Deck/Door Update

Last week, we got a new back door! It is awesome. It replaced the old door which was a) a bizarre size, b) uninsulated and therefore permissive to all manner of 'the elements' getting in, and c) warped to the point that opening or closing it took all 125 (fine, 130) pounds of me.

This is phase one of our Summer Deck/Door project. You'll notice I haven't mentioned the deck. Sigh.

This is MY FAULT - I insisted on a building permit for this. Some guy down the street from us got fined a pile of money for not using a permit and I did not want to end up in his shoes. *Chris has a completely different telling of this story that he is insisting on - sucks that he's not the one blogging!

Unfortunately, the people who built the deck 25 years ago did not get a permit. Which means that it never ended up on a plot plan for the city. So the city won't give us a building permit unless we can show them a plot plan including the existing deck, which requires a survey of the house for $1500-2000 -or-  a mortgage plot plan, which we declined at closing. Crap.

Luckily, Christopher married himself a wee winsome wife - I called our closing attorney and was told that we could get a new plot plan for $125. Of course, when push came to shove, it ended up being $150 for 'office time' (his emails were literally 3 word answers to my carefully crafted questions - nice life). But, by the end of this week, we should have a building permit in hand, at which time our contractor can finish the door and get going on ye olde deck demo.

Moral of the story: Not sure. Chris feels that it is NEVER DO WHAT THE MAN TELLS YOU TO DO. I still feel like following the rules is a good thing. I guess we'll see what the week brings.