What should I consider if building an upstairs apartment?
ncamy
14 years ago
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allison0704
14 years agoRelated Discussions
Should I even consider a basement?
Comments (10)Przemek, You could say that the water table is where the soil is saturated underground. Your soil sample found this to be at 4'2" at site 1 in mid-May; so that is probably about as high as it typically goes down by the flood plain. They did not find the water table in the two holes where you plan on building, but they only went down 5'. The water that sits in the soil at this level is not typically safe to drink because some bad chemicals that exist on the surface (ground) haven't been filtered out yet (like from animal and human waste). A well at this point is often called a "sand point" well and would only be used for irrigation or filling a pond. Good drinking water is found by drilling down into the rock layers below the soil. These deep aquifers contain water that has been filtered by the soil and protected from contamination by rock. They can still get bad chemicals into them though, but they are most often only contaminated from surface water running into the aquifer from the well itself. So just because your drinking water is found at 130ft doesn't mean you won't have a lot of water at 10'. For my well they drilled through 130' of sugar sand, then about 30' of stone to get a high quality aquifer. Meanwhile, only about 50' down the hill from my well is a wetland with multiple springs that empty into a small creek. There is so much water pressure in the upper 50' sometimes that the springs will "shoot" the water a good 6" up into the air. In low permeable soil you should be able to pump away the water even if the water table comes up somewhat above your basement floor....See MoreWhat type of contract should I consider?
Comments (7)"We're just not going to be able to do a lot of the things which are currently popular in the decorator world." Not a loss, since the decorator world is more about fads and trends in fashion than it is about quality. Spending your money on quality construction will be more satisfying for far longer. Keep in mind that anything which is not structural can be changed down the road, which means that you can get comparatively low-cost fixtures, counters and appliances now and replace them in a few years. Whenever possible, choose what appeals to you without looking at the brand or price tag and then if downcosting is required, you can often find very similar for fewer dollars. For an example, I have two friends building very similar new-old houses. One has a nearly bottonless purse and the other is OB/DIY because she has almost no purse. The first admits to spending over $50K just on lighting fixtures, the second has spent less than $5K. No doubt a lighting store specialist could tell the difference, but not too many others will notice....See MoreFront Loading Washer For Upstairs Apartment/Condo.....
Comments (5)I'm not sure you're ready to select appliances just yet. You might have some other homework to do first. You may well have vibration issues with this. How's the construction of the building? Do you own the building? If not, you'll probably need permission to do this for a number of reasons, not to mention vibration issues affecting the building and other residents, liability for damage from water, fire, etc. Are you thinking of an electric dryer or gas? You should spend the money to have electrical and plumbing run to the location with the shutoffs there. If it were my building and you ran an extension cord, I'd evict you. How do you plan to vent the dryer or are you going with condensation? Keep in mind that there could be shared breakers between units so your increased electrical needs could affect others so you need to work with your contractors and landlord (unless you own it) for the proper plumbing, for waste and water, electrical and venting needs. If you're going with an electric dryer, do you have 220v available at the position you want it? You can't just run an extension cord to the stove. If you're going with gas, do you have the gas lines run? You probably need to contact your insurance agent since most renter insurance policies might not cover the washer/dryer liability. If you flood the building you will affect other units most likely and you will be held responsible, same for fire liability. Do you have a direct wall outside for venting the dryer? If it's a brick building or concrete they likely won't want you just punching a hole through the wall. If time is an issue, remember that front load machines take a lot longer than top loads for doing a cycle so this could impact your laundry scheduling. You would probably adjust easily, but a heated cycle on a front load can be 2-3 hours for the wash cycle. If that's an issue, you may want to consider a top load, which you may have to consider anyway. During your remodel, your contractor could give you some guidance on beefing up the structure to eliminate vibration if the contractor is experienced in this area. Find out before you choose the contractor. Maybe you've considered all this already, but you haven't indicated anything to so suggest. Before worrying about a model to buy, I'd suggest looking into these aspects and make the arrangements for permission and possibly permits needed if any so you can then have this out of the way. Otherwise you might wind up with a couple machines sitting in storage that you can't use. BTW, FYI, you're finding out about dryers with the peeve you suggested. The normal guideline for sizing a dryer is to double the capacity of the washer, so for instance, if you have a 3.5 cf washer, you should have at least a 7 cf dryer. The extra room is for tumbling and air flow. In the combo units, if you do a full load, you have three options, remove 1/2 the load and dry them separately; do only 1/2 load at a time (which you probably wouldn't need to do large loads anyway, right?); or take an incredibly long time to dry and it could be very tangled and wrinkled. One last suggestion: Consider carefully the types of cycles you will need, whether you will need a heater and how big of loads you will be doing. If you often do just a shirt and a pair of pants, many FL machines seem to have trouble with balancing this from what I've been reading. Good luck!...See Moreinground pool remodel, what should I consider?
Comments (2)Check out fortwaynepools . com for step ideas,,,,,,...See Morencamy
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