Al B's House rework

[AlanB]

Lets see, some outside shots of the house, vinyl and aluminum trimmed, that was fun, I am glad I did it, but my 175 lb rated knees where dying hauling my 250 lb butt up and down ladders for several days. I am too much of a fat old man to make my living doing that.

New windows, new doors, new trim, new 6" gutters, new heat and air unit, new garage door,,,,,,,,,,, Yep, we changed a bit in the house.

 

[WayneB]

Alan you are doing a great job on the homestead! Sorry to hear about the dog's foot, hope it heals properly.

Oh what is that big grey thing in the picture? Guess air conditioning. Heck we don't have too many of those around here mostly heating units. With heating oil at around $3.26 a gallon (what I paid the other day) we are burning wood these days.

Wayne

 

[AlanB]

Hi Wayne, thank you.

I put in a 2.5 ton package heat pump with 10K electric emergency heat.

For our climate that should be about right.

It had a water heater unit that has a giant propane hot water heater (still there) and then basicly a radiator in the air handler with a pump. Kind of like radiator heat, but through an air handler. I understand that is a great type of heat (brand named Hydro heat) but with the price of propane skyrocketing I took the option of just going straight electric.

One of the next projects is to put in a wood stove. There is an old square one (I think a predecessor as in the parts will exchange) of the Wonderwood, it is down in the ramshackle cabin, but actually all the firebricks etc look in good condition.

I also need to get my chimney inspected and checked.

But the short version is I am gearing to put wood heat in downstairs. As my buddy Doug says, I have pretty much an unlimited supply (well at least as much as I will use) on my property, and buddy Joey will give me all the wood I want as well, so why not use it.

I am going to have to learn a lot.

The next stage of expansion will probably have a ground loop system, and an oil / wood fired German boiler, and a package air unit. Get the most efficient cheapest dedicted systems I can. (while satisfying she who must be obeyed who told me to build a ground loop system ) Now why was it I bought a backhoe Think it will take a BIG trackhoe to put that in though, better start shopping

 

[AlanB]

Alright, so here are the TBN parts of what makes stuff work here.

10184 Babe, the little blue Ox (I believe it was Paul Bunyons) NH 1925, Hanna's favorite outdoor toy

Babe is sitting on the gooseneck lowboy, with hydrualic surge brakes.

10183, The PHD (got it free and paid a little more then I should have ) spinning a 24" auger. We have been planting trees lately.

10185 The 3/4 ton gas truck (that is a little light for what we do) pulling the 6X10 dump trailer, which is one of those buys that the DW fought and fought me on, till I just went and got one, a month later she says "why diddn't you buy one earlier"

10189 The wheelie monster itself Bob II or the bobber......... What can I say, I have at least not had to get another peice of equipment to roll me back upright yet but as someone said on the safety forum, I maybe trying to win a place on the Darwin list... What is nice, is the wheelie monster is actually owned by my buddy Jim. He occasionally uses my tractor etc. and said he was thinking of buying a tractor for the two weeks he uses one a year, me in my infinite subtleness said something along the lines of what are you thinking, Anyway, Jim bought the Wheelie monster, and to put in his food plots he bought this tiller as well. (10204)


10198 and 10200 is Lil, the village queen. Somehow just satisfies my need for MORE POWER. well, there is that dozer lust I have had lately Then again, I think Mark is buying a new house with 16 acres of steep land, I told him last night, I had a hoe, Jim had a bob,,, so he needed to buy a DOZER

My wife then turned, looked at me, and said, "don't you start thinking You are buying a dump truck if he does........." I think she knows me...

 

[AlanB]

Well folks it has been almost one year (28 Feb) since we closed on this house.

In that time we have got the house talked about above fairly liveable, lots to do still, but, liveable.

We then shifted too working on the old house and getting it ready to sell. Two mortgage payments (three actually) is kind of tough on the budget. So we have been doing our version of "flip that house" 102 on the old place.

I am pretty proud of how it turned out, I am also very happy that for the first time in MANY years, all my stuff is in one place. (of course I cannot find anything but I am working on it)

So, to show flip that house 102 here is a link and a virtual tour. We did a lot of the new stuff in there that we practiced on the other house on

Crye-Leike, REALTORS®:: Property Search Detail

Now if it would sell,,,, Can you say, 60 X 40 pole barn

 

[gemini5362]

Alan I can remember your posts when you were thinking about buying this house and then the ones after you bought it and were trying to get it where you could move in. You have come a long way. I have some advice on wood heat. I have owned the old franklin cast iron stove and they worked pretty well. I have also owned a stove similar to the one you were talking about. A couple of years ago we bought a soapstone wood stove. We got it during the summer and there was a pretty good discount but even so it was still pretty pricey. This has probably been the best wood stove I have owned. They are a different type of affair to get used to. The soap stone absorbs heat and then reradiates it. The max temp out is 600 degrees compared to up to 1200 degrees for a regular steel or cast iron stove. When you start the fire in it the stove does not put out any apreciable heat for about an hour. Once it starts putting out heat it is a pretty nice smooth heat. When the fire dies down it seems to still put out heat for about three to four hours from the time the flames die out. I am basing my timing on the thermostat controlled blower attached to the stove. If the budget can handle it you might want to do some research on the net about them.

We bought this one because the wife thought it was prettier than the other ones. I did not care about that but knew better than to argue that point.

 

[AlanB]

Thanks Gem,

In Germany, that basic concept is called a "cackle offen" (spelling is probably wrong, and there will probably be one in the new addition into the house.

The fire box will be in the middle between three or four rooms, with a bench to sit against the masonary work all around.

Provides excellent heat, over very long periods, and is fired from a "dirty" area that you don't have to work so hard to keep clean.

One of the cousin's in Germany has one I just fell in love with and always wanted to incorporate.

The stove I want to put in now is more of a "stop gap" measure for a year or two.

Thanks for the tip. I will check them out as well.

I think it was you that steered me too window world? This is the second house we have done with them, no muss, no fuss, and reccomend them too our freinds.

 

[gemini5362]

Alan that was probably me that recommended them to you. I just got through replacing all the windows in one of my rental houses with their windows. They have changed the warranty on their windows. when I first talked with them there was a ten dollar per window charge for the warranty and they did not cover anything that your insurance would pay for such as hail damage. Now they cover anything except vandalism even for commercial property such as rentals. I am going to probably have them replace all the windows in my personal house with argon gas filled Low E windows I think they are 256.00 per window installed.

I was just rereading this and realize that I sound like I am advertising for them. I dont have any financial interest in their product just like being able to get something with a good warranty for a decent price.

I am not familiar with the stoves you are talking about. Like I mentioned one of the big selling points for my wife was the really nice appearance of the soap stone. The one that I have is all soap stone with just a wrought iron frame holding the rocks in place. Is this the correct spelling perhaps kachelöfen if so from what I am reading forget what I said about the cost of soapstone. Those heaters are way up there in price I saw one website that had them built out of soapstone also.


By the way, I think I mentioned that my stepson is spending a school year in austria this year. His classes are over in june and we are going to go over to europe and spend two weeks with him before he starts getting ready to come home. We are going to splurge and get a two week eurail pass and just spend the whole time travelling.

 

[AlanB]

Yeah, I kind of sound like an ad for them myself, but there was so much in this project where I felt I did not "get what I paid for" that they were the shining example of handing a part of the task over to someone else, and they did it, better then I could, cheaper and more efficiently.

The Eurail passes are Great. Looks like this year my son and daughter are both going over to Germany for a month or two. I think the following year, my daughter will go and eurorail around Europe as a Grad Trip.

Setting the stage now to see if a cousin can help her along the mech engr degree, same one with the Kachelofen in his parent's house (don't know how to make the umlat's) She wants to study abroad some, and the bearing industry (that he works in) is pretty widespread.

Anyway, Costs for us will be the cost of materials, several of my wifes family work construction, one is a mason, and their town has one of the biggest builders in the area, the owner is a pretty good freind of ours, and he wants to come over to the US for a visit. He will probably bring a worker or two and we may just have to have Oven building 101 at the house

One of the parts I miss about being in Germany, is that they all help each other out, if you have a project, there are always several freinds and family members ready to lend a hand, then you just reciprocate when they have a project. I have that somewhat here, but not on the level that they do.

Have fun, if you get around Rothenburg, Nurenburg and want to speak regular english and get shown around, or go to the excellent museum in Bad Windsheim, shout out, my sister lives there, and if you are there at the right time, my kids can show you around much of that area.

 

[rox]

lan,
I actually went looking for your topic since I must have missed it when you posted in February (tree prunning time). I was wondering if you were able to resolve the water penetraton in the basement? Also I took a peek at your prior home and it sure looks saleable, really nice. To bad the market is so tough right now. I also remember your whole story of what you went through to get this home. I bet it sure feels good now to be in and have all that land and space.

 

[AlanB]

It is nice Rox, thanks for thinking of us.

I would have told you last week that we have pretty much beat back the water monster in the basement.

Then it rained 3.5 inches Monday. Heck, the whole world around here flooded, and that included water across my basement floor. There are fans running, and de-humidifiers humming as I type.

I think the fix will be to dig the outside, and then put in a sump system, but the other part of the equation may just be that the house is too low, and the water table too high, and it will be a constant fight.

I may start digging one side of that this weekend. It is currently a matter of debate, but I am thinking of taking the spoils, to build up where my shop will go, and the sooner I get that done, the longer it will have to compact.

I feel fortunate in so many way's, and one way is I can afford at this point both houses. There are plenty of folks out there that cannot. The 101st will come home at some point, and the market will skyrocket on houses.

It has been incredibly nice to really be able to focus on just the one house now. (Although I had to rework the yard some in the old house last weekend)

 

[EddieWalker]

Alan,

The trick to digging a trench around your home is to make it ten times wider then you think you need it. If not, it will look like a moat!!! I had a similar problem and did the same thing. I dug my first trench wide enough to move the water, but that only worked for normal rains. On those extreme storms where inches and inches of water fell, my trench failed. I made it four times wider and another foot deeper. That worked, but it never looked very nice.

I sold that place and was talking to the new owner a week or so ago. He's not happy with the way it looks either, but is trying to figure out what to do with the dirt. I should have done a better job of it, but sort of sold the place before I was done with it.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[AlanB]

Well folks

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I just closed on my old house, and closed out that chapter. If you look at the dates, you will see it has been a LOOOONNNNNGGGGGGGGGG time coming.

I was listening to all the gloom and doom this morning on the radio hoping the deal would not fall through again, and it held

Man, I am a happy boy, and have now graduated from flip this house 101 and 102 and could truly write a book on how to go about it. Unfortunately many chapters would be on what NOT to do, and whom NOT to trust.

I will write more here sometime about some of the adventures, but I guess the Third time that I "had a deal" was the charm and it is now closed.

Funny to look back and remember a bit, and scary how fast the time goes by.

 

[rox]

AlanB,
Trust me I can relate to what you are syaing. A BIG congratulations to you and your wife. Whew I really can feel your releif through your posting. Cross that item off your list!
~rox

 

[AlanB]

I have been following your story intently Rox, and I hope you know, I am really pulling for you.

It is not funny, per se, but I have danced to so many of the same tunes lately as you are, It really feels that we are at the same dance in some ways.

Hanna wants to know if you can send your Husband over to open a French resteraunt in Clarksville? She said,,, Ewwoooowhhhhhaaaaaaa,,,,, French guys are cute Wonder if I should worry

 

[EddieWalker]

Alan,

Congrats on selling your old house. I thought you had done that months ago. The last spec house that I built went something like that. Lots of lookers and a quick sale that I accepted. Then it got delayed and then delayed again. They really wanted it, but I was making payments on it, which was have a big impact on what I was going to make off of it. I listed the house again, had allot of interest, but was really getting low balled on the price. Long story short, the original buyers got their stuff straightened out and ended up buying the house for the original price, nine months after I listed it. I was glad to be rid of it, but after all the interest payments, only made $7,000 on the place. It should have been twice that!!!

Sometimes it's better to be rid of a debt then to hold onto it and not know what's going to happen with it. I haven't built any more spec houses since then as I can make allot more money doing remodels without any of the stress or hassles of dealing with so many other people. Just me and the client, that's how I like it.

Eddie