Good morning!!!!

[wngsprd]

Wngsprd I like cold weather just not high heating bills

Same here, but 9 degrees is maybe too cold...just came in from outside chores...no wind, so didn't feel too bad. I feel sorry for the folks with EVs that are stranded since the batteries are too weak from the cold.

 

[scootr]

40º going to 65 today. Washed one car yesterday, finished up cleaning the chimney soot out of the fireplace after the flue sweeping. Had a nice fire and baked some garlic buttered salmon last night with string beans. Yummy Keto.
Got rubber hubs to put the yard drain line cleanouts in today in preparation for rain next weekend. Cleaning gutters again on the agenda. Love the summer shade but these big eucalyptus and pepper trees are messy.
Stay busy and have a great day

 

[plowhog]

Still way too high IMO.

Costs are so variable by location. Not far away, we built a 5,000+ sq ft residence in Northern Nevada for a permit fee of $3,000.

The bigger issue in CA was the County demanded a $155,000 road improvement or they would not issue a permit. So, nearly $200k in admin fees *before* you start building. The new law strips the County's power to impose such requirements. For small residences.

Weather should clear up by daybreak. Ground will be wet, but we will enjoy walking the property and forest today! Hope everyone stays warm-- seems most of the country is in a deep freeze!!

 

[plowhog]

big eucalyptus

ooohhh that makes great firewood ...

 

[daugen]

Still way too high IMO.

I find that fee incredibly high. What do they justify charging that much for, just revenue?

 

[scootr]

ooohhh that makes great firewood ...

Yup, plenty of it around here too. Harder to find and better yet is citrus wood. Burns hotter with less ash.

 

[daugen]

thought I might throw some much cheaper ice melt down on driveway since it may not melt today.
called local hardware store

what kind of ice melt do you have?
none

ok
good thing I still have some left
not worth driving far for it, will pick some up tomorrow.
with more snow on Friday it helps with the ice.

 

[LouNY]

Morning all;
A nice bright sunny day to start with today,
also a nice brisk 9F this morning. I'll go out and do some snow removal in a bit today.
We ended up with about 6 inches of snow. I'll be using a blade today, too many small
limbs in the driveway to consider a blower.
The coal insert is keeping the Kitchen end of the house in the 70's (73), the oil burner kicks
in a couple of times a night for the bedroom end of the house it's set at 60.
Keeps the oil usage down considerably.

Everyone stay safe warm and healthy

 

[Popgadget]

Good Morning.
12° with a high of 20 today under a clear sky.

Yesterday’s snow removal went well, just did my place and son’s, as he was out of town, but DIL and grandson were home.

When I built this place almost 40 years ago, I was obsessed with making it as energy efficient as possible. That meant no fire place or chimneys, a complete envelope of sprayed in urethane insulation foam from under the basement slab to the attic. Its heated and cooled by an open loop geothermal heat pump with no back up, as none is required for an open loop system, the ground water is 55° regardless of the outside temp, and is of virtually unlimited capacity (the geo loop, not the system)
The result has been exactly as planned, the house is extremely comfortable with consistent temperature throughout. I have averaged about 15 years out of each heat pump. Each one has benefited from advances in process control and become more efficient, and using less water.

However, I’m planning on putting a fireplace in my new “in law suite” that will become my new home. I like tending the fire and the radiated heat, even though I realize I’m sending conditioned air up the chimney.
This will be on a slab, which I plan to heat with propane warmed water to break the ground chill, but use mini splits for overall heat and AC. The advances in efficiency of the mini splits take away a lot of the advantage of going geothermal.

I now have the township approvals and exemptions that I needed to move forward with the project, so now I’m doing the design work. I’m will be hands on, but I’ve decided to actually hire a general contractor to run the project. I’m confident that we can work well together, allowing my level of involvement to vary without impeding progress.

 

[Tinhack]

Spoke too soon. Electric went out this morning. Just came back on about half an hour ago. Quickly made coffee and enjoying "the crispness" of the morning. Not much change from yesterday--Still under a hard freeze warning. Heater is just catching up as I type this.

I'm on coffee break.

 

[scootr]

Costs are so variable by location. Not far away, we built a 5,000+ sq ft residence in Northern Nevada for a permit fee of $3,000.

The bigger issue in CA was the County demanded a $155,000 road improvement or they would not issue a permit. So, nearly $200k in admin fees *before* you start building. The new law strips the County's power to impose such requirements. For small residences.

Weather should clear up by daybreak. Ground will be wet, but we will enjoy walking the property and forest today! Hope everyone stays warm-- seems most of the country is in a deep freeze!!

Neighbor added an full on MIL apt for his son onto his house. Fees were 30k
That's out of control like so much else here. The average used car registration seems to be 400 - 500.00/ The same car is $1k annual insurance. All that and you still have buy it, pay sales tax on it, and gas it up to go.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! An even 50F @ 6:45AM. Considerable cloudiness. High 58F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.

Just finished checking road conditions and weather for the trip south, and aside from a couple spots with wind warnings, everything else looks OK. Odd that those windy spots aren't mentioned by the WU forecasts for those areas. Earlier this morning there were a few gusts to 25 MPH, but they look to be settling down now. Lots of weight in the van and trailer should help to minimize wind impact, but I'd rather not have to contend with it.

The weather man was a little optimistic yesterday when s/he predicted rain at 10AM. I felt a drop or two, but it pretty much held off until 2PM. Good thing, too, as I found a whole bunch of stuff and got the van packed to the gills. Even got the tires checked on the van, trailer, and Toyota. The TPMS on the Toyota was signaling a low pressure condition on the last trip to town, and sure enough, it was 5 PSI low.

I set a 7AM departure time, so I better get goin'. Hope you all stay warm in safe in these crazy temps...

 

[Popgadget]

So far I have gotten a zoning variance and an exemption from the storm water ordinance. I represented myself, and created the drawings and other submission data. I’ve spent about $3k on fees and escrow (some of which I might get back) for the township solicitors and engineers to review my work. The good news is that I did get the approvals.

 

[LouNY]

So far I have gotten a zoning variance and an exemption from the storm water ordinance. I represented myself, and created the drawings and other submission data. I’ve spent about $3k on fees and escrow (some of which I might get back) for the township solicitors and engineers to review my work. The good news is that I did get the approvals.

It's a shame there is so much interference from local government.

 

[plowhog]

I find that fee incredibly high. What do they justify charging that much for, just revenue?

There is a political element and an economic element. I won't delve into the political element, obviously.

Regarding the economic element ... whoops ... that ties back to the political element.

btw my budget to build a 1,000ft residence, here in CA, is $500k. It will be very close to that-- if we proceed. Not sure.

 

[ronjhall]

Back from grocery, gas and diesel trip. No fun pumping fuel in -1° and 20 mph winds. It’s done. Now drinking a hot cup of apple cider.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning! Low of 24°, heading to a high of 47°. Wow!, but it will be short lived.... temps start cooling off a little bit towards the weekend.
Unfortunately, the wind advisory has been issued...
25-35 mph with gusts to 55 mph.

LFN, hope you can find the short. Those intermittent ones are a real PIA. At least the blower will turn on.

Don, I can't believe that we are warmer than you in Texas. Strange weather patterns. Now, if we could just get more rain......

Plowhog, I can't imagine having to pay fees like that! The biggest fee here is for a specific GIS survey of the property. All other permit fees (if there are any) usually total less than $1K.

RNG, good luck on the trip south, good luck getting everything unloaded! Getting the workout for sure! Slow and steady.....
How long does the trip take when loaded?

Drew, did you ever consider a small pellet stove? Not too expensive or too difficult to install. No masonry stuff involved, all prefabbed chimney pipes and pass through connections. They are even made for boats!

Debating on trying to get some yard maintenance and watering done or to go back into the shop to work on the shelving project..... decisions, decisions......

Everyone have a great day!

 

[Popgadget]

It's a shame there is so much interference from local government.

In all fairness, they followed the existing ordinances, including the mechanisms for relief by exemption or variance. I don’t think that I was treated unfairly, but I agree that in simpler times the ordinances might not have existed.

 

[sodamo]

69°F and 0 rain. Looks another pretty day ahead

Got the mowing finished yesterday for this round. Always looks nice at this point.

Thanks for the budget app comments. I too have the old files with data going back years. Not in same detail as Dennis but have found them useful from time to time. Think I have found 3 or 4 apps I need to check out further. All but 1 have a free trial period of 1-2 months. 1 also has a demo file. Need to determine a sensible approach as maintaining a full blown budget for each for a month or two sounds like work.

No plans for the day. Just take it as it comes.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day

 

[riptides]

David,

Look into "You Need a Budget". YNAB.

An advisor friend recommended that to me, a long while back. I am though a re-dedicated .xlsx format user.

The website is ynab.com