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Post by docone31 on Aug 25, 2004 20:57:35 GMT -5
I just got some really cool news. The house I remodelled survived Hurricane Charlie completely intact. I got ripped off on a real estate buy, I completely remodelled the home from the slab to the roof. All of the neighbors on the street are gone. I double sheeted the roof, tied in the rafters to the headers, stuccoed the outside with reinforced stucco, re angled the yard against storm surges, buried all the electrical, swapped out the windows for plexiglass. Pruned the trees for storm damage, eliminated leaders that were weak, moved a tree to outside fall range. I just heard from a friend who was outside the eye, his house is still without power and half his roof is gone. My old house went through the eye and the major wind. Not even a shingle gone. I re angled the roof for wind shear. I even had low angle wire to prevent alligator intrusion. Every house within a quarter mile is gone but mine. Wow. My wife and I have found an house in New Port Richie Fl. We might just close. We figuire we might go to school awating closing. If we are in an hotel room, we might as well pretend we are back in a dorm. Could be kinky. Nah, we are married. I am putting on weight, she is reading House and Garden, I need a nap before midnight swimming and when I wake up I am too tired. Maybe we can focus on school, and then rent Disney films. Watch butterflies migrate, salmon swim upstream. Ahhhh married life. Thougth I might pass on what I found out. I am syked.
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Post by Cher on Aug 25, 2004 21:54:59 GMT -5
Hey Doc that is way too cool! You should be really proud of the work you did and how it benefitted at least one family by standing proud! Good job!! [glow=red,2,300]Cher[/glow]
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Djinjuice
starting to shine!
Member since March 2003
Posts: 47
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Post by Djinjuice on Aug 25, 2004 22:34:08 GMT -5
Great job Doc, another talent to put on your list ! ;D
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Post by cookie3rocks on Aug 25, 2004 22:46:54 GMT -5
Ahh shucks, Doc, get jiggy widit! Cristen the new home properly. With age comes wisdom. Go forth and GET 'ER DONE, as they say in the south now. We would, no doubt. Good job on the old house! The new owners are, I'm sure, beholden to you. Go forth and prosper! cookie
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Post by docone31 on Aug 25, 2004 23:38:48 GMT -5
The weird thing about the house there, the whole time all I could think about was to hurricane proof it. My fair bride who came from LA was on me all the time to just do superficial repairs. I cannot do anything superficial. I would not want to recieve superficial. It costs about the same to do it right from the start. Even the county wanted me to pull back with what I was doing. I did it anyway. There is no pillow like a clear conscience and hearses do not carry luggage racks. The owners were folks just like my wife and I. I believe they were pleased with what we had done, and they could benifit where we had to go "take care" of my wife's mother. I feel good for what they paid for is still there.
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Post by sandsman1 on Aug 26, 2004 18:23:25 GMT -5
hey doc glad to hear the old homestead is still around,,all the work you did made a big diference and im sure the new owners are thanking you every day when they look at the house still standing---see it pays to doit right the first time --hahaha i keep tellin myself that but never doit
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Post by docone31 on Aug 27, 2004 0:27:56 GMT -5
John, I agree. I am the type of person, I just like to know. When we bought the home, it was totally misrepresented. I knew it needed work, I just did not want to work on something, find it needed other work before doing the job. I hate doing things twice. We met the new owners. They were very much like my wife and I. I really stuck my neck out with some of the repairs. It appears my risk taking paid off. I even rewired the home. I was so afraid, after looking at the damage on the news channels that what I did was not enough. I slept real well last night. We just finalized an offer on an home. It needs the ceilings raised, it has dry rot, shows some roof leaking. Nobody tried to conceal anything. I can fix things. I will not go to sleep in that home and find the house falling apart in the morrow. I do the same thing with my jewelery. If it ain't right, it ain't right. It costs less to hand a finished piece to a customer than hope the piece makes it out the door and they do not come back wanting it to be fixed. I have had to make changes on a design, some that couldn' be done easily at all. The customer knew it was a change and paid for it. I never tried to make them feel they were hurting my feelings. I feel good about the work I did on the house, and my wife knows more about what I can do. She feels more relaxed about things that just need fixing. I may never be rich again, but I feel good about doing my best.
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Post by cookie3rocks on Aug 27, 2004 0:38:33 GMT -5
That's the thing, Doc, I don't "need" rich, but I "need" the feel good of doing the right thing. It's all about karma now. Took me 45 years to get it. Good Luck!
cookie
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RedwoodRocks
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since March 2003
Posts: 762
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Post by RedwoodRocks on Aug 29, 2004 22:02:03 GMT -5
You should be very proud of the work that you did on the house-standing up to a hurricane.
I just had the beam over the garage door replaced. I thought the builders used a 6 by, but after removing the sheetrock, we found they only used a 4 by. The beam was sagging by almost an inch.... caused cracks in the walls, etc. Also found that they didn't bother to put any insulation in the ceiling! Not sure what the builders or former homeowners were thinking before they put up the sheetrock. But, I wish someone like you would have lived in my house before I bought it. I wonder what else was only done half way!
Cal
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RiverOtter
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2004
Posts: 339
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Post by RiverOtter on Aug 29, 2004 23:57:21 GMT -5
Wanna talk about doing things half way, I have a couple dozen of those stories. I live in an old farm house. Our best guess of it's age is somewhere around 150 years old (we found it on an old platt map dating back to 1866). The people that lived here before us was "fixing the place up" for retirement. Well, for starters they put paneling up in the kitchen. No big deal right, except they nailed it right into the plaster walls underneath. Now the paneling is buckling (it was cheap) and it's pulling the nails loose and bringing chunks of the plaster with them, which of course falls down between the wall and the paneling causing it to buckle even more. They also decided to shorten the 9 1/2 foot ceilings by putting in drop ceilings in several rooms including the dining room. Now anyone who has installed a drop ceiling knows you measure the room and start in the center and work your way out. Not these people! They started in one corner and worked their way across. So there was a gap between the bar on one wall and the panel. I say "was" because when they installed it they didn't use heavy enough wire and half the ceiling came crashing down about 3 months ago. Fortunately it didn't do any damage to the antique dining room suite I've only had about a year! That's just the beginning. The list goes on and on. So I can relate Cal. Frustrating isn't it.
Otter
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Post by docone31 on Aug 30, 2004 7:10:44 GMT -5
Since my wife and I have been married, I have re-habbed four houses. She was used to repairs that were a paint job. She had a 5000sq ft., house in Lake Oswego Oregon. It all looked good, but it fell apart at great price. When we get an house, we look for what no one had touched. I fix everything. I do not like to tear down fresh patch up. The house we just got has 7ft., ceilings, rotten sill plates, and it was essentially a cabin with two out buildings that were blended together. There was something really spooky about our Punta Gorda home so we fixed to leave. This one has a good feeling even though there is some real not quite thought through stuff in it. This one, we would like to live in so we are going to completely remodel it with the jewelery business in mind. I will have to jack the house up, replace the sill plates, raise the ceilings which means roof also, move the closet/bathroom. We are looking to adding a 10X14 building alongside the kitchen, opening the kitchen and adding a much larger bathroom putting all of our water in one area. We have to upgrade from 60amp to 200amp. This one we will do slowly. The first project is to raise the ceilings in the main cabin. I will have to scab rafters using an interior soffit to blend the wall/ceiling line. Just like ceiling tiles, it is how you start determins how the job turns out.
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llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on Aug 30, 2004 8:30:18 GMT -5
Doc, sounds like you have your work cut out for you. Be sure and take before and after pics! I have remodeled two housse - just the interior of one, but from ground up on the other. Didn't take before and after pics and I could have kicked myself. I love fix-er-uppers. It's such a sense of accomplishment to take a piece of crap house and make it look WOW! Sounds like the one you bought has alot of potential. Soon as it cools off a bit here, I will be doing some RV remodeling. Not near as extensive a project as yours though. Just painting, ripping up the carpet and putting in a new floor, doing something with the ceiling, which is also carpet! and building a window seat with storage to replace this ugly sofa. It's gonna be fun - hard work, but fun. Your remodeling job sounds like a whole lotta hard work and probably not alot of fun! Do take pics and post them. I would love to see what you have now and how the rebuilding is going. llana
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Post by docone31 on Aug 30, 2004 9:48:20 GMT -5
Be careful with the weight on the RV. It will be worth your while to have aluminum angle welded for framework. Make lots of templates. With all of the houses I have done, both as a builder and homeowner, I never took pictures. I just might this time. Yeah, it is a project but we are planning on living there for a while. We can go slow this time. We plan on living in it and then coming up with a plan. In Punta Gorda, nothing worked from day one. The inspector ok'd everything, and everything was wrong. He certified the A/C, and the A/C compressor was shot, the airhandler was shot, and the thermostat was not communicating with the unit. The water was so bad, the dog got sick! We made coffee the first day and it came out in strings! We did not know the shower stall was white untill we used Navel Jelly on the walls. The roof had half the roof un fastened. The septic was corrupt. Someone had filled the outflow from the house with Tyvec, wrapped the tank with Tyvec, filled the divertor box with concrete, and packed the tank outflow with Tyvec. We had a very long lead line and it took three days to fill up and stop working. The well pump was bad, the softener was slugged up, the iron filter was gone, the inside was red sludge. We had fire ants inside the home. The cathedral ceiling was just a superficial job and did not carry a load. The house had 1/2" and 5/8" sheetrock on the same walls. The electrical service was shorted internally and outlets were ganged off the one lead that worked. It was a nightmare. I won't even go into the next door rednecks, the naked fat woman running around the roach coack mobile home across the street, the weekend bonfires with the sword waving and sheets. This one is in a quiet neighborhood, with owner lots and new double wides. It looks good. Just a plain quiet neighborhood. Our house is one of the few stickbuilts in the area. Plenty of yard. We are at peace with this one. I am the inspector this time. What a waste of money with the last one.
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llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on Aug 30, 2004 14:28:39 GMT -5
I won't even go into the next door rednecks, the naked fat woman running around the roach coack mobile home across the street, the weekend bonfires with the sword waving and sheets. I could deal with the rednecks; got plenty of them here. But, the fat, naked woman and the bonfires - hmmmm, don't know about that! Actually, I think my remodeling will be less weight. The sofa is not only ugly, it weighs a ton! The window seat will be lighter. I know ripping the carpet up will take away a few pounds. Am thinking of just sanding the plywood floor smooth, doing a burn pattern on it, then a high gloss finish. Think there is plywood under the ceiling carpet also and might do the same thing there. Or use a burlap or canvas type of fabric on the ceiling. Saw a heavy duty canvas drop cloth in Lowes the other day and I am thinkin' I might try that. They even have it in several colors and it's cheap! Or use the tin looking trailing skirting - lots of people around here use it for ceilings and it looks great. Only problem with that is having to cut all the holes for the AC vents, lights, stereo speakers, ceiling fan, etc. The canvas would be easier and less expensive. So, will probably do that. Of course, I could just paint the ceiling like a normal person, but I want to do something different. RV's all look basically the same, so I want to put a bit of me in mine. You definitely need to take pics! llana
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Post by docone31 on Aug 30, 2004 15:06:58 GMT -5
Llana One of the reasons they use carpeting so heavily in rolling homes is the echo effect. There ae very light wieght fabrics that can be contact cemented to woodwork. To make the patterns for the cutouts, get some brown paper from the grocery store. Those bags, insead of plastic, make great templates. A lithe misting of water, press the paper to what you want to cut out, trace, and voila" Sisal matting, commonly used in long curtains works grewat on the floor. It is not smooth, easy to clean, easy on the feet. With the blonde fat woman, with the poof dried hair, running screaming around the mobile home waving her arms and screaming. Well actually singing but I had to ask what she was doing. You should have been there the night the clan was whooping it up, bonfire, swords, lots of beer, and she fell through the floor of the roach coach on the toilet! Apparently, the last flood there, we never got wet they had three feet in their roach coach, the floor got real wet. Their home never dried out. She went into the room, fell through the floor with the toilet, the feedline ruptured and sprayed water throughout the bathroom. There was lots of colourful metaphores, paper dish throwing, she even let the air out of his mud bog tires!!! Well after much whatever they said in their language, she shut him off. Not to be undone, he got some wild pigs. Late at night, there was lots of shouting, accusations, some loud thuds with Oh Yeah! Watch this!!! Louder thuds. Silence and then the pigs started squealing! My poor bride, she had no clue. It just goes on. I am so glad we sold our house. Our lives are precarious enough. We would be showing our house and then BOOM! The neighbor filled an old gas tank with a little gas and then started welding. The explosion blew him about 20 feet, he was burned, lacerated, our real estate agent wanted out, Jenne's mother was calling us telling us she was dying, People were afraid of our neighborhood. The police were over there two times a day. She looked like a naked fat Blue Meanie. It was enough to take the desire out of a teenager. All those rolls of huge undulating with each movement. I am glad we are gone.
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Post by cookie3rocks on Aug 30, 2004 18:32:17 GMT -5
Doc, Now that's something to take a picture of.. to give to your teenagers when they start dating. Even looking at it once, it would be forever burned in their memory. Just the trick Good luck to both of you on your remodling. I think you both have a vision of what you want, and won't fall short. Both of you, take pictures! It would be fun to watch the progress and look back on it. You forget how bad it was once you've made it your own. cookie
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Post by krazydiamond on Aug 30, 2004 18:47:24 GMT -5
Cookie is right, Doc, take before pics, progress pics and finish pics. you'll feel stupid doing it, but when they get printed you'll be glad you did....
i can't remember how many projects i've finished only to say, darn, wished i'd taken a "before i started" shot...
i was always the nerd with the camera when i was younger, now i have all my friends asking me for old days reprints....
you have to be your own historian, KD
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Post by docone31 on Aug 30, 2004 19:21:29 GMT -5
We do have plans for the homestead. I have been tracking global warming, todays report shows a 1.06 degree increase in Atlantic current flow. The ice shelf is also losing mass. Being an Alaskan, and having lived in the bush for four years, 1.06 degrees is not even felt with ambient weather. We are preparing for major self sufficiency. I expect storm intensity to build. Charlie showed my wife what is possible, we have seen the storm track in the Lackland area. She was impressed. Aside from structural strength, we are planning on having a working garden. I am looking into eliminating the septic and going composting toilet. Solar power for backup for the well, and backup for the conviences. I have found plans for a solar still. That would allow me to distill water from a grey water well, or allow purification if the well casing is compormised. Basically, I am looking for independance without going rocket science. Occum's Razor. The simplist is the answer. Basically, our yard is sand, it will take time to make a garden, plant grass. Complimentary nutritious plants should theoretically provide constant nutrition. Even if we overestimate storm potential, the insulating and strength factor of the basic structure will make an efficient basis for living. Even though we would have liked a quasi finished structure, we are looking forward to "hearing" what this house needs. It should be simple, jack the house, install treated sill plates. Raise the roof, double the header plates and tie them in. Re angle the roof to diminish the Bernouli effect. Water storage tank, and second well with manual pump. If nothing else it will make good dinner conversation. Doing the work myself, out of pocket will be negligable. I also plan to build in a theater sound system. Gotta do Floyd.
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Post by cookie3rocks on Aug 30, 2004 20:08:00 GMT -5
Dude, Gotta. Point taken. There was a thread about pouring slurry down the drain, an I mentioned it would wreak havock on a septic tank. I don't think anyone understood. My parents spent over $3000.00 on a new system because they were using Charmin toilet paper! It doesn't break down well. Can you imagine what slurry would do? Be cautious with that. We are fortunate here as the septic tank is on the low end of a steep slope, but I still toss the majority of the slurry in the yard, just rinse in the sink.
cookie
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Post by docone31 on Aug 30, 2004 20:37:04 GMT -5
Cookie, between wives, and college, I worked in septic systems. I have heard the Charmin tale, but I have never seen it. What usually happens in a septic system is it is not pumped frequently enough. That compounded with Rid-X and you have a slugged drain field. All slurry does is sit there. It can gather at low points, elbows, traps, but as long as it is wet/moist it will flow sooner or later. With most septic systems, assuming the outflow baffle is intact, the solids enter the tank, sink under the inflow baffle, refloat and join what is know in the trades as a baffle burger. Other matter within the solid matter, the potentially undigestable matter either sinks to the bottom and stays there, or floats and is retained in the burger. If the tank is unpumped, and or a bacteriological component is added to the tank, the burger loses anerobic bacteria and settles as sludge. It breaks down and becomes a liquid slurry. This will be absorbed into the black water and eventually bypass the outflow baffle, entering the diverter and drain field. The organics fill the pores in the leach field and eventually saturate the drain field. At one point, the porosity diminishes to the point where the percolation is less than demand and the drain field is history. The diverter box can be opened, and the drain field either steam cleaned, or pressure cleaned. On the other hand, if the tank went unpumped for 20yrs., the cost efficiency proportionally equals the cost of pumping on a regular basis for repair of the drain field. A septic tank should be pumped every four years for optimum efficiency. Sooner or later the drain field will fill no matter what is done. Charmin with its fabric content will eventually break down. A good pumper will leave 1" in the bottom of the holding tank to restart the bacteriological process. An healthy septic does not smell. You should see what diaper wipes do in a septic tank. We did one that was so solid with the wipes there was an oil film in the tank and the wipes completely filled the tank. The oil destroyed the leach field. This was not a few wipes. The owner was doing something with the wipes that was beyond normal useage for a pediatric facility. We won't go there. If you flush your slurry, keep the water flowing. Otherwise it will show the drain system weaknesses.
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