Thanks.

Speaking of unexpected tax, there will be a day of reckoning with the city.

I found out AFTER we put the drywall and bathroom cabinets and doors in that the city requires you pull a permit for both of those. I've been around a while and owned several houses and never heard of this. I've also heard that even paint requires a permit.

I suspect that this is fema related and they want to make sure the 49% rule is being followed. Fema dictates that if you have damage exceeding 49% of the house value (not including land) that you must either raise your house or rebuild. We are nowhere near this figure so that isn't an issue.

But, I'm hearing all sorts of rumors about the consequences of not pulling permits for this. I've heard anything from getting fined to requiring you pull out everything you did, get a permit, then put it back.

I'm not sure they even have the manpower to deal with this right now. I keep hearing that if you don't get in line at the permit office by 10:00 Am they just send you home.

The whole thing is a massive bureaucratic cluster. I have no doubt this will come back to bite me and my guess is I'll have to hire a lawyer to sort it all out.

if you're comfortable with it, PM me the local jurisdiction and let me do a little poking around. there is no reason to need a permit for paint, unless you're abating old lead paint. casework and replacing doors are also very odd.

Trying to get a granite installer. Didn't think it would be so hard. There's a lot of them around.

First one I tried, I went into the showroom and nobody was there. I stood there for a while when a guy came in, but he didn't speak english so he didn't seem to realize I was waiting for some help. Stood there a while later when a girl finally showed up who said she couldn't help me but she would take my info and someone would get back with me. Four days later I got a text from a guy. We conversed via text for a bit and he gave me a rough estimate but I needed to go in and check out the stone they had. Went in the next day and there were several salespeople but each one said I needed to talk to Javier. Javier finally showed up but I couldn't pin him down on much of anything.

I contacted a few places via phone and one lady told me she would send an email and I could respond to it with a layout so she could work it up and get back to me. She didn't so I sent an email to the website email address. Still nothing back The others wanted me to come in, which was fine.

So, we hit several places, each one lacking any customer service. We went into the one that I sent the layout to and she said she didn't get my email. Then she said she did, but she tried to send me an email. Not sure I believe her. They didn't have quite what I wanted so she suggested a wholesale place that just has slabs, they don't install. We found what we wanted and called her the next day, which was Saturday. She said she would try to contact a salesman but if she couldn't she would do it first thing Monday. Monday came around and I hadn't heard from her so I called her. She said she would get with them immediately and call me back. She didn't. My wife left a message on her machine yesterday after they closed. Still nothing. I guess it's good I find out now instead of paying them a down payment and learning they have crappy customer service.

None of the other places were great either. I found one today that looks promising. We'll see.

I just can't believe how bad customer service is almost everywhere.

I did find a granite installer that seems good. We'll see.

The woman that didn't return my calls ended up calling me after I chose someone else, three days after we left messages.

We are kind of at a standstill with the house. I can't finish the trim and baseboards until we get doors. Not sure how long that will be. We ordered them a couple weeks ago.

We'll be tearing out the kitchen right after Thanksgiving. I hope to get the new cabinets set next Monday and the granite folks will be there to measure Wednesday if all goes well.

My wife has been a painting beast. She basically repainted the entire interior of the house since we couldn't match paint exactly. Neither one of us likes to paint or caulk be we agreed that I would do the caulking and she would paint.

My wife and I have had so many discussions about "what now." Most of our neighbors are doing the same.

One option is to lift the house. Quite a few people around are doing this. From what I can tell it would be anywhere from $200,000 to $350,000. And, it takes a while so you wouldn't be able to live there for quite a while. I'm a little nervous about this but people are doing it.

One option is to build up. From what I can tell, it would cost more than lifting but it seems less sketchy to me. I don't know. A few people have decided to do this, but not many.

One option is to bulldoze and start over. The guy across the street from us is doing this. Pretty pricey but you get to design it the way you want it.

We have decided to not do any of these and attempt to "seal" the house in the event of future flooding. There are people that have been successful at this. You basically caulk the crap out of every window and door, then apply flashing tape on top of the caulk. Add some tarps and sandbags for good measure.

I haven't done the math yet, but we figured that we got about 12 inches of water in the four hours the tide was high enough to come in. Most of it came in through the garage door, which isn't even close to being sealed. A lot came in through the front door as well, but almost none through the hurricane windows and doors in the back. We figure if we can stop 90% of it and buy a bunch of those "pigs" that absorb water we might be able to survive another storm like this without having to tear everything out. It might be an ambitious goal but there are people around that successfully did this.

No matter what, we've definitely decided this isn't our forever house. Spending the entire summer nervous about where the next storm might go just isn't a good way to live. We'll wait until the market comes back a bit and move on. The other thing we've decided is we probably won't be homeowners again. We'll just take whatever money we get from this house and use it for rent.

A couple things:

I don't understand why trim/baseboards can't be done w/o doors. Is this easily explicable to someone without repair skills?

Does your long-term housing plan (possibly) include a move away from Fla?

The doors are probably coming with new door jambs, the part the door swings into and out of. The trim around the door will partially cover the jambs and the baseboard will butt into the trim.

Well, Mark is right. However, I just bought door slabs so the trim can be put up and has been around the swinging doors. But we have pocket doors too and I'll have to pull trim to replace them, if I'm even able to do that. I think I can do it but I might end up having to get all new assemblies. Fingers crossed. Also haven't replaced trim on the bifold doors yet. Not sure what I need to do yet.

Not sure where we end up. We'll probably stay in Florida because both of her parents are getting older and we need to be close. After they die, who knows. That's one reason we want to rent. We can pick up and go whenever we want.

I see with the jambs. I was thinking of the baseboards out in the middle of the room or whatever. Is there no benefit in knocking them out, and working toward the door openings?

Anyway, best of luck. Maybe this will be the last event, kinda like when T.S. Garp and his wife were home-searching.

Yeah, this is what I did. I'm guessing 80% of the baseboards are in.

methings golddog may be on to something
seems time to ask yourself how long you think you'll be strong enough to fight the eternal tide

We've definitely made the decision to sell this house once the market comes back some. We've also made the decision never to be homeowners again. It should free us up to go wherever, whenever.

Man, if there was just something that allowed mobility, but also could be a space to live in.

Land Yacht!

Hehe

Burn it down, collect the insurance money, and move to Italy.

Doing structural work or moving plumbing? Wondering if those half-walls are changing.

We are leaving it structurally as is. Just new cabinets.

Cabinets set and ready for countertop people to measure.

That looks nice. Do the drawers/doors/sink/w/e get installed after the countertop is put in?