fresh home build coming soon

[Greenman]

so that justifies shitposting in my home build how, exactly?

The entire point of H&G is to share information and ideas that are home related. To get questions answered. I pointed out inferior workmanship because it's a learning opportunity for others. The visible work in that picture was very poorly done, and needs to be called out as inferior. I'm sorry if that offends your sensibility's, but it's accurate and undeniable. I would question the installation of that lift after seeing the workmanship presented.

 

[skyking]

You chose to miss the point of the post and get on your soap box.

 

[Greenman]

You chose to miss the point of the post and get on your soap box.

I didn't choose to miss it, I ignored it and pointed out all of the inferior work around it. As I already said, seeing that caliber of work would absolutely make me question the entire project. It sticks out like a sore thumb. Incorrect tile layout, sloppy trim installation, slop it on paint work. It's very hard to tell from the pics, but it doesn't look like the base of the lift is bolted down either. I'd also question the single shackle on the cable and the kink developing at the anchor point.
So yes, I have climbed up on my soap box. Crap like that offends me. Somebody paid good money for Scooter and Bubba to butcher their home. It ain't right, and it needs to be called out.

 

[skyking]

We can have some productive back and forth here, or you could continue with this needless OT ranting.
For example, you could start a thread with do's and don'ts about some specific practices. That might be helpful for some people using the search feature.

 

[iRONic]

It has an open elevator shaft from the basement to the 2nd floor, with an 8" deep elevator pit in the basement floor.
I'll put in the required structure for a typical residential elevator on one side wall, but we will install a platform lift in the shaft. It is a fraction of a traditional elevator and lets the shaft function as a light feature through the house.

👍 I had something very similar in my last house. It was a closed cab when I got it but we opened it up to let heat and light come up through the shaft. The only downside was the cat jumping in and out of the shaft! 🤣🤣🤣

 

[skyking]

No cats, no worries. I like them but my wife is allergic, and oddly enough I have developed an allergy late in life to a few things.

 

[skyking]

Retirement update, and how it fits with the house.
It's an odd situation for me. Work is really slow and I go in and make some hours, but that is personally not fulfilling in the least.
Pension on May 1= roughly 1.9 weeks gross pay. I can work 1.25 weeks and stay in the pension indefinitely.
My medical benefits take about 128 hours of work for a month, so my hour bank will dwindle down to nothing sometime early in '25 if I go that route. Then we have to pay for retiree medical.
I had a plan of working as much as I could while building the house, and retiring when we could move. Maybe that 50 hours is it and I go into the plan now.
If I wait, there would be a small increase based on the month of retirement, plus any contributions. If I worked enough to make up the difference between being on the pension plus the 50 hours, I would have a heck of a time building the house.

 

[Sukhoi]

That sure is a confusing set of retirement benefits and work hours

 

[skyking]

That sure is a confusing set of retirement benefits and work hours

Not really. The pension is what it is. The medical benefit cost comes out of a bank.
It takes about 128 hours of work to get a month of coverage, and any excess accumulates up to 8 months to cover the seasonal aspect of heavy equipment work.
Right now I have ~6 months banked up.
When I start putting in only 50 hours that bank will deplete by about December and I will have to pay for retiree coverage.
I can probably fill my company's needs by working the 50 hours, things are that slow.

 

[Brainonska511]

Absolutely! When folks are faced with changing health and abilities, it very rarely comes with extra money to deal with it.
Not everyone can just open up the checkbook to bathfiltters et al.

For me, it does not cost much to make these roll in showers. It takes some extra sq ft and tile.

I think it's a real shame that we don't have more and newer mixed use developments in this country in the places people tend to live. There is only so much retrofitting you can do to post-WW2 suburban tract housing; newer single-floor condos (with appropriate sized hallways and bathrooms) could be a boon for people as they get older and more mobility challenged. I certainly saw this myself when my parents moved from a SFH on Long Island to a condo outside of Boston.

I'm glad you're able to get these features built in since you're starting from scratch.

 

[skyking]

It is not much of a cost consideration and I don't see a resale downside to it, unless somebody wants things particularly "cozy".
They can chop up any space with partition walls.
Try removing bearing walls? They have lots of dramatic remodel programs about that 🙂

 

[skyking]

I replied to the plan review letter and addressed most of the city's points, and got a proposal from a civil engineer and he will get working on the storm water and drainage plans. Slowly moving forward.

 

[skyking]

74 days till the first pension check, but who's counting?
😉

 

[skyking]

I met with the engineer yesterday.
The planned development is going gangbusters next to the property, they have removed all the trees and are working on the roads for phase 1 and 2. They will be up by us for the final phase soon enough.
Now I have silt fence on the east property line so i have that going for me.
We can also see the San Juan Islands and a whole lot more Puget Sound. Mt Baker was in the clouds but I suspect it will be in view now also.

Gotta take the good with the bad.

 

[Sukhoi]

Is that going to be the view once the houses are there?

 

[skyking]

Yes at least from the 2nd floor.
We have about 10' advantage at first floor level, add another 10' for second floor. These are single level homes going in.
My picture was from about 12' below the viewing height when it is built.

 

[skyking]

we have other views to the south and west too.
This one is snow covered now.

More Olympic mountains

there is Mt. Baker from the neighbor's porch.

 

[herm0016]

I'm surprised they are going full steam on that. stuff has slowed down here quite a bit.

 

[skyking]

Me too. I figured they would truly build it in the 3 phases. Apparently the economy of scale is ruling the decision on the earthworks.
According to the superintendent I spoke to, he will be starting up the utility crew and they will be following the dirt crew up the hill putting in all the pipe.
The house building will probably follow the sales performance. There is a huge shortage of housing all over, so it may go quickly.

 

[skyking]

Thursday I will go up and talk to the dirt crew again, and see if I can get a proposal to the developer.
If they are game, they can stub a side sewer to our site and I won't have to put in a pump.
It would be worth $10K to me.

 

[iRONic]

Heh heh… tell us how you've been on the other end of that transaction without saying it. 👍

 

[skyking]

Been on all of that.
There is an open space that connects to a road and our shared Property Line (PL).
From road centerline to PL is ~125'


I would bid a 6" side sewer at no more than $40 per LF if we were already on the job, the ground was open, and there is no restoration required.
There is 5K
The other 5K is incentive to do so. 🙂
Where that Side Sewer (SS) would hit our property is maybe 6' uphill of where it stubs out of the basement, so I would be digging in shoring for a goodly portion of my part of the SS.
I have been there, this is what 80 LF of 8' build-a-box looks like, dug in all the way.


If I go the original route with a 2" PVC pump line, I can put it in at a constant depth, rather than a constant sloping grade. No shoring needed. The costs of install are about a wash when I look at shoring rental and having to hire Sam to work with me on it.
Obligatory Sam in shoring pic.


Where the extra 5K comes in is the peace of mind of not having a pump to concern ourselves with.

 

[skyking]

I had a great meet with the crew there. I brought a dozen goodwill pills from a little independent donut shop. Turns out that the superintendent and I worked at the same place 25 years ago and knew some of the same guys. They were kind enough to look at the current plans and give me the finished lot elevations on the 4 lots closest to the house site.
Next time I go up they will give me a benchmark with the GPS rover unit, and a couple of stakes on the property line.
I got my money's worth out of those donuts 🙂

 

[Sukhoi]

It does seem like being able to avoid permanently having to pump shit uphill would be the way to go

 

[herm0016]

just make sure it gets on city maps for the future. we once had a gusher out of a hill on the side of our house. the utility came and said, its not on our map, its not ours, its your problem. shut our water off ( which did nothing) and left. turns out someone did something similar to what you are doing and had the crew put in a water supply to a private road of homes behind where we lived. my neighbor dowsed it, we flagged it out ( all while its running and totally blowing out a retaining wall on our property) and got the city utility to come back and dig it up and fix it. we even found a vault with the line, the T and valves in it that was never on any map.

this was a home i grew up in, not current place you have seen.