, high decibel alarm system?  Ahem...an uncalibrated high-pitched, high decibel alarm system.

So there I found myself coming home after a late night at work.  Had some quick dinner and a little unwinding time.  I turned off the TV, but I couldn't get the ringing out of my ears.  Until I realized it wasn't inside my head ringing, but outside my head ringing.  Right.  The septic alarm.  So in my pajamas I put on my coat and sandals and headed outside, down the stairs, and over to the control panel.  Tracy had instructed me, having dealt with this earlier in the afternoon, that to turn off the alarm, you have to push the giant red lit up Rudolph nose button on the front of the panel.  So there I am, freezing, but at least guided by the light of the button.  And I push the button but nothing happens.  So I push again and hold it in.  After 10 seconds the loud whining ceased.  I waited 10 seconds to make sure it wouldn't come back on.  It didn't.  Relieved, I headed back to the house.

I made it as far as the stairs.  Just as I put my foot down on the bottom step, the ringing recommenced with renewed vigor.  Back to the panel.  I held down the button again, but I see it laughing at me.  The ringing stopped.  I let it go.  Relief.  For two seconds.  I managed to not punch the panel.  But I pushed that button again with more PSI than the recommended limit, if there were a recommended limit.  (Felt reminiscent of the scene with Ivan Drago in Rocky III.)

Hooray.  It stopped and stayed stopped.  Went in and straight up to bed.  Sleep finally.

Not.

After two calm minutes of bed, sweet bed, it started again.  I forced myself to consider this a dilemma, and debated whether to go back down.  But it wasn't much of a choice.  I had to go back down.

Back down the stairs.  Shoes, jacket, down the outside stairs.  The panel.  I looked at it.  I glared at it.  It was still laughing.  But then I gave it "the look"--you know--the one only your dad can give you when he is disappointed or wants to be intimidating.  Head bent, glasses down his nose, looking over the rims.  I pushed the button and gave it the look for a good 30 seconds.  I could tell it had stopped laughing.  I went back inside.  But now I wasn't sleepy.  Just angry.  So I turned the TV back on and researched what makes septic alarms go off.  There is a surprising amount of literature...none of which applies when you've just turned the system on for the first time 8 hours earlier.

Fortunately it stayed off the rest of the night.  Today they told us they had to calibrate it with their "computer people."  Right.  How would you like to have that job?  I'm the computer programmer...for poo tanks.

Let's hope for a quieter night tonight.

The septic install has begun!

After nearly a year of tests, inconsistent positions on the part of the county, and a lot of dollars spent, we finally got the septic installation started!  We're about halfway along.   The tank is in, but the drainfield hasn't been installed yet.  Here's some photos I managed to take since I happened to be at home feeling under the weather when they started working.  More photos to come of the drainfield if one of us is able to grab the camera during the next couple of days.

Here's the truck delivering the new tank.

The hole in the ground awaits its tank.

The tank being backed into position, while another truck shows up with all the septic installation accoutrements!

The tank being lifted into place.

The tank being dropped into the hole.

The tubing for our septic field awaits installation.

Asshattery

After three months of jerking us around, the county revoked its conditional approval of our standard septic system.  Thus ends 9 months of work and negotiation, leaving us with the same twice as expensive option we had back in January when this all started.  Thanks a lot county.  If you'd just denied us then, we'd be well into the construction already, if not done.

Looking at November or December to break ground now.  Feh!

Short update.

Plans are moving along.  Slowly--but moving.  We now have permit approvals for installation of the new septic tank and field and expect that work to be done in the next 2-3 weeks!

We've also hired a contractor, James Ray Arnold of Green Building Construction to do build the addition and remodel.  We're working with Zac, Bjorn, and James to come up with our engineered plans to submit for approval to the county, and hope to have those submitted shortly.  Keeping fingers crossed for an August or September groundbreaking!  Woot!

Will post photos of septic install when the time comes!

Renderings!

Our intrepid architects Zac and Bjorn recently created a 3D rendering of our addition project, both internal and external.  They were kind enough to create to images for me to post on the blog.  These images of course represent what we'd like to do given budget constraints, as yet unknown costs of construction, and assuming nothing gets limited by zoning or permitting requirements.  Bid packages went out to three contractors yesterday.  Can you tell we're getting excited???

This is a view of the house from the north, looking south.  The addition will be the portion on the right.  You can see we're adding some substantial space in the back of the house, and will have a new covered patio.

A closer look at the addition and patio from the north side of the house.

A look at the house from the southwest corner, looking northeast.  We'll be building out part of the second floor of the existing structure (where the balcony currently ends.  there will be a door there to the balcony that isn't draw in this model.

This is the interior first floor, standing in the existing living room (turret), looking west towards the back of the house.  Currently this is a large, open, undefined space between the living room and kitchen.  We'll be adding the wall with the cutout, and counterspace on kitchen side of that wall.  After the remodel is done, we'll plan to use the turret room as a dedicated dining room and space to entertain guests.

This image is looking at the kitchen from above, from the south side of the house looking north.  To those of you who have been in the house, you'll notice that the basic kitchen layout isn't changing much.  The sink, diswhasher and stove will remain in place.  We're building a permanent (and larger) island to replace the portable one we have now.  The fridge is positioned a few feet further to the right than it currently is, and the high wall cabinets will be new/repositioned.  The biggest change here is along the south wall of the kitchen (the bottom of the image).  Currently the door on the left goes to the bathroom.  We'll be turning that into a half bath and putting some additional pantry space where the bathtub currently resides.  Right now there is a door to our study just to the right of the bathroom door.  That door will move over to the right side.  In between we have added floor to ceiling pantry space.  That will move the wall back a couple of feet and decrease the size of the study a bit, but that's ok.  On the left we will take out part of the wall to create a pass-through from the kitchen into the new addition area.  You can see that better in the next image.

This is from the addition looking east toward the kitchen.  The room will be about a one foot drop from the rest of the floor.  The counter space extending from the kitchen will overhang a bit, and we'll put some barstools there.  To the right are built-ins that will include our entertainment center.  The design of the built-ins is still a bit up in the air.

This image is looking at the living room from a similar vantage point as the image above.  The kitchen is to the left.  Along the south side of the room we'll have some large windows, a wood burning fireplace, and window seats with storage inside.

And here's one last shot of what the addition might look like superimposed on an actual photograph of the current house.

Progress update

So as mentioned earlier, it will be a while before anything real photography starts happening.  But that doesn't mean there's not a lot going on.

We have been working with Zac and Bjorn (our architects) to finalize our plans.  This past Wednesday evening we met with them and they showed us an unbelievable 3D model rendering of the house internally and externally as it stands currently, and then with the addition and proposed changes.  They even included additional layers showing potential finishes for the exterior of the house.  I'm not all that easily impressed, but we were blown away.  We felt as though we could tour the house, and see how things will really look!

Since we're so close on finalizing the plans, we're also meeting with contractors to solicit bids, and going out to view their work.  We are also moving forward with bids on the septic replacement and expect to have that work done concurrently.

What's next?  Securing financing, finalizing plans, obtaining bids, and getting permits.  We're hoping we might still be able to break ground this June.  Lots more to come once construction begins!

There Goats the Neighborhood!

Yesterday, Marc and I wandered (a baby perched on each of our shoulders) over to visit our neighbors. We discussed our shared obsession with the winter Olympics, let Addie and Ellie pet (and be licked by) their dog, and watched them wrangle a goat off their roof.

Yeah, you read that right. Watched them wrangle a goat off their roof. We've got pictures. Walking home again, we discussed the latest renovation plans, and I realized: we've flung ourselves headlong into this project after only barely considering just moving instead.

It would probably be easier to just move. We know. Moving doens't involve digging a 3x3x5 foot hole in your yard. It doesn't involve finding somewhere else to stay while walls are knocked down or trying to steer two toddlers (who I hope, I hope, I hope will develop at least a rudimentary understanding of the word "no") away from a backyard full of construction equipment that is very much Not For Babies. It doesn't involve hour long debates (eh, let's be honest: three hour long fights) about weather a step down into the new living room breaks up the space in an interesting way or is just plain dated. No, moving involves hanging out the amazing realtor who helped us find this house in the first place (and who is one of our favorite people in PDX), signing a zillion papers, and packing and unpacking all our stuff. A pain in the rear, yes, but a familiar one (before we found this house, I'd moved pretty much annually since 1997).

Plus, I always enjoy re-alphabetizing my books when I move (I know, I'm not a well woman).

Still, we're not leaving this house. Not a chance.

We love our house. On a clear day we can see Mts Hood, St. Helens, Adams and Rainer from our porch and on foggy ones we can hardly see the end of our driveway. We have nearly an acre of land, with a raised bed for vegetables, a fifty year old apple tree that keeps us in pies and cobblers and sauce for months, and space for an eventual swing set for Adeline and Elodie. Our backyard borders on a network of trails that go on for miles.

And we love our neighbors. We actually know our neighbors, which is rare in and of itself: I remember saying to Marc when we first moved in that in our first two week on this street we'd met more neighbors than we did in two years in our old apartment in Jersey City. Last winter, when we were all snowed in for the better part of two weeks, it was one party after the other (like college, we said). We went door to door gathering all the onions and potatoes for an impromptu latke party, we went cross country skiing at three am, and after ten days of near constant camaraderie still liked one another to gather for a potluck Christmas dinner when the roads proved impassable. There are annual July 4th shindigs, Christmas ship viewings and just because barbecues. When we took Ellie and Addie trick or treating for the first time, everyone cooed over them, everyone could tell them apart without asking, and (best of all) Marc and I wound up scoring four beers, two glasses of wine, and a generous serving of homemade rabbit stew (delicious, and hard to be more local: our neighbors raise rabbits, turkeys, chickens, and--of course--goats).

Add a great school district, proximity to Sauvie Island and it's (nude!) beaches, and the fact that Marc's already dug the hole... no, we're not moving. Besides, the addition will include a wall of built-in bookshelves, so when we come to the end of this adventure, I'll still be able to alphabetize to my heart's content.

Besides, how can you possibly leave a street with neighbors like this one?

Septic News: Forecast is not shitty!

Just got the soil report back from the county--my hole-digging travails were worthwhile!  The county has approved us for a standard septic tank and field.  No advance treatment, no internet monitoring.  Savings should be in the tens of thousands of dollar range.

Christmas has come early for these Jews!  Time to celebrate with our favorite Christmas pal!!!!!!!!!!

The city boy digs a hole in the ground.

As many of you know, Tracy and I are starting the process of building an addition to our house, and remodeling much of the interior. We are working with two fabulous architectural geniuses (genii?), Zac and Bjorn. This blog will chronicle the process over the next year (we hope) from beginning to end. We hope to post many images of our progress, and where appropriate, plans or other scans. Construction won't really start until the summer, so posts will relatively sparse until we get things going.

Why the title? About two and a half years ago we bought our house, which is located in the far northwest reaches of the Portland Metro Area, in unincorporated Multnomah County. Despite being only twenty minutes from downtown Portland, our area and street have a decidedly rural feel to them. We have fewer services, and many of our neighbors raise farm animals. On many mornings we are awakened by Ike, our neighbors' rooster (originally named Tina, she turned out to be a he). There are no gas lines, no cable service, and most importantly for this story, no sewers (we are, at least, connected to the city water grid).

When we were exploring the possibility of purchasing the house, which we love, I mentioned the fact to my dad that we had no sewer connection and instead would have to rely on a septic tank and field. He was understandably uneasy about that, because of the significant potential hassle we'd have to deal with if something went wrong. A short time later, when we were much closer to settling on purchasing the house, the topic came up again. This time one of my dad's friends happened to be over. When I mentioned the septic issue, he put his friend on, and he said, "Marc, I have one thing to say. Jews don't have septic tanks"--and he immediately put my dad back on the phone. Needless to say, I found this hilarious, especially because a) I don't think I knew of any Jews with septic tanks at the time (I've since found several), and b) I figure that they probably don't have sewers on kibbutzes, so they must have septic tanks there too.

Ironically, of course, the septic tank has been an ongoing issue since we purchased the house, and it's where we begin our blogging of the construction process. You see, our existing septic system, like most on the street, is old and probably way out of code. That's no problem of course, because older systems are grandfathered in as the code evolves. However, once a homeowner decides to update the house in any significant way--changing the footprint, adding plumbing, etc., the septic is required to be brought up to code. Pain. In. The. Ass. Also, there is a history of other houses on the street being required to install super duper hi-tech advanced treatment septic systems if the soil doesn't drain properly, as measured by the county. After meeting with the county, we were told to expect the worst--a crazy expensive outcome.

But we still have to try and see if maybe it won't be the worst. So the county instructed us to dig a 3x3x5 foot hole in the yard for them to come out and test. They told us to expect to hit ground water only a foot or two down--and that once we did we could stop and that would pretty much doom us to the most expensive system. So last weekend a neighbor and I set out to dig the hole. It was a disaster, since we decided to dig after a week straight of heavy rains. We hit water at 18 inches--practically a geyser--and decided to fill it back in.

Instead of throwing in the towel, I decided to wait a week and see if maybe digging would be better in dry weather. So this weekend I tried again--this time on my own--to dig the hole. As you can see from the photos, I had much more success this time, and over the course of two rainy afternoons managed to dig five feet down, without hitting anything more than very slow seeping water, a totally random plastic drainage pipe, and some rocks at exactly five feet. Now I'll admit that for the last couple of years I've suspected that my neighbors probably laugh at the city boy and his family who moved out to the (sorta) country and pretend like they have any idea of what they're doing. And I'll admit that they are right. I have no clue, and I am the city boy they know me to be. But today, just for this short moment, I have gotten down and dirty and become what I am not.

Now I've resigned myself to the fact that when the county comes out to test the soil it will be bad news, and all of this digging will have served no functional purpose. But to me it's still the first step toward our ultimate goal of making a kick ass addition to our house.