Final Blow

So, some bad news to report. We are going to have to sell the property and hold the stawbale plans for another lot. It all started when the lot had to be re-surveyed. There was a discrepancy with some survey results and a technician went out to clear up the issue. After the lot lines were cleaned up we discovered that our lot started several feet back from where we originally thought. With the new lot lines we needed a geo-tech consultation. Sounds like bad news, huh? Well, it was. Turns out the back of our house would be hanging over a pretty steep cliff and would need pilings to keep it from sliding into the seasonal ponds at the bottom of the 30 foot cliff. We'd also need a pretty serious fence to keep the boys from rolling into the same pond whenever they were outside. A and I talked it over and we've decided to sell the property. The lot is great. It's beautiful, on a quiet street, the neighbors are nice--our house just won't fit. With only five months left on the construction loan we don't have the time to adjust the plans. Even if we wanted to switch to a two-story house the architect is in New Zealand working on a huge project. If you know someone looking for a great lot, drop us a line!

Free Money!

Just none for us, unfortunately. The winners of the GIF Grant were announced last night and we were not on the list. It's ok. We'll still go ahead with the house, but we won't be able to put solar panels on the roof.

Plans

We received a "final" copy of the house plans about two weeks ago. We made $300 worth of copies and took them to the city. Then we found out that we had to flip the house over and change some of the notations. It's exhausting just thinking about it! So now we're waiting to get the final copies back from the engineer for the second time and praying that they don't take as long as the first set. It was nice of the city's engineer to let us know what needed to be adjusted before we just dumped the plans off for the final check. He probably saved us time in the long run, but it's still frustrating.

We received an email on friday about the grant we applied for letting us know that they were unable to make a final decision by the original deadline. We'll know by the end of next week if we will be awarded the grant money for the solar panels.

Some positive news is that we found and interior designer to help us with colors and style and keep us from turning our home into a college dorm room. Eventually we're going to live in a house like adults with regular closets and room enough in the kitchen for cups and the kitchenaid!

Grant Hopes

We've applied for a grant that would help us pay for solar panels through Portland's Office of Sustainable Development. The grant comes from the Green Investment Fund. We won't know if our project is chosen until the end of March. If we do get the grant, then our new home will use very little (if any) power from the city. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

We are still waiting to get our plans back from the engineer before we can submit them to the city. I've started to think about plaster colors, cabinets and floors. I have a feeling that once the plans are submitted, the building will proceed pretty quickly. I'm really hoping that we get to submit the plans to the city before our window/door order is ready to pick up. Especially since we don't have a place to store all the windows and doors!

Finally, something to report!

Sorry to have left you all hanging for so long. We've been waiting to hear back from the city on whether or not they would buy the lot. They want to buy the lot because there will be a park/sports complex in that area. Ours and the neighboring lot are the only two on the street that are not already owned by the city. The lot where we're building is slated to become tennis courts or a public bathroom. Eventually, they'll have to buy us out, but by that time we'll have already lived in the house for several years. So, we are going ahead with construction!

We have finalized the plans and are just waiting for the engineer to sign off on them. Hopefully, once the engineer OK's the plans the city won't have any questions or issues for us to resolve and the plans can get through the permit office quickly. One thing exciting: we bought our windows and doors! Now we have 6-8 weeks to get the plans through the permit office and get the walls up!
We'll have some great pictures coming soon of construction!

First Version of the Plans!

The first version of the house drawings have been noted and returned to the architect for changes. We are pretty limited by the size and shape of the lot, but we're flexible and more than anything want to have our own space to call home! The final house will have about 1500 feet of interior space--nearly twice what we're living in now. Currently, we're researching contractors, appliances, where to buy straw, plasterers... Everyone who will contribute to the final product. If you know of a great product or person, please let us know!

We've got the Lot!

Finally, the paperwork went through and we can start the loan process. It's taken quite a while to get the tax ID number for the lot, but we've got it! It's not much to look at, but it's ours. The land in the back and down the hill to the right are going to be a walking park, so we'll only have one neighbor.

We've still got a long way to go. We just received the first copies of the house plans from the architect, so there's still the county offices to go through....

It may be skinny, but it's ours!