REMODELING OF THE SEABECK HOUSE
After Dad died, Jack and I were not sure what we wanted to do with the Seabeck house. We had our son, Doug, move in so it would not stand vacant.
Jack didn't really want to leave our present place because of the large garage and all of his toys. I hated the thought of moving again and all that packing. We are off the main road and enjoy the piece and quiet of the somewhat seclusion we have here on Hite Center.
We both have two different TV viewing fancies. With a front room and living room with their own TVs, we can go our separate ways when there is a conflict of viewing interest. The Seabeck house has one small living room. That meant that one or the other was going to have to go to the bedroom or downstairs to watch TV. Neither of us were willing to do that voluntary.
BUT... I think that being down by the water and the great view made our decision easier. To resolved the conflicts Jack and I had with limited space, we decided to extend the living room upstairs.
It took awhile to find a contractor. Whitey Johnson is out of Poulsbo, WA. He and his son, Mark, are partners. I called several of his references and was pleased with what they had to say about their work.
He came out several time and discussed what we wanted and then drew up some plans.
After viewing these plans, we started looking at how small the kitchen was. No way was Jack going to be able to do his MASTER CHEF thing in that little space.
So the plans GROW...
One evening while studying the plans. I started thinking about the bathroom. My... I had forgotten that we had tried to talk dad into remodeling the bathroom by putting in a shower stall in place of the tub. He could barely step over the edge into the tub. You couldn't even get a his wheelchair through the doorway. But he would have nothing to do with it. I did go against his wishes, and install handrails. After a bit he did admit they where nice. But no shower stall!
Now I was thinking of the difficulty Jack and I might have in the future. We are not getting any younger. This was something to take in consideration. So why not now!
SO.... the plans GROW some more!
After we made all these changes, Whitey contacted his subcontractors. One was his engineer. She said that we needed to put up walls underneath the living room for stability. If we were going to do that we might as well finish out that room also.
SO.... the plans GROW some more...!!
I never did understand why dad never put a shower in the basement. I thought this would be a good thing. Especially after a nice dip in the canal. I wouldn't want to drip saltwater all over that new addition upstairs now would I?
Can you guess.... The plans GROW even more....
Thinking of all those stairs and all the climbing up and down with laundry and groceries, gave me an idea. OH yes, my brain was doing double time by now. How about a dumbwaiter? I suggested it to Jack and he asked me "Will she be blonde?" Ha Ha Jack. But, all-in-all, he thought this wasn't to bad of an idea.
YES... The plans GROW again...
By now we really were into these plans. Looking at them one night I decided to have a carport on the south side by the front door.
Whitey had to redesign the roof to make it all blend and work together. Well... now studying these plans, I realized that this was going to go above and beyond our financial pocket book!
The carport was OUT! Back to the old roof.
Now the plans where completed. And off to the county so we could get our permit.
First stop was the Health Dept. Since the home was put in before the current rules and regulations, we found that the septic system and well where not in code. So tests had to be preformed before they would allow this. Then we had to have a designer come in and design a place for a reserve drain field. We had several holes in the yard and drain field. After the first inspection they had to be dug deeper.
After almost two weeks without hearing from the inspector, I called him. He had been waiting for a call back. On top of this, he told me he drove by the place almost daily. He came out that afternoon.
Several more calls to the Health Dept., I finally learned that it went to the water quality people. After a week I began to call them daily. This permit had been at the Health Dept. now for almost 6 weeks!
Finally on a Monday I reached the right person. He informed me that he had just been checking his voice mail. It seems that the voice mail there has been having problems. He had 33 calls. I was on his list, just two more call backs before my name. He check my paper work and said that all looked good and was sending it to the Dept. of Community Developing in the court house by courier that day.
Yeaaaa It looked like things were on the move.
NOT...
The Shoreline Dept. had to get their two cents in. They called me and asked about the plans that were turned in and the distance from Mead High Tide and the building. I tried to assure him that the person that drew up those plans was very cautious (these were separate from Whitey's). But he thought that he should come out and measure him self.
NO, NO, NO, he said... We were much to close. There was no way we would be able to have the deck and would have to back the house off by couple feet.
I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS.... I call Whitey and cry on his shoulder. How could this happen??? He came out almost immediately. And the next morning... AND the that evening. He measure this and that. He even measured the water level as it raised, every 10 minutes. That way we knew when and where high tide was that evening. Which was more than an average high tide!
Monday morning he was at this fellows office and they hashed out a compromise.
We could still have the 16 feet extension. But only an eight foot deck.
I think we can live with that....
We WILL live with that!!
If you can believe it, this fellow measured from the top of the bulkhead. Average high water never even gets close to that. ANYWAY... it wasn't but a few days after that Whitey picked up the permit. All-in-all, it took about nine weeks to get this though the county.
WELL, now you want to see what is happening there. I have been taking pictures as the work progresses. So here goes. Have fun this summer, because ours fun will start after this project and moving-in is completed....
Jack & Dianne
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