|
08 Oct 03 - 10:23 PM (#1032136) Subject: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee At 1:30 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time, today, October 8, 2003, our offer on a house was accepted by the sellers! YES! Before the weather turns really cold I can move out of the cardboard box under the bridge!! Now we'll have room for my wife's fabric, for her to quilt, for me to sit in a corner and mope, but mostly a place WHERE I CAN PLAY MY TRUMPET AND NOT BOTHER ANYONE except Pat. No, it's not the one with the pit. Someone else got that one. This one is a tad smallish, with a nominal 4,200 sq. ft, 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, two full kitchens (it used to have a downstairs apartment), two fireplaces with inserts, and back yard that looks out onto a golf course (but not where flying golf balls will be a frequent hazard). What's that? What do you mean, "Now you have to pay for it?" Aw, poop. |
|
08 Oct 03 - 10:35 PM (#1032142) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: artbrooks Librarians sure do get paid good in Boise. |
|
08 Oct 03 - 10:43 PM (#1032149) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Amos 4200 square feet is a tad smallish compared to where you lived when you were the Chancellor of Notre Dame, I suppose, or President of the US. But for most working class Americans that is a pretty generous chunk of residence you got there Rapaire!! Might one enquire what you're paying? Only if it isn't tabu to ask. Congratulations on a house. Now, a heap o' living..... A |
|
08 Oct 03 - 10:58 PM (#1032152) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: wysiwyg Two kitchens? Gotta have a MudGather. Congrats! When do we show up? ~S~ |
|
08 Oct 03 - 11:01 PM (#1032153) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Amergin i say we can all head on over as soon as possible....i aint employed i can drive there.... ;) |
|
08 Oct 03 - 11:15 PM (#1032166) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Ebbie Isn't Rapaire in Idaho? Hey, I can make it too. Let's have a BIG party. Please set up the coffee pot in a convenient spot. Appreciate it. (And I want the bathroom closest to the music room, please.) :) |
|
08 Oct 03 - 11:31 PM (#1032176) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Bill D 4200 squares? I could have a REAL shop somewhere in that! And I thought my 2000 was pretty good. Heating bills may be 'interesting' in Idaho...but it sounds good! |
|
09 Oct 03 - 12:04 AM (#1032190) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: open mike shoot-i should have come by your card board abode when i was thru there this summer...happy house warming! |
|
09 Oct 03 - 12:18 AM (#1032197) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage I found two that come close in Realtor.com:
3,990 Sq. Ft. MLS ID#: 98135662 The other is:
MLS ID#: 98145353. It's actually in Idaho City. Top listing sounds more like what you describe, but it seems odd to have a duplex out in the boonies. Is it in Boise proper? SRS (I love this kind of detective work!) |
|
09 Oct 03 - 12:21 AM (#1032199) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Amos I'm loading the station wagon as I write. Won't need a tent with all that floor space, but a sleeping bag, a new fifth of single malt, a couple of pounds of French roast, spare socks and undies...spare strings....banjo, six-strings, twelve-string...hmmmtteetumdy tum......wow!! I think it'll all fit!!! See ya soon, Rap!!! A |
|
09 Oct 03 - 12:37 AM (#1032210) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Amergin amos can you pick me up on the way? i gotta have my blankies and my clothes and towel...and my books of course...i'm all set. |
|
09 Oct 03 - 12:47 AM (#1032218) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Amos Only if you bring your pacifiers. Why not -- we can kidnap MAG, Jen, Mousethief, Mudjack and Jeannie for the occasion and descend on Rapaire with a couple of dozen square feet of our own!! LOL!!! A |
|
09 Oct 03 - 05:08 AM (#1032272) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Wilfried Schaum Rapaire - Congratulations; enjoy your house, at least for the first weeks - then you will see that your work will never end. I'm a house owner for 60 years and I'm always harrassed by my wife: Repaint here, a tap to repair there, and when did you mow the lawn for the las time? &c. ... Now the whole electric system must be replaced, since it's 70 years old and growing dangerous, so we live in a construction site again. But you may sometimes still find time for your books and trumpet ... Wilfried (a fellow librarian) |
|
09 Oct 03 - 08:22 AM (#1032343) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee Books: about 3,900 pounds (1769.010243 Kgs.) of them. Fabric for The Quilter: there must be a thousand fat quarters (quilters will know). Clothes: yup, got some of those. Furniture and assorted crap: A lot. Guitar: one, and it has to be restrung and retuned. Trumpet: one, and it doesn't need any new strings AND I've recently had the spitvalve recorked, so it doesn't drool. Cost (yeah, I'll tell): USD 185,000, less whatever we put out for a downpayment from the money we made on the sale of our house in South Bend, Indiana. Ultimately, I think it'll come in that we need a mortgage for about USD 140,000. Obviously we have to get some stuff done at the house -- bookcases, fabric shelves, and replacing the red/black 1970s-look carpet in the lower level (too dark, and it makes the stairs dangerous), adding a water heater.... 'Twas built in 1968. Librarians don't make terrific money (our rewards are in the smiles of the people we serve), but my wife's a mathematician/librarian/attorney. If she says we can afford it, I believe her, since my own math skills are somewhat less than hers. And we don't have it yet...the offer we made was accepted, but we haven't paid for it yet. Actually, it's effectively two houses. This is LDS (Mormon) country, and many of the houses are that way because of their beliefs (no, they don't need to have a separate kosher kitchen). There's also a "wet bar" which is like a kitchen but without a stove. We're still in shock about doing this. Me, a poor, shy kid from the Great Middle West, buying a house like this, one which backs up to a golf course where I can shoot them golfs as they whiz by.... Golf's like polo, but played without horses, isn't it? |
|
09 Oct 03 - 08:26 AM (#1032347) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,MMario Trumpet "bothers" people? yeesh! Enjoy the new house... |
|
09 Oct 03 - 08:55 AM (#1032361) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee Trumpets bother people when you're working to restore your embouchre. It's like learning the play the bagpipes, only restore your embouchre can actually be accomplished. Once we get this and are settled in, anyone want to pass through and do house concerts? Pocatello is actually on the way to nowhere in particular, unless you're going to Blackfoot or Idaho Falls or Missoula, or, in the other direction, Inkom, Downey, Mccallum, Malad Summit.... |
|
09 Oct 03 - 09:54 AM (#1032393) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage So where is this house exactly? I wasn't thinking back to earlier conversations and did a search in Boise. You're in Pocatello? Proper, or environs? (It's a marvelous price, by the way, all things considered). SRS |
|
09 Oct 03 - 10:00 AM (#1032401) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage Okay, I think I found it. If there is an offer accepted, this link won't stick around for more than a few days. Sometimes they leave them up until closing to hedge their bets. SRS |
|
09 Oct 03 - 10:32 AM (#1032420) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,MMario well - it certainly matches his descriptions - including the golf course out back. Lovely fireplaces! |
|
09 Oct 03 - 10:59 AM (#1032439) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Amos Well -- if that's the one, the red carpet has got to go!! Everything else looks great!! (Rap, I hope you don't mind me flaunting anopinion here and there. Nothin' personal!! :>)) A |
|
09 Oct 03 - 12:00 PM (#1032469) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage Yeah, I had that thought about the red carpet also. Maybe he could cut it into strips, sew it together end to end, and have one helluva red carpet entrance to his first house warming? :) Isn't it nice what we can do with the internet? Perhaps we should send him to some sites for carpets, furnishings--we'll have that house ready to go by the time he's ready to move into it! SRS |
|
09 Oct 03 - 12:03 PM (#1032471) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,MMario Did you notice the bit about "RV parking"? nice to know... |
|
09 Oct 03 - 12:22 PM (#1032484) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Bill D throw out the red? all you need with a red carpet is some purple furniture, yellow drapes and green lamps, and you have a room for YOU! |
|
09 Oct 03 - 12:55 PM (#1032506) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee Good Lord, but it's hard to keep anything from you people! Yes indeed, that's the very place. The red is going, probably be replaced by a nice tan berber or something similar. Or a heather blue. Or something other than that light-sucking red. The backyard is nice, and backs up to the golf course (2nd hole, about 80 feet off the tee). I plan to get a water balloon slingshot. They put a golf ball in my yard or through my window, SPLOOSH!! |
|
09 Oct 03 - 12:57 PM (#1032508) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: katlaughing But he said theirs had five bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. Otherwise that looks like the one. :-) Congratulations, Rapaire and mathematician/librarian/attorney/numbers wiz wife! That's kind of the way I felt when we bought this place...our first since 1983! kat |
|
09 Oct 03 - 01:06 PM (#1032513) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Amos Bill D: I thought that sort of color scheme was peculiar to Southern California!! lol A |
|
09 Oct 03 - 01:08 PM (#1032516) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,MMario but now you don't have to send up pictures. |
|
09 Oct 03 - 01:54 PM (#1032562) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,Stilly River Sage (watching the front desk) Kat, I pulled up the place on a map search and plugged in values slightly under what he'd told us about the house, because the Realtor.com software has gotten pretty good at filtering out houses that don't match your specs if you name them. And perhaps one of those bedrooms is the type that is either/or bedroom or office. We had one of those in my first house, a bedroom with French doors off of the living room. I put up nice curtains and it was a bedroom, but I also used it as an office at one time (before the second kid came along). I almost bought a house in New Mexico a few years ago, and had narrowed my search to it on the internet before going to see it. And the house I'm in now I also first found on the internet. The photos are typically like looking through a keyhole--a very small impression of a much larger place, but it's a great start. And it looks like you found a wonderful property! SRS |
|
09 Oct 03 - 06:26 PM (#1032699) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: C-flat Looks like a lot of house for the money! I hope the deal goes through without a hitch and you have many happy times there. Good luck. |
|
09 Oct 03 - 07:25 PM (#1032722) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: katlaughing Thanks for the explanation, SRS. I found the one we bought on Realtor.com, in fact I never saw it in 3D until after the purchase when Rog went back to Wyoming to move me and our household down here! Of course, he was here and saw it in person and signed all of the papers with power of attorney, but I guess we could say we bought our house on the internet!**bg** I love browsing through their site. |
|
09 Oct 03 - 07:33 PM (#1032731) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Amergin sure thing, amos...just let me put the pacifier on my bottle of black bush.... and i'll be set... ;) |
|
09 Oct 03 - 07:55 PM (#1032738) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Amos LOL!! Watch out Rapaire!! We're comin' to visit!! Can you play golf with a banjo? A |
|
09 Oct 03 - 08:33 PM (#1032764) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee On Saturday I'm going there to inspect with the house inspector and the pest inspector and the radon inspector. I'll know more about it by late Saturday afternoon, perhaps more than I care to know. We might be able to to closing yet this month, so we can have the necessary alterations done before we move in. So...if anyone wants to shovel pigeon poop around the middle of November.... Actually, if anyone does want to come visit, just let me know a day or so in advance so I can get out of...er, clean the place up a little. |
|
09 Oct 03 - 08:46 PM (#1032770) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Sorcha Looks like a lot of money to me! (I know I posted to this thread before, but it's not here.....gremlins ate it I guess) Congrats, Mike! |
|
09 Oct 03 - 11:22 PM (#1032854) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: rangeroger Well, I'm ready to head south and visit. I'll even bring my golf clubs along with assorted string instruments. Mike, if you're going to be with inspectors on Sat.,does that mean you're not coming to Post Falls this weekend? rr |
|
10 Oct 03 - 08:05 AM (#1033032) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee Well, it's more money than I've ever spend on anything in my life. Even after the downpayment it's more. But it's buying a nice place (at least, from what I can tell). And it will have room for Pat to quilt and for me to do whatever it is I do. I can have a garden (there's already aspargus growing), and I can build a spud gun and shoot potatoes across the golf course. We've already gotten friends and family lined up to visit next Spring and Summer ("Oh, Boy!" said nephew Danny, "I can go fish for trout in Idaho!" "So, where are you going to take me elk hunting?" asked brother Tony. "Where are the quilt shops?" asked Pat's friends.) Brings up a song: There's a hole in my wallet, dear Liza, dear Liza, There's a hole in my wallet, dear Liza, a hole.... |
|
10 Oct 03 - 12:33 PM (#1033213) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,amergin don't forget the mudcat hordes ready to descend on you're lovely oasis in the desert of Southern Idaho... |
|
10 Oct 03 - 02:44 PM (#1033290) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: brid widder congratulations Rapaire... I'm not sure about $ & £ exchange rates but it looks a bargain compared with UK prices... and it is gorgeous!! Please please please tell me ... what is an 'embouchre'... the word cropped up in a song I am learning & I've no idea... except that it has something to do with playing brass instruments... oh and what do you do with half a bath?.... just the bottom half? |
|
10 Oct 03 - 02:47 PM (#1033293) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,MMario "half bath" in the US usually means WC with no bathing facility (don't forget over here they are usually in the same room) |
|
10 Oct 03 - 02:48 PM (#1033294) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage Ha! Can't answer the brass question, but can answer the bath question. Here a "full bath" consists of a bathtub, a toilet, and a sink. If it has only a shower it is sometimes called 3/4, or in some way distinguished as not having the tub. A half bath has only the commode and the sink. SRS |
|
10 Oct 03 - 02:56 PM (#1033299) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: brid widder we call that a loo! |
|
10 Oct 03 - 03:31 PM (#1033320) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee "Embouchre" is the shaping and moving of the lips (and tongue) when playing a brass or other mouth-played instrument instrument. I have to get my embouchre back, which means that I have to play so that I exercise the muscles that are used in playing trumpet, learn again to coordinate the fingering of the valves the the "tightness" of the lips to the specific note, and so on. Woodwind players also have embouchres. Pipers don't, usually. Once you learn it you don't forget it, but you have to rebuild old roads in the brain (so to speak). Trumpeters who can double or triple tongue when playing are often very popular for some reason.... |
|
10 Oct 03 - 03:33 PM (#1033321) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Amos Embouchure is the art of forming one's mouth for optimum sound in playing a brass instrument. It usually requires extensive development and practice to maintain a good embouchure. The word comes from the French feminine noun "bouche", mouth, for obvious reasons. A |
|
10 Oct 03 - 04:29 PM (#1033348) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Alice Congrats on the house. I'm only a few hours away in Bozeman, MT. When is the Mudcat party? Next summer? You're in for it now, Rapaire!! Folkies will be sleeping on your basement floor. What is the reason for the Mormons to have an extra kitchen? We have a lot of houses like that here because it is a University town and many rent their basements out to students. Alice |
|
10 Oct 03 - 07:09 PM (#1033425) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee "Oh mother, dear mother, I'm stiff and I'm sore From sleeping six nights on Rap's basement floor..." to paraphrase an old song from the CND days. |
|
10 Oct 03 - 07:24 PM (#1033437) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,pdq Trouble with buying a big house is that "junk expands to fill all space available". Good luck! |
|
10 Oct 03 - 11:43 PM (#1033535) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage pdq, have you ever got that right! If you have the packrat tendency in the family genome (I get it from both sides!) then you're just giving yourself the proverbial rope to hang yourself with. I'm figuring out all of the places to put shelves and that should help in my house (2400 square feet plus a 500sf garage). Once I get books out of boxes, there will be a lot more floor space. Something I think our friend with the new house is more than familiar with! SRS |
|
11 Oct 03 - 06:58 AM (#1033604) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,noddy should the thread title be " a house a house my kingdom for a house" |
|
11 Oct 03 - 09:19 AM (#1033657) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee I am a librarian. My wife is a librarian. We are both on a twelve-step program to help us overcome our addiction to printed paper. That is why we are buying this house -- to overcome our addiction to paper printed with numbers and portraits of famous, but dead, Americans like Grant, Washington, Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson. We have books. LOTS of books. New books, old books, common books, scarce books. SF, mysteries, history, medicine, reference, humor, art, quilting, Irish stuff, music, computeres, politics, law, pottery, travel, and other things expressing the eclecticism of our lives and interests. We are having more bookshelves built before we move it. One entire wall of the lower level will be bookshelves -- about 10 cases of 36 inch long shelves, probably eight to ten shelves per case -- and if you're not counting, that's about 300 feet (100 yards, 91.44 meters, 9.144 x 10^11 angstroms, 18.18181818 rods, 9.904243705224361 x 10^-15 light years [I found this neat converter]) of new shelving. It probably won't be enough. |
|
11 Oct 03 - 12:35 PM (#1033730) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Amergin i like snooping on people's bookshelves when i visit them....i think a bookshelf can say alot about the person who lives there... |
|
11 Oct 03 - 12:50 PM (#1033740) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee Mine'll say a lot about me, all right! "Looky here! Those paperbacks are so old that they're all tatty. Slob!" "The 'Psychopathia Sexualis' -- well, we know what sort of person HE is!" "And here -- both 'The Fifth Gospel' AND 'The Acts of Jesus' right there next to 'Lamb'! Blasphemy AND heresy! Let's burn 'im!" "Wait, wait -- he's got 'Get Tough!' and 'Instinct Shooting'. Let's think this over a bit." "Nah, he's also got the Bible, the Book of Mormon, 'Doctrines and Covenants', the Bagadha Gita, Lao Tzu, and other sorts of books -- and here! Copies of the 'Anarchist's Cookbook' and the Constitution and Karl Marx and the Declaration of Independence and the 'Federalist Papers' and the writings of Thomas Jefferson! Git the rope boys, we got ourselves a Commie Atheist Anarchist Pervert!" And this is before the music books chime in (pun intended). |
|
11 Oct 03 - 01:28 PM (#1033761) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Tinker I am so jealous of the new shelving!!!! All of the above would easiy find a comfortable home with like minded bindings somewhere around here, but my husband is not a libriarian. He works on Wall Street so we add the business management, economics, oh and 15 or so translations of the Art of War... This old Victorian with nooks and cranies doesnot lend itself to long stretches of shelving, but we are definately working on it... Good luck. Kathy |
|
11 Oct 03 - 01:31 PM (#1033765) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: annamill Rapaire, a house like that in New Jersey would cost half a million. I think it would cost that much in San Diego too, wouldn't it Amos? Nice job, Rapaire. Best of luck and much happiness. Annamill |
|
11 Oct 03 - 02:44 PM (#1033794) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,pdq In coastal California cities, the house would cost about $85 per square foot.: 4400 sq. ft. (add says this, not 4200) X $85= $370,000 for structure; Add $240,000 for a lot (that is 1/4 acre in the burbs) and you get $614,000. That does not get you a view of a golf course or landscaping. |
|
11 Oct 03 - 06:25 PM (#1033860) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage I have a friend who built some wonderful shallow bookshelves calculated to just fit paperback novels. And frank as she is about reading, she put them where they needed to be, in the bathroom. :) The shelf is where they won't get wet, and it isn't like they're read cover to cover in there, but it was a good use of blank wall space! I agree with some of the calculations above. Even here in Fort Worth where we have some of the lowest housing prices in the nation, I predict that you still couldn't get that much house and that location unless you put down a $100,000 more than you're paying there. SRS (The ads are coming up for golf vacations in Ireland now--interesting!) |
|
11 Oct 03 - 09:19 PM (#1033919) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee I just got back from a 5 and half hour long home inspection. I'm exhausted. Basically, the place is in pretty good shape. The roof is at the end of life (EOL) and so is the water heater. There are some settlement cracks to be taken care of, and there is evidence of old termite infestations without treatment (none active were seen). The gas furnace needs to be serviced, the chimneys swept, and GFCIs installed outside and in all areas near water. The kitchen stove exhaust fan only goes into the attic, as do the bathroom exhaust fans (this was okay when the place was built, but not now). A couple of toilets are loose and may be leaking, and the master bathroom shower needs to be recaulked and regrouted. Some flashing has come off and birds have gotten into the attic. Radon monitoring is going on now and will finish on Monday. Nothing like buying a house and finding that glowing in the dark makes lightbulbs unnecessary. In short, nothing money won't fix.... And some of it needn't be done now; even more is "monitor and take action if warranted." I AM going to have the stump of a satellite antenna and its attendant wiring removed for the backyard -- or I may just modify it and turn it into a vertically oriented spud gun. Sorry gang, the hot tub was removed a long time ago, the pool table's gone, and they're taking the gun safe. I forgot to mention the books on business, computers, humor, literature, poetry, quilting, pottery, quilting, novels, quilting, domestic architecture of the US, military history, feminism, philosophy, libraries, and did I mention quilting? I'm looking forward to seeing some of my books again -- some have been boxed for three years. It'll be like renewing old friendships. |
|
11 Oct 03 - 09:34 PM (#1033923) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,Rapaire's Secret Santa A party? At Rapaire's house in I-dee-ho-ho-ho? Whoopee, let's all go! Happy House-HO-HO-HO! |
|
11 Oct 03 - 10:11 PM (#1033931) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage I think a party is called for as soon as he's in the place! One of those virtual ones, where we can dig up the yard as we bring in the equipment and it won't show the morning after. The electrical work can be expensive, though if it is just changing out the ground fault breakers that's not too bad. I have to deal with some ventillation problems in my house also (better vents from the bathrooms so the ceiling doesn't fall in from condensation). And my kitchen fan is supposed to vent outside, but the pipe is a tad short. I have a collar thing to put on it (now that the attic is cooler again) that should solve any vent problems there. I'm crossing my fingers that I can keep the squirrels out this year. And you be careful in an attic that has had birds. Histoplasmosis is a real health hazard around dried bird and bat guano if there is any to speak of. Too bad about the hot tub. You could mull a lot of cider (and several Mudcatters) in there on a cold winter night (the night of the party, of course!). SRS |
|
11 Oct 03 - 10:15 PM (#1033932) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Bobert Well danged, Rapster! Two kitchens? Man, that's gonna be hard to top but me the the Wes Ginny slide rule is gonna get workin' on it.... We think we can squeeze three into my 2600 ft. house if I can learn to sleep stanndin' up and If I send the P-Vine to the YWCA... But to have three kitchens??? Well, that's a no brainer since you got two... Awww, jus messin' wid ya'... Congrates... Bobert |
|
11 Oct 03 - 10:34 PM (#1033942) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Deckman Hey ... Rapaire! I know that you are thrilled with your new house ... and all. but I guess that someone has to break the BAD NEWS to you. You've just signed 11 teen million papers, right? On the lower right edge of page 1,333, did you notice the FINE PRINT? You have now given permission for ALL of the telemarketers in ninteen countrys to call you, 24 hours a day, for the next next 17 years! Welcome Home! Bob |
|
11 Oct 03 - 11:05 PM (#1033956) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Bobert Yep, except Deckman missed some of the smaller print. Actually, you have signed off on telemarketers to harrass you for up to 50 years after yer, ahhhh, death. Sorry... Brings new meaning to "Rest in Peace"... Bobert |
|
11 Oct 03 - 11:51 PM (#1033972) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Melani Congratulations on your new abode! The painful part, of course, is that here in the SF Bay Area, the price you paid for your red-carpeted palace might get you a roofless doghouse in a bad neighborhood. Oh well. Enjoy being a homeowner! |
|
12 Oct 03 - 01:11 AM (#1033993) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Amergin so...when can we move in? |
|
12 Oct 03 - 02:15 AM (#1033995) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,pdc Wow, you couldn't buy the land here for that price. Good for you! |
|
12 Oct 03 - 11:05 AM (#1034093) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage 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 |
|
12 Oct 03 - 12:46 PM (#1034128) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee 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.) |
|
12 Oct 03 - 01:07 PM (#1034142) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: SINSULL 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 |
|
12 Oct 03 - 01:08 PM (#1034144) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Amos Rap: Just FYI you can add an on-demand tankless heater without removing the existing HW tank. A |
|
12 Oct 03 - 04:35 PM (#1034218) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage 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 |
|
12 Oct 03 - 06:07 PM (#1034253) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Deckman 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 |
|
12 Oct 03 - 06:37 PM (#1034273) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee "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). |
|
12 Oct 03 - 06:55 PM (#1034283) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,Rapaire's Secret Santa 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! |
|
12 Oct 03 - 07:08 PM (#1034295) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee 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???? |
|
13 Oct 03 - 03:58 AM (#1034420) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,Rapaire's Secret Santa 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? |
|
13 Oct 03 - 09:12 AM (#1034572) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee 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.... |
|
13 Oct 03 - 10:32 AM (#1034619) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage Eeeeyyyewwww! Better watch out or your red rug will be multi colors of puke! |
|
16 Oct 03 - 06:19 PM (#1037064) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee 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.... |
|
16 Oct 03 - 06:53 PM (#1037076) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage Get them to fix some of that stuff, or have their insurance cover it before you close. |
|
16 Oct 03 - 07:04 PM (#1037082) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee You betcha they're gonna pay for at least some of it! Now the negotiating starts in earnest. |
|
16 Oct 03 - 08:10 PM (#1037138) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage 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 |
|
17 Oct 03 - 12:27 PM (#1037353) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee 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. |
|
17 Oct 03 - 12:52 PM (#1037364) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage 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 |
|
18 Oct 03 - 02:23 AM (#1037621) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: open mike 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! |
|
18 Oct 03 - 12:35 PM (#1037730) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,pdq 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". |
|
18 Oct 03 - 02:46 PM (#1037772) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,Rapaire's Secre Santa 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. |
|
20 Oct 03 - 08:39 AM (#1038307) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee 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. |
|
20 Oct 03 - 07:11 PM (#1038639) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee 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 |
|
21 Oct 03 - 05:14 AM (#1038818) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,Rapaire's Secret Santa 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. |
|
21 Oct 03 - 08:51 AM (#1038885) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee 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? |
|
21 Oct 03 - 09:08 PM (#1039323) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,Rapaire's Secret Santa Remember the Alamo and San Jacinto Day too! |
|
21 Oct 03 - 09:18 PM (#1039327) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,One of Rapaire's Secret Santa's possible nei Tread carefully, oh jolly librarian! That thar territory is rotten with Mudcatters! |
|
28 Oct 03 - 06:01 PM (#1043433) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee 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. |
|
12 Nov 03 - 07:37 AM (#1052278) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee 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.... |
|
12 Nov 03 - 10:00 AM (#1052382) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage 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 |
|
12 Nov 03 - 10:09 AM (#1052397) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,MMario 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 - |
|
12 Nov 03 - 10:28 AM (#1052421) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: katlaughing 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 |
|
12 Nov 03 - 10:33 AM (#1052426) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: The Fooles Troupe 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 |
|
12 Nov 03 - 10:35 AM (#1052428) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: The Fooles Troupe what I meant was a plate rail - goes around a room at the level of the doors - about 3-4 inches wide. Robin |
|
12 Nov 03 - 01:44 PM (#1052557) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee 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. |
|
12 Nov 03 - 07:12 PM (#1052777) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage 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 |
|
12 Nov 03 - 10:32 PM (#1052857) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: The Fooles Troupe 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 |
|
13 Nov 03 - 10:51 AM (#1053126) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,Rapaire, in training and cookieless 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. |
|
02 Dec 03 - 08:15 AM (#1064349) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee 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?... |
|
02 Dec 03 - 08:35 AM (#1064362) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: artbrooks And you did stipulate a code inspection, with the sellers to pay for necessary repairs, right? |
|
02 Dec 03 - 09:02 AM (#1064385) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee 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. |
|
02 Dec 03 - 09:06 AM (#1064389) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: annamill 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 |
|
02 Dec 03 - 09:26 AM (#1064403) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Amos 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 |
|
02 Dec 03 - 10:00 AM (#1064422) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee 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! |
|
02 Dec 03 - 02:51 PM (#1064605) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: artbrooks Only 140 linear feet a bookshelves? Piker!! |
|
02 Dec 03 - 06:31 PM (#1064735) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee 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??? |
|
02 Dec 03 - 09:59 PM (#1064849) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: The Fooles Troupe 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 |
|
02 Dec 03 - 10:35 PM (#1064876) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage 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 |
|
02 Dec 03 - 10:49 PM (#1064880) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Amos 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 |
|
02 Dec 03 - 10:50 PM (#1064881) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee SRS, the freezers are buried up to their lids behind an 18 inch thick stone wall. There is about 3 feet of clearance at the top until you reach the deck above them. They are also about 8 feet from the basement wall of the house. I plan to fill them with dirt and let them decompose. Using them as smokers (which isn't a bad idea, really) wouldn't work, given their location. I hope that there's a body in the one we haven't opened yet, so that the police can take them out. I think we'll have enough bookcases. At least, I hope we do. There are literally a couple tons of books in storage. I've been SO frustrated at times, not having access to them and knowing that the data I wanted was there! When do I plan to have a housewarming? Given the way the upgrades are going, sometime in 2007. Seriously, we'll probably be in before the middle of January, and have a housewarming oh, maybe in later February or the first week in March. Wanna come? |
|
03 Dec 03 - 02:31 PM (#1064930) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage Rapaire, I've been in this house for a year and a half, and though there have been times when I've shoved all of the boxes and tools out of sight, this ain't one of 'em. I'm not sure where I'll put the tree this year. On the other hand, I made sure the kitchen was in very good shape, the dining area (an extension of the kitchen, not a separate room) is easy to use, one bathroom is completely functional, the bedrooms are comfortable (though there are boxes of stuff stacked in all of them) and we have one 12x14 room at the front of the house with comfy chairs and a couch and all of the videos and DVDs and a nice televison and the usual video equpiment. So we can all play games in there or watch movies and feel like it's a "normal" house. As long as you have zones like that, then I don't worry about what the rest of it looks like while it is a work in progress. I do try to put nightlights in areas of current construction so no one wanders in and hurts themselves in the dark. I'm with Amos, I'd start reading your books and start a stack off to the side of books I want to look at more closely before putting them on a shelf. You'd end up with books all over the place. But then, my house is like that also. It is my theory that once I have enough shelves for all of the books that everything else will take care of itself. Well, okay, I also need shelving for craft and sewing stuff. SRS |
|
03 Dec 03 - 02:51 PM (#1064954) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,MMario any possibility the freezers are to cut down on heat transfer from the basement through the surrounding fill? |
|
03 Dec 03 - 03:21 PM (#1064971) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee Nope, Mario, they're not buried in line, but abreast and perpendicular to the basement wall. The best reason I've heard so far is that someone used them for storing potatoes, but it was admittedly far-fetched. I'm coming to believe that they're simply deconstructionist art. SRS, we're having work done to insure safety and the functionality of the place before we move it. Once we're in, the wall of bookcases and a new carpet go into the basement and then we're doing our own stuff. But the basement stairs, for instance, is carpeted on the steps and the walls with a dark red and black carpet; prior to the installation of lights on the stairway it looking like a ramp -- and I don't want anyone, including myself, hurt. And I ain't gonna do the electrical work that has been necessary, nope, but when we move in we'll be sure the place won't burn, at least from electrical faults. Yeah, I'm afeared that when I start unpacking books I'll start reading them, too. Somewhere I have copies of James White's "Sector General" series and all of the Heinlein juveniles and a complete run of the "Calvin and Hobbes" cartoons and books on and of music, and history, and literature, and whole books of poems, and books on science, and books on religion, and books on art, and books on lots of stuff and it's gonna be like finding them new all over again. Speaking of crafts and sewing, ah, I must confess that I live with a quilter. She is eying one (small) room just for fabric. Of course she also has a Pfaff sewing machine, a Sears machine, a Singer treadle machine, and a Singer Featherweight machine (in the original carrying case) -- and they all work. Her cutting table consists of a 36" wide door laid on sawhorses. And all I have is a tiny room, a miniscule space, not even room to extend my legs, wherein to do my things.... |
|
03 Dec 03 - 03:48 PM (#1064989) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,MMario Do you have the latest James White? |
|
03 Dec 03 - 04:50 PM (#1065028) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: The Fooles Troupe MMario, stop distracting the poor guy with books! :-) Oh Rapaire, do you have any books on books? Other than the ones in the piles... Quotes from Robin's "Great Book Of Wisdom": 1) You NEVER have enough bookshelves. See Rule 2. 2) You NEVER have enough books. See Rule 1. 3) A phone in a bedroom may be useful in times of sickness, but not often. |
|
03 Dec 03 - 05:04 PM (#1065040) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,LDB That doesn't sound too large; after all, mine is slightly over 5000 sq feet. Oh! Wait! That's the size of my LOT!! |
|
03 Dec 03 - 05:14 PM (#1065047) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee I dunno. I dunno what I have. I've got a bunch of Sector General though. I think I've got some of his non-SG stuff, too -- didn't he write one called "Lifeboat?" I've also got some Spider Robinson, including "Lady Slings The Booze," in which (ahem! he shyly said) I'm named for my assistance. If you know the book, you know where it's set. If you know where it's set, you might wonder what assistance I gave. The house is about 4,000 sq. ft. The lot is somewhat larger, but not a lot. |
|
03 Dec 03 - 06:24 PM (#1065092) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee I shall be having the bookshelves done in another way than what we intended. The quote is for $4,400. We need bookshelves, but not ones made of rare booga-booga wood from Ramalamarutu! Maybe I'll just get pre-mades and go from there. Or do 'em myself. |
|
03 Dec 03 - 08:17 PM (#1065165) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: artbrooks "...probably not clinical advice for Madam and her employees..."{he says, ducking and running for his life} |
|
03 Dec 03 - 08:27 PM (#1065170) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,Stilly River Sage You can find some nice nude shelves these days. I have also seen some halfway decent finished ones at Lowes, of all places. Simple, but wood, not fibreboard that weighs a ton and warps. I'm sure you know that any shelf over about 30" long isn't going to manage to hold books without sagging. I'm considering the trick of making super thick shelves by gluing two boards together and putting a nice edge on the front. SRS |
|
03 Dec 03 - 10:32 PM (#1065217) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee No, Art, my advice was of a much more esoteric sort. There are, as I'm sure you're aware, certain, well, nuances, that any well-run "business" needs to know about. And I, with my vast experience and even vaster sources of information, was able to supply certain bits of information critical to the "business". Nothing crude, mind you. And my help was a complete and as vast as possible, as I certainly wouldn't give half-vast help. |
|
04 Dec 03 - 02:48 AM (#1065283) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: The Fooles Troupe Aussie "Kultcha" to the rescue! Bookshelves - take some concrete blocks (we call them "Besser" blocks here) - place 2 on floor - place board over the tops between them - repeat until shelves are high enough or floor caves in.... Robin |
|
04 Dec 03 - 12:04 PM (#1065519) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,ClaireBear I got some good assemble-'em-yourself bookcases at Costco a couple of months ago. They have 48" shelves with a center wall for extra support, they ARE in fact 7 ft high, and they have 5 movable shelves each. Priced just under $300 a unit, as I recall -- certainly not more, and possibly less. So that's 72 feet of shelf space, counting the bottom fixed shelf and NOT counting the top. They even look nice, in a light oak sort of way. The visible parts are wood; the unseen bits are very heavy MDF. My books are now coming out of storage after ten years! |
|
04 Dec 03 - 01:22 PM (#1065567) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage ClaireBear, those are the kinds of purchases that I have the "lot loader" put in the back of my pickup truck, and when I get home I climb in and tear the package open and carry the bits in one at a time. That compressed fibre stuff weighs a ton. |
|
04 Dec 03 - 01:27 PM (#1065570) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,ClaireBear Yup, we did that too. And they were a huge pain to assemble, primarily due to their weight. But when put together they were satisfyingly solid and a delight to stock with books! I just hope I never have to move them... |
|
04 Dec 03 - 01:28 PM (#1065571) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee We're looking at those heavy, fiberboard bookcases now. If we go that route, well, there's a company here in town that will not only deliver them, but set them up as well. And they'll discount them. The sort of service I can live with! We'd probably put a couple of extra shelves in each unit, too, if they're available. I think I'm going to use the Oz solution in my workshop. Problem is, Idaho is considered an active seismic area and stuff over about 4 feet high should be fastened to the walls unless it has a base wider than its top. Ever had seven feet of loaded bookcase fall on you? I have. |
|
04 Dec 03 - 02:14 PM (#1065594) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,ClaireBear (I meant 24 feet of shelf space, of course; it's just that I bought three of them.) I haven't, but my husband has...we're just a few miles from the epicenter of the Loma Prieta quake ('89), and when my husband first moved here in the '80s he had this deplorable tendency to contruct room dividers out of those rickety metal shelves. After one landed on him in 1989, he gave that up. I WILL bolt those shelves, I WILL bolt those shelves. At least, in the meantime, they're sitting on a slab floor, not on the second-floor loft of a 19th century barn as my husband's were! Hey, Rapaire, didja ever think about ripping up some of that carpeting and trotting it over to the Tavern? It would really brighten up the decor and cozy up the room. Plus it wouldn't matter if the hot tub water got splashed all over it. |
|
04 Dec 03 - 02:38 PM (#1065609) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage Rapaire, Since the Realtor.com listing expired some time ago you'll have to take new photos and post them somewhere for us. Before and after shots, please! Great idea about that red carpet. SRS |
|
04 Dec 03 - 03:11 PM (#1065628) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: artbrooks I have a set of brick 'n board shelves that date back to our very first home, in Junction City, Kansas. There are two great things about them...they can be assembled in a variety of configurations, and they are free...all you need is a construction site... |
|
04 Dec 03 - 04:07 PM (#1065683) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Donuel Here n DC such a house runs 750,000 dollars. |
|
04 Dec 03 - 04:47 PM (#1065703) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Bill D lots of ways to build/setup bookcases....I have done it both professionally and personally for 40 years. If your walls can support it, the cheapest good way is metal standards with snap-in supports...(and some of those can look really decent)(bricks & boards, as you say, are unstable in earthquakes)..most expensive is built-to-fit all finely finished...but $4000??? tsk! Wish I was near Idaho, I'd make you a deal! The problem with freestanding units is that they never quite fit well, and waste space...(maybe the cheap way in the back rooms and some 'nicer' ones elsewhere?) Sagging can be fought with small, cut-to-fit boards between shelves, even thinner than a book and stained to be almost invisible. And a little well chosen stain can make the cheapest boards look VERY nice. If you do use fibreboard, you can get stick-on edging that looks quite elegant... |
|
05 Dec 03 - 07:52 AM (#1065978) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee Whew! The electrical is done. Fifty-one hundred US dollars done. At least it's now up to code and won't burn down (from that!) around our ears. And it includes hard-wired smoke detectors. Having seen what was before, I offer a suggestion regarding electrical work: if you can't do it right, have it done by a pro. It's cheaper, lots cheaper, in the long run. I'll see if I can find a place to post some pictures. |
|
05 Dec 03 - 08:27 AM (#1066002) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: artbrooks Send them to Pene Azul and ask him to post them in "Events." |
|
05 Dec 03 - 08:57 AM (#1066029) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee Good idea, Art. I've emailed five to Pene, asking for a posting in Events. There's one of the front of the place, one of the back, one showing the problems of the buried freezers, one of the cooking area in the kitchen, and one "before" photo of the stairway to the lower level. Remember as you look at the photo of the freezer that there is at least one more, buried under the stuff at the left. I'll see about sending some of the problems, and them of the corrections we've made. (I can't get into the walls, so you'll have to take my word for some of it.) |
|
07 Dec 03 - 01:00 AM (#1067086) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee Okay, there are photos here. I'll have some "before&after" in a bit. What else would y'all like to see? (Thanks, Pene Azul!) |
|
07 Dec 03 - 01:41 AM (#1067091) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,Rapaire's Secret Santa I don't see a chimney in the picture. I thought there was a chimney. What will I do? |
|
07 Dec 03 - 06:12 AM (#1067141) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee Yes, SS, there is a chimney. There are, in fact, two fireplaces. And we had the chimney swept clean, tuck pointed, and a brand new chimney cap put on just for you! (Our bit to make your annual Evening Out just a little bit safer and cleaner.) |
|
07 Dec 03 - 07:15 AM (#1067154) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: GUEST,Rapaire's Secret Santa That's great! You're such a nice guy! Mrs. Santa has cut back my rations of cookies so I'll be able to fit all the chimneys of the world, but I'll be hungry on my big night out, so I hope you'll have cookies for me. See ya soon. (I just remembered that I'll probably visit I-dee-ho-ho-ho before Christmas Eve.) |
|
07 Dec 03 - 09:15 PM (#1067569) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: The Fooles Troupe Nice house, but from your description I had this vision of it set in rolling hills, with trees, and streams and no nearby houses - now I see it's a suburban house... Sigh!!!! |
|
07 Dec 03 - 09:36 PM (#1067578) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee Robin, there are some FINE views out the back -- that deck looks across the golf course to various mountains, which are right now white with snow. From it I can see American Falls Reservoir, about 25 miles away, on a reasonably clear day. On a VERY clear day I can see almost to the Sawtooth Mountians. I suspect that most of our life will be centered around the back of the house -- who wants to watch a street?? We looked at houses set 'midst rolling mountains, and the fire danger was one of several things we took into consideration. Besides, THOSE houses that are worth anything aren't for sale and those that are for sale have problems that make the ones we've been correcting look like nothing at all. (We saw one, for instance, that had rather heavy mildew inside the insulation, because the owners vented the clothes dryer INTO the wall.) This'un'll do. Tell you what, I'll take some views out back and post them. I'll try to do it on a clear day, too. |
|
07 Dec 03 - 10:43 PM (#1067618) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee Oh, yeah, it's not in a suburb, but right there in the urb. |
|
07 Dec 03 - 10:45 PM (#1067619) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: The Fooles Troupe Sings: "On a clear day, you can see forever"... |
|
07 Dec 03 - 10:49 PM (#1067621) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: artbrooks Pocateller? An URB??? |
|
07 Dec 03 - 11:00 PM (#1067630) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee Hey, Art, better'n 50K people exist here! It's even become a SMSA! Oh, sure, there are few eccentricities among the urbites, but heck, I'll betcha LOTS of folks in, say, LA keep goats in their bedroom. I'll betcha that some of them even dress them up in panyhose, too. Shucks, any town with THREE linear accelerators has got some real culture! |
|
08 Dec 03 - 07:02 PM (#1068066) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee Well, poop. The man came today to regrout and recaulk the shower in the master bath and the tub in the other. The LAST things, then cleanup the first floor and move on in! Yeah, right. The tile around the shower is "floating" because of moisture in the wall, and the flooring has water under it, too. A completely redone shower, new floor covering, maybe a new toilet. The sellers COULDN'T have lived there from 1989 to 2003 and NOT known about some of these problems! Well, at least the place will be in EXCELLENT FANTASTIC SUPERB LIKE-NEW shape when we finally do get to move in. House Warming Party tentatively set for the first or second weekend in March, 2004. (So, how much do I make the check out for? Okay, how many zeroes is that again?) |
|
08 Dec 03 - 09:41 PM (#1068143) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage You can do the tile yourself. Demolish (carefully) the wall, then get a good contractor to come in and do the greenboard if you're not sure you want to do that (but it isn't difficult). Before the greenboard, have a plumber look at the fixture and suggest the best repair or arrangement of pipes, fittings, and shower base. If you want to change out your shower and faucet fittings do it now! These fittings are not interchangeable and if you have Delta and don't want to keep Delta then find a good one and have the plumber put it on. I wish I'd known that before I had the greenwall put up. I'm stuck with Delta. I put a lovely green Mexican tile in my hall bathroom around the tub, all the way to the ceiling. One of these days I'll get around to putting the blue tile in the master bathroom tub surround. The trade off--you get better tile but you don't necessarily get speedy service! SRS |
|
09 Dec 03 - 09:29 AM (#1068397) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee Pene Azul has put up Part 2 to the photos. These are indicative of some of the problems we've had corrected with the electrical (and the heating ducts). I think that the second freezer is full of covers for junction boxes, since an AWFUL lot of them didn't have covers. (Why? The covers come with the boxes when you buy them, so it can't be cost. Unless, of course, you have this 'thing' for junction box covers and use them for jewelry or sew them to leathern jacks. I dunno.) |
|
09 Dec 03 - 03:53 PM (#1068687) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage Here is part 2 of those photos. Those exposed wires look like a nasty shock for whomever did the inspection. |
|
09 Dec 03 - 05:02 PM (#1068737) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee An even nastier shock awaited whoever touched the exposed 220v. line. Would have been nice if the house had been grounded, too. |
|
08 Jan 04 - 05:05 PM (#1088954) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee For those who might be interested: We had to rebuild the master bath from the subflooring up -- new subfloor, new substrate, new shower (!), new toilet, new tile, new vinyl floor covering. BUT IT'S DONE!! Tomorrow, approximately two months after closing, the house will be thoroughly cleaned and Saturday, January 10, we start moving boxes and stuff. Huzzah! Hurrah! Caloo! Calay! Now, if anyone wants to pop over and help...preferably someone with a good pickup truck or such.... |
|
08 Jan 04 - 05:32 PM (#1088966) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Amos Congrats, Rap!! Nice to hear you chortling in your joy!! A |
|
10 Jan 04 - 07:33 PM (#1090191) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage We want more photos, please! I hope you had a good moving day. SRS |
|
11 Jan 04 - 12:30 AM (#1090323) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee Well, we moved SOME stuff. We'll have the big stuff -- like sofas and refrigerators and like that -- moved by big strong folks with great big trucks. You can only get so much into my Civic and Pat's Accord. But a start has been made. Okay, I'll see about some more pictures. Maybe snow pix. |
|
11 Jan 04 - 01:19 AM (#1090344) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage Hover nearby and don't let them sneak anything past you when they bring the big stuff. Moving companies hire casual labor who don't know a castor from a tuning fork and are liable to carry things wrong and hide anything that was broken in transit or as it was unloaded. Some years ago I caught the movers rolling antique furniture up a 100 foot driveway, and told them to carry it. They weren't happy, but those castors aren't for concrete, it wears them down and embeds sand so they'll scratch the floor. They're for moving the furniture a few feet so you can vacuum behind it. I use my own system for labeling so anything valuable in a box isn't identifiable. I can tell by where my label said it should go in the house what it is. The last move, I made on my own over the course of a couple of weeks. I moved everything except the upright grand piano. I HATE having to use movers. It's like offering an invitation to case the joint. SRS |
|
11 Jan 04 - 08:41 PM (#1090712) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Peace Rap, I hope things are going well. SRS, I have to ask. Did you or did you not locate Jimmy Hoffa in the freezer? |
|
12 Jan 04 - 12:00 AM (#1090841) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage Whose freezer? Rapaire is the guy with all of the extra freezers under his back porch! (But my best friend's father was Hoffa's treasurer for a number of years way back when. . .) SRS |
|
12 Jan 04 - 09:26 AM (#1091069) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee Okay, I've asked Jeff to post four more pictures. The floor in the master bath was rotten -- a combination of tiling over a leak in the shower without fixing it and a pinched gasket between the toilet tank and the toilet bowl -- which required new subfloor, shower and vinyl floor covering. That's the reason for the pix of the new shower. Yes, that's me in the shower; please try to contain yourself. The pink toilet picture is the half-bath; the tank was cracked and glued together. THIS TOILET NO LONGER EXISTS! We replaced it with the beige one that had been in the master bath and got a new, white, one for the master bath. It has been decided the the freezer were poor people's hot tubs. Fill with water, climb in, and use one of those "hot water in your cup" immersion heaters. We still haven't opened the second one because the snow makes it hard to get to. We've started moving things to the house, and given notice at the rental where we've been living that we will vacate no later than February 15. |
|
12 Jan 04 - 01:16 PM (#1091253) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Rapparee The new pictures are up. |
|
12 Jan 04 - 01:53 PM (#1091282) Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house! From: Stilly River Sage Here they are. That's a good looking repair on the shower. SRS |