Building a new house and shop (2 Viewers)

[mdsims]

You inspired me to keep moving on my window replacement project. Just got my quote back from Milgard: 18 weeks!

 

[1911]

You inspired me to keep moving on my window replacement project. Just got my quote back from Milgard: 18 weeks!

Any kind of building materials are on back order all over the country. The mrs. and I drove a long way today to go shopping in person for building stone and exterior doors. Couldn't even look at samples for what we wanted, and the wait times just keep increasing. Good thing that we have learned patience over the last few years.

 

[65swb45]

Sorry to hear about your delay, but not surprised. Marvin's are nice windows.

We're having Don Young Company in Dallas make ours; they're supposed to be super energy efficient and reasonable cost. Replacement Windows & Patio Doors Vinyl & Aluminum - https://www.dycwindows.com/default.aspx

I meant to say in my post above, that they are running at least 90 days behind schedule from both Covid and the building boom all over north Texas. Not quite a sbad as yours, but we'll see - it's going to be winter anyway before they can be in. Winters are pretty mild here so no big deal on that account, just time.

We just got what I thought was going to be a fairly standard special order door for our guest house remodel: 2.5 months! Granted, I live a news-free life, so I wasn’t aware there was a construction boom (other than what I heard second hand about wood shortages)

Good luck with your windows.

 

[1911]

We just got what I thought was going to be a fairly standard special order door for our guest house remodel: 2.5 months! Granted, I live a news-free life, so I wasn’t aware there was a construction boom (other than what I heard second hand about wood shortages)

Good luck with your windows. View attachment 2753933

Thanks Mark.

We don't watch or read news either, and our lives have been much more stress-free since we stopped.

In our small rural county, the housing boom is unfortunately obvious just from driving around. We are 25-30 miles away from a "big" city (Fort Worth, TX) and it's difficult for me to comprehend how many people are willing to live this far out and commute for work every day, but the appetite for houses out here seems to be insatiable. Sadly, it is changing the county and life out here, and not for the better - increased traffic and city people bringing their expectations of city life with them. We're fortunate to have the land that we do, that at least insulates us somewhat from nearby neighbors.

 

[1911]

In other small but pleasant "news" for us here, the two outside cats we got as kittens from a local friend are beginning to earn their keep: this is the second rat that one of them has killed and brought to the porch for us:

 

[65swb45]

Thanks Mark.

We don't watch or read news either, and our lives have been much more stress-free since we stopped.

In our small rural county, the housing boom is unfortunately obvious just from driving around. We are 25-30 miles away from a "big" city (Fort Worth, TX) and it's difficult for me to comprehend how many people are willing to live this far out and commute for work every day, but the appetite for houses out here seems to be insatiable. Sadly, it is changing the county and life out here, and not for the better - increased traffic and city people bringing their expectations of city life with them. We're fortunate to have the land that we do, that at least insulates us somewhat from nearby neighbors.

This has been the story of SoCal for as long as my wife and I can remember.
Her parents took pictures of the alfalfa field that was where there house was built, shortly after WWII, 25 miles from downtown LA.
When I met her brother for the first time in 1979, he was a drywall taper, and had followed the construction boom to the outskirts of Tucson. Likewise, when we looked for our first home, we considered following the boom an extra 35 miles away, where supply was still keeping the market level. But I added up the opportunity costs of being farther away and decided to pay the extra $$ for a house closer in.
All of which is to say the same thing I said in the Orion thread last week:
Ya pays your money, and ya takes your chances.

 

[planomateo]

Thanks Mark.

We don't watch or read news either, and our lives have been much more stress-free since we stopped.

In our small rural county, the housing boom is unfortunately obvious just from driving around. We are 25-30 miles away from a "big" city (Fort Worth, TX) and it's difficult for me to comprehend how many people are willing to live this far out and commute for work every day, but the appetite for houses out here seems to be insatiable. Sadly, it is changing the county and life out here, and not for the better - increased traffic and city people bringing their expectations of city life with them. We're fortunate to have the land that we do, that at least insulates us somewhat from nearby neighbors.

Lived in and around Plano for almost 20 years before escaping to Big Sky country a few years ago. Watched Frisco grow from 35k to 210k in less than 20 years. The growth is insane and I don't miss it.

 

[65swb45]

I’ve said in other times and places, children that grow up in in place torn by war just grow up assuming war is part of normal life. Whatever your ‘reality’ is growing up, you just assume that the whole world is that way.

I was born and raised in Hell-a, so to some extent I am immune to the frustration that my wife, the valley girl from the former alfalfa fields feels for what happened to her old neighborhood.

We investigated an out of state move to rural Idaho back in’07. My wife’s nicest assessment: Idaho lacks cultural diversity!
She actually realized that there are certain advantages to living in Sodom and Gomorrah, chief of which for her is being able to walk to the three grocery stores that are all within a mile of our house.

But enough of this diversion from home improvement:

 

[65swb45]

 

[1911]

Small update - the windows have been paid for (ouch) and so are positively in line to be made/built. The window company's estimate for time is "two to three months" so maybe by the new year? Now I have a lot of cleaning up inside the house to do before the window openings are framed in and the house is dried in. Various grandchildren want to earn some cash, so there is my labor pool.

 

[waiting for time]

Nice, looking forward to see the progress.

 

[Michael B]

This is an epic saga! Subscribed.

 

[1911]

Continuing to do smaller projects on the land, while waiting for the windows and (thankfully) getting some consulting work again.

Mrs. 1911 found some super heavy-duty picnic tables on Facebook Marketplace, from a water park about 30 miles away that had closed - the land is worth way more than the business. So we were able to buy two 8' vinyl-coated expanded steel picnic tables for 15 cents on the dollar compared to new. They are in super good shape, and heavy. I put them down by the "party oak", near the creek and not far from the big waterfall. I had envisioned putting a picnic table there ever since I first found it. When we went to buy them and pick them up, I noticed two big steel charcoal grills with adjustable grates, like you see in state and national parks, cemented in the ground. So I asked the table guy, would you sell me one of those? He says, if I can get them out of the ground I can have them all three that he has! So I whip out my winch bag, throw a tree-saver strap around each grill, hook up the winch line, and out they come, in no time at all. I don't think the guy had ever seen a winch in action, or thought that I could even get them out of the ground. It took the two of us to heave the things on the trailer; the deadlifts I do every other week finally paid off.

I get them home and two or three good whacks with the sledgehammer on each one and the cement just falls off clean. That makes them light(er) enough that I can lift them by myself. Hauled them down to the party oak, dug two holes by hand with a post hole digger, hauled a wheelbarrow, shovel, 4 sacks of cement, and 25 gallons of water with the 4-wheeler and trailer, and by dusk I had two of them cemented in the ground and leveled. Still have the third one to put somewhere else.

Here are some fairly poor photos, taken late this afternoon on an overcast, drizzly day, just after I finished cementing:

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Work out, winch gets used, grills that will survive the apocalypse, memories to be made. A big upside. Might wanna a burger down by the river one of these days! Glad to see it moving along. Hope da fam is great!

 

[1911]

Work out, winch gets used, grills that will survive the apocalypse, memories to be made. A big upside. Might wanna a burger down by the river one of these days! Glad to see it moving along. Hope da fam is great!

Thanks CD, yeah you guys need to come back for sure.

 

[firestopper]

Just caught up! Very excited for you brother.
My best to you and the mrs.

 

[1911]

Just caught up! Very excited for you brother.
My best to you and the mrs.

Thanks Paco, I appreciate that.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Happy thanksgiving to you and da fam!!! Hope em zombie proof grills get some use.

 

[1911]

Happy thanksgiving to you and da fam!!! Hope em zombie proof grills get some use.

Thanks CD, same to you and yours. All in-state kids and grandkids coming over; we'll be outside some but don't know if Linda will be cooking out there or not!

 

[Honger]

Just found this section of the forum recently and have been working my way through a few of the threads.

This is just so cool. Lots of things to aspire to here for a guy about 20 years your junior. Lots of good ideas and lots of hard work to inspire.

Subscribed!