All Done...

My stress levels seem to be under control now. We actually finished the suite on January 11th when I had my final inspections. There were a few anxious moments leading up to that, mainly with the fact that the plumbers could not turn off the water valve in the alley so they they could hook up the water lines to the suite. This was Wednesday. Two days from my final inspection. How important is water anyway?

They said I needed to call the city and arrange for the valve to be steamed to force out the crud that had accumulated so they could get their wrench to work.

I called 311 and was told I had to make an appointment and that Tuesday was the next available date.

No problem considering my tenants have given notice at their current residence and are supposed to move in on Tuesday.

I managed to convince them that this was an emergency and they arranged for a city crew to arrive within an hour or so. I also got a follow up call from the city to tell me that this was not a true emergency and that it would cost me a fee.

The city crew couldn't get the valve to budge and they said that they would have to dig up the alley and install a new valve since the current was was beat up so bad. Nothing serious, just a two week wait.

A little inquiring with the city crew and they said that sometimes the plumbers can freeze the lines long enough to install their valves and get the water running. A quick call to my plumber and they were able to get that set up for the next day and and get their inspection done. Of course that was another expense since they had to rent the needed equipment.

On Thursday the plumbers installed the tankless water heater and their inspector came in the afternoon only to fail the inspection because the vents to the water heater weren't installed to code. More stress.

I had already called for a final inspection for Friday knowing that all of the other inspections including heating and electrical had to be done beforehand. As it turned out, the follow up plumbing inspection took place about 15 minutes before the final inspector arrived.

When I met the final inspector I asked if I should just curl up in the fetal position in a corner while he did his thing. I had heard horror stories of long drawn out inspections where they walk around and measure everything and find some little code violations to hold up the final approval.

The inspector turned out to be a really nice guy. He kept saying, "Wow this is really nice." and he was done in about 15 minutes and we had our final approval. All he asked was that we put  a peephole in the door. Who knew? Actually everyone who came through was really impressed with how nice the suite looked.

 At the last minute we decided to tile the wall behind the vanity.

 Bedroom closet under construction. We had an amazing finishing carpenter and the closet came out really well in the end.

 Washer and dryer waiting to be installed in the bedroom closet. We stacked them to save space.

 Kitchen is almost complete.

 Backsplash almost done. You can see that the ceiling vent for the rage hood is off center. Curses! My finishing carpenter built a box that blended the vent with the ceiling and also accommodated the sloping ceiling.

 Our storage closet off the living room. Initially we were not going to install shelves and just let the tenants put their own stand-alones in but I'm glad we did in the end.

 Carpets went in on the last Monday

 This photo is a little yellow but I'm pleased with how the fireplace came out. 

Our plumber working on the tub.

 I'm pleased with how the bathroom came out. The tub is six inches wider than the standard 5' tub.

 Nice toilet. At least I think it is. I never got  a chance to try it out.

Bathroom vanity and mirror. Our brother in law, Chris Morgan, built the custom vanity and it came out awesome. I'm glad we decided to tile behind the vanity.

 View of the completed living room.

The tenants' moving crew relaxing.

 As I mentioned earlier, inspections were completed on Friday. The tenants weren't supposed to take occupancy till Tuesday the 15th but I let them move in on Saturday. I figured that would be the best for them to get help etc. We were still doing some finishing touches when their first truck showed up at 9:30.

The only thing I regret is that there was never a time where I could walk around a completed suite and take final photos.

Oh well, at least it's finally done after 4  months of actual construction and months of preparation beforehand getting approvals and permits.

I'm back in Utah as I write this and life is back to normal, whatever normal is. We'll head back in May to clean up the yard and do some landscaping.