THE ISSUE

As mentioned the house is too close to the property line. I have attached the survey below so you can check it out. Technically the house is supposed to be at least 6 feet from the property line but in the 1920s Americans still had freedom and the Man was not holding them down so they built the house whereever they felt like it.

Things we Love

NUMBER 1

The Home Depot

Some people like Lowes, some people can't tell the difference, but I like Home Depot. Just seems like a better overall experience. I can find the things I need and they have the things I need. While the Durham Home Depot pales in comparison to the Knoxville Home Depot, whose employees actually knew about home repair and were excited to help you, it is still the best place for my money.

The First of Many Delays

Yes, it is true, we do not even own the house yet and we have already incountered delays.

Delay 1: The existing home owner can't move into his new house yet so he will renting the back from us for two weeks. TWO WEEK DELAY.

Delay 2: The building permits have been DISAPPROVED. Dramitic Pause ... causing indefinte delay to the building process.

The silver lining: Since we are delayed two weeks anyway, we have two weeks to work through the permitting issues. Hopefully it will work out so keep your fingers crossed.

The issue with the permit seems fairly minor to me but we will keep you posted on the progress. When your house is currently too close to the property line (which ours is) Durham will only let you add 15% additional sqare footage (we are trying to add about 30%). So we will have to apply to get a variance. It seems that this should be fairly straightforward but you never know when you are dealing if city ordinances.

So we will have to wait to use our new demo items, which we purchased at The Home Depot.

Day -8: Dreaming of ...

We are thinking of renting this to help with the demo. Boyhood dreams becoming man sized realties. If there are any guys in town, or guys that want to come in town, that want come over and swing a sledge hammer and take a turn on a piece of power equipment, demo starts on 3/30/2010 and the mini ex is hopefully going to be ready for action saturday April 3rd.

Starting on Day -9: Intro

In only 9 days, we will close on our 3rd home (in 4 years... where is the tax credit for that!), and our 2nd renovation project, this one quite a bigger project than the first. So big it needs its own blog, of course. We're buying a 1200 sq. ft. 1920's bungalow with 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom about a mile from downtown Durham, NC. The foundation and structure need work, painting is necessary, a new roof is essential, and an addition is planned. We will bargain with subcontractors, vie for historic tax credits, and shed blood, sweat and tears (me) along the way. We will attempt to keep our story current here, with plenty of DIY tips. Join us in the adventure. Seriously though, if you're in town, or even driving distance (hint, mom and dad), JOIN US. On location. And bring a hammer.

Enough intro, here are some pictures to tantalize your imagination...

The House:

(and no, we're not in Florida)

The Plans: