You Have to Look More Closely for the Wow Factor

The past few days we've experienced what I'll call the 'end-of-framing' blues. Work on the house was progressing rapidly for the longest time. For 2 months now, we've been watching framers arrive on site early in the morning, a stream of delivery trucks placing pallets of 'stuff' right into the house or onto the roof, and the constant sounds of banging, nailing (thwack!) and sawing (along with the swearing). This has all been matched with massive daily changes to the house; a new floor, roof, or fully weatherized door. All that activity has stopped.

The basement framing was completed this week. Our goal is for a 95% finished basement. The office (on the left ) was originally more open, but strangely the zoning board told us to case in this opening to prevent us from putting a door there (so that it couldn't be a bedroom.) It seems more of a private space this way, but whatever.

This week, even though there were sometimes as many as 7 or 8 cars in front of our hours each day, the changes are all small. It turns out that electricians and plumbers don't get to work until 9:00 or even 10. And still, at the end of the day, you have to now what you are looking for to see the daily changes. When we go over after work it's like a scavenger hunt to find the evidence of the day's activities. Sure we now have thousands of feet of electric wiring in the house, phone and ethernet cable ports we are unlikely to ever use, and plumbing vents snaking from basement to ceiling, but these are not 'wow'-causing additions to the structure. It's a little less dramatic noticing the extra wire or pipe that wasn't there the day before.

(Here's a riddle for you: How many phone jacks do you need in your house for the next 10 years if you've exclusively used cell phones for the past 10 years?)

Our first agonizing decision, the upstairs tub.

Can YOU tell it's bigger than the other second choice?

But today, the tub and shower were placed and plumbed in...causing enough wow to necessitate a post. Although, as always, they look a lot smaller to me than they did in the store.

The downstairs shower, roughed in with the valve and faucet installed.

Inspection sticker! An important addition to the plumbing vent pipes.

- A

The Long and the Short of It: Town Committees

We're through the committees, and despite all the delays, I guess it wasn't as painful as we had thought. I think the most difficult part was watching the timeline shrink in front of us. We didn't get to these boards until September, as opposed to original plan of the summer. Then both Conservation and Zoning gave us dates, only to come back later to tell us they had to move them back because they hadn't been advertised properly. To echo our representative, Tom, "How can that happen twice to one applicant?" And to echo the #1 lesson Natalie taught us while she was in the NICU: "It is what it is."

First up was the Conservation Commission. We left Natalie with Grandma and Grandpa May and apprehensively, yet excitedly, marched down to Town Hall. I felt that we got a lot of positive comments about the gem of a neighborhood we are in, the value of our project, and the creativity involved in designing for the narrow, slanty space while showing regard to the conservation issues. We were almost through peacefully until an old dry well in the back became something for the committee to ponder. And ponder they did, until they decided that it wouldn't do and we needed to add a new interloper to our plans instead. Bottomline- draw that in and come back in two weeks.

Two weeks later... Anthony was out on a cruise, and wasn't expected to be back until after the 7:00 meeting was underway, so I went on my own- leaving Natalie to keep Grandma Kirincich company while she made meatloaf. Once there I realized that being on the third page of the agenda meant that it might be a while, so I walked home with plans to watch the meeting progress on FCTV and go back when it got closer to us. Turning on the TV I started to sweat as I watched them skip agenda item after agenda item because representatives were not there. Somehow it was now only a few items away from us! I hurried back only to wait, wait wait...waiting long enough for Anthony to arrive back, and then waiting even longer... When Tom mentioned that the case right in front of us would probably be contentious and take a while I decided to go home and enjoy my meatloaf while it was still hot. Anthony stayed behind. We thought about bringing him a nice hot plate to the meeting, after all, the committee members were passing around a container of tomatoes amongst themselves for snacking.

At home Jeanie and I watched as the time ticked by. Finally, about 3 and a half hours after the start of the meeting it was our turn. The admin. called our case and then recommended that it be tabled because the representative was not present. I started shouting at the screen that Anthony was there and then they realized that Tom was indeed there. They reviewed that he was supposed to draw the new piece.

Committee: "And did he?"

Admin.: "Yes, he did."

Tom: "Can I go home now?"

So there it was- our one minute exchange, which was only drawn out slightly so that the secretary could record the happenings.

Next up was Zoning. The three of us all went together to this one, but Natalie and I stayed outside the room until our case was up. This board seemed to run smoothly. Once again Tom did a nice job explaining our case and our efforts to be less non-conforming. Again we heard positive comments, both about the location and the design efforts. They reviewed that three of our neigbors had written letters of support for the project. An additional abutter stood up and voiced her support, and we found out after that another abutter was at the meeting as well. The only stipulation was that the office in the basement remain an office and not be turned into another bedroom. Fine with us!

ZBA voted their approval the night of the meeting, and Conservation voted their approval the following week. Barring any appeals, we were through!

-J

Meet and delay, meet and delay...

Delays seem to come fast and furious, progress plods along slowly. I wonder though, how many delays can the town actually push on you?

We are in the phase of waiting for our conservation and zoning commissions to view, comment, and hopefully, approve our plans (submitted months ago). These are still just the skeleton plans. The details are still on hold until these are approved. So we wait through delays due to newspaper postings, delays due to technical details, delays due to 'cooling off' periods.

We are starting to wonder if the whole thing will happen this year. Winter is coming fast, and June (the end of the winter rental season) is just around the corner.

-A