RENOVATING A PRE-PERMIT home isn’t always a nightmare.
In the spring of 1951, the Ralph R. Cary family poured the concrete foundation for a new home at what is now the southeast corner of Spath and Kitchen-Dick roads, west of Carlsborg.
On Oct. 10 of that year, they all signed a board before nailing it in place, signaling completion of construction.
The Carys were dairy farmers, not carpenters. The home they built was sturdy, but not square.
A year later, another family tacked on a mudroom that was neither sturdy nor square.
No one objected. Clallam County didn’t issue building permits until 1974. Inspections came later.
When my husband, Dale, and I bought the place in late 1988, we figured fixing up the farm would be a 50-year project.
As a licensed general contractor, Dale specializes in small jobs, so we attacked our big project step-by-step.
Replacing the dangerous electrical wiring was the first step. No electrician would mess with an old house during that construction boom-time.
Dale dusted off his skills from wiring mobile homes in the late 1960s and, with some very helpful advice from the state electrical inspector, got the job done.
That electrical permit was likely the first permit ever issued for work here, although our home site dates back to the original circa-1880s Spath family farm.
Our second permit was for a replacement septic system in 2007.
In between, we resided, reroofed, insulated and carried out other renovations and repairs too small to require permits.
All the while, we were kicking around ideas for resolving the house’s major issues without going in debt.
Coming up with an affordable concept took years.
Having plans professionally drawn took two months.
Permit processing would take three weeks, I was told. Sure enough, the permit was ready May 21, 2008 — three weeks to the day after I turned our application in to the county.
Emptying the old mudroom with its sagging, leaking roof and salvaging the beams that supported a crumbling patio cover consumed most of that summer.
Diamond Construction’s excavator handled the demolition in a single day.
The tear-off opened up under-house access, which enabled replacement of all the plumbing, making for drains that drain throughout the house.
Laying a new water line from the well to the house gave us clean water coming in.
The original bathroom became a half-bath, next to a new full bath. The bedroom expanded with a large closet
We briefly slept in our fifth-wheel trailer, then moved to our upstairs guest bedroom.
Rebuilding went fast. The fact that people in the construction trades were — and still are — scrambling for work made it easy to find help when Dale needed an extra hand.
Once Berneking Concrete had the foundation in place, the frame virtually sprang up, with more than a little help from our super-framer son-in-law.
From July 22 to Nov. 25, 2008, county inspectors Tim Taff and Sheila Miller visited eight times.
The multiple inspections seemed excessive to me, until Dale explained they had to inspect before the foundation, framing, plumbing, insulation and such were covered up.
He also credits the inspectors for always being helpful and friendly.
Taff even passed along an “Installer’s Pocket Guide,” illustrating how nails are to be installed according to the universal building code.
Our remodel was essentially complete a year ago, but Dale delayed calling for a final inspection until last Friday, two months and two days before the two-year building permit expired.
On Taff’s final inspection visit, he signed the “fire alarm initiation” and toured the remodel.
Construction is slow, Taff said. The only thing keeping the inspectors busy is the new Walmart store on the east side of Port Angeles.
Walmart’s permit is most of an inch thick, Taff said. He and Miller will be there far more than nine times.
It’s good to have our final inspection done.
In fact, Dale’s finishing up another project. It didn’t require a permit.
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Martha Ireland was a Clallam County commissioner from 1996 through 1999 and is the secretary of the Republican Women of Clallam County., among other community endeavors.
Her column appears Fridays.
E-mail her at irelands@olypen.com.
