that brown house

we’d love to subscribe to this philosophy, especially considering the number of little things that are broken yet are not getting fixed; however, the city of oakland has a different concept of “broke” than we do and are manipulating us into going broke to “fix” the one system that had already been updated to satisfactory working order before we bought the house:

so, last wednesday, two days before the end of our insurance extension, was the electrical rough-in inspection. the rough-in needs to be signed off on before we can switch power over to the new 200amp service (from the existing 30amp service). the service needs to be switched in order to have the insurance reinstated and in order to continue with the electrical work….again, all dependent on having the rough-in signed off on wednesday and pg&e honoring their appointment and switching the service on thursday…. however, the inspector came and completely threw the electrician for a loop by telling him that he wouldn’t sign off on the electrical rough-in because we had installed the water heater without a permit. the electrician says he tried to convince the inspector that we had not installed the water heater, but that the inspector was adamant that we were trying to sneak something by and that it needed to be corrected before we could be re-inspected for the electrical rough-in. his other correction comments were to cover exposed wiring in the crawl space (calling the crawl space a “basement” even though it doesn’t meet the requirements of a basement) and to add outlets next to the kitchen sink. we all think the kitchen sink thing is ridiculous because there were already going to be six outlets serving the approx. 5′-0″ of counter to the left of the sink and four outlets serving the approx. 5′-0″ of counter to the right. who could possibly need fourteen outlets on a 12′-0″ run of counter? however, i looked up the electrical code requirements in the 2006 international residential code–unfortunately, i didn’t have a copy of the new california electrical code handy (it is, however, based on the international building code), or i would have checked it too:

E3801.4.1 Wall counter space. A receptacle outlet shall be installed at each wall counter space 12 inches (305 mm) or wider. Receptacle outlets shall be installed so that no point along the wall line is more than 24 inches (610 mm), measured horizontally from a receptacle outlet in that space.

Exception: Receptacle outlets shall not be required on a wall directly behind a range or sink in the installation described in Figure E3801.4.1.

the figure is of a sink with counter passing behind. the counter behind the sink has to be less than 12″ deep for an outlet to not be required. so, as ridiculous as it is in our case, we need the additional outlets/locations to meet the letter of the code. too bad i didn’t look this up sooner so we could have just had one hole in the wall, but (a) the electrician should have known this and (b) it’s much more useful to have the outlets nearer the corner, since that’s where we’d be more likely to actually plug something in.

needless to say, i was very distressed by all this news on wednesday afternoon and completely frustrated by my inability to make contact with the inspector to discuss the matter–i left messages and think he may have returned my call while i was on the scooter and unable to answer the phone fast enough, needing to safely pull over and remove my helmet, etc…but he didn’t leave voicemail and didn’t answer when i called back only moments after my phone had stopped ringing.

so wednesday night i researched water heater types and installation requirements and took photos of our installation so that eric & i could head to the city on thursday morning to speak with an inspector and try to ascertain what about the current water heater installation violated code (i could guess with a fair degree of certainty, but i wanted it spelled out for me), what the city expected us to do (aside from paying for a water heater permit), and *most importantly* why this new issue was holding up the electrical work which has nothing to do with the water heater aside from being bonded nearby.

at the city inspection office we were able to meet with the inspector who did the electrical inspection. unfortunately, he had little to no interest in enlightening us as to what was wrong with water heater and/or how to correct it, saying only “to begin with, it is in a pit and i’m sure there are other violations, so you need to bring the installation up to code.” when i asked what the other violations might be, “is it the venting? what is considered acceptable venting? what is the definition of a pit? if we dig out further around the heater, is it still considered a pit? what exactly does the code say?” his response was, “we don’t design it for you. you need to get a permit and hire a professional.” i did not feel this was enough information to really be helpful, but after talking in circles foe awhile, we could eventually tell we weren’t going to get any more information, so we moved on to asking why this undefined water heater work couldn’t be happening simultaneously with the finish electrical work instead of holding up the rough-in. the answer was that the bonding is part of the rough-in and when we move water and gas pipes to the new water heater location (even though we will most likely use a new heater in the current location and not change the bonding location) he’d have to re-inspect the bonding.

how. supremely. frustrating.

we then tried to discuss the outlet issue, but got a lecture about how he was already making a concession for us to install additional outlets in the wall beside the windows (about 18″ from the gang of six outlets, and 30″ from the edge of the sink) instead of in the tile backsplash. since we weren’t technically meeting code for this anyway, there was no point in arguing the “spirit of the code” with someone who was already talking to us as if we were ungrateful children, especially when the open appointment hour was just about over.

grrrrr. arg.

so we went and got a permit that will allow us to either relocate or replace the water heater and headed off to work. from work i set up appointments with two plumbers to discuss water heater options. the first one was available almost right away and i was too stressed to concentrate on other people’s permitting problems, so en route to meet plumber #1 i stopped by moran plumbing supply to get a distributor’s take on the requirements (and prices) for tankless and “stubby” hot water heaters (these being the products most likely to fit in our crawl space).

plumber #1 was very nice but i felt like he was (a) trying to sell me on services i didn’t actually need and (b) where he said we could and couldn’t put a heater didn’t jive with what the folks at moran told me…basically, his price was high and for a system that wasn’t quite what i was looking for.

just as plumber #1 was leaving, the mechanical inspector showed up. she wrote up a minor correction on the duct insulation for the heating system (we hadn’t had it inspected previously because it needed to be wired to it’s own circuit first) and then was gracious enough to discuss our water heater with me. not only did she list the potential safety concerns of the existing hot water heater, but she walked around the property with me to discuss acceptable vent discharge locations and clearances should we get a direct-vent tankless unit. she wasn’t able to answer all my venting questions, but gave me her card and took note of a few things to look into for me. she explained that the electrical bonding does not need to occur at the water heater and agreed to talk to the other inspector about why he was requiring the water heater to be corrected before the electrical work could continue.

i admit that i was dubious that she would live up to her word, but the next morning she called with answers to most of the unresolved questions from the previous day AND with the exciting news that we do not need to have the water heater permit closed out prior to calling for a re-inspection of the electrical rough-in! yes, we still need to have the water heater installation corrected, but what a relief to not have that further waylaying the electrical progress! since i’m paranoid and needed to let the electrician know what was going on anyway, i wrote up notes of the phone conversation with the second inspector and cc-ed her on the e-mail. she confirmed the accuracy of my notes and told me to contact her if we had further problems! i’m very impressed. which sidetracks me to the following observation…

over the past several days i’ve relayed this saga to a variety of folks–some co-workers, friends & family, and neighbors. the non-homeowner friends generally react with shock and empathetic outrage, while most other home-owners and architect-ish folk react with a much more jaded welcome-to-the-club kind of attitude that has, in multiple cases, spiraled into a ‘because i had this terrible experience with a home inspector, i did x, y and z without getting a permit.’

it’s an unfortunate perpetual cycle that won’t be broken unless both homeowners and inspectors lighten up. if homeowners are all too jaded to get permits, no wonder building officials are looking beyond the scope of what they are specifically called to inspect; and if building officials continue to look for additional issues to call homeowners on, no wonder they try to skip the system…i mean, this water heater thing, in addition to the timing issues that i’ve been droning on about, is a big fiscal setback for us. to put it in perspective, it is going to cost more than the heating installation and take us that much further from our goal of being able to reshingle the exterior.

following the good news, i meet with plumber #2 who’s ideas seemed much more in line with my research and my ideas of how we should proceed. his estimate came in today; while it is $2k less than the one from thursday, it’s still much higher than we were hoping. it’s also comparable to the estimate from the guys who installed the heating system, so like it or not, i guess that’s what we’re spending…we only have a verbal quote from the heating contractor, so we’re looking for some more concrete info. from them before we hire someone. theoretically, the work should only take about three days.

so, my story progressed beyond the insurance deadline without further mention of that issue. why? because amazingly, it was resolved despite the power not having been transferred over yet! sending a photo of the wired panel and a letter from the electrician’s office stating that the service was installed and *ready* to have power connected was evidently satisfactory enough for them to reinstate the policy. i’m assuming/hoping that by the time they realize (if they even realize) that the important thing is not having the panel, but having power to the panel, we’ll be able to prove that the new service is up and the old service is decommissioned. in the meantime, i roll my eyes.

in unrelated news: i bought ladybugs for the rose bush, we had to postpone the washer/dryer delivery again, and we did more painting and other miscellany over the weekend.