housing

january of 2010, we applied for idaho housing assistance. it's a program that helps low-income families find decent, affordable housing. they assist in paying rent, and have a utility allowance as well. when we first applied, the waiting list was roughly 24 months. in the end, it ended up being 37 months. we were informed this february (2013), that we had finally made it to the top of this list. because of the trial, it took us a little longer than anticipated to get everything in order and finalized.once you find a place, they come in and do a safety inspection. we were pretty sure that the house would easily pass. we ended up with a list of 10 items that needed "fixing" in order for the house to pass.

1. the garage wall attached to the living spaces needed a firewall installed.

     this one confused us all. the garage is an add-on. meaning that wall that needed a firewall installed was the original exterior of the house. it should have already had a "firewall".

2. the upstairs needed a working fire alarm.

   it worked, it was just over sensitive. i couldn't cook bacon without the stupid thing going off.

3. the basement needed a new fire alarm.

   it also had a fire alarm, it was just too old.

4. the open electrical box in the laundry room needed a cover put on it.
5. the wiring hanging out of said box, needed to be placed in the box or removed.

   we're not sure what the electrical box in the ceiling of the laundry room was for. we removed the wiring that was hanging from it, and put a cover on the box

6. the gas line to the water heater needed a handled shut off valve.

7. the gas line to the furnace needed a handled shut off valve.

they both had shut off valves, but neither one had a handle for easy use. and, as we discovered later, they were drip water shut off valves. replacing those was a MUST.

8. the gas line to the furnace needed to be stabilized.

the pipe was not attached to any surface for stability. 

9. the light in the furnace room needed to be attached to the electrical box. it was hanging by the wires

when they put the furnace in, the pipes made the space too tight to attach the light. we moved the box up a little bit, and screwed it in.

10. the extension cord transferring power to the back shed needed to be removed.

the back shed has power. they ran pvc pipes under the ground, through the yard, to the shed. but they didn't get the power from the breaker box on the back of the house. they attached an extension cord to the wiring from the pvc pipe, grounded it to one of the metal piped on the house, and used and exterior plug as the power source. since the shed is only being used for storage, we removed the extension cord, and put a cap on the pvc pipe to keep out moisture, dirt, and insects.

a fairly easy list. the thing that took the most time (and money) was sheet-rocking that garage wall.

all the work paid off though. the house passed the inspection, and they informed us that they would assist with almost all of our monthly rent! it was a huge weight off our shoulders. 

we moved out of necessity, not because we could afford to. now we just need to get one final piece of paperwork fixed and then we are set for the next year!