Life with Jane

[Curtis in TX]

Sorry, but this is going to be a long story. I'll keep it as short as possibe!

I wish I had a dollar for every meter I'd set in 36 years. I could buy a NICE RV.
Figure 35 to 50 meters a day for 15 years! (Personel best was 75 meters in one day!)

I did basically the same thing when I built my shop Harvey.
When my neighbor to my north built his house he mounted a nice 200 amp meter and breaker box on the power pole with the transformer on it, so his contractors use it for construction power. He never took it down after they ran the underground service to the house. It was just up there for years doing nothing.
(Meter had been moved to the house and base glassed out.)

My house is fed from the power pole and transformer on the south side of the property.
So when I built my shop on my north property line I asked the neighbor if I could use his old TP set up if I had a meter set in it, to build my shop with.
Well, he gave me the entire TP pole pole set up.

When I finished my shop build I ran a 4/0 aluminum URD service from that TP box and over to my shop wall. It went into a 200 amp panel mounted on the inside of the shop wall.
I did swap out the breaker box it had, to a cut off switch for the 4/0 service. But that's it.
Easy peasey!

Here's a tip you might like too!

When I built my shop I found an Metal Building Erection Company and struck a deal with the Owner.
I contracted him to have his crews work on my building when they were sitting idle in his shop due to a shut down on one of their bigger jobs. Rain, Waiting for Inspections, or other Contractors to get out of their way. Basically they came to my shop to work, rather than sit in his Company Warehouse playing cards with nothing to do. He had 4 crews. And there were always jobs put on hold for one reason or another.

Our deal was I would make his payroll for that crew when they were working on my building, rather than him paying them to sit on their hands drawing pay. I was 15 miles from his shop. And, as a bonus, I would hand him $2500 cash after they finished, because he basically let me hire his guys (At his cost).

Some weeks I might see a crew on my building 1 or 2 days. Sometime 3 days. Then it might be a week or more before anyone came back to work on it again. Rarely was it the same crew of guys from one week to the next. So it took a while to stand the building up. About 3-1/2 months IIRC.

Melissa went nuts over how long it took, but being in the Construction Business I wasn't worried.

Because I knew he wanted that tax free bonus money.
With my savings I was able to install better than average insulation and wiring. (I did all my own wiring install.)

They left one of those big tire man lifts out on my foundation the entire time, so I knew they would be back to finish the job, I caught this guy just right, because they started on the building about this time of year and finished just as Spring hit. They had a lot of jobs shut down due to weather. And if it was just sprinkling here, or not at all, land pouring buckets in Dallas they came out here. Had 2 crews one week that really knocked a lot of it out.

I got to know the Workers and they did me right. I let them use my outdoor kitchen and patio furniture for their lunches, if they needed it, and always had soft drinks and water on ice for them to drink. I threw a party for all the Crews once it was completed.

The Owner apparently had some partners who didn't contribute to the Companies Operation.
(Widows of former deceased partners I think)
So it's just speculation he put the Bonus in his pocket. But I don't know!!!

Saved me a boat load of money.
Including his Bonus I think I paid them around $6500. to have it erected. And that was from bare concrete to unloading the building off the semi, to standing up the frame work, insulating and covering the building in sheetmetal.

I installed the roll up door and wired it out myself. All of it Commercial Grade Specs.
All the inside stuff I did by myself.

Anyway, that's how I did mine!

[Wroughtnharv]

Originally Posted by George Schweikle

Long time lurker on Harv's Life With Jane thread. Recently saw a quote regarding aging, attributed to Clint Eastwood: "Don't let the old come out". I have this covered since my wife says I am 17 years old from the neck up...

This describes perfectly about half of the friends here and in real life.

[ronspradley]

Originally Posted by Curtis in TX

Sorry, but this is going to be a long story. I'll keep it as short as possibe!

I wish I had a dollar for every meter I'd set in 36 years. I could buy a NICE RV.
Figure 35 to 50 meters a day for 15 years! (Personel best was 75 meters in one day!)

I did basically the same thing when I built my shop Harvey.
When my neighbor to my north built his house he mounted a nice 200 amp meter and breaker box on the power pole with the transformer on it, so his contractors use it for construction power. He never took it down after they ran the underground service to the house. It was just up there for years doing nothing.
(Meter had been moved to the house and base glassed out.)

My house is fed from the power pole and transformer on the south side of the property.
So when I built my shop on my north property line I asked the neighbor if I could use his old TP set up if I had a meter set in it, to build my shop with.
Well, he gave me the entire TP pole pole set up.

When I finished my shop build I ran a 4/0 aluminum URD service from that TP box and over to my shop wall. It went into a 200 amp panel mounted on the inside of the shop wall.
I did swap out the breaker box it had, to a cut off switch for the 4/0 service. But that's it.
Easy peasey!

Here's a tip you might like too!

When I built my shop I found an Metal Building Erection Company and struck a deal with the Owner.
I contracted him to have his crews work on my building when they were sitting idle in his shop due to a shut down on one of their bigger jobs. Rain, Waiting for Inspections, or other Contractors to get out of their way. Basically they came to my shop to work, rather than sit in his Company Warehouse playing cards with nothing to do. He had 4 crews. And there were always jobs put on hold for one reason or another.

Our deal was I would make his payroll for that crew when they were working on my building, rather than him paying them to sit on their hands drawing pay. I was 15 miles from his shop. And, as a bonus, I would hand him $2500 cash after they finished, because he basically let me hire his guys (At his cost).

Some weeks I might see a crew on my building 1 or 2 days. Sometime 3 days. Then it might be a week or more before anyone came back to work on it again. Rarely was it the same crew of guys from one week to the next. So it took a while to stand the building up. About 3-1/2 months IIRC.

Melissa went nuts over how long it took, but being in the Construction Business I wasn't worried.

Because I knew he wanted that tax free bonus money.
With my savings I was able to install better than average insulation and wiring. (I did all my own wiring install.)

They left one of those big tire man lifts out on my foundation the entire time, so I knew they would be back to finish the job, I caught this guy just right, because they started on the building about this time of year and finished just as Spring hit. They had a lot of jobs shut down due to weather. And if it was just sprinkling here, or not at all, land pouring buckets in Dallas they came out here. Had 2 crews one week that really knocked a lot of it out.

I got to know the Workers and they did me right. I let them use my outdoor kitchen and patio furniture for their lunches, if they needed it, and always had soft drinks and water on ice for them to drink. I threw a party for all the Crews once it was completed.

The Owner apparently had some partners who didn't contribute to the Companies Operation.
(Widows of former deceased partners I think)
So it's just speculation he put the Bonus in his pocket. But I don't know!!!

Saved me a boat load of money.
Including his Bonus I think I paid them around $6500. to have it erected. And that was from bare concrete to unloading the building off the semi, to standing up the frame work, insulating and covering the building in sheetmetal.

I installed the roll up door and wired it out myself. All of it Commercial Grade Specs.
All the inside stuff I did by myself.

Anyway, that's how I did mine!

And a fine looking shop it is. And a fine property. And fine house on the property. And you can walk over to the airport thru your back yard. I approve.


rsp
.

[Wroughtnharv]

Power service guys came by first thing this morning. It took them about half of an hour to move the drop and meter. Then it took me another half of an hour to change the power lines to the little house over to the new breaker box.

[Wroughtnharv]

I buried the line to the little house because I didn’t want to have an issue even with it in conduit. The plan is when we get the new power meter in on the barn with buried service I will have to swing over the power lines to the little house. None of the conduit joints were glued in so I’ll be able to use the conduit one more time.

[Wroughtnharv]

The new meter base is twenty feet from the barndominium and well out of the way for access to do work.

And we now have an extra complete temporary pole with meter base if one of my friends needs one while building a new place.

[ronjhall]

Did you dig the trench by hand. My back hurts just thinking about digging.

[Wroughtnharv]

Originally Posted by ronjhall

Did you dig the trench by hand. My back hurts just thinking about digging.

Ron I really love our sandy loam soil. Thursday I dug the trench using my five foot fiberglass handled sharp shooter and trench shovel. The moisture content was perfect. I was able to go full sharpshooter depth with one tough-stand-on-it-and-wiggle-handle stab and then cleaned out the trench with the trenching shovel. Friday we had the winds and it filled the trench with leaves. Then there was the three gopher highways we cut. They filled the trench up at those locations every day. It’s only sixteen inches deep but the line is safe.

Our clips came in yesterday. They look like they’re built on the same line as the 75 cent line but with a wider top lip and an eighth of an inch taller center leg. Good part is they cost seventeen and a half cents each.

I really wanted to start with the west end first with the roofing panels. But, huge but, that is the view that will be seen more often and for appearances I need to start at the east end. We can do this. But that is later.

[ronjhall]

Does this mean that you are going to be putting sheet metal up soon?

[okmunky]

Harvey, is everything OK? We haven’t heard from you in over 2 weeks.

[ronjhall]

Originally Posted by okmunky

Harvey, is everything OK? We haven’t heard from you in over 2 weeks.

I talked to him Saturday morning. He is gathering all his stuff together to get metal put up. Hope he has time to get back to us here.

[tommar]

Just thought I'd mention that we've been hibernating. And avoiding Covid by doing so. I'm using our grocery store's "curbside delivery" option to avoid going into the grocery store. Haven't really done in-person grocery shopping in months. Anyway, February 9 is when I get my 2nd Covid shot!

[Joyce M]

I've been missing Harvey's updates too.....
From post one, very interesting and a fun read...
Take care everyone!

[Wroughtnharv]

I took this photo from the mailbox out on the highway yesterday afternoon. Mail hasn’t ran the last couple of days.

On your left is the little house. It’s a 22’ X 22’ old paint shop back in the day when this was all a wrecking yard, 70’s. It was then converted into an apartment of sorts. When we bought it the water lines were all clay lined from well water and there was no insulation in the ceiling. We got it where we can have our kitchen and storage plus we have the toilet. It has been a life saver during the storm because the coach froze up night one. The house and coach are a hundred yards from the mailbox.

The white barn back on the right is the three acres that belong to a neighbor I helped fence in. He has four goats, three pregnant nannies and a billy. I break the water in the trough and feed them every morning. We’ve got our fingers crossed into knots that one of the nannies don’t pop during this storm.

Last night the power provider lifted the rolling blackouts. It’s been quite an adventure. Twenty minutes of power followed by 40 minutes without. No internet which is slightly worse than poor internet. Then there’s the hustle of turning on the dryer, plugging in the phones, etc. The oven is gas but with electrical control so we haven’t had biscuits etc. Yesterday at 6:00 the weather lady said we had 216 hours below freezing. Worst was Tuesday morning with a temp of -3º, this morning it is 20º with warnings against using co-op water without boiling. That’s all over north Texas.

It will probably be late Saturday before we can see the freeze damage to the coach. We use the coach shower so you know we are hoping any issues can be fixed asap.

It’s been another adventure that we can tell the grandkids, teenagers now, that we can tell when we get old.