I did say some of this would be boring so here is the first installment. Our lot is small and weirdly-shaped in the back (more on that later). So we applied for a variance to build directly up to the property line. This will help in the construction of our carport and driveway. We had to get letters from all three of our contiguous neighbors stating that this plan does not infringe on the use of their properties. (Thanks Irl, Tracy & Mike!) And although this enables us to have enough room to access our carport, there was just one more major problem.

Those dang electric boxes that stick up from the ground!

We all have them in our back yards here at The Waters. They’re ugly, of course, but that was not the problem for us. Our box sat in the place where we plan to pour our driveway. If we couldn’t have it sunk in the ground then we could not fit two cars in the carport. The rules do not allow us to move it from its location but we did find out that Alabama Power could sink it in the ground.

You would not believe how much they charged us for this. 😦

We paid a pretty penny for this service, but we felt that if we couldn’t sink this thing, that we would likely have room for only one car and that was a game-changer. So three dudes with shovels came and spent a few hours lowering the box and Voila!

Muuuuuuch better.

So now when the concrete guys do the driveway, they can just pour around the sunken box and we can drive right over it! My question is why don’t they always sink these boxes instead of making those ugly green monsters in everyone’s back yard. They DO get in the way. I’m happy we were able to accomplish this task.  Now the future steps in our project should be fun. The next thing we have to do before our actual construction begins is to build a retaining wall. More on that next time.  I know you are shivering with excitement! 🙂