We Got Our Permit Finaled!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woo-whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Man my back hurts.
Woo, I say, Woo!
Ouch, my back.
Break out the good Scotch, Whiskey, Bourbon, Tequila, etc....
Did I mention how much my back hurts?
Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Owwwwwwww, make it stop hurting.
Here is what a finaled permit card looks like in the city of Alameda

If you don't think that this is going under glass on the wall to be very proudly displayed
you would be very mistaken.
Man, my back is just killing me.
Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Up Next?
Sleep? Ha, I wish..
 

Woo-Hoo!!!! First Code Enforcement Permit Signed Off!!!

Woo, I say, Woo-Hoo!!!

Check out the glorious pic below.

That's our finaled code enforcement permit!!!
It was due to run out on 4/11/12 and I have been sweating that date for a while now.
This is the whole, if its not done in a year we're going to refile the lein on your house and charge you another giant bucket of cash to remove it thing....
Good Lord what a relief to get that out of the way!!!

Now we have one more code enforcement permit covering the deck and the kitchen in the main house to finish.
It's a good thing that the deck is an all outside job and today's weather was cold, 46 deg F and rainy! Perfect working outside weather right?

To celebrate I'm going to cook a fancy meal for everyone.
Ahhhh, steak dinner and a nice bottle of red wine tonight!
BBQ up some marinated asparagus, a big portabella mushroom grilled to perfection, and a nice salad, something for everyone.

Wait, ya know does something seem wrong about this?
I bust my hump getting the work done and creating the reason for the celebration then I do all the cooking also.....hmmmm... ;)

One more for the road....
Woooooo-Hooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Final Permit Approved!!! Hurray!!!!..Oh, Wait...I'm totally boned...

Got the FINAL code enforcement permit approved recently....

Like how it is stamped in red across the top... 'Enforcement Action'

If you open the pic you can actually read all the fee's! There's the fee for this, and the fee for that and a fee for the other...not fines..definitely not fines...just fees.....

This is the permit to legalize the deck and the kitchen remodel in the main unit.

Here's the 'I'm totally boned' part...

They were going to give me only 3 months to do it!?!?!??! That means, that yes, during the worst weather possible I would have to be working OUTSIDE getting the deck fixed...I literally had to beg to get it extended for six months...

For Those Keeping Track

I have six months left on the demo permit for the two illegal bottom units...I also have a permit to legalize the two as a single 3-2...that permit is good for 3yrs....buuuuut..I basically have to get all the work done within the six months I have left on the demo permit....or risk further code enforcement action.

So, that's two separate permits that both are going to expire in 6 months...that if I don't get signed off the city could re-open the code enforcement case against us and re-levy all those fees (not fines) against us!!! Hurray!!!!

Annd we can't afford to have pros in to help so that means me and whatever unskilled labor we can get.....hurray!!!!!

Its a gonna be a busy six months around here...hope my back and health holds out....

Another Deadline Met!!

The end of Sept was also the deadline for us to get our plans re-submitted to the city with all the changes their plan check engineer wanted.

As usual it was a crazy last minute rush with me having to rush over to the engineers office so he could sign and stamp the plans. Then when I got to the building dept. the women who usually handles this stuff was off and the person filling in had a different take on what I needed....I only had 2 copies of the plans but she said I needed 4 because planning had a hold on the plans...This was serious, new news to me. Last I heard we had passed the major design review and planning had signed off on all of it....

I had to rush home and print out two more sets of the plans...luckily the sets for planning did not need to be stamped and signed by the engineer.

Without Further Ado...The Plans!!!

Here is the framing plan for the main deck.

I have to add two 2by12's to the spots noted to beef up the rim joists...that is going to suck as I will have to shorten the existing joists then install the new rim and re-attach the joists.

Here is the post-footing plan.

The existing footings are 12" square...which means I will have to dig up and redo the three footings that need to be 18"...that's not super great...but now I won't have to dig up all the footings and redo them.

Construction Details.

Framing Plan for the Balcony.

I'm going to have to do some work on the landing and the stringer connection....which will be fun as its super high in the air...

Some Renders of the different views of the existing stuff.

I had to put the note in about the floor to floor distance as the cities engineer didn't believe it was 12'. He thought it was more..
And Finally the plan for our super fab kitchen.

I'm seriously hoping that the cities plan check engineer takes another 3-4 months to look this over. My biggest fear is that he'll get back to me quickly and they'll issue the permit at the beginning of winter and I'll lose several months of outdoor construction time because its raining...only have a year to finish everything after the permit is issued....

And Now The Hard Work Begins Part 2

Okay when last we left we talked about the work that had to happen in the basement.

Now lets talk about the work that has to happen on the 2nd floor.

Converting Two Studio Apartments Into A Single One Bedroom

Here is the approved plan for the conversion.

You can see that maybe its a weird lay out but it fulfills our requirements for the least amount of work required. And I believe I can do this without having to have the tenant that currently occupies the C unit move out.

Here are some shots of the interior of Unit B.

The super sweet bathroom

The water heater is in a closet in the bathroom. Its an electric model.

Here's a shot of the kitchen. That's the bathroom door on the right.

Kitchen from the doorway looking in.

This unit does have a working gas range, old fridge and a dishwasher!

 The main living area of the unit.

 Here is the closet that I am going to shorten to make the hallway.

The main living area as viewed from the front door.

What Has To Be Done

Windows:

Nothing!!! Hurray!!!!

Bathrooms:

Nothing!!! Hurray!!!!

Electrical:

I need to tie both subpanels back together at the meter base and make sure the main cut off at the meter base can handle the load.

Gots to add the wired smoke and CO detectors.

Need to add more outlets to comply with current codes-AFCI protected.

Need to add switched over head lights and exterior lights for the doors.

Framing:

I'm going to have to shorten the back to back closets and create a hallway.

Kitchen:

Remove it completely and turn it into a regular room.

Plumbing:

I have to cap all the plumbing for the kitchen in the walls.

I have to cap the gas line to the kitchen as its meter will be servicing the new unit in the basement. 

I'm going to keep the two electric water heaters for now. I figure this way the tenant and a guest and both shower at the same time!

HVAC:

There is an electric wall mount heater that works... I might change it out for a newer one or go with the super hideous electric baseboard heat... I don't think it makes sense to add a furnace to this little unit....does it? Or maybe a mini-split system? It does get pretty darn hot up in these little back units...that might be getting a little fancy though?

How does that sound to everyone?

Course I haven't even thought about if I need to do things like freshen the bath? It appears to be in good working order it just looks a little dated.

And Now The Hard Work Begins...Advice Requested.

Okay sooo, got the permits to start the work....cept I just seriously threw my back out and I'm not doing any kind of anything for a while....Actually I've got a full plate of 'computer stuff' to do right now so I'll be busy but still, I wanna get this work started!!!

Except I'm not entirely sure how exactly to go about doing the work.

Here's what we have to do for the bottom floor.

I've got to turn this illegal set-up

Sorry about the lack of detail on this existing drawing, doesn't show the existing electrical or kitchens.

Into this legal set-up.

But what does that mean exactly?
Windows:
I don't have to change out any of the windows, thank god.


Bathrooms:

The bathrooms are staying put as-is. Except that I will have to convince the inspector that they were installed correctly. This is probably going to entail cutting into the walls in various places so he can have a look around...I also have to redo the fan-light switch wiring because the fan and light has to be able to be switched separately. I am also adding an on the wall vanity light to both baths.

Electrical:
I'm going to have to add AFCI protected outlets to all the rooms as they only have one per now. Should I cut in new boxes and fish wire or just remove drywall?

Switched over head lights need to be added in most of the rooms and  hallways.

I need to add powered smoke and CO detectors to the ceilings as shown.

I'm moving the location of the units electrical panel to a different wall and probably adding several circuits to it.

Framing:
I'll need to add and remove some non-load bearing walls. Biggest thing I'm going to do is remove the wall in the kitchen to open it up to the family room to have a single 'great room'.

The PO also installed bamboo floor in the one bedroom apartment that I will have to pull up as its buckled, ugly and installed incorrectly.

Plumbing:
God, where to start.
The baths and kitchens are all plumbed already and I'm not anticipating having to do anything with the DWV stuff (lord I hope so as its all in concrete...).
But the water supply piping? Somehow, the hot water to these two basement kitchens and bathrooms is piped to the one, single lone water heater in the 3rd floor attic!!! I believe all the plumbing is in the ceiling of the basement. I wonder if I'm going to have to remove most of the drywall on the ceiling just to figure out the water supply piping?

I will have to run new gas lines to the new mechanical room for the new furnace and tankless water heater that will be servicing the unit.

I will install a tankless water heater in the mechanical room also.


HVAC:

Right now there is a single furnace that is ducted to heat this basement unit and the main floor of the house above. I'm going to have to untangle the ducts and separate the ducts for the two different units with two different furnaces. I've also got to fix the heating for the bottom unit which means adding registers and returns in many places..work I've never really done before.

So that's two new correctly sized furnaces and a tankless water heater all installed in the mechanical room. All of them are of the condensing type and all of them will be vented horizontally with PVC pipe through the North wall of the house. I'll also have to figure out what to do with the condensate.

Kitchens:
I'm going to have to 'un-build' these two kitchens

and then re-install the cabinets in the new single bigger kitchen.

Whats the best way to un-build a kitchen? Can I save the granite countertops to re-use them?
I'm going to have to add a ton of outlets to the new kitchen for the counter top, the frig, the dishwasher, range, MW, hood...at what point does it just make more sense to completely remove the drywall and start from a clean plate?

I Need A Plan:
I think I need to decide just how much drywall needs to be demo'd. All the drywall? Just the ceilings? The ceilings and the kitchen?? Would love some advice on that. Seems like all the ceilings are going to have to come down..between running new heating ducts in the ceiling, gas piping, the water piping, the smoke and CO detectors...

Here's my vague sketch of a plan.
Unbuild the kitchens myself. So they don't get F'd up.
Pay somone to come in and remove all the drywall that needs it and clean up after themselves.
Then I come in and do the expensive stuff to hire out. The wiring, plumbing.
Then pay someone else to drywall the place.
I hang the kitchen cabinets.
Then I paint and finish the floors. There is brand new carpet on the south side of the apartment. I would live to save it and keep it as is...does that make any sense? Can it be reasonably protected from the destruction-construction process?

How does that sound? Not sure about how much of a budget I'm going to have to hire any of this out after I pay for the materials...
Help!

And this is just the bottom unit work, still have the two units to deal with on the second floor!

text

We Got Our Permits!!!

Well, we got half of them anyways! Hurray!!!

The super nice folks at the Alameda Building Dept (obvious ass kissing) called me recently to tell me that my permits were ready and that I could come pick them up!

Hurray!! Now we can get started on converting the illegal work in the basement into a single 3-2 apartment and converting the two studio apartments into a single one bedroom two bath apartment. All legal and above board!

We also got the plan check comments for the code enforcement work, back from the city!

These are the permits to legalize the back deck, stairway, and 2nd story landing, and to legalize the kitchen remodel all work illegally done by the PO.

I've read through the comments and there do not seem to be any real 'we're going to get screwed' comments. Most of them are about the deck and are questions the engineer will have to answer.

One question I don't know how to answer is this.

The engineer says that there needs to be a outlet for this length of counter top at the breakfast bar.

I mean, I can draw an outlet on the plans no problem but how to actually get an outlet into that counter area. All the options seem bad to me.

Besides the joy of cutting through the granite for the box I'm pretty sure that, that back splash is solid wood behind the granite...I don't know about cutting out the granite and then cutting into the wood framing for clearance for the outlet box? I'd probably have to open up the wall on the other side of the backsplash to check and see what the situation is. If I'm wrong about it being solid wood then putting an outlet in the backsplash will probably make the most sense.

I guess I could do a flush with the counter top outlet? But having a horizontal outlet there seems like a really, really bad idea.

Could I put an outlet on top of the breakfast bar in some kind of enclosure? Man, would that look ugly...

How can I get an outlet to service this counter?

Any suggestions?

Permits Update

This post should be subtitled,

We're Okay, no wait we're super screwed!!!! no wait, we're okay again....

Still Waiting To Hear About The Code Enforcement Permits...

When last we met, we were still waiting to hear back from the cities plan checker on the permits I submitted for the pre-existing code enforcement issues.

We hustled our butts to make their permitting deadline and now we're waiting....still waiting....

We were freaked because it was explained to us that code enforcement cases have a very strict one year deadline...we submitted the permits back on April 11th... and we still haven't heard anything back yet...well it turns out the one year clock doesn't start until after the city issues the permit...so I guess theres no rush???

Remodeling Permits Fall Into Code Enforcement Black Hole....

We also recently submitted permits to combine the two studio apartments into one apartment and to move one of the units into the basement.

When you file a regular permit they give you a due date about 4 weeks out....well it had been over two weeks past the deadline and I still hadn't heard anything from the city..Annnd I'd been calling like every three days...

FINALLY, someone said, 'Oh, this is a code enforcement case. those stay on the bottom of the pile!'...Nothing I could do could convince this person that, that was not the case...Even though the permit number starts with a CB which means Combo Building permit and code enforcement permits start with an X!!

I had to get the code enforcement officer to talk to them and set them straight.

After he did that I got the comments back in the mail like 4 days later!!!! Hurray!!!

We're Screwed

The plan check engineer just had some minor comments mostly about clarifying things that were all just minor edits.

The fire code plan checker on the other hand...Insisted that the existing windows in our pre-1942 house would HAVE to be upgraded to modern egress standards!

That would mean removing all the original double hung windows and replacing them with fully opening out swing casement windows that adhere to the cities design guide...That would of added thousands of dollars to the remodel cost and lots of man hours...maybe effectively blowing us out of the water....

We're Okay

But the cities engineer said the exact opposite! 'Theres Hope!!', I thought.

Going straight to the top I sent the cities building official an email outlining the situation and he sided with the engineer!! Waa-Hoooo!!!!

As I've said before his word is law and that means that nobody else down there should screw with me about keeping the original windows.

One thing that is going to be a kinda PITA is that I have to 1hr fire rate the joist bays where I am venting the two furnaces and tankless water heater.

I've already finished the changes and should be ready to turn in this revised set of plans Monday morning!! Maybe they'll even issue the plans shortly afterword? That is, if they don't find something else super wrong...which is always a possibility...

We Made Our Permitting Deadline!!!

Okay, finally a post with pictures and a post that shouldn't earn me any more enemies....

Monday was our deadline to have all the permit drawings into the city....and we made the deadline!!! Hurray!!!!!

To review, because of the code enforcement actions brought against the PO of Chez 3.0 after the close of escrow we had ~60 days to turn in complete permit drawings for;

Floor plans for the existing basement showing all the unwarrented stuff and plans showing it all turned back to storage. Floorplan for the kicthen showing that it meets current codes...and a complete framing plan for the deck and balcony with an engineers stamp of approval.



 Heres the bottom floor plans.

Look at all that unwarrented space! Thats two apartments. A one bedroom and a two bedroom..









  Look ma just storage...doesn't this just seem like a HUGE waste....so sad....on the positive side I guess we have ton's of storage now....

The Kitchen Plan.

The kitchen isn't too bad. I believe to meet code I just need to swap out the existing ceiling light for a CF fixture, replace the incorrect ribbed kitchen exhaust ducting with smooth interior metal and add one GFCI outlet to the counter top...through the inch thick granite....have no idea how I'm going to do that.





 



<>Here is the balcony framing plan. This one kinda surprised me. I had to do some investigating as to how the balcony was built...The entire thing in cantelevered out from the house. When they built the addition on the back in the 80's (with permits) the 2by12 floor joists run out and form the balcony! The unpermitted work here is the stairs and the grayed framing members where the PO's sistered on joists to make a bigger landing at the top for the stairs.

Balcony Framing

  
<>Construction Details

Super Exciting Deck Details. One interesting thing about the construction of the deck is that the builder really liked to notch his joints and bolt them together. Which is a strong way to do it just way more labor intensive than using Simpson hardware.





Deck Framing Doing this was fun! I was told that I had to get every piece

 of framing lumber in its exact place...I think I actually managed to do it...




Super Cool Vector Views of the deck...just getting those

dimensions on the East Elevation required an entire day to

figure out! My CAD program is too old and wasn't playing

nice with Win 7. I have to run the freaking program in Vista

compatibility mode to get it to work about 90% correctly...





So, that's what I've been scrambling to do. Actually got the permit issued for the bottom floor demo...hurray!!! cept that's actually what I don't want to do...
At least the engineer said the deck actually in good shape, he just wanted me to add more lag bolts into the ledger board for the deck. So, not going to fall down anytime soon.

The plans for the deck and kitchen are being reviewed by the cities engineer and I'm sure they will get kicked back with changes. The zoning people are also looking at the deck as they have to approve of it and it can't cut into the required 6 parking spaces for the 3 unit building.

Check The Permit Record!!!

I've mentioned this is the past but I think I need to re-enforce the message...

Check The Permit Record Of Any House You Are Considering Purchasing!!!

If you are looking at a house in the city of Alameda you can go here to find the permit record. Yes, supposedly this online data base only goes back to 89 but I've personally seen records online from the 40's and 50's.

Of course if there was work done 20+ years ago that's a different thing...but work done in the last couple of years should absolutely be permitted. I'm sorry, but ignorance, is NO excuse!!

Here's what I've learned in the last few days about the consequences of buying a house with work done without permits.

1. You, the new owner, will be absolutely responsible for fixing any unpermitted work issues. That means, if you unwittingly buy a house with extensive recent work done without permits and you pull a permit for something simple like adding an exhaust fan in a bath and the inspector sees all the unpermitted work, you, the new owner will be responsible for fixing it.
2. Fixing unpermitted work can be a very expensive can of worms. The city will make you pay all the permit fees and possibly 4x all the fees and that's just the start. Then, you'll have to open up a bunch of the walls to expose the work and then, who knows what messes the inspector will find? Then you'll have to pay someone to fix them all and patch back up the walls.
3. Some changes might not be able to be remedied. The new place you just bought has a fabulous man cave in the basement? If the ceiling isn't the right height there is no way you can make that legal habitable space. You'll have to remove all the lights, outlets, flat-screen TV, that fancy built-in bar with sink. It will all have to come out and you'll be left with one over-head light and one outlet.
4. Getting a loan might be impossible. I spoke with 2 mortgage brokers who said that if the bank knows about the unpermitted work that the bank will require the work be permitted before a loan can be issued! How do they find out? They check the official spec's of the house against what it's being sold as against the permit record.

So, don't be fooled by pretty counter tops and fancy tumbled marble baths! If the work was done recently without permits you are buying a huge can of worms.

If you're in escrow and you find this out make the seller fix everything before the close of escrow! Or, make them cut enough off the price so you can take care of it yourself afterwards.

If your Realtor tries to gloss over this, find a new Realtor! as they are more concerned about their commission than your safety.

Permits-Schmermits!!! Looking at Another House...

We've found another house that we would LOVE to own!!!

This is not a knife catching article as we actually want to put an offer on the place and it seems sleazy to write an article bashing a house that we think we actually want to own. So while I'll describe the house and the issues I will be sufficiently vague.

Its a good size 3-2.5 of ~2100 sq ft on a nice sized lot ~6700sq ft lot built in 1907 of the Colonial revival style. The house is in a better school district (Otis) than our current house and its in an interesting location just a block off the major commercial corridor of Park St. So its a short walk to lots of fun stuff like coffee shops, restaurants, movie theater, etc.

The sellers are asking a not insignificant $865k for the place....

The house layout will work for us with sufficient common area, workshop, storage and a big backyard. Its got a nice new kitchen, new bathrooms, new paint on the exterior and interior, its got a lot new.

What's the Problem?

The Price- With several houses with similar specs that were forced to reduce their prices below $800k to sell, the $865k does seem a little optimistic. The short list of houses that we've looked at and thought that they were overpriced for the condition is, 2143 Alameda Ave, 1310 San Antonio, 1290 Caroline, 1831 San Jose Ave, 1417 Central Ave, 2132 San Antonio Ave, 1832 San Antonio Ave, and 2157 San Antonio ave.

Whew, that was a lot of houses that are all basically comparable who had to reduce their prices below $800k to sell... Wonder what the listing agent is thinking? The house has ~$18k in pest AND the pest inspector didn't even inspect the outbuildings which look to be in BAD shape...?

The Permit Situation- In other places with un-permittted work we never seriously considered buying them but this time its different..

Holy Friggen Mackerel Is There A F-Ton Of Un-permitted Work!!!!
Here is my preliminary list of work that was absolutely done recently without permits.

1. Complete remodel of kitchen: New electrical, new cabinets, new appliances the entire thing is new.
2. Turned a 1/2 bath on the bottom floor into a full bath! This had to of been a gut remodel. The new full bath looks great, but its completely illegal!
3. Turned a closet in the Master Bedroom into a weird little half bath.
4. Completely remodeled the existing full bath on 2nd floor.
5. Finished a basement with drywall, lights, outlets, carpet, etc.
6. Added a sub-panel in basement and did extensive electrical work. Lots of recessed lighting on both floors.
7. Two new NG forced air heating units, one in basement and one in attic.

So, me and the showing agent of course had a 'nice' conversation about this..... Unlike some Realtors she was honest enough to put in her own disclosure that extensive work was done on the house without permits. The home owners have not done a disclosure yet....wonder what it'll say? The Realtor started to use the argument that home-owners are allowed to do their own work if its up to code...ya but you still have to pull permits for it!! And there's no way that these people did the work themselves and ANY contractor working in Alameda should damn well know that the above work requires permits.

Now, you gripe all you want about 'permit fees' being onerous or the inspection process being a PITA....but seriously, it looks like these current owners are just trying to pull a fast one. They are not paupers, in fact I'm told that they are retiring to a house on the shore of lake Tahoe (cause that's where all the po' folks live). Their house has NEVER been reassessed since they bought it 15 yrs ago! They are paying taxes on a value of $398k! I'm pretty sure that the above work, if done with permits would of triggered at least one reassessment....so, these wealthy folks have been cheating the system.....isn't that how it always works?

Why 'No Permits' is a Bad Thing- The sellers own house inspector called out a TON of issues with the electrical work that NEVER would of passed an actual building inspection. Issues like, scary basic electrician 101 stuff, like double tapping circuit breakers, outlets wired up backwards!?!?!?, over-fusing wires (from the new illegal sub-panel). To the super-dangerous, Federal Pacific Stab-lock main panel that has a 100amp main breaker when it was designed for less. To the over-fusing of the original wiring-putting 30amp fuses where 15-20amp fuses belong!

Also some basic plumbing things like not installing an air-gap for the dishwasher, and running the wrong kind of venting for the kitchen exhaust.

So, the sellers where willing to find 'professionals' who where willing to work without permits and surprise, surprise they got sub-standard work!!!

Here's what's scary, all the electrical, plumbing that was required to do the above work, its all hidden now, what sort of work is it? I think its safe to say that its probably of the same caliber as the exposed work....which means it could all be a huge ticking time bomb.....

There-in lies the rub..... We want the house but the 'hidden conditions' scare the poop outta us...especially for the price they're asking....What I'm trying to figure out is, whats a reasonable discount for the condition?

Having no idea what exactly the mess we'd be in if we bought the place as is I went down to the building dept to ask them.
Without giving the address I explained the work that I thought was done without permits and asked what was the most likely scenario.

The most likely scenario is this- We'd have to write up a set of plans for all the work done and have it 'verified'. We would have to pay all the permit fees which go like this.

1. Kitchen Remodel- $1400
2. Bath Remodel- $1100
3. Bath Remodel- $1100
4. Bath Remodel- $1100
5. Finished Basement- $2375
6. Sub-panel-elec work - $350
7. Heating-$600

So that's $8,025 in fees alone. During the course of inspections the inspectors will absolutely require us to open walls to verify hidden conditions.... Now what's the chance the inspectors are not going to find a ton of below code work? Pretty slim I'd say...So we'll have to pay to have all the work brought up to code (what's that going to cost) and everything patched up. That is, if we are even allowed to do the work. The basement work will have to be torn out unless we apply to make it habitable space-which requires a major design review of $2500...

Here's the great part....if someone finks on the current owners then the city will quadruple the fees required!!! Now that's starting to become serious money! So the innocent but ignorant new home owners could have a huge bill waiting for them...

So, I'm at a loss as to whats a sane price for the place....What sort of monetary fudge factor needs to be built into the offer to take care of this super large potential can-of-worms?

Anybody have any ideas?

Knife Catching 1831 San Jose Ave

Read This:The following review is just my opinion and only my opinion I am not a professional house appraiser or inspector and I am not a structural engineer. The opinions expressed in this review are based on my own inspection of the property, the publicly available facts from aggregator sites such as Redfin and Zillow and the online permit database for the city of Alameda. I am not responsible for incorrect or missing data that appears in these sources. In fact, its probably best that you just ignore everything you read here as the lunatic ravings of an unbalanced mind.

Whoa, boy where to start on this house.....I guess I should start by saying that this 'review' is going to be different from the rest, as this place is apparently not having any open houses? Several people have asked me to review this place anyways so here goes...

Knife Catching 1831 San Jose Ave.
Today's house has the official specs of; A single family home of 2072 sq ft, on a 6600 sq ft lot with 5 bedrooms and 2.5 baths and no garage! built in 1880 on sale for the low, low, low price of $1.39M last sold in 2004 for an even $1M.

I have to get this off my chest real quick before we delve into the meat of the review....
What Kind of Crack Are These People Smoking????????
Okay I feel better now.

This house actually had us all excited when I saw the 'coming soon' add in the local paper. Its in a good neighborhood, on a good sized lot, and its plenty big, Annnnnd when I did a permit check it showed that the new owners redid the foundation!!! , redid the kitchen, one bath, and upped the electrical service to 200amps and installed a 100amp sub-panel! Wow, sounds great for us doesn't it! Annd since 3 similarly sized homes on similar lots for sale in the same area have had to reduce their prices to below $800k and they still haven't sold (as far as I know). We where excited that this house would be in our price range....now the coming soon adds don't show prices typically.....boy howdy, where we shocked when we learned the price....wow, what a disconnect from reality.

Unabashedly stealing the pics from Google cause a review without pictures just doesn't seem right. The house shows well from the front with a nice yard.

Here's a view from space where you can get an idea of how big the backyard is. This house is actually the back fence neighbor to another house I reviewed at 1832 San Antonio Ave.

Google thinks its next to R&B cellars...maybe the current owners and their realtor did a little bit too much wine tasting their before they settled on a price?

Here's Google's version of a birds-eye view. No trees in front of the house which is kinda sad but it looks like there's plenty of tree-age in the back yard.

Okay, the house is listed on a bunch of the pro sites, Zillow, Redfin, Trulia and Realtor.com.

The pictures and copy are all slightly different but I want y'all to look at the Realtor.com site. Click on the 'see all 20 pictures' link and go through them all paying close attention to what the last couple of pictures are showing.

Looks like a nice place no? Very similar to 1832 San Antonio except with an updated kitchen and updated mechanicals.

From the permit record this is the description of the work that happened for the new basement-foundation. Sorry for the screwy formatting this is a cut and paste right from the pdf. The part in red is what you want to read...

Permit Type Status Applicant Issued Date Finaled Date
CB04-1012 Combination Building Permit FINALED GUTLEBEN CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION 11/23/2004 06/29/2005
Work Description: (ALL WORK IN BASEMENT) R/R FOUNDATION, BRICK TO CONCRETE; EXCAVATE BASEMENT TO 8'2" CEILING HEIGHT FOR
STORAGE ONLY (ONE LIGHT, ONE SWITCH AND ONE PLUG IN STORAGE AREAS); DIVIDE LAUNDRY AREA & INSTALL
UNDERGROUND PLUMBING FOR FUTURE FULL BATH; BUILD NON-BEARING WALLS TO CREATE UTILITY ROOM & WINE
STORAGE ROOM; ADD 2 STEPS TO EXISTING INTERIOR STAIRWAY; INSTALL NEW WATER HEATER, FURNACE & SUMP PUMP -
NO EXTERIOR CHANGES (BLDG/ELEC/PLUM/MECH)ext

Now remember those last sets pics from the Realtor.com site?

Here's some add copy that help explains what's going on in the basement.

The media/game room on the lower level includes a kitchen, wine cellar, and guest bedroom and bath that could be used by an au pair.
So, what do we have here then? The scope of work description is very clear that the basement is just meant for storage, laundry and a wine cellar. That's the only way the city will let you basically build a basement you have to tell them in writing that you are not adding living space....

Looks to me like that bottom level is now an illegal 2nd unit, complete with kitchen, bath, uh, looks like a couple of bedrooms...all done with out permits! It appears they snookered the city...wonder if I report it if they'd actually do anything about it?

Conclusion:

This looks like a nice house in a decent neighborhood from what I can tell of the listing pics. One thing the pics don't tell you is the number of crappy apartment buildings on this block. We rode our bikes down it and I think we counted 8!

The only thing that makes sense to me is that with the illegal bottom unit the current owners are thinking that this is a 3000sq ft house and trying to price it accordingly? But still, even at 3000sq ft and no garage that $1.39M price just seems insane to me. Maybe, and I'm just guessing here, the current owners pulled a ton of money out of the house during the height of the market and that's what they owe on it? There is just no fricken way in a million years that place is going to appraise out. No Way!

So the current owners bought the house for $1M near the peak of the market, I'd guesstimate that the foundation work was probably $150k. Now that the market has REALLY fallen since '04 how do they get a valuation of $1.4M???? How damn it, How? What am I missing?

Unlike the other very similar houses in the same neighborhood I reviewed recently 2132 San Antonio, 1832 San Antonio, and 2157 San Antonio I think that this is a good ~$800k house...think they'll take that for it? Keeping in mind the HUGE potential can of worms you're buying with the unpermitted living space in the basement and no garage? Am I totally wrong in thinking that anyone who can actually afford a $1.4M house is going to probably have a fancy car or two and they're going to want to keep them off the street and in a nice, safe, cozy garage?

I did hear through the realtor grape vine that the owners are willing to make someone a serious deal!

I think honestly this listing has to take the cake as the most dissconnected from reality of any house I've ever reviewed.

Why Do You Harp On Permits So Much?

I'm constantly getting emails from people asking why I harp on the lack of permits on the houses I review so I thought I'd explain my reasoning.

Why Permits Are So Important.
1. Its the law!! This should be a duh kinda thing but people don't seem to care that they are breaking the law when they do certain kinds of work on their houses without permits. Sure they are saving themselves some money and some hassle but its not worth the trade-offs.

2. Any work done without permits can not legally add to the value of the house. You converted your attic into a fabulous master suite without permits? So what, its not legal living space and can not count in an appraisers view of the house...and that house has to appraise out if you want to sell it.

3. Insurance companies don't cover losses on unpermitted work. If you don't think your average insurance company is looking for ANY reason to deny your claims you are sadly naive. Heaven forbid that your unpermitted electrical work causes a fire and burns down your house...your insurance company won't pay you a dime. This reason alone should make people never want to buy a house with extensive unpermitted work. Go ahead, call your insurance agent and ask him/her what the companies policy is regarding unpermitted work. I'll buy everybody an icecream cone at Tuckers who can get their agent to say in writing that unpermitted work will be covered.

4. Its not safe. With out the benefits of inspections you have no way of knowing if the work was done up to code, better than code, or waaaaaaaay below code. Having the work inspected is no absolute guarantee that the work is of high quality but it should guarantee a minimum standard. How do you know that you won't get electrocuted in the shower or that your furnace is not slowly killing you with carbon monoxide? You can't! and its hopelessly naive to think that, 'most work done with out permits is better than code.' Which is what the realtor showing 1417 Central actually told me!?!?!?!!?!?

5. If you get narc'd on and the city decides to take a hard line they will force you to remove all the unpermitted work, pay fines, pay the permit fees and then pay to have the work done legally! If you don't think that's like 4x as expensive and 10x the hassle of just doing it right the first time you are sadly mistaken.

#4 and #3 Really pertains to the house I recently reviewed on Central.

So that's why I harp on unpermitted work.

One thing that bugs me about people dodging permits is I think that they are trying to get out of paying their correct property taxes. If you do a lot of work on your house the assessor is going to revalue your house and the property taxes are going to increase. People do not want to pay more taxes so they try to cheat. Man, just in my neighborhood there are a multitude of illegal duplex's that if they were legalized would increase their property taxes. I wonder, if across California if all the people cheating on their property taxes where made to pay their fair share how much effect that would have our current budget crisis...?

Can y'all think of any other reasons I might of missed?

We got our Permits!!!

Hurray!!!

The planning and building department called this morning, and we officially have a building permit for our foundation redo!! We are still waiting on the Major Design Review from the planning and zoning department, but we think that will come through today also.

Our contractor hasn't seen the most recent version of the plans (finished Friday), so we need to get that to him so he can redo the quote to reflect the actual work. Plus, he needs to fit us into his schedule since he's been waiting on us for months! We hope to be finished by the time the real rains start, usually around the beginning of November, so we're just barely within the window of time where that's still possible.

Yay!!!

that was worth waiting for... or not

After several weeks and many phone calls we finally received a copy of the inspector's report.

This is it:

Inspection at the above address revealed that the rear deck is about 20 years old and doesn't meet present building or planning codes.

Requirements:
1. Obtain a building permit with drawings to show present day codes for hand railings and planning issues with regards to property set back lines

So, the entire point of getting letters from the neighbors stating when they remembered the deck being built was to determine what building codes would apply. This report completely contradicts that point and puts us back at exactly square one.

Dan will be paying a visit to the planning and building departments to discuss.

Inspection fun

We had a fire inspector and a city inspector out this past week, and I'm starting to get a little disheartened about everything we need to do.. I understand conceptually why they want us to do things now - once the foundation work is done, there isn't anything else we'll need to go through the planning office for. If they want us to change out the ugly windows or bring the back deck up to modern code, the only leverage they have is this one big permit we're trying to get for the foundation. We have every intention of getting rid of the ugly windows (that no one but us can see anyway because they're in the back of the house!), and I would love to someday build a new, pretty deck like we built at our old house.. but they have no way of knowing that. And, dealing with the public at large, I imagine that the "just trust us, we'll do it right" line could only end badly.
But still.. we're just trying to fix up our house to make it a nice, safe place and trying to do it the correct, legal way is frustratingly difficult.

So, back to the inspectors..

The fire inspector came and looked and said he was fine with it as-is. No problem, he says. Then the city inspector arrived.

It's too close to the property line.
Which we knew was one of the big issues. Modern codes call for a much bigger setback than what we have. Because the back deck is the entire width of the house, and the house itself is too close to the property line, we expected this to be a discussion point. We were hoping that the deck was built early enough, and would be subject to the codes in effect at the time of its construction, that we wouldn't have to cut it back by 6 feet.
What I didn't know, was that it was a fire issue. So we were given a choice: Either cut it back 6' or build a one hour firewall on the outside edge. (I'll mention here in the most respectful way possible that the fire inspector didn't seem to mind.. and that the entire house which is sided with wood goes right up to the property line.. but the inspector didn't seem to care, so now it just seems like whining)
So, we don't have all the specifics of the firewall (how tall it needs to be, how far it needs to come out, what possible materials other than sheetrock would be acceptable..), that will all be in the inspector's official writeup. Which we haven't gotten yet. But the inspector seemed confused by why we didn't want to just cut it back. "Because we thought it was part of the house when we bought it. It's a nice, sunny place to sit. And we like it," apparently wasn't a convincing reason.

The rise of the stairs varies by more than the acceptable limit
The biggest problem here is that the concrete footing, which is formed into the first stair is WAY too high now that we've pulled out all the weeds and trash from the yard. The plan was to have that repoured with the main foundation, which it's attached to. But if we need to bring the stairs entirely up to code before we can do the foundation, then we'll have to pour all that separately (ask me how much I love mixing concrete.. go on, ask me!) and then have the foundation tied to it. Possible, sure.. but definitely less efficient and more difficult than just doing the foundation first and pouring all the concrete at once.

At this point in the discussion, the point were I was explaining how we definitely were going to repour the footing when we did the foundation, the inspector got all distracted by the crumbling foundation underneath the rotting sillplate and said "wow, you guys need to redo that foundation."

I almost screamed.

Instead, I said "Yes. I know. That's what we're trying to do. That's how this whole discussion of the back porch came up.. we're trying to get the permits to do the foundation, but now it seems that we need to bring this deck up to modern code before that will be possible. Which is frustrating"
To which he replied "hmm.. well, you'll need to get a permit before you can start the work on the porch."
/sigh

The handrails have issues.
This was the other thing we knew we'd probably have to deal with. The ballisters under the handrail are too far apart, . We need to close up the gaps between them. Also, the height of the handrail varies substantially from the top, where it's taller than the minimum 36" it needs to be, to the bottom, where it's about 3" too short.

Everything else was pretty good. The railing around the porch was fine, except the bottom board needs to be raised by about an inch. The gap between the bottom two is just slightly more than is ok, and the bottom one is sitting right on the deck, which would trap water.. that'll be an hour or two of work, so it's not a big deal.
And all the framing was fine. Each joist has adequate support, and the sizing and spacing was fine.

So now we wait for the official report. Which I still hope (because my annoying optimism apparently has no bounds) will say something to the effect of: The deck was built early enough that the only thing you need to worry about are correcting the rise of those bottom 2 steps.

We're a Nuisance!

Permit Update
Dan has been spending every spare minute he's not at work down at the planning office trying to get things sorted out for the foundation permits. We're still hung up on the deck/landing in the back. The city is going to make us get the back deck 'amnestied.' That means we get to pay all the fees that would be due if we built the deck today, plus some penalty fees, and some fee fees, and some fees on the fees. To prove when the deck was built, we had to go get letters from neighbors stating when they remembered it being built. This week an inspector from the city will come by and inspect the deck and tell us how screwed we are. He can just sign off on it as-is (not very likely), tell us to upgrade a couple of things, or (this is my favorite) make us tear the whole thing out and turn it into basically a back stair/landing only. Funny thing was, EVERY person we talked to said the same thing: "The city built that deck!" But there's apparently no record of that, and since Leroy isn't around to testify (and the shady contractor who built it didn't leave his card: want an illegal deck? just call me!!), this is what we have to do. It's been a nice excuse to chat with the neighbors, and everyone has stories about our house, and especially about Leroy.

Tales of Leroy
Our next-door neighbor called up a friend on the city council because he thought it was silly for us to be jumping through all these hoops when all anyone wanted was for us to fix up this house.. his friend didn't have much info on the deck, but she brought by these 2 old articles from The Alameda Journal! The 2nd one isn't dated, but seems to have been from the week after the 1st.


The saddest part of the condition of the house is that poor Leroy lived like that for so long, rats and rotting food and all. We love how the building inspector in the article notes the "powerful stench" from a lack of sanitation and decomposing food. And that "debris was piled more than five feet high on all three floors of the house." But Leroy apparently was very active.. he went to the senior center for lunch every day, and in the evenings would "hit the bars, talking up the ladies." Although the house is legally a triplex, he lived here alone for 30 years after his wife died.

In addition to all the stuff in the house, Leroy filled the block with classic cars. Neighbors say you could always tell which cars were his, because "they looked like they were held together with chewing gum," and they were filled to brim with stuff. A couple people told us they thought he had only one battery for his dozen cars, and would walk down the street, battery in hand, when he wanted to drive a different car!

Another tale we heard of Leroy, was that about 10 or 15 years ago a "friend" of his kidnapped him, and was holding him hostage in exchange for Leroy signing over the house! And a couple people told us of a different time when a "big guy" sat out on the porch for a couple days because he thought the house was going to be his. The police had to escort the guy off the premises. Apparently in the past, three different people thought that they were going to con-vince Leroy to sign the house over to them. It's kinda crappy all these local people who were trying to take advantage of the poor old guy. It makes us wonder if there are still some shady characters lurking about with a grudge against us or the house because they think that the place should be theirs.

Everyone in the neighborhood has a story about the house, and about Leroy. And everyone is excited that we're living here and working on fixing it up. Now if we could just get started, everyone would be happy!

Permit Update

First off I have to ask

Wyoming and Mississippi why do you hate us so?

We have readers in every state in the union besides you guys? Because we are both dorks Irene has Google analytics tracking the blog site and it has this super cool map view where you can see where everyone is checking your site from. It shows people checking the site pretty regularly from everywhere besides wyoming and mississippi (I'm not even going to capitalize them!). Nobody from either of those states has ever, ever looked at out blog!! What, you don't like old houses? You don't like people fixing up their own houses? Sheesh.

Permit Updates:
Got a nice call from my planner with the city today. He looked thru our packet and he said it all looked pretty good except that I forgot to note a the window in the dormer on the third floor on the window schedule (even though we are only working on the bottom floor). He said that he was going to notify the neighbors and start the 10 day notification period tomorrow! That's like super awesome fast. Usually they take 30 days just to tell you if your packet is okay. He did it in exactly a week!! They must like us...

The building permits is another story....still have not heard back from the engineer yet as to what he wants to do about the plan checkers comments. I'm just about done with this guy and interviewed two new SE's today...They were honest and said that it would probably be faster and cheaper for me to get the original guy to finish instead of them having to start basically from scratch...this situation is causing much angst for me as I don't want to fire him but dang I don't feel like he's giving me much choice...

Need Contractor Recommendations
If you live in the area or know someone who does and who could recommend a quality contractor to us for the following trades please let me know.

1. We need an electrician to upgrade the main panel from 100 to 200amps. I'll do all the interior wiring myself but I am scared to mess with the service entrance.
2. We need a quality roofer. Right after the foundation is done we want to get the roof redone before the rains come at the end of October. This job is going to be a complete tear off and they are probably going to have to fix some framing issues.
3. We need an HVAC contractor. We would really love to get a quality installation done of a gas forced air heating system before it gets too cold.
4. Insulation Contractor: We really want to do a closed cell spray foam insulation deal in the attic after the roof is fixed.
5. Plumber: We want to install a Rinnai gas tankless water heater. Unfortunately Rinnai won't honor the warranty unless a licensed plumber installs it...super lame. We need to find a plumber who has installed several as they are unique and require special knowledge.

Now before y'all think we are selling out and paying people to do the work instead of doing the work ourselves just hold on. This is our dream list but honestly we will probably do everything on it ourselves besides the roofing and service upgrade.

cross your fingers!

All the measuring and plans and rendering is done! at least for the moment..
This is Dan double-checking that he has all million and a half views that the planning office wants.

Off to pay scary amount of $$ and get the design review process started..

Edited to add:
It was touch and go for awhile there.. we did have to submit a few more things that we were told we wouldn't need (floor plans of the 3rd floor for a foundation permit?!), but they've been accepted! Now we get to wait a month before we find anything out.
Thanks for the good thoughts!