Finally, they are working on the shop

[electra225]

We can have a flag pole in our front yard, but it can't be taller than the house. And it has to be lighted. American flag and AZ state flag only. Flag pole installers are a different lot as well.

[TC Chris]

My house was built in 1908, likely. The neighborhood houses range from late 19th century up to last year. The neighborhood was kinda low-rent when my house was built but in the latter 20th century it became trendy. We have city codes but no HOA nonsense. I can put out my bad-taste, colored Christmas lights and the neighbors can choose tasteful (but boring) all white. There is an alley behind and I have an old boat on a trailer under a tarp. About 6 tarps,actually, as I tend to just throw the new ones over the old ones. When the garage needed a new roof, I chose white (reflect sun, reduce heat, last longer) and then for the house, green (looks good). Nobody griped. The city codes protect us from dangerous construction, the zoning ordinances protect us from having a scrapyard next door, and beyond that we all have to just get along.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

Ours is a working-class neighborhood with a minimum of rent houses. The only vacant house is a two-story on the corner across from us. I have no idea what happened to its inhabitants. It was repossessed during the housing crunch in 2010. It has been vacant for maybe a year. We have one knothead down the street who likes to run his off-road contraptions down the street way too fast. The sheriff kind of put a kink in his tail for that and he has calmed down a touch. The deputies are also sitting on golf carts with kids riding with no seat belts. Our sidewalks are made wide enough for golf carts, so I use those. I don't mind our HOA. The dues are reasonable and the HOA doesn't give me much hassle. I try to mind my manners so they don't bother me. We can ride forever around here on a golf cart. We can ride from Walmart to Walmart on a battery charge. I don't mind people having their collections. I guess it's what you are used to. Residents in Missouri thought I was snooty. I made no secret about my distaste for having to look at their junk. The HOA back there was too political to be effective. If you weren't a patron of the local watering hole, you were a social outcast.

[Firedome]

We lived in several places, none of which had HOAs, until we bought a new log cabin-style house in a lakefront neighborhood in VT. The next door neighbor was President of Vermont's State College system, an OK guy with a cool V8 Morgan and a Corvette, but with a busy-body wife who had nothing to do but complain about our lawn, garden, boat, clothesline, etc ad infinitum. So I said to "deleted" with this and in less than a year sold it and we bought a very 1960s modern archtitect designed house that needed some work in a neighborhood in Charlotte, a small town near Burlington, with 5 acres and NO HOA! I added a 2 car attached garage and updated it and we sold it prior to moving here to NY. We did keep our summer place there though (a community association but no HOA rules except only 2 boat moorings allowed!). Vermonters have an old saying: I'm a Vermonta and I do as I wanta! Sort of like NH's Live Free or Die! LOL We think VT is the most beautiful place, in the US anyway, we had some nice views at the house and now at the lake place (pics)

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/730- ... 3490_zpid/

The previous house we sold in MD when we moved to VT in 1998 was it's exact opposite, a classic 1850s brick 2 story with 5 fireplaces and a carriage barn. We updated that one as well, including a modern kitchen. Our current much smaller house in NY (the 3 kids are gone) has no HOA there either... never again!

[Firedome]

The 1852 Maryland house... no HOA there either!

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1862 ... /?mmlb=g,2

[electra225]

The framer was out here a little after 6:30 this morning. He did the soffets and the facia boards. There is more to do, apparently, when you are using concrete tiles. I suppose to accomodate the weight. The framer said the roofers were scheduled for next week. He told me the plan is to have it done by the end of January. Stand by......

[electra225]

They came out again this morning about 6:30. They got the sheeting on the roof. It is starting to look like a building. I don't know what their next plan is. I'm assuming the roofers are next, followed by the stucco guys, painters and electrician.

[TC Chris]

See... just be patient and things will work out. These are strange times when it comes to supplies and schedules. Patience is a virtue that I've got better at as an old guy. A writer named Elizabeth Taylor (no, not the actress) said something to the effect that it's strange that we get more patient as we get older, when we have less time left. I'm amused by the fact that I'm as close to being 100 as to 50. Feel a lot more like 50.... It's what we call good luck.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I found out the other day I work with a lady named Candice Bergen. True story. They had the anniversaries listed on the board the other day and it said that Candice Bergen had been with the company 15 years. I work with the lady every day, didn't know her last name. Everybody calls her Candi, that's what her name badge says.....

Back to our regularly scheduled program........

Patience is not something natural to me. I was a truck driver too long. Pictures.......

The gap you see in the sheeting is there to allow for expansion of the tiles without making the wood fail.

[William]

Looking good!

Bill

[electra225]

My wife calls it "the outhouse". You could have a three-holer with a TV with that much room.

[electra225]

It looks like an outhouse with that open window hole.

[electra225]

No progress is being made today. I have not heard what the next procedure is.

[William]

Bill

[TC Chris]

I'm going to be the patience coach here. Unless there's some genuine urgency, keep in mind that the various tradesmen are probably balancing a bunch of jobs. Most of those are probably delayed or bumped off-schedule by delivery and materials availability issues. When the stuff shows up, they'll likely hustle over there to make some progress on that one and keep some other customer semi-happy. I doubt they're sitting in a bar tossing back beers....

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

The framer was not sure if he was going to be here today or not. He has the gables to fill in, then he's about done. I don't know whether he does windows and doors or not. The artisans are juggling jobs, I'm sure. I didn't mean to infer they were dinking. They put the felt and slats on the roof, then "load" the tiles. Then the inspector sees that the building is still standing. Then they do the windows and doors, do the stucco, paint, then install the roofing tiles. Then they work on the inside, insulation, wiring, drywall on the ceiling, pegboard on the walls. They put Tyvek on the inside instead of the outside so the pegboard doesn't "leak" cold air. They use 3/8 inch standoffs so peg hooks done perforate the Tyvek. The upstairs floor still needs to be installed. That area will give me much needed storage to help keep clutter off the floor in the shop. I still haven't decided what kind of a bench I want. I first wanted a corner bench, but may built a 4'X6' table that I can move where I want it. I can push it against the wall to use for a traditional bench, or drag it out into the floor if that would work better. I thought about buying a big tool box with a plywood top work area. I could keep doodads in the tool box then use the top for a bench. I'm concerned that might not be big enough.

[TC Chris]

I still haven't decided what kind of a bench I want. I first wanted a corner bench, but may built a 4'X6' table that I can move where I want it. I can push it against the wall to use for a traditional bench, or drag it out into the floor if that would work better. I thought about buying a big tool box with a plywood top work area. I could keep doodads in the tool box then use the top for a bench. I'm concerned that might not be big enough.

I'm jealous. My electronics bench is either the dining room table, for small stuff, or the top of the table saw out in the shop, for bigger projects. Neither is completely satisfactory. Or even somewhat satisfactory. Your shop would be like heaven!

Chris Campbell

[Firedome]

I've found that a 3' depth workbench works well for me otherwise the extra width in the back just accumulates stuff that's better stored in a cabinet or on a shelf and clutters up the work surface, but I'm very restricted for space so the shallower depth just fits better. I built a ton of floor to ceiling 16" deep shelves 12' long, it holds a huge amount of tools & stuff, including stereo stuff not currently being used, making organization easier. A 4 x 8 plywood sheet conveniently rips down to 3 - 16" x 8' shelving boards using 5/8" OSB braced with cut-plywood triangular braces on every stud holds a lot of weight and saves a lot of money.

[electra225]

I see some OSB remnants on the trash pile. One is large enough to make a bench top. OSB is splintery, so I could sand it with 60 or 80 grit, then remove the saw dust by compressed air or a shop vac. Then epoxy the top surface. I could use a piece of trim on the front edge to keep from getting splinters in my arns when I rub the edge. I don't want this shop to be as junky looking and cluttered as my shops have been before. The floor is allegedly going to be ceramic tile. It is as cheap as anything and will be more tolerant of my dragging consoles and heavy stuff across the floor. We'll use dark grout so that won't get nasty looking. I haven't decided on window covering yet. I'd like to talk the frau into shutters like we have in the house. We are going to use the cabinets we have in the garage. Two are four feet by six feet tall, two are four feet by four feet tall. I'm having the outlets on the west wall where the bench will be, put at 4'. All four walls will be on separate circuits. The west wall outlets will be on a switch, so I don't have a "senior moment" and leave the soldering iron on all night, or all week...... The lights in the ceiling will be LED pot lights, unless the LED's make too much noise, in which case I have old incandescents for backup. I'd like an RF filter on the breaker panel, if I can talk the electrician into installing it. Code requires a "bonded" breaker box, so that may help with noise. The ceiling lights will be on two circuits, the fan on another. Code says motor and light on ceiling fan on two switches. Ceiling lights dimmable. I'll put the cabinets on the west wall. Tall ones on the outside, shorter ones next, then the bench in between. The shorter cabinets have their own tops. Little radios on the south wall on shelves, between the bench and the window. Speakers between the window and east wall. TV's on the east wall between corner and door. Air compressor and big fan between the door and the north wall. Floor radios on the north wall. Consoles in the middle of the floor, in two rows. I am "inheriting" a dresser from the house, six feet long. In it I'll have the various doodads I just can't live without, cords, baluns, wall warts, clutter like that. Test equpment in one tall cabinet, general storage in the other. Smaller shop equipment items in the shorter cabinets. Small record players on top of the dresser. Then we'll see what we need from there. Tubes upstairs. I don't know what else. Depends on how hot it gets upstairs in the summer time. This may all change in actual practice, but I have to start somewhere.

[19&41]

If you use it for a top, be sure to put some bracing beneath it so it will remain flat.