You're Under the Soil

Yes, deep in the soil (the soil, the soil, the soil)

-- Peter Gabriel

A few days ago Liane began some initial investigations of the soil and other suitability issues pertaining to the property at Lake Trail Estates.

The property was purchased a few years ago by a woman who later decided to purchase a house elsewhere. It has been for sale since then. A builder's representative Liane had check out the site for us advised her to go to the Whitely County Surveyors Office and the Health Department to try to find out whether they may have the proper soil samples and knowledge of what the property was before development. These factors have implication for the required septic system and for general drainage issues.

Of course it was a goose chase for her to figure all this out. She initially went to the Court House, only after getting all the way through security she figured out the Health Department wasn't in the building. The security guard pointed the correct building out to her, only once she got there it turned out that wasn't the correct building either. Ultimately she learned that the soil is approved for a septic system and well. In fact, because of the sand content it looks like we can save some money on these, although there is a foreboding concern that this same high sand content may cause considerable complications to construction. We'll see.

She then went to the Building Department to investigate whether any samples had been taken for buildability. None have been taken. But they did offer up the names and numbers for the owners and builders of the lots on either side of this property. So much for privacy, eh? She got them to check with the building inspector to see whether they know anything.

You know it's a small town when...The building department lady later tracked her down at the Surveyor's Office after having reached the building inspector. Turns out the lot is mostly sandy and gravely, which probably will complicate the construction process. The only thing useful garnered at the Surveyor's Office was more information on the developer and Surveyor who initially did the work.

Later, after contacting the realtor to see if he could get anything out of the current owner she got the following response:

"The buyer really didn't do her homework before buying this lot. Here is her response:

'We did not test for anything. The only tests done were done before us, and
I'm sorry I don't know much about all that stuff because we never got that
far. The Board of Health gave me everything they had on it, so if it's not
in there, and I'm sure it wasn't done. Dick Watson had all of those lots
listed with the developer so you could ask him; he might know OR I'll call
him if you want. Just let me k now. (the developer has since passed away)'"

Looks like we'll have to start over...