New Diggs

Last month, my husband and I became part of an elite group of people called landowners. With a sparkle in our eyes (the same eyes diligently watching the bottom line), we left the land of hustling renters. With plans to stick it to the over-privileged lords of this mini-feudal system we call the “University-town renters market”, we sketched, and called, and estimated for months. About four weeks ago we became legal owners of a small (75’x 160’) lot that backs out onto a small lake, about 20 minutes from downtown.

Part of the reason for starting this blog was to keep track of the arduous journey ahead, bit by bit. We plan to build the house ourselves; contracting out the trades my husband cannot do himself. The house is intended to be somewhat temporary-the real estate in this town is about 3 times more expensive compared to the city we were born in, and we will probably sell this house for a profit in a few years, move elsewhere and start anew. The blog will help me the second time around, I hope. It will also be a place where friends and family can come to check out progress when they aren’t actually visiting/contributing to the manual labour (*cough cough*).

The first week was productive, we had the existing well tested for minerals and coliforms. Looks like we’ll need 2500.00 worth of water filters. Week two/three was spent waiting for the engineer to “swing by”, and finally ended in a tearful phone call with the receptionist when she informed me the price would almost double if we wanted to be made “a priority”. Once I got a grip on myself, I told her to shove it. We found, and then consulted, with a second engineer (at a fraction of the cost, natch) who helped us decide where the house should go in relation to the existing well and septic. Then Thanksgiving. Then I got sick. So it was last week when we had the excavator person and foundation person in to look at the lot. They work as a team, sorta, so that a large gaping rain-accumulating hole is not left for too long on the future spot of our house. Monday was supposed to be the day when site was cleared and footings poured. They ran into a snag, of course; there was stagnant water where they were going to pour the footings. Past experience dictated that this sort of soppy set-up was not going to pass inspection. We could build there anyway, but we would need to get an engineer to design a pad to be placed over the gravel, which would take time we don’t have (hello, frost!) and also money. A second game plan: excavate the entire area which had been filled in with gravel from a previous construction attempt in 2000. Drain the water with a few ditches, and then fill it in with dirt. Place footings as usual. This plan would cost money, but could be done right away. Hmmm…we’ll see this evening how that went.