Finally, they are working on the shop

[Firedome]

Whoah... R54 for a shed ceiling? Vermont doesn't even require that for a house in that climate! You'll have the fanciest shop building in the West. lol Looks like a substantial bench that should easily hold an aircraft carrier. Nice how it's on rollers, a useful feature.

[electra225]

To be strictly "official" this building is not a "shed". It is a casita. An extension to the dwelling. That is the only way the HOA would approve its construction. There can be no sheds or other outbuildings in backyards that are taller than the concrete block fence around each property. We could build a casita which is an extension to the home. Common uses for a casita would be if you were caring for an elderly parent and they wanted privacy. Or a almost grown offspring who wanted some privacy, things like that. It has to be built the same style as the house, painted the same color. It has to have 220 power and climate control. Plumbing is optional. This building has plumbing roughed in so that if we or someone who buys this property wanted plumbing, it could be installed without tearing up the concrete. R41 is code in the attic if it is not accessible. Our attic will be used for storage, so R54 is code for an accessible attic. They change the ventilation in the attic if it's accessible as well. This to keep the dirt and dust down. They are going to use spray-in insulation in the attic and batts in the walls.

We are going to install a ceramic tile floor and put shutters on the windows like are on the house. I wanted a floor covering, not bare concrete. Stuff gets dropped on concrete then you have a stain and it looks nasty. The HOA says no bare concrete in a casita anyways, so we wanted something that would not get torn up scooting items across the floor. Shutters are not that much more expensive than blinds, but are more durable and look nicer. There has to be coverings on windows and the French doors, again, per the HOA. I like French doors because they can be opened wider to allow access for big things into the shop, such as a console stereo.

I built two 4' X 8' work tables from scrap when I was in Missouri. These tables in the middle of the floor were uber-handy. I wanted something like that, and a stationary bench on the wall. I'm not going to have room for both, so I was excited when I saw the bench I posted a link for at the HD. This will be an acceptable compromise.

[Firedome]

check out luxury vinyl plank.

[Firedome]

I should elaborate on that, we have it at the lake place and as it's solid vinyl, i's durable and withstands the constant sand and water brought in and even a fridge dragged across the floor. It's super easy to install as it's floating and interlocks, and because it has a bit of give to it it's nice to stand on for long periods, plus quite reasonable in cost because of the low labor to install and lower material cost than the tile we looked at.

[William]

I've looked at some, and, have been impressed. If I could find something I like I would install it in my kitchen, laundry, and two halls.

Bill

[electra225]

The shop project is tied up in the normal red tape. They are scheduled to "load" the roof on Friday or Saturday, then wait for two weeks for the roof to cave in, then be inspected by the county inspector. There are only six county inpsectors still standing, so that may take another week. They will wrap the outside with Tyvek in the meantime, but can't stucco the outside until the roof is inspected. Silly procedure. IF this was a house, the tiles would have to lay there 60 DAYS (!!!) before inspection. After the outside is wrapped in Tyvek, they can put up the sheetrock on the ceiling, dig the ditch for the electrical and that and finish the wiring. Then they blow in the insulation in the attic. It will be at least another two months before I have a shop.

[19&41]

It always seems a long time to wait on something, then a short time to enjoy it. At least it should be a strong structure.

[electra225]

Patience is not always my strong suite. I need to be able to still work on stuff when they get the shop done. I may have forgotten how to work on stuff, certainly I'm going to be rusty. We're fortunate they are working on it at all. There are stories about construction projects more desperate than ours. We're not having a house built. Those take forever unless they are done by one of the big home builders. Custom homes take three years to build in some cases. I heard the other day that most custom homes start at a million dollars around here. They built 165 homes across the road from ours, about the size of ours, and they start at $465,000. The bigger ones are more. We sold our house in Phoenix in 2002. It recently sold again for almost $500,000. We got less than half that and thought we did well at the time. I don't see how families raising children make ends meet. The sneakers, the earbuds, the phone for each kid. A mortgage, one or two car payments, everything bought on time. No thanks......

[19&41]

What I'm running into here is the equity on the housing in my area has been rapidly rising. I guess it is nice the house is worth more, but the tax increases has made it look like a balloon mortgage. I don't know how I will afford it too long after retirement.

[electra225]

Not having a mortgage is almost mandatory when you retire. The wife keeps in contact with a lady she worked with. This lady still has a mortgage and recently refinanced her home so has a bigger mortgage. She lives month to month in retirement. If you don't have a mortgage, you can get along pretty good. YOu won't have to have lunch money, not as much money for gas to drive to work, won't put as many miles on your car, won't need clothes to go to work. And, if you are still in reasonable physical condition when you retire, you can always work part time to supplement your income. Medicare and a supplemental policy should take care of your medical needs. You can't live anywhere cheaper than you can in your own paid-for home. Rent anymore is awful around here. You can barely rent a box under the Seventh Street Bridge for under a $1000 a month. The house next door, a twin to ours, rents for $2150 a month. You'd think if one could afford that kind of money for rent, they'd own a house. Putting pen to paper, I wonder if having a small, manageable mortgage, say, under $500 a month would still be cheaper in the long run that paying rent. When you are retired you don't buy what you don't have cash money to pay for. We try to keep a slush fund for unexpected expenses, which come all too often it seems. You never have enough money regardless of your means. If you have more, you just have bigger bills. You can't take it with you. I'm happy to have what health I have and am grateful I have the opportunities I have at my advancing age......

I talked on the phone today for the first time since September 20.

[19&41]

Well rent is pricy around here too, so it's 6 of 1 or half a dozen of another.

[William]

After going to the grocery store yesterday and seeing the price increases since the last time I was there, I'm thinking I may need to stop eating. Wow!

Bill

[electra225]

Eggs went down in our store this week to $1.08 a dozen. Resturant meals are what's gone up around here. McDonald's and Subway is now fine dining. You can spend ten bucks at Mickey D's and not half try. We have a Subway in the store, but it's six bucks and change, plus the drink for a six-inch sandwich.

[William]

That's cheap for eggs. Around here, they are still pushing 2 bucks for a dozen large. Distilled water the first of January was $.80 a gallon. Now it's $1.22. Condiments have really jumped along with meat.

Greg, if I may, who makes Walmart yogurt?

Bill

[electra225]

Dannon makes most of it. The eggs come out of southern Missouri. They put them on trailers, load them onto rail cars and ship them all over the United States. They are cheaper here than they are in Missouri. Oranges are 98 cents a pound out here. If you look hard enough, you can find somebody willing to give you a pickup load and be happy to get rid of them. A guy I work with sent the wife a 25 pound box on Monday of juice oranges.

[William]

Interesting on the yogurt brand supplier. Walmart's is reasonable priced. Dannon not so much!

Bill

[electra225]

We sell more of the quart-sized tubs of Walmart brand yogurt than we do Dannon. We sell more of the 3-ounce size of Dannon than we do Walmart brand. It's the same stuff, just in different sized packaging.

[Firedome]

Besides housing the truly scary retirement crap shoot is medical.
"Medicare and a supplemental policy should take care of your medical needs."
That's a very dangerous assumption!! My wife has just retired as an Internal Med/Family Practice provider. Every day she fought with scumbag Insurance Co's to get the proper treatment & meds for her patients, taking hours of her time away from patient care. The AVERAGE OUT of POCKET (ie stuff not covered by Medicare A, B, Supplemental, Advantage, and Part D) cost for a couple retiring at 65 is $365,000!! That's one scary number. We're scared to death about it even though she's an insider and really knows the ropes. That figure DOESN'T INCLUDE Long-Term Care, Meds not covered, Optical, Dental, or extreme care situations. Remember Part A + B, for which you do also pay, are the only parts with predictable fixed benefits, Supplemental, Advantage and Part D are all private insurance with high monthly payments, where profit is the bottom line, a race to the bottom for care, and vary widely and can change overnight. Never a good situation for someone potentially needing very expensive procedures or meds. If you SET OUT to intentionally design from scratch an inefficient, unfair, stupid patchwork of a healthcare system you couldn't come up with something worse that what we have! 'Nuff said, be aware!

You're surely right about having a paid for house by retirement, but the taxes are the killer here. We have both our NY and VT places paid for, but the close to $10k in property taxes combined are the problem in retirement. The Lake place has a higher assessed value than the NY house. The combined taxes are just not sustainable so we'll have to cash in the VT place at some point to add to our retirement funds.

Back to building and housing... Denver is just as bad as are a number of over-priced cities! Inflation of housing prices is insane. Our daughter bought a house 15 months ago and it's appreciated $200K in that short time! Crazy and unsustainable, it has to be a bubble. Our youngest son and wife just moved there having sold their house in upstate NY. They're going to have to rent and save up for a year or 2 before being able to buy another one in Denver. I feel for younger folks and those starting out also.

As for dining out - we only go to McD's or BK when we get a good coupon! BK has 2 Whopper Jr w/ 2 fries for $3.99,
we bring it home and I make spinach or broccoli to go with it and Franzia Merlot for the libation! $4 -that's a cheap dinner, we did it just last night!
.

[William]

I like it when I find someone, and, I will use the term conservative instead of cheap, with how they spend their money. Unless one was very successful, one needs to be careful when retiring. You just do not know how long you will live. Friends that I visit when in AZ, they live in Scottsdale, have nothing paid for. He is 76 and she is 72. She spends like there is no end to the money. I know they worked hard, investing wisely, have good pensions, but to have nothing paid for at that age is very scary too me. I'm glad I'm debt free!

Supplemental medical is a very touchy subject. One cannot live without it, and the insurance companies know that. It is purely profit driven. The one that drives me the most nuts is the prescription plans. Who invented the "donut hole" anyway? Enough said!

Don't get me wrong, retirement is a wonderful thing and I am not sorry it did it. I still work once in a while when I want too. Today is one of those days. It helps keep the brain working, and, so does rebuilding vintage electronics.

Bill

[electra225]

We were talking this morning how we were going thru this procedure to get the shop built. I was going to work with all my stuff, then what? Look at it? Dust it? Neither? How was I going to resist getting more, which I'll have no room for, when all the stuff I have now is fixed with nothing more I can do on them. (I'll have room for a little Imperial !) It will take me quite awhile before I get everything I still have fixed to my liking. Then I can take them apart again and clean them. Lots to do.