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The Tamarack Ledger

Notes on houses, lots and public records in the Inland Northwest

The Tamarack Ledger

Every entry on this ledger takes one question about a house, a lot or a public record in the Inland Northwest and answers it: what a footing does under a frost line, why a crawl space here is not a basement, how much snow a roof is expected to carry, where the water goes when the snowmelt arrives, what a well report and a septic record actually contain, and which numbers in a listing mean anything at all. An entry is written from the county record, the permit file, the flood map, the adopted code and the extension service, then filed under one of four sections: the house, the ground, the record, and the move. Nothing here is for sale.

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A county soil survey map spread open on a tailgate in October, a hand holding the corner against the wind, larch turning gold on the ridge behind, low afternoon light.

GR-001The ground

What a Lot Assessment Tells a Buyer

An ecological assessment of a rural building lot covers wetlands, buffers, soils, and slope. Here is what a household can read before siting a house or septic

A kitchen table in a Spokane County house in February, county parcel record printouts and a listing sheet spread under a warm lamp, frost on the window behind.

MV-001The move

Four Numbers Behind One Listing Price

Asking price, days on market, assessed value and closing price are four different numbers. Here is which one to compare across two regions before a move.

A rural house at the edge of a pine stand in October, low morning light raking across a mowed strip of grass, a rake and a pile of cut limbs in the foreground, the lowest tree branches pruned well above the brush line.

GR-002The ground

Ladder Fuels and the Hundred-Foot Zone

Ladder fuels carry fire from grass to brush to canopy. Here is what a rural household clears, and what cost-share programs pay for.

The house

Footings, crawl spaces, framing, roofs, siding, windows and the heating that carries a house through an Inland Northwest winter of freeze, thaw and snow load.

Every entry in this ledger

The ground

Soil, slope, drainage, wells, septic drainfields, snow storage and the wildfire fuel that sits within a hundred feet of a wall.

A county soil survey map spread open on a tailgate in October, a hand holding the corner against the wind, larch turning gold on the ridge behind, low afternoon light.

GR-001The ground

What a Lot Assessment Tells a Buyer

An ecological assessment of a rural building lot covers wetlands, buffers, soils, and slope. Here is what a household can read before siting a house or septic

A rural house at the edge of a pine stand in October, low morning light raking across a mowed strip of grass, a rake and a pile of cut limbs in the foreground, the lowest tree branches pruned well above the brush line.

GR-002The ground

Ladder Fuels and the Hundred-Foot Zone

Ladder fuels carry fire from grass to brush to canopy. Here is what a rural household clears, and what cost-share programs pay for.

Every entry in this ledger

The record

What the county assessor, the permit file, the flood map, the wildfire risk layer and the title actually say about a parcel, and what they leave out.

Every entry in this ledger

The move

Arriving, leaving and everything checked in between, from schools and commutes to utilities, cost of living and the walk-through before a signature.

A kitchen table in a Spokane County house in February, county parcel record printouts and a listing sheet spread under a warm lamp, frost on the window behind.

MV-001The move

Four Numbers Behind One Listing Price

Asking price, days on market, assessed value and closing price are four different numbers. Here is which one to compare across two regions before a move.

Every entry in this ledger

Other desks, other ground

Desks kept elsewhere that answer a question this one only touches on. Each was read before it was listed, and each is named for what it holds.