I've linked in a slide show of our "before" pictures, showing various aspects of the house and lot before any excavation or digging begins. We're hoping to capture lots of great shots as the trenches are dug, the house is raised, the foundation is poured, and of course, of the final product.
Check the snaps out via the link to the right.
I'm also going to try and scan our Survey Plan to show both the current and proposed location of the house, as I think it gives the best sense of the space we're working with. I'll attach it above the PAC agenda when ready.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
PAC Success!
Our variance application sailed through the PAC. Unfortunately, this came after nearly 2 hours of sitting through public concerns over other zoning and subdivision cases. Regardless, our first hurdle has been overcome!
Armed with this achievement, I contact the Manager of Heritage and Culture Affairs for the city to learn more about our next challenge - the Preservation Board grant of a "Certificate of Appropriateness". This gentleman has been very pleasant to deal with thus far, and has assured Jon and I that our request is one of the simpler ones facing the Board currently. Still, our conversation on Thursday uncovered that I had more work to do, as he asked about the new elevation of the home due to the foundation; the source of siding materials; the number, position and type of basement windows being installed - all things I couldn't answer.
So we put in a call to our general contractor, Mike O'Regan, and arranged to meet him at the house on Friday. Mike confirmed that on the rear side of the house, we would have 6" of "new" exposure, and 36" on the yard side. He confirmed that the windows would be egress windows, 24" x 36", and that any siding purchased to replace the siding that was removed to facilitate the jacking would be matching pine shipboard from Kent's orders.
New tasks for Jon and I were also assigned. We'll ask NB Power to cut down the branches on the two trees to be excavated, and we'll make inquiries to the city's Engineering and Waterworks groups to see if they have any requirements related to our building permit application. I'll return to the Manager of Heritage with my new information in the hopes of securing further support for our project. The Preservation Board meets on May 13th and so he has asked for all our information by May 6th in order to update the members ahead of the decision.
In the meantime, Mike O'Regan will contact the city to determine which inspector will review and approve our permit application. With any luck, it will be one of the more accessible inspectors, who's straightforward and easy to work with, and who is familiar with Mike's work. We're aiming to have the building permit in hand just after the Preservation Board grants our Appropriateness Certificate, so that we can break ground in the 3rd week of May!
Armed with this achievement, I contact the Manager of Heritage and Culture Affairs for the city to learn more about our next challenge - the Preservation Board grant of a "Certificate of Appropriateness". This gentleman has been very pleasant to deal with thus far, and has assured Jon and I that our request is one of the simpler ones facing the Board currently. Still, our conversation on Thursday uncovered that I had more work to do, as he asked about the new elevation of the home due to the foundation; the source of siding materials; the number, position and type of basement windows being installed - all things I couldn't answer.
So we put in a call to our general contractor, Mike O'Regan, and arranged to meet him at the house on Friday. Mike confirmed that on the rear side of the house, we would have 6" of "new" exposure, and 36" on the yard side. He confirmed that the windows would be egress windows, 24" x 36", and that any siding purchased to replace the siding that was removed to facilitate the jacking would be matching pine shipboard from Kent's orders.
New tasks for Jon and I were also assigned. We'll ask NB Power to cut down the branches on the two trees to be excavated, and we'll make inquiries to the city's Engineering and Waterworks groups to see if they have any requirements related to our building permit application. I'll return to the Manager of Heritage with my new information in the hopes of securing further support for our project. The Preservation Board meets on May 13th and so he has asked for all our information by May 6th in order to update the members ahead of the decision.
In the meantime, Mike O'Regan will contact the city to determine which inspector will review and approve our permit application. With any luck, it will be one of the more accessible inspectors, who's straightforward and easy to work with, and who is familiar with Mike's work. We're aiming to have the building permit in hand just after the Preservation Board grants our Appropriateness Certificate, so that we can break ground in the 3rd week of May!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The PAC
Tomorrow night we go to the City of Fredericton's Planning Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting. Their approval of our request for a variance is a pre-requisite for our Building Permit application. See the link to the left for the meeting Agenda.
Here's the scoop: Our property is an unusual size, with unusual characteristics. We have no street frontage. Our laneway belongs to the province, so we simply have a right-of-way on the path. City by-laws for properties in the "Heritage District" of Fredericton require that buildings conform to 1.8 metre setbacks from their side lot lines, and a 6 metre setback from the rear lot line. Conforming to this requirement would see our home nearly in the middle of the lot splitting our yard into two pieces too small to be functional. So we've argued that the setback requirement wasn't made for properties like ours, where our neighbor to the rear would only need to conform to a 1.8m setback, and that our proposed location represents the safest, most appropriate correction of our current non-conforming situation. We have asked for a 2.9m variance to be approved.
The staff report has rejected that request, but in it's place has supported a 2.4m variance. They would like us to allow for a "driveway" space on our lot, which would need to be 3.6 m X 6m, thus making our rear setback 3.6m. We're ok with this, and are hopeful that it will pass on Wednesday evening. Fingers crossed!
Here's the scoop: Our property is an unusual size, with unusual characteristics. We have no street frontage. Our laneway belongs to the province, so we simply have a right-of-way on the path. City by-laws for properties in the "Heritage District" of Fredericton require that buildings conform to 1.8 metre setbacks from their side lot lines, and a 6 metre setback from the rear lot line. Conforming to this requirement would see our home nearly in the middle of the lot splitting our yard into two pieces too small to be functional. So we've argued that the setback requirement wasn't made for properties like ours, where our neighbor to the rear would only need to conform to a 1.8m setback, and that our proposed location represents the safest, most appropriate correction of our current non-conforming situation. We have asked for a 2.9m variance to be approved.
The staff report has rejected that request, but in it's place has supported a 2.4m variance. They would like us to allow for a "driveway" space on our lot, which would need to be 3.6 m X 6m, thus making our rear setback 3.6m. We're ok with this, and are hopeful that it will pass on Wednesday evening. Fingers crossed!
Getting Started...
We're about a month away from the start of our renovations, but it's been an interesting few months just getting to this point.
The hardest part was deciding what exactly we wanted to do. We knew when we bought the house last November that the foundation would be our first priority. Our house was built in the late 19th century, and we think it's still resting on the original sills and piles of rocks that the Railway Brakeman himself slept on!
So our first decision was whether to dig a crawlspace, partial basement, or full basement. In reviewing the survey on file, it was clear that our house was sitting over our property line. We talked to a number of knowledgeable folks in construction and determined that moving the house to a new location on our lot would give us a great yard, and maximum privacy from the busy walking trail that runs the length of our lot and driveway.
We had our plan: remove the porch (rotting and unsound) to facilitate the jacking up of the house. Turn the house 90 degrees. Dig an 8-foot basement in the South corner of the lot. Bring the house over to the new foundation, lower and voila!
On the recommendation of Jon's good buddy Adrian Pembridge, we contacted Tim Larlee to help with the foundation, and Brent McLaughlin to handle the complicated jacking, turning and moving manoever. We also engaged Mike O'Regan to excavate the two trees that needed to go, to replace any floor joists that need replacing, to handle the siding removal and replacement, to provide the crushed rock and to serve as General Contractor with the other parties, using his expertise to secure our building permit and keep this project to our timelines.
We've estimated that this project will take roughly two months, starting as soon as possible in May, and with any luck, ending by mid-July. Stay tuned as we take pictures and memorialize every step of this ambitious project!
The hardest part was deciding what exactly we wanted to do. We knew when we bought the house last November that the foundation would be our first priority. Our house was built in the late 19th century, and we think it's still resting on the original sills and piles of rocks that the Railway Brakeman himself slept on!
So our first decision was whether to dig a crawlspace, partial basement, or full basement. In reviewing the survey on file, it was clear that our house was sitting over our property line. We talked to a number of knowledgeable folks in construction and determined that moving the house to a new location on our lot would give us a great yard, and maximum privacy from the busy walking trail that runs the length of our lot and driveway.
We had our plan: remove the porch (rotting and unsound) to facilitate the jacking up of the house. Turn the house 90 degrees. Dig an 8-foot basement in the South corner of the lot. Bring the house over to the new foundation, lower and voila!
On the recommendation of Jon's good buddy Adrian Pembridge, we contacted Tim Larlee to help with the foundation, and Brent McLaughlin to handle the complicated jacking, turning and moving manoever. We also engaged Mike O'Regan to excavate the two trees that needed to go, to replace any floor joists that need replacing, to handle the siding removal and replacement, to provide the crushed rock and to serve as General Contractor with the other parties, using his expertise to secure our building permit and keep this project to our timelines.
We've estimated that this project will take roughly two months, starting as soon as possible in May, and with any luck, ending by mid-July. Stay tuned as we take pictures and memorialize every step of this ambitious project!
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