No, not yet. We filled a 10x30 storage unit completely with stuff stacked all the way up to the 10 foot ceiling And, the garage still has all his tools and a late 70s motorcycle which I am absolutely not taking responsibility for! Weather this time of year is unpredictable; Sunday was an ice storm so we ended up just closing up mid afternoon. Monday was decent and today was really warm - 16C - low 60sF - and then the rain absolutely poured down so we had to stop mid afternoon again. Tomorrow is supposed to be rain in the morning, changing to snow and getting colder by afternoon but the furniture and tools absolutely must get moved anyway as Thursday is supposed to be even colder. My patience is almost completely worn through. Today I concentrated on getting the stuff I had no use for out of the house and garage. The other stuff either he can take with him or not, but I'm feeling that he's taking advantage of the situation by not doing a reasonable amount of effort. He's running out of storage space so he's trying to cherry-pick the good stuff and leave all the junk behind...nope, that wasn't the deal! We agreed to help him move, not do it for him. Then, it took me 25 minutes with the blasted automated assistant for the electric company then finally had to go to a live agent and start over and once again provide all the information already entered with the keypad. And, we aren't done yet as we have a choice of service providers so we have to call them too Ridiculous. I just keep reminding myself that it's a nice house at a nice price, even after I have to pay everything to get him out

m_mdimond; My constant whippet! Yes change is inevitable. Youth was great! Middle age more challenging, now the dread of what happens as the body slows, bu the mind still runs at top speed! Funny how we eventually become our parents and live with all the things they once complained about: eyesight less sharp, glasses, threading needles a challenge. Oh what we so easily dismissed or took for granted when we were young! Pain at bay to this point. Sad to hear of yours, but fantastic you are still managing to walk your Shepherd, despite it! Dogs keep us centred and motivated. They shower us in love and lack of judgement. My dad had his Jack Russell at his side into his nineties. He was his constant companion and often his sole company for days at a time, other than his twice weekly cleaner. Animals are so special. They deliver their own unique greetings and communicate in such different ways. My life would be so much the less without the animals who have been part of it. So lucky to have had two wonderful ponies and an incredible galloway. So lucky many of my friends had horses too. Horses, dogs and cats are always a point of connection into special human experience and also lead us to new human and animal connections. Nothing wrong with memories and sentiment. I think we feel it even more accutely as we age. Glad I kicked up my heels, as well as keeping those "heels down, legs close to my horses side and and elbows close to my own" for much of my fantastic and sometimes wild youth! I was a pretty good kid really, but do admit to having been a teen groupie, back in the day, wouldn't swap that either. Somewhere here, I believe is my scrapbook and definitely a few photos in the albums. Still like to kick up my heels, too! Yes. Gratitude is vital.

Hi Duncan, A substantial project you are looking at here. First point is moisture control is always manageable/able to be addressed with the right (engineering/drainage) solution/management and strategy - yes sure it can cost money and depending upon the specific situation and potential outcome/benefits the answer to whether or not it's worth it requires balancing the outcomes to costs....... But first things first, a project of this nature and scale is significant, has some inherent complexity and thus logically requires a professional (design) hand to help you properly resolve a solution that achieves your various needs.......have you spoken with a designer or architect yet? There are various aspects of complexity here with the site fall and negotiation of existing layout etc..... I may be off the mark but I'm going take an (educated) guess/stab at what's happened here is that you've had a go at working this out broadly/conceptually, you're thinking budget of say $300K give or take, and you've then spoken to a builder who's thrown around numbers least double that based on your concepts pegging potential moisture management as the reason why you "can't" do it.........A two level extension of this scale + renovations + Landscaping/carport etc done well tying to a property like this will hit $600K+ any day of the week. Want to know how to sort this out? Realistically you should seek advise from design professional who is experienced with renovations and extensions on projects of this scale and nature. The way we regularly worth through this type of thing is to take clients through a properly structured process to effectively hone in on a logical and suitable solution. Firstly we need to assess/understand properly the existing conditions, then clarify people's specific needs/requirements and most impotently define the budget. THEN with full understanding of the situation, (including any relevant planning restriction etc) we move on to considering viable options and stack proper projected costings up. Typically the options that meet the needs perfectly will blow the budget, and the options that meet the budget require some form of compromise/paring back of the "wishlist". The process then moves in the finding a suitable balance somewhere in the middle that makes sense on a number of levels What you need to do on these projects is make sure that you are making logical and sensible design decisions for both (a) your needs and (b) the property/investment. For example, a turning bay for vehicle at the rear of a lovely property is arguably a big a waste of prime private external space - this should/could be resolved better...... Happy to provide further comments but really require further data/information and have direct conversation about various aspects/thoughts/opinions/goals from your end. Whilst I understand your dilemma & can sympathise with your frustration of not knowing what direction to go with your project, if you want some solid answers here, practically this requires some design investment and a professional process to achieve. Hope this helps steer you in the right direction in your journey. Cheers PD :) www.pauldistefanodesign.com

two steps I see here 1. suggest you go back to council (either yourself or view builder if they are getting the permit) and question their particular interpretation of the reg 85, use the image posted previously and ask why "if a habitable room window is compliant when facing an open verandah so long as it's 1/3 open" an eave, which is 100% open and less overhang is considered to be non-compliant. If you have 1.4m offset from the boundary, and your eave is only 400mm, then arguably this window WILL be facing a light court with min 1m clearance to the sky (measured from the eave to the boundary) 2. If above is not accepted, then apply for the council "report & consent" process to vary reg 85. Best to discuss this directly with the relevant building surveyor so you can be confident it will be supported. Ask the surveyor specifically what that would likely need to see, such as do they want to see a bigger window of size Xmm x Ymm. You will likely need to submit updated drawings if the window currently drawn is on the min 10% of the floor area of the bedroom. It sounds like you may be out of your depth, and typically these report and consents involve response to Ministers Guidelines which can be tedious and you have to understand the technicalities and lingo, so perhaps it will be best to go back to whoever helped design/documented the building and get them to help you prepare the submission. It's now so close to Christmas/end of year and probably best this is handled after the flurry of the festive season has passed and people/admin/surveyors etc have some fresh energy and renewed patience.. Councils typically work on skeleton staff throughout this period so unlikely you'll get much of a difference in outcome timeframe wise whether you submit now or early new year. All it will do is be put in an admin pile and be addressed in due course Best of luck PD