Bye bye big city!

Me? OCD?? Nah, it wasn't so much a case of being obsessive as it was an understanding of how the local building and construction inspectors think and what they want to see. For trenches, they typically drop a tape and see how deep the trench is. Most trenches are dug to be deep in the middle and shallower along the walls; that is a function of the shape of the tools, shovels et al, that are used. Obviously a baby back hoe or similar would deliver a hole or trench that is more square but in my back yard there was no access for such luxuries so it was hand bomb all the way. Making the trench floor square to the walls also made it a consistent depth from side to side. So, no matter where the inspector dropped that tape, he/she would get the same measurement +/_ and it would be deeper than code minimum wanted. In that situation the inspector really has no valid reason to disprove the work. First inspection approval means the work moves along and keeps the costs down. A inspection rejection means the work has to be redone and then another inspection scheduled. That puts you way down on the schedule since second visits come after the first visits are done; and why the contractors are so picky about the work that the laborers do. Since I was my own contractor, I had to be picky about my work 'cause I had no one to blame but Moi if it didn't get done to spec and make the grade/pass.


Just me trying to dot the "i's" and cross all the "t's" completely the first time. Summer's are only 10 weeks long around here and I wanted at least to have the shell built and hoarded in by fall. As it turned out,it was the day before Christmas when the door guys finally showed up and hung the main door!!
 
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Quick update. Second floor framing and roof framing is complete....

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Next week they will work on roof decking, exterior sheathing and framing for the soffits and fascia.

The barn is skinned...

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Next for the barn will be forming and pouring the slab. That's all for now friends.
 
I assume the lack of updates over the last 2 months means you've just been busy moving in, right?
No, that's just the fastest two months of my life. The barn doesn't look much different. I was probably waiting until the slab got poured but the house has been going full speed ahead.
1. Framing is done
2. The roof is decked
3. The cornicing is done
4. All windows and doors are installed
5. The plumbing/electrical/HVAC rough in is done
6. The roof is mostly shingled
7. The brick and stone is mostly done
8. The spray foam insulation has gone in
9. Sheetrock was being installed last Saturday, which was the last time I was out there
10. The power pole for our drop service has been installed. That took about four months of wrangling with the franchise electric utility
11. The conduit for the electric and the separate conduit for the fiber have been run to the house and to the shop
12. The slab for the shop has been mostly formed up. There were some issues from the barn builder's work that really should have been done after the slab got poured but they were hard headed about not wanting to do it that way. They set the walk door too high. They had some of the trim for the garage door openings extending into the concrete, and had it nailed to wood blocks attached to the posts, which would be in the concrete. It's taken a bit of back and forth with them to get it fixed and Sean and I had to do quite a bit of it last Saturday. We're just trying to make it work.

I think that's most of it. Work has been very busy. Working on the new house build is like a part time job itself.

Sean (my brother) and I basically finished up the 14-month restoration of Dad's garage in early September. We've been working on our home in Spring every weekend since. We've pressure washed the wood privacy fence, the back patio, the driveway, the sidewalk, the curb and the front walk. We've done some minor fence repair. We've replaced a light fixture in the Master bedroom closet. We fabricated some stainless trim to cover the gaps between the stonework for the outdoor kitchen and the grill and side burner. On and on. We repaired a crack in the back patio (covered) and painted the back patio with some fancy concrete paint. We've had the house painted. We've had the trees trimmed. We're shining the place up like a new penny.

So between work, the new house build and polishing the old house. It's been really busy.

The cabinet walk-through for the new home is coming up, as is pouring the slab for the shop. Construction on the pool at the new place will start soon. The preconstruction meeting was supposed to take place today but got cancelled. Anyway, there's been a lot going on. Here's some pics....

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No, that's just the fastest two months of my life. The barn doesn't look much different. I was probably waiting until the slab got poured but the house has been going full speed ahead.
1. Framing is done
2. The roof is decked
3. The cornicing is done
4. All windows and doors are installed
5. The plumbing/electrical/HVAC rough in is done
6. The roof is mostly shingled
7. The brick and stone is mostly done
8. The spray foam insulation has gone in
9. Sheetrock was being installed last Saturday, which was the last time I was out there
10. The power pole for our drop service has been installed. That took about four months of wrangling with the franchise electric utility
11. The conduit for the electric and the separate conduit for the fiber have been run to the house and to the shop
12. The slab for the shop has been mostly formed up. There were some issues from the barn builder's work that really should have been done after the slab got poured but they were hard headed about not wanting to do it that way. They set the walk door too high. They had some of the trim for the garage door openings extending into the concrete, and had it nailed to wood blocks attached to the posts, which would be in the concrete. It's taken a bit of back and forth with them to get it fixed and Sean and I had to do quite a bit of it last Saturday. We're just trying to make it work.

I think that's most of it. Work has been very busy. Working on the new house build is like a part time job itself.

Sean (my brother) and I basically finished up the 14-month restoration of Dad's garage in early September. We've been working on our home in Spring every weekend since. We've pressure washed the wood privacy fence, the back patio, the driveway, the sidewalk, the curb and the front walk. We've done some minor fence repair. We've replaced a light fixture in the Master bedroom closet. We fabricated some stainless trim to cover the gaps between the stonework for the outdoor kitchen and the grill and side burner. On and on. We repaired a crack in the back patio (covered) and painted the back patio with some fancy concrete paint. We've had the house painted. We've had the trees trimmed. We're shining the place up like a new penny.

So between work, the new house build and polishing the old house. It's been really busy.

The cabinet walk-through for the new home is coming up, as is pouring the slab for the shop. Construction on the pool at the new place will start soon. The preconstruction meeting was supposed to take place today but got cancelled. Anyway, there's been a lot going on. Here's some pics....

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You sure you can fit 8 cars in the shop? Looks good man! Probably have told the power company you want solar panels to help power them they might have been faster?
 
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You sure you can fit 8 cars in the shop? Looks good man! Probably have told the power company you want solar panels to help power them they might have been faster?
That would be maxing it out. If you look at the picture above, looking out across the reinforcing steel, where I'm looking towards the two windows on the back wall and there are two windows on the left:
1. We plan to put in a double four post lift in the right rear. That would allow us to park two cars up and two cars down.
2. In the left rear, we plan to install a two post lift. That would allow us to stack two more cars, in a pinch.
3. We should be able to get two more cars up in the front, for a total of 8 inside the shop (packed in).
4. We also have the lean-to on the right (with respect to the picture mentioned above) which is 15'x50' so the truck and trailer should easily be able to fit under there. I don't foresee having 8 cars in there, but can imagine having five or six in there, pretty easily. We also have a three car attached garage on the house so we should be good from a perspective of parking cars inside.
 
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Nice work, guys. When does the old house get listed?
We're figuring on the new house being done by April so February/March/April? We're going to keep polishing this place until then. Sunday, I disassembled and pulled down one of the ceiling fans on the patio. The patio got built in 2018. This particular fan has never been right. The remote for it doesn't work unless if you are right under it. Also, on higher speeds (it has 6), it has a tendence to want to speed up a bit, freewheel, speed up a bit, freewheel and eventually either get over it or turn itself off. It has a sensor that shuts it down if it senses that it is pulling more than 38 watts. I ordered a new speed controller and a new power limiter. I seriously don't believe there is anything wrong with the motor. Sometimes it works perfectly (except for the short range for the remote).

When the patio cover got built in 2018, there was a disagreement/misunderstanding between my brother and the contractor on whether the fans were included in the bid or not. They decided to meet half way and each of them pay for one of the fans. The contractor provided what I'm pretty sure was a return. I think this will fix it though.

This week we're having engineered wood floors (glued down, not floating stuff) installed in the formal living/formal dining and the second family room upstairs. It hasn't been fun living through it. The house is thrashed. Should be over this week though and my brother swears it will sell the house.

The pool preconstruction meeting happened yesterday. I wasn't able to attend. The cabinet walk through is happening Thursday. I can't attend. Hopefully the slab for the shop will get poured soon. I'm antsy to see some progress on it. My brother and I were out there last Saturday. The sheet rock in the house is substantially complete. We put the walk door for the shop in the dumpster. It didn't survive being removed very well. I don't want to fight over it and I don't want to reuse it the way it was. The threshold was damaged where it wouldn't seal well and the wood frame/jamb was busted. It was just your typical 36"x80" metal clad 6-panel entry door. I'm looking at replacing it with a metal commercial door with a metal jamb, that will open out instead of in, and am thinking about putting one of those closers on it. I'm looking to make lemonade out of the lemons.

I guess that's it for now friends.
 
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That would be maxing it out. If you look at the picture above, looking out across the reinforcing steel, where I'm looking towards the two windows on the back wall and there are two windows on the left:
1. We plan to put in a double four post lift in the right rear. That would allow us to park two cars up and two cars down.
2. In the left rear, we plan to install a two post lift. That would allow us to stack two more cars, in a pinch.
3. We should be able to get two more cars up in the front, for a total of 8 inside the shop (packed in).
4. We also have the lean-to on the right (with respect to the picture mentioned above) which is 15'x50' so the truck and trailer should easily be able to fit under there. I don't foresee having 8 cars in there, but can imagine having five or six in there, pretty easily. We also have a three car attached garage on the house so we should be good from a perspective of parking cars inside.

Abc Love GIF by The Bachelor
 
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