Retaining Wall is Done

They completed the installation of the lower 100ft retaining wall.  Well almost, still have to put on about 15 top caps. 

Larry wanted to get the wall in prior to the foundation because, due to the location of the existing septic field, it would have been hard to get heavy machinery into this area after the foundation was in.

Here are some pictures of the wall and some of the construction.

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Silt Fence

Here are some photos of the silt fence and tree protection. These are required by the town. Unfortunately they have to go up before the trees and house can come down. So they will probably get damaged and will have to be redone.

Tree Protection

Slideshow of existing home

Asbestos has been removed

The asbestos abatement contractor has finished removing all of the affected sheet rock. This is a picture of the living room looking into the dining room.

Waiting on Asbestos Removal

One of the requirements in obtaining a demolition permit is to have the house tested for asbestos. Unfortunately, the tests found that the sheet rock drywall joint compound contains asbestos in an amount greater then 1%. So we are required to hire as asbestos abatement contractor and have the sheet rock removed from the house prior to full demolition.

The contractors were in this weekend doing the necessary setup work, e.g. containment zone and showers. I will try to post pics tomorrow.

Construction to Start Soon

It’s been a while since my last post.  Although construction has not started yet, we have been busy finding our builder, filing for a permit, looking for a place to rent and packing.

For a builder, we decided to go with a Construction Manager rather then a General Contractor.  The advantages, in my opinion, are flexibility and control of money.  With a GC, you have to pay a large sum of money upfront to the GC and then the GC is responsible for paying the subcontractors.  We have heard to many stories in which either the GC walked off the job (with the money) or failed to pay the subs.  There are two examples of this right down the block and around the corner from where we are building.  Also when you want to make changes during construction, there is usually a change order required and typically it involves additional money.  With a Construction Manager, we pay his fee over time (based on completion percentages) and we pay the subs directly - when they complete work.  Also since we are getting bids from the subs in near real-time during construction – there is flexibility in the design.

We found a 3 bedroom town home to rent in the North Haledon, NJ.  The lease starts on September 1st.  So hopefully we will be in by September 11th. Once we move out the utilities can be disconnected and demolition can begin.

Approved!

We received approval from the town last night for the 2 variances that we requested.

At our first meeting, on May 20th, the town took issue with our request for a variance to have the driveway be 8.3 feet from the property line. Zoning requires 20 feet. They asked us to provide an alternative plan, shifting the house to the east by 12 feet. By moving the house to the east we ended up in the steep slopes on our property, causing us to request additional variances for the retaining wall heights and steep slope violations.

Upon presenting the new site plan last night to the board, they agreed that the original plan was a better design and approved it.

Photorealistic 3d Rendering

Quick update:  I had the wrong dates for the planning board meeting.  The new date is May 20th.  Hopefully we get approval at the first meeting.