July 7th, 2018 Progress Report on the New House

We sold our old house in North Plains so quickly that we had no real plan to put the new house on the Farm. We had sketches, ideas, and some knowledge about what it would take; but we had no permits, surveys, contractors, or the other people needed to do these things. All we had was the house we had picked out and put a deposit on about a week ago and a dream of having enough money to make the thing happen without incurring debt. But we sold fast, and we sold right, so the money thing ought to work out pretty well providing that the unknown stuff doesn't add up too high. Last Sunday I resolved to get the permits on Tuesday, needless to say it, but that didn't work out as simply as planned. But progress was made.

Tuesday morning I rolled out of the house at eleven, having done Farm chores, meals, and drew up a preliminary site plan on my computer (so that I would not look like a new guy). Arriving at the planning office I got loads of help, but I had to go back after lunch to talk the the guy making  the decisions. But this guy was okay, once we got together after lunch. He gave me a preliminary nod, which is not the same as a preliminary permit. He said it would be no problem so long as we got a survey showing that we are not below the Base Flood Elevation of 225.3 feet above sea level.  We were also going to need the Septic system checked out. So I rented an excavator to arrive on Thursday.

The Fourth of July celebration at Creekside Farm was only spectacular in that we did nothing at all.

Thursday the tractor came at ten A.M. and I launched into finding the lost location of the septic tank, figuring that, from there, I could get a clue about the other parts of the system, so that they could be checked. It took five hours, and I dug up a whole lot of things that looked septical, but were not, and which then had to be re-buried. Eventually I found it, but the tank wasn't in very good shape. A steel tank (we had hoped for concrete) that was a bit out of shape with a really bent lid. The drain field, which carries the black water out to drain off, was probably going to have to be replaced as well because the pipe they used turn very brittle.

After finding the tank, I used the remaining tractor rental time  to tear apart the last of our really big last huge trash piles (for sorting and disposal). And they I started digging out stumps and knocking down trees until it was too dark to see.

We re-buried everything but the tank and the Farm is generally none the worse for the wear. It will be no fun in the sun to sort through all the trash I casually tossed around with the excavator, but we'll sort that out this month and get it hauled away.  Trash is an issue always on Creekside Farm, but we're more interested in building the house than of the ubiquitous and ever present trash. What we need it contractors.

The problem of finding a survey guy and a septic take guy are that people are very much in demand in this area. Today we got a visit from the septic guy who said $12K minimum for a new system. So I called another guy and he comes Monday afternoon . . . It looks like I'll have to do a ton of trench digging to put the new septic system in or repair the old one.

Contractors of all sorts are busy enough that they might not answer the phone on the first or second try. We eventually got calls from a surveyor yesterday, and also one from a septic guy. Things will be looking good once we have both of these things set up, and the electrical plan comes through from PGE. Soon we will have our permit!

The house will take about four months to complete at the house factory, another few weeks to set-up on the Farm. So in between these things we will need to bury the electrical stuff on the electrical plan. We will also need to bury the water pipes, move the water system, get hold of the propane guy, and pour a really large slab of concrete for the house to sit on. Nothing to it.

If all goes well we will be warm in our new Farm home by December this year.