KristinaB's Garage Conversion

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I like your big garage. I'm jealous. :mad2:..
 
Okay - guys were out to start cutting the floor for the plumbing. Contractor was with them. He got called to the engineer's office who did the hurricane code check and was able to get the report that we were supposed to get on this past Tuesday. Now, contractor and his guys will be here tomorrow at 7 to continue cutting the floor (was thicker than they thought).Then at 8am, contractor and general contractor will meet with inspector at the Town Hall to meet, go over papers, and get the building permit.

We are also expecting the tree people again as they are to be grinding and removing (?) stumps in the yard. I think we are also having the machinery/truck out to start the digging for the septic tank tomorrow. Maybe they won't be here until Monday.

I will get pictures of the floor with holes tomorrow.
 
KristinaB said:
Okay - guys were out to start cutting the floor for the plumbing. Contractor was with them. He got called to the engineer's office who did the hurricane code check and was able to get the report that we were supposed to get on this past Tuesday. Now, contractor and his guys will be here tomorrow at 7 to continue cutting the floor (was thicker than they thought).Then at 8am, contractor and general contractor will meet with inspector at the Town Hall to meet, go over papers, and get the building permit.

We are also expecting the tree people again as they are to be grinding and removing (?) stumps in the yard. I think we are also having the machinery/truck out to start the digging for the septic tank tomorrow. Maybe they won't be here until Monday.

I will get pictures of the floor with holes tomorrow.
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Sounds like things are moving right along now....septic? There's no city sewer line on that street?
 
This is going to be fun to watch, although I have NO idea how you are going to fit a 4 bedroom 2 bathroom house plan into a 3 bay garage - unless you are planning on teeny tiny rooms. :P lol My house is about the same size as a 3 bay garage also, but it is only 3 bedroom 1.5 bathroom and 2 bedrooms are microscopic.
 
Tousi said:
Sounds like things are moving right along now....septic? There's no city sewer line on that street?
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There is no city sewer here. We are told it's because of the low water table and the ocean. I can deal with a septic tank. In Missouri, we had lagoons.
 
KristinaB said:
There is no city sewer here. We are told it's because of the low water table and the ocean. I can deal with a septic tank. In Missouri, we had lagoons.
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lagoons? I'm reminded by Toxic Avenger.....

215px-Toxic_avengerposter.jpg
 
KristinaB said:
There is no city sewer here. We are told it's because of the low water table and the ocean. I can deal with a septic tank. In Missouri, we had lagoons.
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Oic, my house is 22 yrs old and we have a 1500 gallon two-stage fiberglass septic tank. You getting something similar?
 
Lily7 said:
This is going to be fun to watch, although I have NO idea how you are going to fit a 4 bedroom 2 bathroom house plan into a 3 bay garage - unless you are planning on teeny tiny rooms. :P lol My house is about the same size as a 3 bay garage also, but it is only 3 bedroom 1.5 bathroom and 2 bedrooms are microscopic.
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Approximate room sizes are as follows:
Bedroom 1 (hubby & I) and Bedroom 2 (daughter) are 11' X 13'
Bedroom 3 (mother) is 11'3" X 10'8"
Bedroom 4 (son) is 11'10" X 11'5"
Living/Great room is 12'10" X 18'10"
Kitchen is 10' X 9"
Bath 1 (daughter, hubby & I) (smaller) is 8' X 5'
Bath 2 (mother & son) is 10'5" X 5'

Bedrooms 1 & 2 and bath 1 basically fits in one bay of the garage and goes the 31' from front to back (or there-about) That is on the West side of the building.
Bedrooms 3 & 4 and bath 2 fit in the side storage area and one part of bay from front to back on the East side.
Living/Great room and kitchen go down the center. There are two short hallways from the living room to the bedrooms and such and the laundry is off the kitchen. It basically falls between kitchen and bedroom 3.

I will see if I can get a picture of the floor plan and post it. I thought I had it, but it seems not.
 
scan0001.jpg

scan0002.jpg

These are sideways, but you get an idea.
 
That is going to be a very expensive property tax next year because of additional building and renovation.
 
webexplorer said:
That is going to be a very expensive property tax next year because of additional building and renovation.
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Really? Why? It will be just a house with no garage. :lol:
 
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webexplorer - there is no additional building. Here's the background.

1963: In-laws buy 2 separate lots next to each other. Lot 20 has house with carport and utility room, lot 23 is empty.

1974: Large 3 bay garage with storage area, total square footage 1344, building size 32 feet by 42 feet built on Lot 23.

2011: Property transfer of Lot 23 from MIL to her son & daughter-in-law (me)

2012 Lot 23 garage will be converted into a home with a patio built on. No additional building or extension. Existing four walls and roof will remain the same, except for new windows in some areas and closing and blocking in of others. closing and blocking the 3 large garage doors and adding in a window and front door. Closing an existing side door and blocking it in for a wall.

I hope this is clear.

Here is the survey of the combined lots. Lot 23 to the left and Lot 20 to the right. MIL's house is lot 20.

survey of both lots.jpg
 
I thought webexplorer was referring to the improvements? Each place has different tax criteria but many locations will increase the taxes of an improved property. It all depends on the laws of your location, and how they evaluate property value.
 
Okay - I have good news and bad news.

Good News: Tile came in and is now stacked in the carport. I have to upload the picture to the computer and will post soon.

Bad news: this new inspector is a bad in the holy royal solid gold posterior. Nothing gold plated about it. :mad:

On our plans, the person doing them, on one page out of 8, she called the existing building a house and the other pages it says garage. That has to be changed. Also the computer program her company uses for these plans has all the updated codes that come from the county and state and they have NEVER had a problem. Seems, this inspector claims that he has proof that specific code references were updated and even though the update is very recent (like after our plans were done), we have to have the plans reflect that change.

The Engineer will have to redo his letter from the hurricane code compliance check. He did a simple letter stating basically what he did and that we passed. Also, it must be noted, that the same information is on the plans. Well, the inspector does not approve of his letter. He wants a minute detailed letter explaining what was done and everything. Needless to say, this Engineer is pissed that he is being questioned and says that after this job is done, he will NEVER do business with our Town Hall again.

Also, the survey of the garage shows the water main and line for MIL's house is going to the garage and that needs to be corrected and we have to add the patio to the survey.

They also wanted another copy of the QuitClaim Deed transferring ownership of the property and another copy of the letter from the county Property Appraiser's Office that the lots were indeed split for the tax rolls.

After that is all taken care of, then we can get our building permit.

End result from today, Contractor, General Contractor, Engineer, Surveyor and the company who did the plans have all said, that after this build, they will never do business with our Town Hall ever again. Personally, I don't blame them. Most of these issues, my County would have no problem with. The other inspector (retiring) would have no problem, the Town Council has no problem. Town Hall has already said that they are beginning to regret hiring this guy, but must allow him to work out the contract. Luckily, the contract is only for 1 year.
 
I'm sorry that you're having problems with the bureaucrats. :(

At least you got the tiles. That's good news. :)

Keep your eye on the prize. :thumb:
 
Okay. Sometimes, I am afraid of town inspectors because one mistake that could go wrong and everything is ruined. It seems that some town inspectors like to hurt homeowners, but not always happens.

By the way, I like the carport.
 
webexplorer said:
Okay. Sometimes, I am afraid of town inspectors because one mistake that could go wrong and everything is ruined. It seems that some town inspectors like to hurt homeowners, but not always happens.

By the way, I like the carport.
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This particular inspector is new. Like, I think it was Reba who mentioned this, someone mentioned, there may be a conflict of interest. He has his own business, works for the County Building Inspection and now our Town Hall building inspection.

The property tax will go up on the lot as we are improving the structure. For close to 40 years, it had no electricity, water or anything. So, now it will be just like a house, with plumbing, water, electric and A/C.
 
Kristina, it looks like that the garage is abit bigger than the house. How did you guys fit in that house???? No wonder you look forward to moving into the garage-soon-to-be-a-house.
 
Hey, I wonder about this one. Are you planning to have your main house to be rental for your business? Buffalo mentioned about the size of the house. :hmm:
 
Buffalo said:
Kristina, it looks like that the garage is abit bigger than the house. How did you guys fit in that house???? No wonder you look forward to moving into the garage-soon-to-be-a-house.
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MIL's house is small with small rooms.

Hubby daughter and I are in one bedroom. Daughter sleeping on floor. Son and mother share a room each in their own bed. MIL has her room. There was nowhere to put in another bed and even though daughter could sleep on couch, she won't. Her other option was to share a bed with MIL and she quietly said she'd rather die first. Also, MIL made almost no room for us. The room hubby, daughter and I are in has a bed armoire, and large dresser that belong to MIL and we moved in 2 dressers, a book case, a file cabinet (2 drawer) and a computer desk. No walk space at all. In the room \that mother and son are in, she let hubby take everything out except her videos. Well that may seem generous, but she has over 3000 VHS tapes in so many boxes and drawers and such that clearly 1/3 of the room is a video library. Also, the closets of the two rooms are still full of her stuff. In my closet, I have maybe a space about 3 feet wide to hang clothing and uniforms for 3 people and in my mother & son's room, they don't even get that much space. My bathroom is for 4 people and the cat litter box; and mother & MIL use the other one, but mother cannot keep any of her toiletries in there. She has them in a basket that gets carried in each time she's there.

We will be VERY happy to get into our own space again. It will be just over 3 years living with MIL.
 
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