The opposite of freedom on Independence Day

Happy 4th of July!  Our way of celebrating was to start this whole demo process by building a temporary fence so that the dogs can still use their dog door but be contained once we tear down the garage.

The side yard area is where the dog door is, so we wanted to close the area off so they can still go outside even after we start demo.  The fence ends at the garage, so once that comes down the yard won’t be fully enclosed anymore. The plan is to put up a fence, but during the demo and construction phases, we needed to make sure the dogs can’t get out. 

 

the “before”

We started by cutting out a section of the trellis so that we could utilize the 4×4 posts and lattice for the fence. It was surprisingly easy! Alex actually could tear some of it out by hand because the deck was so rotten. It made me feel a lot better about the fact that the deck really does need to go.
 

there used to be trellis here!

   

rotten posts

We dug post holes and put the posts in place so that they lined up with an existing post on our fence.  We used a piece of the skirting from the deck to run across the bottom after cutting it to size. Then we attached lattice panels to the posts and ran a 2×4 that we also recycled from the trellis. It wasn’t quite long enough so we used my new kreg jig to attach 2 pieces together to make it longer.

Aaanndd…ta-da! Our new temporary (totally free) fence!

  

Don’t mind all the chairs – we had to find a place to store all of the exterior furniture 🙂 Now we’re all ready to start the big demo!! We’ve got a dumpster arranged to come on Friday so hopefully will have good progress to share next week.

-h

To DIY or not to DIY?

Whelp…so far it’s not looking so good for hiring out much of this backyard work.  I’ve gotten 2 quotes back and both are similar in that they’re way out of my price range:

1. Doug – never got back to me, even after I followed up with him! So he’s out.
2. Daniel (Blue Land Construction) – got me a quote last night…basically: $10k for demo & hauling, $2k for landscaping (I believe this includes re-grading) and $11k for the new deck for a total of $22k – EXCLUDING trees / shrubs and the temporary fence
3. Matt (Terrrain Build) – supposed to hear from him towards the end of this week, but since he seemed like he’d be more expensive than the others, I’m not holding my breath
4. Victor – hasn’t gotten back to us yet.
5. Carol (Perennial Planning) – this is a new addition based on next door reviews. She’s done a lot of work in this area and really seems to know her business well. She came in at: $10k for demo & hauling, $1,700 for re-grading,$4k for plants, topsoil & sod, she also included irrigation & lighting for $4,200 + a $2k (10%) total project contingency for a total of $22k – EXCLUDING the deck and temporary fence!

So…I’ve moved on to calling just demolition contractors and junk haulers who do demolition. 

1. David (Accurate & Affordable Demolition and Asbestos Abatement, Inc) – came out this week. He is a pro demolition contractor and sounds like he tries to sort / recycle as much of the materials as possible.  He gave me a bid for $8,700 for all demo and hauling.  Not great, but heading in the right direction at least. I asked for a breakdown and he said $1,400 for the deck, $2,100 for the asphalt and $4,800 for the garage (that only adds up to $8,300, but oh well)
2. Northwest Labor Industries – should be coming by in the next day or so to give me an estimate
3. Low Rate Hauling – I’ve used them before and they are affordable and fast. I have no idea how a demo project would go with them though. They don’t really seem to do actual quotes – just come in and offer to do it for less than some other guys bid.  He seemed a little intimidated by the garage. Since I didn’t give him numbers, he offered to do the deck for $1,500-$2,00 but would do it the next day.

I was (somewhat unrealistically) hoping I get a bid for less than $4-5k for the demo & hauling. I think that might be my limit since it sounds like if we DIY-ed this, dump fees alone would be somewhere in the ballpark of $1k (including dumpster) + $500 for tool rental +/- $500 for other misc. and I can’t really stomach the idea of paying more than 2x the amount it would cost us to do it ourselves. So I guess it’s looking like we’re going to do this ourselves! Anyone want to come help demo next weekend?? 👍

I did get a couple of good tidbits of information from these visits:

• Irrigation systems are based on “zones.” A typical lot in the Seattle area (or at least around where we live) will need 3-4 zones. Each zone costs ~$1,200.
• Planting grass (I think sod but not sure) is ~$0.69/sq.ft.
• Asbestos removal costs ~$4/sq.ft. Per layer – so if, for example there is asbestos in both the floor tile AND the glue used to adhere the floor tile, that counts as 2 layers so the price would really be $8/sq.ft.  There is a place in Aurora Ave that will do the test for you if you bring in a sample. You can also DIY asbestos abatement, at least in floor tiles, as long as you follow the correct procedures and have the proper equipment.

The good news in all of this is that at least one of the contractors reassured me that there is plenty of space back there and that we would end up with a really lovely space. She also provided example pictures of a yard with smaller dimensions than what we have to help me visualize:

this was just a small lawn

during construction

after!

Hopefully we end up with something at least half this nice!

-h

Plan for demo

Sometimes everything seems more complicated than it should be…take demomolishing the deck and garage. You’d think it should be as easy as going out there with a sledgehammer and getting started – but it requires more forethought than that.  

hopefully soon!

The plan for demo prep is to:

1. Get a demo permit & find out about recycling requirements (Monday)
2. Figure out timing for how this all should coordinate (the hardest part!)
3. Clean out the basement to make room for everything from the garage (ugh)
4. Clear out the garage 
5. Build temporary fence to keep dogs safely contained in the side yard (maybe using the lattice parts of the deck)

Then actually do the demo:

1. Rent a dumpster? Maybe from here? Or just use haulers at the end
2. Actually demo the deck and garage
3. Recycle what’s needed and put remainder in dumpster
4. Cut the concrete into 1′ squares & post to craigslist – or maybe this should be step #1 so any remaining concrete can go in the dumpster? 

Then we’ll have to figure out how we can ensure we don’t open the sliding door and fall out! Maybe board it off? Or build temporary stairs? Or build the the landing portion of the deck?

I’m hoping we can get some (or all?) of this done in our “staycation” next week. Obviously this is a lot and I know we’d both like to actually rest & relax so we’ll see how much we can tackle!

-H