It feels good to be moving again. Interactive is hustling to get as close to completion as possible before the end of October, when we have to be out of our rental.
Unfortunately, the stop work delay has led to a crew shortage that we are doing our best to alleviate through Matt’s efficient contributions, and sub-contracting out a couple of tasks that Interactive would normally do themselves.
We’ve been focused on making quick decisions on final orders for things like flooring, tile, lighting, exterior siding, appliances, and millwork. It all has to be ordered now.
We continue to face hurdles with the City. The fact that we have a unique “duplex plus suite” zoning has caused all manner of headache, since this arrangement does not currently exist in the eyes of the building code. Duplex? No problem! Single family + secondary suite? No problem! Duplex + secondary suite? Um…
At the last electrical inspection, the inspector said we needed 4 hydro meters for the property: one for each unit (including the secondary suite which can only ever be a rental given our zoning), plus a separate meter for any shared services between the two suites. Huh? The City ultimately deferred to BC Hydro, citing an obscure memo that seemed to suggest that having multiple meters was one possible avenue, but did not say we couldn’t have less (we’re planning for two, one for each strata unit). I called BC Hydro and spoke with someone who thankfully offered to write an email confirming that from their perspective, we could install 1 or 50 meters – it was entirely up to us who pays for the electricity.
The City has also decided that from a fire and life safety perspective, we have a triplex on our hands. Cue noncombustible siding and extensive fire separations between main and secondary suites. The BC Building Code has put out a revision for public comment that specifically addresses duplexes + suites, but who knows how long that will take to move through the various stages of approval. Certainly won’t happen before the end of October. So we find ourselves only pushing back when a requirement is clearly ludicrous, and sucking up the rest in the interest of forward movement.
With each successive visit to the project over the past few weeks, I feel a little bit more excited and a little less afraid that the project will fail. I am allowing myself to believe that this is all going to come together in the end and we will achieve what we set out to – albeit down a much more circuitous road than we had expected. I am allowing myself to imagine ourselves living in our new space and unpacking our things without having to keep all the boxes. I’m fantasizing about what we’ll do with all our free time. Month-long trips exploring northern Canada and upper Vancouver Island! Haida Gwaii! New York City! Belgium for cyclocross! Gardening! Writing! Ah, dare to dream…
And now for some photos!
Here’s what’s been happening outside:
Moving inside…
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