Lori and I met with Bill Edding, the County Building Inspector, informally to get his opinion about our building. We also wanted to get a sense of how realistic our plans were to create a living area in the space. His answer, in short, was: No. It would be entirely too costly to do it properly. We looked at the back of the building, which has a slab and tin roof covering (no walls). He suggested perhaps building from scratch on the slab. Several issues came up. First, plumbing is an issue. The sewer line is under the concrete and runs to a small toilet and sink within a small addition. Second, the electrical for the entire place runs to one breaker box. If we create residential space it would have to be separate. Third, firewalls would have to be run from the foundation. Building a new structure outside would be the easiest solution, but either way it all adds up to way more money than we could ever spend.
Our new plan: We are going to create an area for storage of our belongings in one corner of the space. We will prep the space for retail and events. One area will be our studio, as we have always planned. The rest will be finished in such a way that it can accommodate a wide variety of exhibits, displays and activities. If, in the future, we are able to create a living space (probably in the back as Mr. Edding suggested) we will do so. Until then, we will remain in the apartment...
A lot of progress was made today. We tore off most of the panelling and peg board covering the original walls. Beautiful textures!!! More progress...
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