No more greenhouse

It's been slow waiting for the building department corrections, worrying that they'll ask for a structural engineer to prepare and stamp calcs. If we had the permit, we still would need to find someone to build it. The finish line seems far away, and before we get there, the house will be half-wrecked. Sigh.

So, for an inspirational project, I asked Kevin and Johnathan to help me dismantle the lean-to greenhouse. I know the tacked on glass house won't be part of the finished house, and I knew it would transform the look of the place from the backyard to have it gone now. Thanks to Kevin and Johnathan--we were done in about three hours.

The main pieces are three aluminum-framed plates of glass.

There were open shelves and a window repurposed as a door.

The walls were just EPS or foam board.

Kevin and Johnathan did all the sledgehammer work.

Pacific Topsoil charged me $32 to take the broken concrete block. We used Johnathan's old van for the hauling.

Rendering(s)

To help the neighbors visualize, I'm working on photo mashups like this:

Kitchen Items

This post will inventory the items available to be packed and shipped.

1. Kelley plastic plates from Jan. 94 (x2)
2. Handmade brown dish
3. Peter Rabbit plate (Royal Doulton)
4. Various Petroglyph plates (x6)
5. Various Petroglyph bowls (x3)
6. Black "Couroc" bowl
7. Tigger's cat bowl
8. Leopard-print mug
9. Green plastic bowl and lid
10. Rainbow plastic "daisy" plates (x11)
11. Crystal candle holders (x4)
12. Pewter snuffers (x2)
13. Colorful rooster salt and pepper shakers
14. Slim glass candle holder
15. Various silver-color bowls (x5)
16. Cut-glass bowl
17. Pyrex pie plates, different sizes (x3)
18. Pyrex bowl and glass lid
19. Heavy glass tumblers (x2)
20. Crystal bottle stopper
21. Larger crystal bowl
22. Cherub napkin rings (x4)
23. Smaller crystal bowl
24. Teardrop-shaped crystal bowl
25. Flower petal design crystal bowl
26. Glass non-Pyrex bowl [the large one broke]
27. Glass coasters (x5)
28. Medium Pyrex bowl (no lid)

Item #2

(l to r): Snuffers #12; napkin rings #22; salt and pepper #13; bottle stopper #20; petal-shape bowl #25; wrapped glass coasters.

The Plans Are In!

City Of Seattle, DPD <DoNotReply@seattle.gov>	3:36 PM (0 minutes ago)
to me

Thank you for using the City of Seattle Department of Planning and Development's Online Permit Fee Payment system. This is a receipt confirming payment of fees for Permit #6461743.

Please do not reply to this email. If you have questions about your permit fees, please contact the DPD Applicant Services Center at (206) 684-8850.

Transaction Date	06/30/2015 3:36 PM
Payment Transaction	# 719803
Project Info	# 6461743 817 NW 118TH ST Construct addition and alterations to existing single family residence per plan
Project Contact	Alastair Dallas 817 NW 118 St Seattle, WA 98177 (408) 596-6757
Cardholder Name	Alastair Dallas
Credit Card	Visa ****-****-****-1047 exp 08/2017
Total Amount Paid	$1,304.25
Fee Detail	Amt Description $869.50   VALUE BASED - PLAN REVIEW (INTAKE) $434.75   VALUE BASED - PERMIT (INTAKE)

This is a receipt of payment. This is NOT a permit, nor is it proof of having a permit.

Please retain this receipt for your financial records.

Department of Planning and Development (DPD)
700 Fifth Ave., Suite 2000
P.O. Box 34019
Seattle, WA 98124-4019
(206) 684-8600

Impacted Building Department

Here's how the Seattle Dept. of Planning and Development (DPD) system works. You throw together a basic set of plans and submit them online. In a couple of days, you are approved for intake. At this point, you can make an intake appointment and you have up until that appointment date to upload the final documents. After your intake, the normal review period is 2-3 weeks. Then you have to submit corrected plans, possibly in two or more rounds, but the process leads to a permit.

This system should have been explained to me when I visited the Applicant Services Center in late February. Instead, I was assigned a Junior Idiot who was no help at all. He directed me to waste $200 and 2 weeks requesting an ECA exemption that was promptly denied.

I submitted plans on June 12, and I expected an intake appointment this week. Instead, they are scheduling intake 10 weeks from now. That means the earliest building permit is September.

But I called Applicant Services this morning (684-8850). No automated wait. Katie answered immediately and explained that people cancel their intake appointments and she told me how to reschedule my appointment sooner by pouncing on a canceled date. (It's the Start Your Full Permit Application section, tab 3 (Intake), click "Cancel or Reschedule.") She looked at my file and said she would keep an eye out for cancelled appointments and try to help me get an earlier date (no promises, of course).

My intake appointment is currently August 21. It would be great if I could move it up to July, but I can't hope for too much. So, I need to improve the plans...perhaps with a structural engineer's help. When they are complete, Katie told me to click "Submit for Intake." That's irrevocable, so you don't do it lightly. The plans cannot be changed after that, and the intake appointment can't be rescheduled. But, it's possible that the plan review could start before the intake, so the time to permit would improve. Again, no promises.

Update: 4pm the same day, Katie Jones sent an email--she grabbed a cancellation, so my new intake date is July 10. Amazing! Need to click "Submit for Intake" before 7 a.m. that day (it's a Friday), and preferably sooner.

Speaking of color ideas

The Trees Room siding is cement board, like HardiePanel Smooth in Countrylane Red. The existing house has wood siding, vertical over horizontal. I think the new north face should be all horizontal, which can be HardiePlank Lap Beaded Smooth, perhaps in Cobblestone (a light gray).

I'd like a more custom finish on the Trees Room--I wonder if we can apply a patina-like stain on the HardiePanels.

Fixing up the gazebo

The lattice has to go. Everything else can be other colors.