Getting Serious About the House Design

We were now very content with our general plan. Brad Myers was hired to finish our drawings for the house. He would convert my 'ideal' concepts into the final drawings according to the California Building Code.

There were bound to be some changes, some 'give ups' and some details changed along the way. We had until December 2010 to get the drawings completed. I wanted to file for the building permit in December in order to avoid the Code Change from 2007 to the 2010 Code.

The 2010 Code had a major cost item in it. It required a whole-house sprinkler system. When I heard that information in mid-October, I got deep concern for the costs. I checked with all local plumbers and asked if they had any ideas about the system requirements and costs.

Everyone, including local plumbers, the building inspection and planning people, did not know what it would mean ultimately for Siskiyou County folks. I did manage to get a couple of plumbers to offer some ideas as to what the system might entail. The pipes would have to be iron/steel, the fittings and connections all the same; sprinkler heads in every room, but how many and how far apart was not known; and the real breaker issue was the need for a back-up electrical system to keep water flowing in the sprinkler system, even if electricity was shut off by the firemen on scene. Being that we were a 'rural' home with a well dependent on electrical power meant a back-up generator was not an 'option'; it was a requirement. Moreover, the system would have to include a 'no-break' or 'semi-break' power control system to alert the generator to start automatically, once the main power line was 'cut', 'shut' or burned open. I could see perhaps $7 to 10 thousand, or much more, being spent for such a system.