My Industrial Cabin Build

[WoodChuckDad]

I once showed up to a flip house I was remodeling to a no power situation. I had the power switched into my name before closing on the purchase. I had been working on the home for a few weeks with no electrical issues. That morning, no power, after checking several light switches I proceeded to the breaker panel, main was on along with all other breakers.
I walked outside to see if a tree had fallen or if there were another issue. The meter was gone, it had been stolen, someone had actually pulled it out of the base, I guess they planed to get free electricity at their home by using my meter.
I’m a retired Firefighter, we never pulled meters, always called for the electric company to cut power for us. Utility company got a replacement meter out that day, installer said it happens quite a bit (This was early 2000’s before smart meters).

Mike

I had a rental that was right on the edge of bad area/renovation area. Renters bailed without notice. I went in and started working on the place and called to have the electric turned on. Got a call back from a supervisor at power company. The electricity had been turned off for non payment almost a year before. They had just taken notice that someone was living there and the electric company rep checked the meter. It was behind a bush so you couldnt see from the street. Someone had cracked open the meter and wired past it. I had to get the Meter replaced which led to a new inspection which we failed because it had to meet updated codes and the city made me move my water heater……too close to the panel. It was a good time.

 

[747driver]

We have snakes here in the mountains, but usually don't see them. The Black Eastern snakes do a good job of keeping the bad snakes away !! When you have 2 homes its easy to forget about utilities !! Our propane people always fill our house and our vacation rental at the same time and just recently topped off the tanks as cold weather is coming soon ! Electric company will call if we forget a payment !

Interesting you said you would like to get a 'electric' truck !! What's the electrical charging setup you will have to install ?

Hope your daughter is feeling better and improving !!

 

[mike0000]

I had a rental that was right on the edge of bad area/renovation area. Renters bailed without notice. I went in and started working on the place and called to have the electric turned on. Got a call back from a supervisor at power company. The electricity had been turned off for non payment almost a year before. They had just taken notice that someone was living there and the electric company rep checked the meter. It was behind a bush so you couldnt see from the street. Someone had cracked open the meter and wired past it. I had to get the Meter replaced which led to a new inspection which we failed because it had to meet updated codes and the city made me move my water heater……too close to the panel. It was a good time.

Inspectors..ughh, I have a few stories about them too, most ended up costing me time and money.
I got my start in Realestate with rentals at 19. I was fortunate to be close to my grandfather who helped me get started. He had more than 20 houses at one time, he kept several up until he passed away at 91.
I got up to 7 over a ten year period, they were all in a pretty bad area of town. it’s what I could afford at the time, just getting my start. I sold them all to one person and really never regretted it. Getting married and having kids changed some of my perspectives. The area my rentals were in had gotten worse over the time I owned them, even dangerous.
I transitioned to flipping after the sale of the rentals.

I have really enjoyed following your build, you and your wife’s perseverance and can do attitude are to be commended!

Mike

 

[BigBlue1]

That Starlink is cool. My only question is - will you lose satellite service during a heavy rain storm (like my Dish TV)? Will there be any issues with snow?

Starlink can be impacted by heavy rain or heavy snowfall. But it is way more resilient than the DirecTV we used in the past. It takes some pretty heavy weather to make SL go offline. For us that's tolerable since rural ISPs are hard to come by. We have another ISP operating on cellular as a backup since we both work from home full time, so on those rare occurrences I just swap the cable on my switch from SL to the hotspot and we're back in action.

 

[mcandrew]

Snakes, I hate snakes.

We have a contract on some land in Botetourt county that is near blue ridge parkway. Not the view of the mountains I was after though.

AEP serves it, I need to contact them.

Where in Botetourt? I'm near fincastle.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Where in Botetourt? I'm near fincastle.

Near troutville. Will be down there tomorrow to take another look at it. Want to find the corners. Are the permit people good to work with?

 

[coldsteelva]

Starlink can be impacted by heavy rain or heavy snowfall. But it is way more resilient than the DirecTV we used in the past. It takes some pretty heavy weather to make SL go offline. For us that's tolerable since rural ISPs are hard to come by. We have another ISP operating on cellular as a backup since we both work from home full time, so on those rare occurrences I just swap the cable on my switch from SL to the hotspot and we're back in action.

Just FYI, the Starlink Dishy is heated. The power/communication cable is pretty heavy duty so that it can supply enough power for the heater. Also, not a good idea to put the power adapter into an enclosed space because it will get hot.

 

[BigBlue1]

Just FYI, the Starlink Dishy is heated. The power/communication cable is pretty heavy duty so that it can supply enough power for the heater. Also, not a good idea to put the power adapter into an enclosed space because it will get hot.

Yeah, I live in MN and am familiar with snow and Starlink. Regardless of the heater keeping the dish surface clear, heavy snowfall in the sky will disrupt the signal temporarily.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

We have snakes here in the mountains, but usually don't see them. The Black Eastern snakes do a good job of keeping the bad snakes away !! When you have 2 homes its easy to forget about utilities !! Our propane people always fill our house and our vacation rental at the same time and just recently topped off the tanks as cold weather is coming soon ! Electric company will call if we forget a payment !

Interesting you said you would like to get a 'electric' truck !! What's the electrical charging setup you will have to install ?

Hope your daughter is feeling better and improving !!

When they dropped in the power line to the house I put in 100feet of 1.25 inch poly pipe in the trench (18-24 inches away from the main line) to use as a conduit. I will run 8 g or 6g wire thru it to the outside disconnect and put a charger out there next to that light post.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

Inspection scheduled for tomorrow. I did all the fire blocking of penetration holes in the walls top plates. Took a lot more material than I expected.