Real Estate Update

[Downeaster]

After having the house on the market for ~ a month and having one showing with no results, we started looking REAL hard at a number of factors, primarily related to rising costs.

It became pretty apparent that if we didn't sell RIGHT NOW, and get at least our asking price, we were going to be priced out of our "dream home" and have to accept a lot less than we wanted in a new home AND put off the shop/garage indefinitely.

So, being financial cowards and absolutely NOT willing to take on a mortgage at our age, we decided to take the house off the market and stay here. We're both sleeping MUCH better after taking that step. Not least because neither of us was looking forward to 6+ months of uproar while building a new place and all the moving, storing and general hassle involved.

We'd saved a fair bit of cash (for us anyway...) and decided it would be better spent in a few repairs, improvements and upgrades at Casa Downeaster. Mrs. Downeaster came up with a short list of things she wanted done around the house (very reasonable, BTW) and we discussed a budget for converting an existing building into The Heated Shop of My (amended) Dreams.

 

[Downeaster]

I built this tool shed about 10 years ago. The enclosed area is 20x24, on a slab. There is an 8x10 area partitioned off in the left rear corner being used as a chicken coop. The birds will be moved to another shed and that space will be used for an oil tank and as the compressor room. My friend Dale the Builder has a couple of hot air "trailer" furnaces I can choose from, as well as an oil tank,
all mine for the trouble of going and getting them.

The lumber yard delivered the bulk of the materials today. The rafter bays will get the blue board insulation to reduce/direct condensation from the tin roof and the walls will get rock wool insulation. Once that's done, I'll hang 2x6 ceiling joists (Jeebus, 20' 2x6's are expensive!) and strapping and insulate the ceiling with R19 batts. The walls and ceiling will be finished out with 1/2 inch drywall, taped and painted white for best lighting.

The sliding barn doors will be replaced with a double entry door (speaking of expensive....).

The electrician showed up today as well and installed the 100 amp service entrance. I have a call in to a line construction place to set one pole and the local utility will pull the primaries down from a transformer out by the road and hook me up. That may be a while, the line construction guy is busier than a one-armed paper hanger. As long as it's done before cold weather returns, I'm a happy guy.

Grandson #1 (who will be 30 next month, not that I'd tease him about it or anything like that...) will be down Sunday to help with the insulating.

Grandson #2 (who turned 22 this past January) may be down Saturday if he's not out hauling. He works on a lobster boat so his schedule is at the whims of weather, tides and his Captain.

 

[Downeaster]

I plan to wire the building with surface mount boxes and EMT. Easier than dicking around with Romex through the stud bays, easier to insulate with out the Romex and easier to reconfigure if the need arises. I'll run 2 20 amp circuits down each side with double duplex outlets about every 6 feet. That plus a welder outlet and a 30 amp 220 run for the air compressor should take care of my needs for the foreseeable future.

 

[RustiePyles]

That looks like it’ll make a nice shop! You’re gonna be right up town and warm in the winter in there.

 

[nj1639]

Smart move.
It's a sellers market around here but once you sell you gotta build or buy, and the price of material is nuts from what I hear......and then there's native lumber if you have the resources.
Had a dream that the wife sold a ten foot Virginia juniper log for a hundred bucks......I might have to look into current pricing.......

 

[Mailman]

Very nice DE ! You’ll look a lot better in there than them danged ol chickens anyways! Smart move.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Yes, smart move.
Real estate, lumber, storage buildings, cars, trucks, are all getting crazy down here...

 

[2XSive]

Great move DE, and your soon to be workshop sounds perfect. I'm in the process of renovating my grandparents old home and can't believe the price of lumber. $45 for a 4x8 sheet of 7/16 OSB, and over $8 for a 2x4 8'. Not long ago I was buying 2x4s for less than $3.00. They say higher lumber costs adds over $36,000 to the average new home. I'm thinking I would have been better off parting out my grandparents old home and selling the lumber, lol.

 

[Downeaster]

Ceiling joists hung, braced and mostly strapped.

The vertical members tie the center of the 20 foot ceiling joists to the peak of the roof rafters. They alternate sides of the ridge board to even out stresses on the roof.

I installed them for two reasons:

1) To prevent the weight of the insulation and drywall on the ceiling from causing the joists to sag, and;

2) I'm going to put a trolley-mounted hoist down the center of the building. I have it in my garage at the moment and it's handier than a pocket on a shirt. It's a Horror Fright 110v winch rated at (I think) 800 pounds. Of course I won't be lifting anywhere near that amount of weight, but for lifting small engines up onto the bench and such it's very handy. I've been using it in my garage for years suspended from the trusses. Not an engineer, but I think this arrangement will be sturdier.

Strapping is on 24" centers to screw the drywall ceiling to. I'll finish strapping it after I frame a hatch for access to the deck in the rear 8 feet of the building and get the framing finished up for bolting the trolley track to.

 

[Downeaster]

 

[MaxPete]

After having the house on the market for ~ a month and having one showing with no results, we started looking REAL hard at a number of factors, primarily related to rising costs.

It became pretty apparent that if we didn't sell RIGHT NOW, and get at least our asking price, we were going to be priced out of our "dream home" and have to accept a lot less than we wanted in a new home AND put off the shop/garage indefinitely.

My wife and I are in a very similar situation: our family home is very nice but it is a two-story and we both have bad knees plus there is no shop for me and our neighbours are worthless, thoughtless a-holes. We have been looking for a spot in the county and there have been a few for sale, but the prices are higher than we could get for our home (here it is a sellers market so we can sell easier than we can buy). I don’t want to take on more debt at my age …..so, I’m beginning to conclude that we ought to stay here - but boy, am I sad about it.

 

[Downeaster]

Yeah, Pete, that situation sucks biggly. I've been through the "anal orifices for neighbors" deal several times. Plus, I'm happy right where I am. I've spent the last 30 years tweaking it to suit me and I wasn't ALL that thrilled about walking away from it anyway.

At the moment, I'm blessed with great neighbors on 3 sides - Behind me is Dale the Builder, on the North side are Summer People that are big fans of minding their own business and on the South side (which used to be owned by a World Class Asshole) are a nice retired couple that opened up an Antique Shop and live in the upstairs apartment during "the season" when not commuting from their regular home down the coast a ways. Across the street in front of the house is the Post Office, so no neighbor problems there.

 

[GLJ]

our neighbours are worthless, thoughtless a-holes.

Can't be natural born Canadians.

 

[MaxPete]

Can't be natural born Canadians.

BINGO! They’re from somewhere southeast of Italy……

 

[GLJ]

BINGO! They’re from somewhere southeast of Italy……

Just haven't been there long enough to be assimilated. Give them time.

 

[Mailman]

I'm going to put a trolley-mounted hoist down the center of the building.

I think that is the best feature of your shop, at least my creaky back thinks so!

 

[Downeaster]

Pretty sure there's at least one retired Navy Chief here besides myself, and some Senior NCO's from other services. (There's a point to this statement, keep reading...)

I've had 5 deliveries from the lumber company (the one I worked for right before I retired) and they've screwed 3 of them up. Wait around all ****ing day for a truck that never comes. Call and get some limp-d**ked excuse.

Had a load of sheetrock scheduled for today. No show. "Oops, got the date wrong on the delivery ticket." Rescheduled for tomorrow. It better DAMN well show up, I've got equipment rental and help arranged for the weekend and if I don't have the material to work with, I'm going to lose my shit.

If it comes to that, I'm gonna dig my CPO hat out of the cedar chest, screw that sumbitch on my head and go have a little Come to Jesus with the fuckwits at the yard office. I haven't delivered a good old-fashioned military ass-chewing in many a year. I have a lot of creative phrasing saved up...

 

[Downeaster]

In the Good News department, I figured out how to frame up the mounting system for the track for my trolley-mounted winch. The way I did it in the garage works okay, but doesn't instill a lot of confidence.

Ran a 2x6 down the center of the ceiling joists, right under the verticals that go up to the rafters at the ridge board. Spiked off with 3 nails at each joist.

Then I cut pieces of 2x4 where I could get them on the centerline between the verticals, set them on TOP of the joists and ran some threaded rod down through the centerline 2x6 and cranked them down tight. Countersunk on the bottom so the barn door track that the trolley runs in will be flush to the 2x6. Should be quite a bit more solid than the way I did it in the garage.

 

[Mailman]

In the Good News department, I figured out how to frame up the mounting system for the track for my trolley-mounted winch. The way I did it in the garage works okay, but doesn't instill a lot of confidence.

View attachment 192172

View attachment 192173

Ran a 2x6 down the center of the ceiling joists, right under the verticals that go up to the rafters at the ridge board. Spiked off with 3 nails at each joist.

Then I cut pieces of 2x4 where I could get them on the centerline between the verticals, set them on TOP of the joists and ran some threaded rod down through the centerline 2x6 and cranked them down tight. Countersunk on the bottom so the barn door track that the trolley runs in will be flush to the 2x6. Should be quite a bit more solid than the way I did it in the garage.

Oughta be able to hang your tractors from that.

 

[MaxPete]

Looks good DE - and an excuse to use the "extended vocabulary" on some useless git is always a good tonic for what ails ya!