5/12/10

The insurance company has agreed to pay for the tests for asbestos and lead paint. They have not agreed to pay for the abatement costs of cleaning it up. That requires studying our policy to see if we're covered. We are not covered for code upgrades. So if city/county inspectors come in and require my stairwell be widen to meet code, that will be on our dime.

Note to homeowners of older houses. Call your insurance. Ask. Do you have code coverage? Abatement coverage? I've always hated paying house insurance. You pay for years and years and years, never making a claim. Why? For the bank to be covered. Now that I am finally using the policy I wish I'd known more.

Our house sits on 1/2 acre in an unincorporated area between Portland and Beaverton. As a result, not only do we have chickens, we have a large backyard garden. My husband grows edible flowers, trick vegetables, lettuces, corn, squash, gourds, sugar snap peas, asparagus and potatoes. Just to name a few.

Our garage sits within 5 feet of the neighbor's fence. If we tear down the garage we can't rebuilt on the same slab. I serious doubt our neighbor cares, but the county would.

I can't imagine what possessed previous owners to build a flat roof detached garage and then not side it when they did the rest of the house. Tearing the garage down would improve the street value, but we will not tear it down. We will remodel. There a sentence you seldom hear - we spent last summer and a lot of money remodeling our garage. Lord knows, we want our cars to be happy. All houses have stories and many of us are grateful the walls can't talk.