The Tide is High

Yay, rain! Where we live, one never complains about the rain.  Ever.  It does not rain enough and we need all we can get when we can get it.  Just know it will rain on the one day when you don't want it to.  You know, the day when there is an outside event planned.  The wedding with the big fluffy dress, the birthday with the bounce house, the anniversary with the fancy dishes and crystal.  Sure, one can make peace offerings to the rain gods, but you know it will rain on that one day. It's Murphy's law, plain and simple.

Today, the rain started out nice and slow.  The kind that soaks into the ground.  By mid-morning, it had grown heavier and heavier.  There was never any thunder, lightening, or strong gusts of wind to indicate bad weather.  There was just rain. Lots and lots of rain. By lunch, water was beginning to stand in places that it doesn't normally stand and the people were starting to talk. By late afternoon, the rain had slowed and the damage had been done.

There was water everywhere!  The rounded top roadways had only the yellow stripe to drive on if your vehicle was high enough.  Bar ditches like rivers. Parking lots were turned into lakes.  Cars looked like boats in their driveways. Buildings flooded. What normally takes less than five minutes to get home, turned into more than 20.  There was no way I could drive my little beep-beep another two miles to check on the property. Damage assessment would have to wait until the next morning.

In the morning at first light, three things became clear. One, while I would never have made it to the property last night, all of the roads were dry in the morning.  The only water remaining were in the low spots and backed up drainage ditches. It is amazing what 12 hours will do for water damage. Secondly, the property fared very well for its location. The tree line where the house is going to be was soggy and the only standing water was in the lowest portion of the lots.

Third, lastly, and thank goodness, I'm sure glad we didn't buy the corner lot. Guess there is something to be said for trees.

How Low? I Mean, How High?

There are so many factors affecting the building of a house.  City and county ordinances, FEMA, code, neighborhood restrictions, wind, water, sewer, electricity, and most of all the sun and shade.  Throughout the building of this house, I am sure there will be other posts dealing with these factors as they arise.  It is inevitable.

Living in the coastal region means the land is flat, right? Oh, how wrong you would be.  The elevation hub came back today from the engineer stating the lowest portion of our property is 4.04 feet above sea level. Well hell, New Orleans is below sea level and a gazillion people live there, even after the hurricane, so I can live here easy peasy.  Hah!  That's what I get for thinking.

After buying the property, before the ink had even dried, it was discovered we missed something VERY crucial in the survey.  This wording, no bigger than a floss packet, should have had a neon flashing lights pointing to it, not a just enclosed in a tiny box.  Our lovely property is located in flood zone AE7.  Holy crap, how the hell did we miss that?  Apparently, our due diligence of 30 days was not diligent enough.  We looked at tidal plains and national wetland inventory, but not flood zones.  How, how, how could we not have thought of that? I mean good golly hello we live within a mile of the bay. Flood zones should have been the first thing considered but it never once did in the year and half of looking for land.

Flood zone AE7, as designated by FEMA, means floor substructure must be 7 feet above sea level.  This does not include any city or county regulations, such as all structures including auxiliary buildings over 200 square feet have to be 18" above grade.  While I know there are no posts discussing our home ideas, let me tell you, it was not a home in the stratosphere like this home that I saw in another city on the bay.  While this house is made of concrete and glass and looks to be hurricane ready, I cannot nor do I want to climb those stairs daily.

 

So what does that mean for Plan473?  It means 4.5 feet.  Our home will be tall enough allowing the kid to play underneath.  Sure he will be out of the direct sun so that a plus. It will now be tall enough to allow for outside storage of kayaks and such things.  That's good because they are out of the direct sun too.  But it may even be tall enough to allow me to park my little shoe of a car; which my the way, I whole heartily and lovingly refer to as my beep-beep.  My beep-beep, as in the roadrunner and coyote cartoons.  Jesh.  It won't be tall enough to park the truck under but it will be tall enough that if the truck is backed up to the deck of the house, the tailgate will be flush.  Ok, so loading and unloading of goods just got easier too.  Positive, positive, positive.