Buying land, building a house, planning for a real darkroom!

[SchwinnParamount]

My wife and I are going to be looking at our top 3 properties in the area this weekend and then hopefully closing on a land buy in the next 30 days. Meanwhile, I've been working with a soil engineer and a septic guy to come in and work up the requirements for the thing I will build. Oh my gosh. As soon as SQ gets to about $250 a share (at $230 tonight), whammie! I'll have all the $$ needed to make this a done deal.

 

[Vaughn]

And you have a great looking mountain bike park close by...perfect.

 

[SchwinnParamount]

And you have a great looking mountain bike park close by...perfect.

Absolutely!! And when this thing is done, Please Please Please come up. I have been doing road cycling for a few decades and am looking for my first mountain bike.

 

[SchwinnParamount]

Matt said: "If there are going to be lots of people in there at one time, a central sink for trays that can be approached from 3 sides is great.
A rolling cart with room for a paper cutter on top and paper safe drawers is great too."

That says, build an "island" in the middle of the wet side for the sink. Plumbing would be installed in the cabinet that houses the sink. Seriously great early planning goal. Making that happen is easy enough but it has to be in my initial plans.

 

[SchwinnParamount]

From Drew: "
You'll need a silver recovery unit, or you'll kill your septic system. A number of other darkroom chemicals could also be a problem. If you're planning on a large space, I recommend having some removable internal darkroom walls to totally isolate the sink room from where the enlarger is, or where film and paper are stored, or from the drymounting area. The humidity and fumes in traditional setups are certainly not ideal. I zippered in plates with removable tapcon screws, and used corrugated fiberglass panels for lightweight walls. That system is also nice if you eventually sell the property and someone else wants to convert it back into a more open room for something else."
Great! I am making notes.

 

[SchwinnParamount]

I just finished such a project. I bought an acre and a half, designed and built the new house (finished the house this past June and moved in), then finished off the remainder of the darkroom that I didn't do as part of the main construction (got all of the structural things done as part of construction including flooring, drywall, plumbing, electrical, vending, and painting), the rest I did afterwards (cabinets, sink, etc). Doing it that way minimized the budget creep after construction. The only other difference is I built my new dedicated darkroom and finishing area as part of the back basement. I'm also on well. You might read through the Darkroom Portraits Part 2 thread - there a a few of us that have recently done the same and discussed various aspects of the projects and pictures along the way.

I bought a few darkroom books off of eBay cheap - they all pretty much cover the same basic layouts and considerations for wet-side/dry-side and other issues - nothing many of us ancients didn't know 50 years ago when I set up my very first darkroom, but was fun to review nevertheless. Today there are things one can improve upon from the days of old re: air filtering, dust control, venting, temp control, disposal, and so on. A lot of my expense beyond the structure went into convenience, comfort, and automation. Having had to live with sub-standard darkrooms all my life I wrote a complete list (plan) covering every aspect of darkroom problems and challenges I wanted solved with the new space before I even got started with construction and how I was going to solve each - and did. Did I make any mistakes along the way? Yup - it's inevitable even with the best planning, but they were minor and could be dealt with.

Regards,
Mike

Hi Mike, as I get closer to the discussions with my contractor, I will prolly reach out to you for specific wisdom

 

[MattKing]

Matt said: "If there are going to be lots of people in there at one time, a central sink for trays that can be approached from 3 sides is great.
A rolling cart with room for a paper cutter on top and paper safe drawers is great too."

That says, build an "island" in the middle of the wet side for the sink. Plumbing would be installed in the cabinet that houses the sink. Seriously great early planning goal. Making that happen is easy enough but it has to be in my initial plans.

In a normal world John, I'd be trying right now to arrange for a visit to see what the movers and shakers in our Darkroom Group have put together.
Sadly, we aren't in a normal world - we can't even cross the border.

 

[SchwinnParamount]

My wife is being vaccinated this month. I am in line for a June vaccination. By early summer 2021, it will be safe. That being said, I don't think my house and darkroom will be ready until 2022. That is, unless I close on the property very quickly and line up my contractors immediately. I can't even get contractors to come and take my money on my present property to do the septic/sewer conversion. I wave actual wads of cash at them and still they tell me they're overbooked.

 

[eddie]

...I do intend to have multiple people in the darkroom doing work in something like a workshop setting.

Have you checked into the legal issues of running workshops? There may be environmental restrictions, especially since you'll be on a septic system, as well as other safety regulations or zoning issues.

 

[MattKing]

I doubt that the border will be open for us this year.

 

[SchwinnParamount]

Eddie, that's a good point about regulations. I will check into it. It may be that workshops can be "informal"... or maybe proposed as "A camping meetup with.... oh look, a darkroom!"
Matt, the bright side is that when the border does open, I'll have certainly completed the project, prepared for visitors, debugged the darkroom, and figured out how to properly host visiting friends in the new place.

 

[SchwinnParamount]

We're looking at this spot on Saturday. The land is already cleared, flat, and ready for the house!

 

[MattKing]

Just north of Olympia I see.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Will it flood with the onset of global warming?

 

[DREW WILEY]

Interesting. I have neighbors who just bought a big house on one of the islands and are in the process of moving. There are probably strict rules in place regarding effluent.

 

[SchwinnParamount]

Will it flood with the onset of global warming?

The property is about 75' above high tide so, no. It probably won't. On the other hand, I'll be that much close to having beach front property

 

[SchwinnParamount]

We drove to that first property today. It won't do. Too small lot, well water, and there is a sign on the gate in front of the subdivision that says all homeowners must boil their water before drinking it for now. So this place is a no-go for multiple reasons. No problem, lots more lots to look at.

 

[Sirius Glass]

We drove to that first property today. It won't do. Too small lot, well water, and there is a sign on the gate in front of the subdivision that says all homeowners must boil their water before drinking it for now. So this place is a no-go for multiple reasons. No problem, lots more lots to look at.

My experience is that several failures are needed to bring on something much better that I end up buying. Get the failures out of the way so you can find your place!

 

[Michael Firstlight]

My experience is that several failures are needed to bring on something much better that I end up buying. Get the failures out of the way so you can find your place!

That's the truth about success in general - most who've succeeded haven't done so without amassing failures and learned from them until they found a winning path - yet to others it often appears as if it came easy. It's true in all aspects of life.

 

[SchwinnParamount]

Thanks for the encouragement, guys. I just need to relax and keep looking. I'd really rather have a place up in the Port Townsend area but my wife wants to stay closer to the Tacoma/Olympia area. Photographic opportunities abound on the Olympic peninsula and with my plans realized, I'd be in photographic paradise.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Reliable water is everything on rural properties. Second, you need to be aware of seismic issues and landfill stability. Realtors don't like to talk about those things. You need to either study USGS maps or consult a soil engineer. I have a geomorphology background, so am keenly aware of what kinds of significant issues tend to get swept under the rug that might prove catastrophic afterwards. I've seen entire subdivisions slide off of hills, sometimes right down on top of lots below. Coastal cliff erosion is another biggie. Then, of course, potential fire issues due to improper tree or brush maintenance, especially as things get even drier over coming decades. Eucalyptus trees are a major culprit in this area; they burn like insanity.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Also on the west coast, Tsunamis.

 

[SchwinnParamount]

Reliable water is everything on rural properties. Second, you need to be aware of seismic issues and landfill stability. Realtors don't like to talk about those things. You need to either study USGS maps or consult a soil engineer. I have a geomorphology background, so am keenly aware of what kinds of significant issues tend to get swept under the rug that might prove catastrophic afterwards. I've seen entire subdivisions slide off of hills, sometimes right down on top of lots below. Coastal cliff erosion is another biggie. Then, of course, potential fire issues due to improper tree or brush maintenance, especially as things get even drier over coming decades. Eucalyptus trees are a major culprit in this area; they burn like insanity.

Absolutely right. Drew, you would have had a field day with the property we just saw. It is on a hillside above an inlet to the sound. Clay soil and what a mess!! I will defintely heed your advice for the property that checks all of the right boxes in my wish list.

 

[SchwinnParamount]

Also on the west coast, Tsunamis.

The Cascadia fault will send a tsunami into the Puget Sound. Whether the wave will make it with any significant energy all the way to the south end of the sound is another question... but, great observation.

 

[AgX]

The property is about 75' above high tide so, no. It probably won't. On the other hand, I'll be that much close to having beach front property

And that property means that the beach then will be/ may be restricted to you? (I ask as I do not know the legal situation in your part of the world.)