BS: A house! A house!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Amos
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 10:49 PM

SRS:

Oh, when?? I wanna come!!!


Rap: I would love to help you shelve books but you know what would happen. I'd start reading the third book I took out of the box and I'd be useless for the rest of the day! LOL!


A

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 10:35 PM

Rapaire,

I have friends who used a fridge to make a smoker, with the shelves and all. Maybe you can set some of these up and convert them for smoking fish?

The bookshelves sound wonderful. I got tired of looking at the clutter in my office last weekend and went and got the heaviest-duty (but very attractive, with black epoxy paint) standards and brackets, and some very good pine boards (no knots--this isn't the cheap white wood!) and put up 24 linear feet of shelves over my desk. Cost about $100 total. I can see quite a few books that I should go ahead and sell because I'll never read them or use them, but for now they're up and out of the way. (I will one day read all of the Foucault that I put up there.) I still have many more shelves to build myself, and as you note, this doesn't even include the LPs and the CDs and cassettes.

I also have trunks and trunks of antique glass from my great aunt's house. I would love to display some of that. Like yours, my house was a custom home, well-built, lots of interesting extras (gorgeous woodwork). I had to upgrade from 150 amp to 225, and that's expensive. We had to wire a couple of new rooms and a new garage. I also ran CAT-5, and coax, and have a "home run" or "star" pattern set up for the phones and cable. I haven't put in the cable yet, but will do two rooms, no bedrooms. I don't watch much now, but given cable, the little I watch will be more select. The house needed all new flooring so I chose to put in tile and am doing it myself. That's about 2000 square feet of tile. I have about 300 sf left to do.

Houses can make a great sucking sound when they're anywhere near your wallet, but given a good one, you can really create a work of art and a great space to live in. I've been very busy with work and a writing project so I feel like my weekends haven't been my own--I need to cut tiles, plant my daffodil bulbs, paint, do so many things. As long as I have that vision of how it will look and make incremental progress, this is a fine form of recreation.

One of these days I'll host an open house and have my builder and electrician and the neighbors in. A hoot would be a great way to break in a new house also. When will you be scheduling yours, Rap?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 09:59 PM

Actually Rapaire, if it's cold enough outside the unpowered freezers would sort of work in winter... you're right you know - I can't think of any sensible reason, other than as land fill...

Robin

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 06:31 PM

20 feet of wall space = about 6.5 units of 3 feet long shelving = 19.5 shelves x 7 shelves per unit = 136.5 YARDS of shelving, or about 410 feet of shelves, or (using Ye Olde Librarian's Rulee Of Thumbe, room for about 9,000 volumes. In the NEW shelves. There's shelving for about another 1,000 volumes on the shelving already there in the Family Room in the basement, plus room for about another 500 volumes in the Dining Room, plus bookshelving we already have in storage for about 1,000 more volumes = shelving for about 12,000 books (more or less, depending on hardbacks/paperbacks, etc.).

Thats only for books. Doesn't count the shelving for for LPs, CDs, cassettes and other media.

Plus Internet drops for a cable modem in two rooms.

Anyone want to come help shelve books???

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: artbrooks
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 02:51 PM

Only 140 linear feet a bookshelves? Piker!!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 10:00 AM

We caveated as best we could and as well as we could. Cans of worms can be found anywhere. And the actual construction of the home is first-class. It's what has been done to the poor things by people who thought they knew what they were doing.

Well, when it's done it will be up to Code and years of bad work will be undone. The house will be (professionally) fitted with Cat5e for both teelphones and ethernet, and coax for cable TV (no, I'm NOT putting cable in the bedrooms or anywhere on the first floor except an "office". TV mostly is intrusive and lousy entertainment.).

What I'm anxious for is the installation of 20 linear wall feet of bookcases, 7 feet high. I want our records and books out of storage, I want my old friends back!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Amos
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 09:26 AM

I have been through a similar series of shocking discoveries after the fact of purchase. There is no rational answer to "Why", Rap -- it is a reflection of the deep aberration of the individual nutball, which varies very widely from person to person. Maybe he just felt tired that day, so he figgered it was gfood enough. Maybe he had a drem that told him to bury the freezers, a thin dramatization of a past life in ancient Thebes when he was part of a mass-burial work party. Who knows?? If you look for rational answers you'll go mad. :>)

A

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: annamill
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 09:06 AM

The Caveate should have emptored! or is it, The Emptor should have caveated. I'm so sorry, but..you know..when it's all done you will still have that beautiful house... home! I hope all goes well.

Love, Annamill

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 09:02 AM

Actually, Art, we had the house inspected and the sellers did, indeed, either pay for or share the cost of several things. The things I mention are cans of worms that have been found as we had other things done.

Code? Code? This is Idaho, fer crissakes! We don't need no steenkin' code! (Actually, building code enforcement is pretty damned new in this neck of the woods and it wouldn't exist at all if the state didn't insist. The stuff we're having done is correcting years and years of "Joe Homeowner" work -- in Idaho, a property owner can do pretty much anything they want to their property without the work having to meet Code, and in the past you can simply remove the words "pretty much". It still doesn't need to be inspected after the work is done.)

The sellers tried to tell us that the property was being sold "as is" and take it or leave it. Odd how, when we let it be known that we were going to walk away, they came around to our way of thinking and shared costs or had something repaired themselves.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: artbrooks
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 08:35 AM

And you did stipulate a code inspection, with the sellers to pay for necessary repairs, right?

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 08:15 AM

A bit of an update. We've been having some work done before we move in and, well...

..the plumbing. While working on it, the plumber found that the garbage disposal had a nipple, usually used for water, that was capped by a Pepsi cap and black electricians tape. A (plastic) drain pipe in the basement was properly glued together and came apart in his hands. The same with the drain from the kitchen sink.

..the electrical. What a can of worms! A 220 v. line that ended -- unwrapped, just bare wires, and live. Eletrical cables run down a pillar to an outlet and a nail driven THROUGH on of them. 110 v. line on the deck that just...ended, like the 220 v. line, unwrapped and bare. Circuits that were split -- one outlet of a two outlet plugin might be dead and the other half live. A circuit breaker box that wasn't fastened to the wall, just sitting in a wall cavity. "Stranded" wire used to wire fixtures both inside and outside the building. Lots of other stuff...it's a wonder the place didn't burn down or people get electrocuted, but then, maybe...

..the freezers. There are at least two chest-type freezers buried outside the house, under the deck. One is empty, the other has bricks and stuff piled on top. There may be at least one more. And they're behind a stone wall and can only be removed with great difficulty. I sort of hope that there are bodies in the second freezer so that the police will remove them.

..the ducts. Some are fiberglass and have come untaped from the registers. The heat was pouring out into a suspended ceiling, none coming into the living room. Apparently nobody got cold.

..the termites. Thanks for asking. We've taken the necessary steps to kill off the little buggers.

..the fireplaces. One insert is junk, will be removed and not replaced for a while, if ever. Naturally, this is the one in the dining room. The other is just fine.

Still to come are the tile & grout repairs, the carpenter, and the replacement of that @#$!!! red&black shag rug.

WHY would you bury freezers? To hide bodies? To raise fishing worms? To store explosives? To farm mushrooms? WHY would you do such a lousy job on the electrical work? WHY? Why? why?...

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,Rapaire, in training and cookieless
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 10:51 AM

No, it's pretty evident that the cooking area was designed that way. Dumb.

We don't get points on our credit cards, but by paying with them we do get some protections that we otherwise couldn't have.

More later.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 10:32 PM

Maybe the stove top was installed after the wall switches were done - there may have been a portable plugin cooktop plugged in before the current one was installed.

Robin

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 07:12 PM

Rapaire,

I paid as much as I could with my VISA card, then paid off the bill (with the same cash I could have used for the check) every month. By funneling it through VISA I earned points through my Credit Union's participation in a bonus program (called "Score Card") and was able to translate all of those points into a KitchenAid stand mixer. I just used the last of the points for a couple of smaller items for Christmas.

It's always nice when you can in fact pinch that penny twice before you spend it!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 01:44 PM

There is something that I flat don't understand. The kitchen has a cooking surface (not a stove, the ovens are seperate). The switches to turn on the light and the exhaust fan are on the wall *behind* the electric burners. So is an electical outlet.

While I'm in favor of having both, why in the world would anyone locate them in a place where you have to reach OVER hot pots and hot burners to get to them??? Yes, I'm having them relocated (and I may,if the money holds out, replace the electric cook top with a gas one).

Estimated date of moving into the first floor is December 1. Electrical work starts next week.

The writing of checks has already started. All contributions are welcome and not tax deductible.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 10:35 AM

what I meant was a plate rail - goes around a room at the level of the doors - about 3-4 inches wide.

Robin

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 10:33 AM

A plate rack - also a good place to store the empty bottles...

musical instruments,


one muso I know had his brown teapot collection stored up there - yes, all his friends thought it would be funny cool to give him brown enamlled teapots, and now he has the best collection of them in Australia.... :-)

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 10:28 AM

A 12 bottle wooden winerack works well for rolled up hand towels on the top of a bathroom cabinet.:-)

Congratulations, Rapaire! Sounds wonderful...lots of fun from here on out.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 10:09 AM

WHOO_HOO!

One thing my parents did re: bookshelves - was to have *in every room* a shelf that ran around about 10 inches down from the ceiling - which also happened to be the level of the top of the door frames -

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 10:00 AM

Rapaire, I was going to ask how this was moving along. Thanks for the update! Now, as they say, the fun begins!

I'm still looking for places and ways to install shelves. In the bathroom, looking for shelves for towels so people won't hit their heads on the shelving or drop towels into the loo. . .looking for shelving for kitchen stuff that gets lost in some poorly designed deep cabinets. . . need tons more of shelving for books. . .

And watching programs like This Old House and Hometime (to say nothing of that marvelous shop at his disposal on The New Yankee Workshop) are all ways to help generate a long shopping list for the next trip to Home Depot.

Enjoy!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 07:37 AM

We closed on Monday last, November 10. It's ours, even though for a few brief, shining, glorious moments beforehand we were completely WITHOUT a debt! Now, however....

Electrical work starts next week, a guest bedroom rug goes in this Saturday. Bookshelves go in in early December, and then "that god-awful red and black carpet" is going to be replaced. We're going to get as much done as possible (and affordable) before we move in.

Termite damage was found; they ate a rug we were going to replace anyway.

Ah, well, no more nights in the bar, getting drunk, singing at the top of my voice, annoying the barmaids and barflies. Soon I shall have to make my own liquor. Let's see, to no water add four ounces of 16-year-old single malt Bushmill's....

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 06:01 PM

And now...

I have just signed the final -- yes, FINAL!! -- acceptance of who's gonna pay for what of the defects found by our inspectors.

And that's it. The purchase contract is complete. We're already approved for a big mortgage and we'll have to have some work done before moving in. But the last negotiation is negotiated, and we finally had to flat-out say, "Okay. Last chance. Accept this or we walk away."

Three weeks from when we made the offer. Some of the joy went out of it, but that'll come back.

Closing date to be set, possession on closing.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,One of Rapaire's Secret Santa's possible nei
Date: 21 Oct 03 - 09:18 PM

Tread carefully, oh jolly librarian! That thar territory is rotten with Mudcatters!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,Rapaire's Secret Santa
Date: 21 Oct 03 - 09:08 PM

Remember the Alamo and San Jacinto Day too!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 21 Oct 03 - 08:51 AM

Gee, Santa, you're good! I don't remember even getting mildly annoyed last week.

Is your last name Ana? If so, are you Mexican? If your last name ia Ano, did you gain the day along the plains of Mexico?

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,Rapaire's Secret Santa
Date: 21 Oct 03 - 05:14 AM

Bats in the belfry, squirrels in the attic, no problem, consider them outta there. If you promise to be very, very good, maybe the elves can help on that roof and electrical too. Just remember, I'm watching you. I saw what you did yesterday, that was really nice...but when you almost lost your temper last week......well, just remember to be careful, especially this time of year.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Oct 03 - 07:11 PM

Dear Secret Santa,

Please bring me a new roof and some good electrical work for the house I'm gonna buy. Also termite proofing. I can handle the rest.

I've been a good boy, mostly, all year and helped little old ladies across the street and only mugged the rich ones. I helped my family stay out of jail and I didn't have to lie to the copys hardly at all.

Oh, yes, if you'd be good enough to get the squirrels out of the attic I'd appreciate it. If that means being a little gooder for the rest of the year, I'll be a little gooder. Heck, SS, I'll even be a big gooder.

Thank you for your kind consideration, and I'd like the gifts before Xmas, in fact, right after we close on the house.

Sincerely,
Your Friend,
R

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Oct 03 - 08:39 AM

The temperature rose as high as 104 F here this past summer, and I now own a wonderful collection of electric fans. AC, yes. It's also gone down as far as -40, I've heard.

While I have done my own electric and plumbing, I'd MUCH rather leave such work to the pros. I have walked through water that had live electricity in it and that was a "grace of God" experience -- no thanks!

OM, if you went to Lava you had a good time. It's one of The West's best secrets. (Wish the same was true of Jackson, Wyoming! Lord, what fools those tourists be! Leather pants and leather bra under a red coat trimmed in maribou is _ranch wear_? Where, the Mustang Ranch?

Veggie pesto pizza is available. So are lots of organic veggies and such. Between the LDS church and its missionaries and Idaho State University the food choices are quite wide.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,Rapaire's Secre Santa
Date: 18 Oct 03 - 02:46 PM

I like my salsa HOT, HOT, HOT. Do you really need AC in I-dee-ho-ho-ho? Sorry about all the house problems. I can help a little with carpentry, roofing, painting, hard labor, but forget plumbing and electrical.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,pdq
Date: 18 Oct 03 - 12:35 PM

If I can make a humble suggestion, fix everything now, or at least as soon as possible. This may be rough finantially, but remember, "enthusiasm diminishes with time".

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: open mike
Date: 18 Oct 03 - 02:23 AM

i just had an on-demand/tankless H2OT water heater installed.
The most common brand may be Aqua Star, which i had in my
previous house, and the one I have now is Infinion. I believe
Bosch may have bought out Aqua Star (they are both French i think)

akwakai makes the infinion their number is 1-800-247-3619
they are from near Seattle. They are available with two
options for lighting: pilot light and piezo ignition unit.'
the pilot light uses quitye a bit of gas, but keeps the
unit warm and hopefully prevents freezing (mine is mounted outside)

I am glad you are going to replace the shake shingles...
they are a great fire hazard. but make great kinkling for your
fire place!

i have friends who have had good luck with a paloma brand too.
http://www.gaswaterheaters.com/pdf/
quite a few types are compared on this site.

since a tankless water heater can produce endless supplies
of hot water, limited only by available water and fuel,
you could get a hot tub full of water with no problem..
I'll be arriving shortly with my rubber duckie and towel.
See you soon!! I actually had a nice bathing experience
last time i was in your neck of the woods...
just to the south of "Pokey" is the Lava Hot Springs
and that was my 1/2 way stop on my 800 mile day between
Bozeman and Elko!!
when you cut that red carpet into strips,
just lay it out in the driveway to welcome
all your well-wishers!! see you
oh veggie pizza with pesto is my choice!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Oct 03 - 12:52 PM

My mother bought a house from the family of a man who died doing his own electrical work. He was handling a hot wire in the basement and his head came into contact with an iron water pipe. . . he died some days or weeks later from his injuries.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 17 Oct 03 - 12:27 PM

We realize and accept that we're going to have to pay for some things -- after all, NO house is perfect when you move it. Fortunately, we're in a position to be able to have a lot of the problems corrected before we move in.

Monday the roof inspector arrives, and I expect that we'll be told that we'll need a new roof in a just a couple of years. The plumber also comes Monday to inspect, and I don't know what that will result in.

The electrical inspection yesterday was disasterous, with so much "Joe Homeowner" things done that the electrician was required by law to disconnect some circuits because they were too hazardous to leave connected. Other electrical stuff is fine.

The AC will also have to be replaced, I'm sure.

Well, I'd rather know beforehand than too late. And I'm learning in what esteem Joe Homeowner's work is held by professionals.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Oct 03 - 08:10 PM

When I bought my house I learned from the former long-term renters (10 years in the place) that the air conditioner/heater was on it's last legs. The repairman had told them it wouldn't last another year, and this had been reported to the owner. But the owner hadn't lived in the house for a long time so wasn't obligated to divulge any of this. When I presented them with a hefty bill for repairs and upgrades they accepted my lower offer, and I convinced them that since I didn't want to pay for the new heat/ac out of my pocket, they agreed to give me back $7500 at closing. I financed the higher amount so I wouldn't have to take out a separate loan, but they gave that back to me and I turned it over to the heat pump contractor. It's a long term item for the house, so it made sense to finance this in that manner.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 16 Oct 03 - 07:04 PM

You betcha they're gonna pay for at least some of it! Now the negotiating starts in earnest.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Oct 03 - 06:53 PM

Get them to fix some of that stuff, or have their insurance cover it before you close.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 16 Oct 03 - 06:19 PM

Termites. And a jury-rigged electrical system so bad that the electrical inspector disconnected a half dozen of the breaker (14 gauge wire on 20 amp breakers). And some other things.

Whatthehell! It's just money....

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Oct 03 - 10:32 AM

Eeeeyyyewwww! Better watch out or your red rug will be multi colors of puke!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Oct 03 - 09:12 AM

Dear SS:

Yes, there is salsa here. Do you prefer fruit-based, legume-based, corn (maize)-based, vegetable-based, or tomato-based? I haven't seen any potato-based...yet. Does your taste run to mild, medium, hot, scorching, incediary, or hellish?

Once your identity is know, I shall send you a local speciality: a tripe 'n' lights and lentil pizza, topped with a five-way and cooked on a mashed-potato crust in a genuine mud oven! Combined with a big bowl of son-of-bitch stew (and only if your bowl has the marrow gut!) and washed down with Pluto Water direct from French Lick, Indiana (just ask for a "bottle of imported stuff") it's a treat for Man and beast. A complete meal AND one guaranteed to help you loose weight!

Being poor now, I'll have to send you the pizza by parcel post, so it might take a while to arrive.

Sincerely,
Your Humble And Devoted Servant,
Wazhizname, you know, your Santee, the guy lost in the Idaho wilds....

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,Rapaire's Secret Santa
Date: 13 Oct 03 - 03:58 AM

Sounds delicious. But please leave off the black olives. And do they have salsa in I-dee-ho-ho-ho? Also some Skyline Chili? Can I drink my favoite Yorkshire tea with pizza?

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 07:08 PM

Okay, SS, you asked for it. How about a nice sausage, onions, ham, motor oil, triple cheese (provolone, parmesan and limburger), black olives, pigs' knuckles, basil, oregano, drisheens, garlic, anchovies, lead sugar, chorizo, tripe, and pineapple deep-dish pizza? In a nice tomato/jimson weed sauce?

All washed down with Moose Drool????

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,Rapaire's Secret Santa
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 06:55 PM

I'll have to come before the middle of November because things get a little busy here at the North Pole late in the year. I like my pizza with EVERYTHING on it!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 06:37 PM

"Feed 'em pizza and beer and let them get the work done."

Ah, Sins, the problem is that my wife and I can't just let folks eat frozen pizza and swill Budweiser. Nope. Not in a place where I can get things like semi-ready pizza (Poppa Murphy's) or something like Annies (local -- how about dried tomato, fresh basil, roasted garlic, roasted sweet peppers and chicken sound?). As for beer -- I was past the beer coolers today: Fat Tire. Alaska Amber. Wasatch. Provo Girl. Polygamy Porter. Black Butte. Fire House 7. Sierra. Wienhardt. Others too numerous to mention.

You see, what I haven't mentioned and am in fact just starting to realize is that here we can get the BEST of Seattle, Portland, Denver, California, Mexico, Canada. For instance, you want coffee? -- just name your poison! Kenya AA, Blue Mountain, pure Kona, Folgers....

Hell, at the store today (Fred Meyer's, and Krogers hasn't completely ruined it yet) I bought some linguisa. This doesn't mean much if you're from Fall River, Mass. or the Cape Verde Islands or Portugal. But -- and understand this! -- I'm in Pocatello, Idaho, a town of about 50,000 people, and I was able to purchase packages of a sausage most folks have never heard of! The beers listed above are just a bare scratching of the surface. Yeah, I haven't yet found Creative Grains' Toasted Pecan Grains, but there's fresh hummus in the stores.

But heck, if anyone wants to come by AFTER we have moved into the house -- well, bring your instrument(s). I'll buy Budweiser just for you, but you'll have to give me notice so I can buy it (and clean up the place a little).

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Deckman
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 06:07 PM

Rapaire: about the deck railings being 30" high. Two thoughts ... It's a little unusual for the house sale to go through without these being brought "up" to code (all puns intended). However, you could have signed a waiver on this. In reality, I wouldn't worry about it UNLESS you have little children that might want to start climbing on them. If that's the case, PM me and I'll give you some ideas.

About the carpeting on the deck: This is usually a serious concern. Most people put carpeting on an outside deck to hide uglyness or rot. Either way, they usually CAUSE rot to happen soon, as the carpeting traps the moisture on (in) the wood. If you can stab a screwdriver INTO the wood at all, you've probably got a problem. Again, feel free to PM me for advice.

Congrads on your new home. Exciting, isn't it! Bob

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 04:35 PM

Am engineer friend of mine has sung the praises a particular hot water tank that is gas and solar. I will ask him the name and specs. At one point I almost moved to NM where I would have had propane and planned to put in such a tank. In my Fort Worth home I don't have gas, so am using standard electric.

If you can afford the initial outlay, the gas/solar tank is very inexpensive to run, I think it works out awfully close to free.

Roofs are one of those things that scare a lot of new homeowners, and consequently it's an area where "investors" can make a big (fake) point when they sell houses. Have you seen the ads "we buy houses" and for ugly houses, etc? There is an exchange where the house is bought way below market, a few cosmetic changes are made, and then they try to sell it for full value. I kept stumbling onto those jokers when I was house hunting. The trick to identify their handiwork was to find a way to view the attic (and they will make it inaccessible if they can). If you look from outside and see composition shingles and from inside see the old shakes, you know they slapped a cheap roof on top of the shakes without properly removing the shakes, putting up planking and felt and such and then applying the shingles. It sounds like you have a pretty good idea of how to approach this with a very durable shingle (I've seen some of those around here--they really are solid).

I really enjoyed looking at houses and how they were built when I was house-hunting. You learn a great deal about how to actually care for the one you ultimately buy. My realtor was new, a school teacher changing careers so she could spend more time with her small children. We enjoyed our outings and we had a bit of a role-reversal during the search. She knew how to fill out the forms, but I taught her about some of the internet searches and a lot of the architectural things to look for. I made sure I had her act as a buyers agent. You get a lot more information that way.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Amos
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 01:08 PM

Rap:

Just FYI you can add an on-demand tankless heater without removing the existing HW tank.

A

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: SINSULL
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 01:07 PM

I still haven't finished unpacking and I moved in last Thanksgiving. But I do love having my own house.

Enjoy it, Rapaire. And don't be a fool. Invite them all over for a party - just don't mention that it is a Work Party. Feed 'em pizza and beer and let them get the work done. Maybe even the moving if it you play it right.
SINS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 12:46 PM

My mama didn't raise no stupid kids -- I'm gonna let the professionals do the hard stuff like 'lektrisity an' plummin' an' re-roofin'. They got the tools an' ekspurteez an' I don't. (Besides, I'm kinda tired of running up and down ladders, hurting myself, doing the job over and over 'til I get it sorta right, and cussin' a blue streak all the while. I can think of lots of other things to do that don't involve the "heavy lifting".)

We'll probably get the flashing and bird intrusion fixed right away and leave the re-roofing until Spring. It's a cedar shake roof, and I'm thinking of replacing it with a metal rook in shake pattern. Then I'll probably be dead or elsewhere before I have to think about it again.

The termite treatment will be done right away tool.

I want to replace the current electric cooktop with a gas one -- better heat control during cooking. (The second kitchen can stay as it is -- it works, it's all electric, and I probably won't ever use it.)

I'm also thinking of replacing the 40 gallon water heater with a tankless unit -- a bit more expensive, but tankless units come in both gas and electric and have a LOT going for them. Any suggestions or experience in this area would be welcome.

I'll also get the chimneys and flues swept and inspected.

Toilets and plumbing repairs are on the top burner too. The inspector recommended pulling the carpeting off the deck so that the wood can dry out and water doesn't accumulate under the carpet. Deckman, the wood is moisture stained, but seems solid (they used to have a hot tub); the railing is only 30 inches instead of the now-required 36 high.

Bobert, the "wet bar" area is really a kitchen but without a stove. It's got a double sink, cabinets, and a place for a fridge, so the house really has 2.75 kitchens. The area looks like a small kitchen, not like any wet bar I ever saw.

Behind this wet bar is the store room.

A word about LDS beliefs as I understand them (and I'm not Mormon).

You are to keep a year's supply of food and water (or better yet, more) stored for your family in anticipation of The Coming. Thus, many houses in this area have "Mormon Storerooms." The second kitchen is so that you can take in another LDS family if they fall onto hard times, helping your fellows out in their times of trouble. *NOTE: If I'm wrong here I'd appreciate having any LDS or jack-Mormon 'Catter correct me -- my books are stored and I'm going on memory and hearsay.*

I think that I'm going to turn the storeroom into a workshop. There's a nice pantry in the kitchen, and I agree with Mark 14:32 anyway. (See? I've even read the Bible! Also a bunch of other books, good and bad.)

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 11:05 AM

Here are a few handy sites to get you started thinking about the work and furnishings in the new house:

http://www.ikea-usa.com/ (Ikea)

http://forum.doityourself.com/forumdisplay.php?s=3c452f0189733b9afd52b08b4423c033&forumid=92 (DIY)

http://www.hometime.com/

http://www.homephonewiring.com/

http://www.dirtdoctor.com

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,pdc
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 02:15 AM

Wow, you couldn't buy the land here for that price. Good for you!