The "L" Shaped House

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Demolition…Day 2

A front and back view of the house taken at noon on day two of the demolition. It is really HOT and humid today…high temperature 94 with a dew point of 60. These guys looked absolutely miserable.

Getting the building permit approved by the City of Minnetonka and having it in hand brings forth a whole variety of feelings. We are very happy to get started with the building process but a little anxious about what lies ahead. The process for getting a permit has been frustrating…primarily because the City is not good at communicating with applicants. The plan was submitted on May 1st…approved by the zoning department June 1st…made available for “pick up” at the city desk June 12th.

Mike Kloti’s house plans, the grading and erosion plan, and the survey have all been checked and approved. The process forward should work something like this..

Demolition (already started) will go on through the end of this week.
Excavation for the basement guest room, breezeway, and garage footings will start early next week.
The footings and block work should come one week behind the excavation.
If everything works as planned framing could start the week of July 27th.

Monday, June 22, 2009

It’s On! (Demolition…Day 1)

So…the permit was approved the end of last week (more on that later). The demolition crew started bright and early this morning. The plan is to cut the house up into little pieces and haul it away in roll-off dumpsters (no kidding). By noon the crew had about 1/2 of the roof off and were starting to dismantle the upstairs rooms. They expect that the process will take about five days.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The Trees…(before and after)

Removing the trees is really gut wrenching. The two maple trees were 48” and 50” in diameter and stood 70-80’ high. They provided a lot of shade and greenery. The lot looks naked with out them standing tall. Unfortunately both trees had substantial rot in their trunks. One half of tree to the right was hollow almost 40’ up. The tree to the left was split down the middle to the ground with a large rotten section in-between. The arborist we consulted advised that both trees were at the end of their lives. It makes me wish that whoever planted them had chosen to plant oaks instead of silver maples.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Tree removal

The tree service folks got to work on the four trees that will be removed as a part of the new home building. The two maple trees were in really bad shape. Each had large hollow sections running from the ground far up the trunks. The birch in the front and the ash out back would probably not have survived the excavation operations slated for early next week.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Interior Design

We engaged Katie Hunsley of miller dunwiddie Architecture to develop an Interior Design plan for the “L” shaped house. Deb and Katie have been been sorting through countless paint chits, carpet samples, ceramic tiles, faucets, sinks, cabinets, you name it… A detailed plan has risen from the chaotic pile of samples that will please and surprise almost everyone!

Katie has added the interior design details to Mike Kloti’s drawings and delivered a detailed spreadsheet with specifications for all of the products. Katie will continue to work with JLM as the “L” shaped house is built to ensure that the design elements are both available and practical. Both Deb and I have enjoyed working with Katie throughout this process. She has helped to make this sometimes contentious topic a really fun exercise.

Interior Design

Thursday, June 4, 2009

The Silt Fence…

The Natural Resources folks at the City of Minnetonka have finally approved the grading, erosion control, and silt fencing plan. The fence was installed yesterday. The protection around the trees we are “saving” goes in today. The city will (hopefully) inspect the fencing and then will move on to the rest of the building permit process (zoning and plan checking).

A panoramic view of the front showing the silt fence and the “abandoned” gas connection…

The silt fence making it’s way into our neighbors yard and around the back…

The protection around the trees…

Friday, May 22, 2009

Where have we been…

The last month and a half has been filled with a bit of waiting and frustration. Our financing arrangement included an eleventh hour, unexpected, and un-predicted “re-grouping” on the part of the bank that cost us about one month. I guess that we should be happy that our financial institutions are subjecting the housing market to an increased level of scrutiny. All the necessary details are in place and we now await final approval from the City of Minnetonka…

And that's where we are now…waiting again…

The plans were delivered to the city a little more than three weeks ago. We expected approval in 14 days but the Natural Resources folks (who are in charge of the grading, erosion, and silt fencing plan) asked us to “tweak” our plans considerably before allowing the permit to advance to the zoning and plan checking phase. We changed the back yard grading significantly to accommodate the reduced impact that the city desires. The most obvious change has a set of stairs ascending up from the basement walkout into the backyard. This will allow us to move far less dirt as we re-grade the backyard as the project nears completion. This and other changes to the dirt plan will allow us to leave almost all of the “woods” behind the house un-touched. The silt fence will now encompass a much smaller area out back. Along the East side of the property our neighbors have agreed to allow the fence to be placed on their property vastly reducing the amount of vegetation (Trees and bushes) that will be removed (Thanks Steinhausers!).

All things considered the waiting…while frustrating…will probably ensure a sound footing and a better plan.

Do you Recycle?

The question…Are you going to recycle any of the building materials?…comes up over and over.

The answer is YES! The Materials that are being recycled to see new life elsewhere:

Garden shed relocated to adjoining neighbor's property
All the interior doors and frames have been salvaged by neighbors
The Overhead door and door opener salvaged for re-use
All the appliances have been given to people who had an immediate need for them
Triple track porch storms taken for re-use
3 storm doors salvaged
Divided light French door and storm at porch salvaged for use
Kitchen sink and faucet taken for re-use
Pedestal sink and faucet salvaged for re-use
400-450 sq ft hardwood flooring removed and de-nailed for re-use
10-12 vinyl insert replacement windows salvaged for re-use
fireplace mantle, surround and glass door set taken for re-use
Nearly new water heater taken to replace a recently failed unit
The boiler was sold to salvage dealer for resale
All the radiators sold to salvage dealer for resale
All the copper and steel pipe sold to scrap dealer for recycling of metals
All manner of plantings…Hastas, Day Lilies, Flowers, Ferns, etc…have found new homes all around the neighborhood and across town.
Most important Jim Danielson’s beloved blackberry bushes will live on…Mark Danielson (Jim’s son), Amy and Frank (neighbors), my sister, and others have carefully replanted bushes in their own gardens. We moved a few of them to a spot just beyond the silt fence in an effort to preserve some on the lot in his honor.