I got my call back from the Building Inspector yesterday. Nice fellow. Definitely low key, and a fruitful conversation.
Here’s a sum up after we established that what he’d been told was accurate (and after explaining what a walipini was, which I think he’s still a bit confused about as well):
– once I confirmed it’s a single family home, he said we do not need the supervisor (LCS).
– he seemed–I don’t know the best word, but assured comes to mine–when I brought up finding the 5′ minimum side property line related table footnote online. (I think he was still on the fence just slightly about how much I really did know what I was doing or not at that point, and I think the shift might have been because that’s not mentioned directly on the “homeowners” one pager like the LCS is, and so showed I had looked at more than just that.) I only mention this because his direct but purposeful Q&A tone seemed to relax just enough to be noticed, and it stuck with me even now. Maybe because my aunt was an inspector, and she would tell stories about folks that had no idea what they were getting into, and always seemed happier when she’d talk about the ones that did. Maybe I’m just a loon and he finally had a chance to grab a seat, who knows?
– I can draft the plan/elevation myself, we do not need a structural engineer to consult or do drawings.
– once I mentioned I’d already spoken to the Board of Health about using a rainwater system for it and was waiting to hear back from them, we didn’t speak further on anything regarding water use except later, when I finally had my list in front of me and asked about the cistern.
– once he knew the approximate size, that seemed to stop a possible line of questioning (I think due to what I mentioned before that if it was over a certain size, it would get deemed commercial).
– we won’t have to go through the steps in the process for insulation/house wrap inspections (other than the frost protection of the foundation); don’t have to worry about smoke detectors, plumbing beyond what the Health Department may care about, or electrical.
– the 4′ minimum for foundation is measured from the exterior grade
– we can build a cistern, but he specifically asked if a rainbarrel wouldn’t be enough to go to all the trouble of a cistern (especially since to him it’s such a small structure). We talked about cisterns more than anything else, both above and below ground. I told him it was something we hadn’t decided on for certain, and that I had to do some math on the water capture overall before I would know if we were definitely pursuing it or not. Safety seemed a big concern for him with the cistern, although when I mentioned it may be housed within the walipini, he seemed intrigued in a good way. I also think the scale in his mind for a cistern is much bigger than what I had in mind, given his asking if the rain barrel would be enough.
Overall, I felt he thought this would be a pretty straight forward addition, and didn’t seem overly concerned about anything that came up other than the cistern. I do think that both for him and the Health Department, our project is a bit of a good sort of curiosity. So hopefully as long as I do my end of things well, I think they’ll do their best to help it move along.
I have not had/made time to start on the grid paper work out yet. Hubby had covered the drafting table with a bunch of his miniatures he was sorting out, which he will be cleaning up today. I’d already tried to be clear that nothing except drawing stuff is ever supposed to be there–but he’s the type to spread messes everywhere (one of his quirks, as I have mine), so in the future I’ll be keeping the drafting table tilted when not in use to prevent that from happening again. (We have a craft room, which is where our drafting table is.)
Tomorrow will be busy for both of us, and I have a lot to do this weekend. I should have something with dimensions to show next week though.
The Walipini Project
Part 1 – Introduction
Part 2 – Code and lists
Part 3 – Follow up call from the Building Inspector
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