neglected TT,our home for awhile (w/blackwater problem)

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Re: neglected TT,our home for awhile (w/blackwater problem)

Postby Socal Tom » Tue Nov 14, 2017 9:39 am

aggie79 wrote:Congrats on the successful utility swap-overs! And enjoy your new home! :applause:

I agree about the whole tiny house thing. My wife and I are loners and although we enjoy each other's company we need our own space. Our home is pretty small - 1300 s.f. - compared to what they're building nowadays - and sometimes that is not large enough for "breathing room". There is no way we could do the tiny house gig.

I could do it, as long as she had her house and I had mine
Tom


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Re: neglected TT,our home for awhile (w/blackwater problem)

Postby working on it » Tue Nov 14, 2017 5:22 pm

Socal Tom wrote:
aggie79 wrote:Congrats on the successful utility swap-overs! And enjoy your new home!... I agree about the whole tiny house thing. My wife and I are loners and although we enjoy each other's company we need our own space. Our home is pretty small - 1300 s.f. - compared to what they're building nowadays - and sometimes that is not large enough for "breathing room". There is no way we could do the tiny house gig.

I could do it, as long as she had her house and I had mine...Tom
  • Pretty much the same here, concerning my wife, house, and using "personal space" for each of us within. She does her own thing, and I mine, after 24 years of non-compatible interests; yet, we do share some basic interests (like her family...not mine>mine was despised by both of us<..., animals, Texas, and the usual God, country, and Chevrolet items),and it works for us, without too much discord, both having had truly bad first spouses making us appreciate each other's seemingly minor faults, in comparison. I primarily worked many hours a week, and built/repaired my vehicles, and drag-raced when home, while she hunted Bigfoot, and haunted antique malls and bookbarns, only sporadically working as a free-lance insurance adjuster. I tried going with her to the malls and bookbarns, to develop another common interest, but I could never get her to attend automotive swap meets or dragstrip events; maybe I should've tried Squatching???? We are also used to having separate vacations, due to having too many pets to board, and that seems to have worked out OK (despite her getting the lion's share of time away, like 95%). So, we are OK with the plan for dividing up the new house into individual/shared sectors.
  • We had 1440 sq.ft. in the old house, with the dogs only exclude from free-ranging into the master bedroom and bath, and into the spare bedroom, bath, and her office. When she had cats (no more, thank you), they eventually only had access to her office (the terriers made that decision for them), and freed me from having to manage them, too, as well as herding the dogs around. Over time, I became the dogmeister, and that figured into the plan for the new house.
  • At 1367 sq.ft., just a bit smaller than the old, but with more actual usable floorspace (smaller closets, separate utility room), the new house was specifically fitted out to meet our needs for the future:
  • 1) seamless vinyl flooring (over plywood not OSB, this time): wherever the dogs are allowed to go (carpet and flooring with seams have had much testing by us, before, and are an open invitation for doggy "accidents" that inevitably occur)
  • 2) large open kitchen and dining room: so the dogs can see us, and we them, to maintain control over their actions
  • 3) blockable access to the pristine new living room: we will use new shelving blocks that serve as storage for the kitchen, and as decorative storage for the living room, blocking free movement between kitchen and living room (doggy/baby gate the only way thru), so the dogs will not be able to get on the furniture in the living room, for the first time in 24 years, so we can freely have guests/family over for visits (no cats is a plus, too). The living room has vinyl flooring, too, in case there is an escape or pass-thru by a dog into that area.
  • 4) separate daytime (primarily) areas for me and the wife; we have different hobbies, TV viewing and musical preferences, best served by using separate rooms, with closed doors (previously not possible in the old floorplan). My retired man's "exile" office/dayroom has vinyl flooring, so the dogs can stay inside with me, and not roam the house, when inside. My window faces the backyard, driveway/parking area, and garage, so I can keep tabs on the dogs and my vehicles, while I draw plans for projects, research the web, or even watch TV or listen to my music (without blasting out the wife with 60's rock). Guns & gear in the closet, out of her way, and even older furniture, for the dogs or myself to lounge on. My wife's office (she actually works from home, sometimes) can be storage for all her books, Barbies, Precious Moments, and other collections, some arts & crafts (those not relegated to her large shed, built for that purpose), and her viewing and listening preferences. Her window faces the street, so she can keep tabs on the neighbors. The spare bedroom is to be for guests; a guest room, not having been usable for many years in the old house, due to my wife allowing cats into it, will be used for family passing thru, or for her Ohioan friend, when she visits.
  • 5)separate bathrooms: she gets the free run of the master bath, and walk-in closet...I'll use my dayroom closet for most of my daily wear, with only the more formal stuff in the big closet, so she will have room for her vast clothing/shoes/purses collection, and with room for a small make-up vanity inside. And the master bathroom sink can have her toiletries arranged as she likes them, everywhere, while my few needs can be in a small box under the second bathroom's sink, out of the way.
  • 6) router and TV control: we both need the internet, especially now that we're going to use our cellphones and computers for all our communications. No cable TV, no AT&T U-verse, no landline phone. Previously, she had the router buried in her office's closet, so I really could't access it without moving junk away; now, it will be on my desk/drawing table in the dayroom, so I can reset it quickly (there are frequent power surges/interruptions in our area, for many years). I mainly view Amazon Prime on my laptop (with separate 21" monitor), if at all, or use Netflix thru Roku. She will use the same sources, but with a big 32" flatscreen on the wall, in front of her desk. If we have guests visiting, we can stream appropriate programming to a TV in the living room, if so desired.
  • So, you can see that there's a plan in effect for the best use of, and justification for getting this house with four bedrooms and two baths (I actually campaigned for a radical downsizing for many years, but now know that we could never live in a small, or "tiny" house, given our large dog-pack, and our different proclivities...our life is as we made it, so there we are, to stay). My 6+ weeks staying in the 20-ft TT have convinced me that only a newlywed couple, with maybe a single pet, could stay happily inside it, or move into a tiny house, and stay happy.
Last edited by working on it on Sun Dec 17, 2017 9:36 pm, edited 2 times in total.
2013 HHRv "squareback/squaredrop", rugged, 4x8 TTT, 2225 lbs
  • *3500 lb Dexter EZ-Lube braked axle, 3000 lb.springs, active-progressive bumpstop suspension
  • *27 x 8.5-14LT AT tires (x 3) *Weight Distribution system for single-beam tongue
  • *100% LED's & GFCI outlets, 3x fans, AM/FM/CD/Aux. *A/C & heat, Optima AGM, inverter & charger(s)
  • *extended-run, on-board, 2500w generator *Coleman dual-fuel stove & lantern, Ikea grill, vintage skillet
  • *zinc/stainless front & side racks *98"L x 6" diameter rod & reel carrier tube on roof
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Re: neglected TT,our home for awhile (w/blackwater problem)

Postby Socal Tom » Tue Nov 14, 2017 5:28 pm

I’d love to see a “5 years later update” on these tiny house folks. I understand you can get used to things, people have been living in small apartments for years, but there is a limit especially as kids grow older. However, San Diego housing is getting so tight they are thinking about lowering the requirements for “Granny flats”. A tiny house could be a good Granny flat or rental property option if you can fit it behind your house out here.
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Re: neglected TT,our home for awhile (w/blackwater problem)

Postby working on it » Tue Nov 14, 2017 5:58 pm

  • I typed the preceding post about 7 hours ago, and tried all early afternoon to submit it, but my router and the forum were not cooperating. So, I submitted it now, when I returned to the TT, following several trips to the house, moving stuff, packing the fridge, then looking underneath the trailer to route the dryer exhaust vent.
  • It took me awhile today to be able to bend over without stumbling, since my vertigo returned this morning after two days respite. When I did, to peer under the trailer, with my wife, we discovered that the whole drainage pipe had parted, and was no longer connected to the septic tank infeed pipe. My wife stayed in the house last night, doing the usual things, using the sink, bathtub, and you know, while I remained with the dogs in the trailer. So, as you might expect, there's a lot of water under the house, and maybe more. Totally flabbergasted, we both texted our ex-super-contractor about fixing what he obviously left incomplete, when he fired himself over our disagreement concerning the electrical hook-up. Little did I know that the drainage was also incomplete, since I didn't crawl under to inspect, as I should've, though my wife did, when she wrapped the exposed waterlines. I blame myself for not inspecting his work, which was not good on many points, but he said it was done, and I basically trusted his word. My error.
  • I never fired the kid, but he never returned after our disagreement on what was needed to get the electrical up to code. I ended up correct, as the Oncor sub-contractors agreed, and my neighbor who did the fix-up work, also agreed. We have electricity now, and probably wouldn't, if I hadn't insisted on specific items that the contractor omitted.
  • He responded awhile after we sent separate texts to him, with photos, and he texted back that he would make it right, ASAP. We'll see, but I'm going to inspect his work first-hand, if I don't fall over, and my wife says she will be under the house, as he works. Maybe, maybe not. But, if he actually fixes it, then all is OK, and he'll be "somewhat" forgiven by my wife, but I'm gonna need an apology and explanation of why he didn't fulfill his promises before, after we seemed to have semi-bonded, while working together. Just when I thought I had found an honest (but maybe not totally competent contractor)....
  • completed electrical install (for now).png
    completed electrical install (for now).png (596.47 KiB) Viewed 1352 times
    tagged meter proves that my insistence on the electrical install needs, was indeed correct
  • drain to septic collapse.png
    drain to septic collapse.png (429.67 KiB) Viewed 1352 times
    unbelievable !
  • drainage collapse details.png
    drainage collapse details.png (411.65 KiB) Viewed 1352 times
    no wonder it fell apart
Last edited by working on it on Sun Dec 17, 2017 9:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
2013 HHRv "squareback/squaredrop", rugged, 4x8 TTT, 2225 lbs
  • *3500 lb Dexter EZ-Lube braked axle, 3000 lb.springs, active-progressive bumpstop suspension
  • *27 x 8.5-14LT AT tires (x 3) *Weight Distribution system for single-beam tongue
  • *100% LED's & GFCI outlets, 3x fans, AM/FM/CD/Aux. *A/C & heat, Optima AGM, inverter & charger(s)
  • *extended-run, on-board, 2500w generator *Coleman dual-fuel stove & lantern, Ikea grill, vintage skillet
  • *zinc/stainless front & side racks *98"L x 6" diameter rod & reel carrier tube on roof
173193172890148599
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Re: neglected TT,our home for awhile (w/blackwater problem)

Postby GPW » Wed Nov 15, 2017 6:58 am

WOI, we’ve learned to keep a watchful eye on our workers , so much so , if something goes wrong , I blame myself …. and then them …. :lol:
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Re: neglected TT,our home for awhile (w/blackwater problem)

Postby working on it » Wed Nov 15, 2017 9:55 am

  • At every step in the road to our new house becoming ready to live in, we've encountered nothing but people who have no interest in helping others, doing the right thing, keeping their word, etc., with the exception of my neighbor, and partially, the salesperson for the trailer (she was overruled and stifled by the office manager, who seems to delight in throwing bricks at us).
  • The tree guys were very nice and prompt in their services, but even after giving them two free cars we had, we received no discounted prices...I can understand that, as long as they kept their promises, which they have, all along.
  • The pad guy made promises, but in the end, he didn't actually do the work himself, but sent another, who didn't do it correctly, but the original guy said it'd be fine, and he'd return later (last week) to smooth out the devastated front yard. No show, no phone calls.
  • The demolition contractor was very professional, and efficient, but when his small, more precise equipment broke (a Bobcat with grappling hooks to lift and load only the debris, not dirt), he continued to have his 'dozer driver finish the job ruining our original retaining wall (cost us $7000 to replace and extend), and removing probably 60-75 cubic yards of the original house pad (sand), that we had to replace.
  • The delivery and set-up contractor, who hated the pad guy, from past contacts, and nearly wouldn't set-up the house after inspecting the pad. After much arguing, he did set it up, but charged an extra $2000 for the extra piers and stabilizer struts that he agreed to do, but alluded that the home manufacture/seller had already paid for it, in his contract with them. I'll never know the truth, because the office manager is in cahoots with him.
  • And then there's my wonder contractor, who walked away after he refused to do the correct electrical set-up (to satisfy code), and didn't complete the water and septic hook-ups correctly, either. His quickly-built retaining wall was done fast, as we needed, but with me doing 1/3 of the work, and providing most of the tools; I'll accept the imperfections of the wall, because it was a rush job, that we pleaded with him to take on, to meet the time schedule. My wife fixed the waterline mistakes under the house, and I and my neighbor re-did the electrical, at night and in the rain, in time to get the second scheduled visit by the power company. But the biggest failure on the wonder contractor's part was the septic line hook-up, under the house, which he told me was finished, before he even walked away. It collapsed yesterday, and though he promised to return ASAP and fix it, now I wonder if he will (my wife and he are trading threats and insults by texting)...I was hoping that he would do the right thing, as a seemingly honest man, but now he might have to be coerced by lawyers.
  • I give up. There seems to be no honor among the contractor types, at least in my experience. My great-uncle Carl, was a do-everything old-school handyman/carpenter/brickmason (you name it), who would always make it right no matter what it took (as a kid, I would visit him, a few miles away, and go to sites he was working on; everybody loved him and his work). That breed of contractor no longer seems to exist, IMHO.
2013 HHRv "squareback/squaredrop", rugged, 4x8 TTT, 2225 lbs
  • *3500 lb Dexter EZ-Lube braked axle, 3000 lb.springs, active-progressive bumpstop suspension
  • *27 x 8.5-14LT AT tires (x 3) *Weight Distribution system for single-beam tongue
  • *100% LED's & GFCI outlets, 3x fans, AM/FM/CD/Aux. *A/C & heat, Optima AGM, inverter & charger(s)
  • *extended-run, on-board, 2500w generator *Coleman dual-fuel stove & lantern, Ikea grill, vintage skillet
  • *zinc/stainless front & side racks *98"L x 6" diameter rod & reel carrier tube on roof
173193172890148599
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Re: neglected TT,our home for awhile (w/blackwater problem)

Postby working on it » Wed Nov 15, 2017 8:13 pm

  • Today's activities and non-events (continued): while waiting for the wife to come home from work, about 1:30, I observed the (Packrat) Pod company man pick-up Pod 2 (emptied Sunday), then cleaned some trash/construction debris from the house and yard, and ran extension cords for charging my truck and HHR (both have inverters permanently hardwired; if I don't charge every few days, the batteries go flat) from the house's outside GFCI. They had been on garage power, now unconnected.
  • When the wife got home, she had me text the errant septic line contractor again, and he replied that he would fix it up with better pipe and supports. The question remains, when? We need it now, but he never, ever, showed up before when he promised, so it's a guessing game if/when he might appear. Might be another weekend project for me, and my ideal neighbor, who has already volunteered to do the work, for free, like he did the electrical service panel.
  • Another, but good, event happened. The HVAC contractors showed up a week before we expected them. I didn't have time to prepare the patio extension for the HVAC outside unit, but I had enough square cement blocks to form a solid base for the plastic pad that they furnished (I'll just extend the blocks around it, and it won't look bad). We now have A/C as well as heat. Nice, efficient young men...might have to change my blanket condemnation on contractors...they were as good and polite as the trim guys had been, and we will put their company on speed-dial for any HVAC problems or routine service in the future.
  • So, that wraps up today; no vertigo! but my allergies hit full force (I am glad I didn't have both at once). Now, if only the septic line were fixed, I could start shutting down the trailer, and move into the house, but the Thetford toilet is needed, and we're not quite ready to move the dogs in yet, among all the boxes and scattered stuff. I won't mind it so much now that the finish is in sight (plus, the wife and her birds are in the house, so it's not as crowded in the trailer).
2013 HHRv "squareback/squaredrop", rugged, 4x8 TTT, 2225 lbs
  • *3500 lb Dexter EZ-Lube braked axle, 3000 lb.springs, active-progressive bumpstop suspension
  • *27 x 8.5-14LT AT tires (x 3) *Weight Distribution system for single-beam tongue
  • *100% LED's & GFCI outlets, 3x fans, AM/FM/CD/Aux. *A/C & heat, Optima AGM, inverter & charger(s)
  • *extended-run, on-board, 2500w generator *Coleman dual-fuel stove & lantern, Ikea grill, vintage skillet
  • *zinc/stainless front & side racks *98"L x 6" diameter rod & reel carrier tube on roof
173193172890148599
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Re: neglected TT,our home for awhile (w/blackwater problem)

Postby S. Heisley » Thu Nov 16, 2017 12:53 am

:o Wow...just Wow!
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Re: neglected TT,our home for awhile (w/blackwater problem)

Postby GPW » Thu Nov 16, 2017 6:12 am

Hang in there !!!  :thumbsup:
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Re: neglected TT,our home for awhile (w/blackwater problem)

Postby working on it » Thu Nov 16, 2017 1:29 pm

  • The errant contractor returned at 0845 this morning, after dropping off some proper pipe, unseen, late last night, in the rain. I crawled under the house to make sure that he used the right fittings, and correct glue for the pipe (my recent research into the subject, anticipating my having to fix it instead, schooled me somewhat). And, I made sure he suspended the pipe under the house with strong, large tie-wraps, that can fully support the weight, from the steel frame (it is a double-wide, you know). I'm going to use cinder and square blocks under it all, as insurance against one or more straps failing (which they probably won't do). I'll support it at each joint and connection, as well as under long runs, probably five places in all. I believe in overkill.
  • I believe he was being honest with me, when he said he thought it was done right, by his assistant, before he left that last day. He turned over all the underhouse work to the assistant, while he did the electric work, but never inspected what the helper had done (he had a big-money project nearing deadline, 60 miles north of here, so he was on the phone all day, and hurriedly rushed there after my house was supposedly finished).
  • He had done the electrical service mast install as he had done them previously, when he lived in rural Utah, so I learned. This was his first one in Texas, so he really didn't appreciate our urban (semi-rural) big-city electrical codes, and that was where my insistence on certain items wasn't followed. He left when I said that I'd take it from there on. But, relying on his underhouse assistant to get the plumbing and waterlines finished, without checking on them, is where I fault him. Inexperience, trying to work on too many jobs simultaneously, having unreliable help (that's why I had to help him on the wall build, no help showed up), and failure to communicate with/please the customer before calling the job complete, are all things he better get right in the future, before he promises the moon to the next customer, and only delivers green cheese, instead. I believe he will learn the ropes, and get better, but I really wish that my house project wasn't early into his learning curve, like it seems to have been. I won;t use him for two future jobs that had been offered to him, but I made sure he knows that if any other problems associated with his work EVER crop up, he better come immediately, with experienced help, to permanently fix them.
  • You might ask why we were so willing to let him try to get it right? I still like the kid, and our failure to find contractors willing to show up (remember, or maybe I didn't relate this on the forum, I had 6 EACH, of electricians and plumbers who said they'd come out, to at least bid on my project, but never came, and never returned my follow-up calls), made me doubtful of a timely fix by another, any other, professional. My wife had already scheduled her co-workers (the moving and packing crew her company employs) to come tomorrow to move the rest of the heavy furniture into the new house, on our dime. And, supposedly her sister and her nieces (w/their husbands, and the elderly parents, too) are coming later tomorrow, to help unpack boxes, arrange things, and probably just stand in the way. So,we needed to be able to use water and plumbing, and if the contractor didn't do it today, I (and my neighbor) would have to fix it tonight.
  • Now, I've just re-scheduled our AT&T tech visit, to install the telephone/router box on the outside of the new house, for the fourth time, having been delayed by contractors in the way, and no electricity present, the other three times. Before 1600 today, they say. So, my trip to get a propane refill for the trailer (I figure I, and the dogs, will be out here for up to a week, or at least Monday, before things in the house are so arranged to be dog-resistant, so I need more propane for the water heater and fridge in the TT), and concrete blocks for the patio extension and septic pipe support, will be delayed 'til evening or tomorrow. It's always something.
2013 HHRv "squareback/squaredrop", rugged, 4x8 TTT, 2225 lbs
  • *3500 lb Dexter EZ-Lube braked axle, 3000 lb.springs, active-progressive bumpstop suspension
  • *27 x 8.5-14LT AT tires (x 3) *Weight Distribution system for single-beam tongue
  • *100% LED's & GFCI outlets, 3x fans, AM/FM/CD/Aux. *A/C & heat, Optima AGM, inverter & charger(s)
  • *extended-run, on-board, 2500w generator *Coleman dual-fuel stove & lantern, Ikea grill, vintage skillet
  • *zinc/stainless front & side racks *98"L x 6" diameter rod & reel carrier tube on roof
173193172890148599
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Re: neglected TT,our home for awhile (w/blackwater problem)

Postby GPW » Thu Nov 16, 2017 6:53 pm

After all this you can just apply for your Contractor’s license … That’s a great job … Ride around in a pickup truck , talk on the Phone , and watch other people work ;)
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Re: neglected TT,our home for awhile (w/blackwater problem)

Postby working on it » Thu Nov 16, 2017 8:43 pm

GPW wrote:After all this you can just apply for your Contractor’s license … That’s a great job … Ride around in a pickup truck , talk on the Phone , and watch other people work ;)
  • I don't know how to sit back and let others work...unless I know nothing that the job requires (but, I'll be up close, usually, trying to learn a new skill, if I can). Hey, that sounds like some of the contractors I've used! Or during the summer of '69, when I worked for Dallas Streets & Sanitation, usually mowing grass along the highways, or cutting trees and brush obstructing alleys; the supervisors drove around in their airconditioned cars, yakking on the radios (no cellphones for another 20 years), and always stuffing their faces with fast food. I just couldn't earn a living that way.
  • I have to lead by example, and did, at every point in my 46 years at my former job. I have little respect for a "supervisor", or lead "contractor", unless he can do every job as good or better than his crew. I hated riding a desk, even for after-work reports, and just riding around in a car would've been much the same...I got no feeling of accomplishment unless I was in the middle of a job, showing the guys how to do it (or learning a new trick from one of them), and going home satisfied with the work I'd done. Just the way I always was, learned from my grandfather M.B., and his brother Carl, both imbued with true old-school work ethic. I probably never lived up to their standards, but I tried, especially as I grew older, and learned to fully appreciate their example.
2013 HHRv "squareback/squaredrop", rugged, 4x8 TTT, 2225 lbs
  • *3500 lb Dexter EZ-Lube braked axle, 3000 lb.springs, active-progressive bumpstop suspension
  • *27 x 8.5-14LT AT tires (x 3) *Weight Distribution system for single-beam tongue
  • *100% LED's & GFCI outlets, 3x fans, AM/FM/CD/Aux. *A/C & heat, Optima AGM, inverter & charger(s)
  • *extended-run, on-board, 2500w generator *Coleman dual-fuel stove & lantern, Ikea grill, vintage skillet
  • *zinc/stainless front & side racks *98"L x 6" diameter rod & reel carrier tube on roof
173193172890148599
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Re: neglected TT,our home for awhile (w/blackwater problem)

Postby GPW » Fri Nov 17, 2017 6:43 am

8) :thumbsup:
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Re: neglected TT,our home for awhile (w/blackwater problem)

Postby working on it » Sat Nov 18, 2017 7:14 pm

  • Today was windy as heck, playing havoc with my allergies. No vertigo, though, but with major muscle aches leftover from Thursday night's crawling under the house, after dark, to straighten the angle the contractor left the septic feed line (just a little sag in the middle). I tightened up the strap in the middle, ever so gently, until it looked right to me (and my wife, who was under there with me, in the deepening twilight...if I were younger, it might've been a romantic interlude. NOT). After that was done, we ferried in cinder blocks and rectangular cement blocks, and I placed them carefully under the pipe, at the suspension points, to ensure that if the straps ever lost their position, or broke, the blocking underneath would stop any fall, ever again. I gently slid the final blocks in, without disturbing the pipe at all (I had to use different block combinations, and I had two different rectangular block thicknesses to do so). Tomorrow, I get to go under again, to install a thru-floor dryer vent hose, to exit from under the house, and rest on the southern retaining wall.
  • The dryer vent needs to be finished before Tuesday, when the skirting contractor comes, and all items that project from under the house (so far, front and rear yard spigots, A/C drain tube, and the dryer vent), must be finished before he starts, to plot out where he must cut the holes in the skirting. He came out today, and together we figured what was needed, and where (venting, access hatch door, and the way to address the two different surfaces that the skirting will rest on-concrete and treated wood). I wanted a gap below the skirting that will be over the patio and retaining wall, to allow for house settling/shifting, without affecting the hard skirting (we're using LP Smart Siding, the same as our house has, to perfectly match the pattern/grain, instead of Hardie board, which is the alternative he offered). We specified one or the other, when buying the house, and it was included in the contract. Our old house had metal lath with stones imbedded in concrete (it served as an adjunct to our previous retaining wall), but now we don't need that, because of the house sitting over the new improved retaining wall; and we certainly didn't want the cheap plastic or thin sheet metal skirting, since they don't look good, nor age well. And, they really don't keep critters out from under the house, either. My plan is the use a flexible material under the elevated skirt over the wall/patio, that will compress if the house settles any, and I'll use treated lumber over a sand base, for the other two sides, backfilling around/under it, to maintain a gapless seal (there will be no bushes, shrubs, or flowerbeds blocking the perimeter of the house- for two feet - to enable me to maintain it better, over the years.
  • My wife and her sister started cleaning the dust from storing the furniture over 2.5 months, and getting the rooms arranged to fit in older stuff with newer, to best fit the new floorplan. Of course, my wife had me go buy 4 new (cheap) bookshelves-in-a-box, to replace her old ones that no longer match the wall colors (I told her not to store the old ones, but she insisted). We get cheap bookshelves all the time...she changes them out, from room to room, and with new books all the time, so she goes thru them like stuff thru a goose, if you know what I mean.Despite that interlude, they practically finished the bathrooms, master bedroom, kitchen, and dining/breakfast room (I persuaded her to not bring back the huge circular oak table and chairs, but use her antique 50's enameled porcelain table instead, to match the "antique" theme she is trying there). I have to hang some overhead cabinets in the laundry room before I can put in the dryer vent tomorrow (or Monday), and that room will be 80% done, too. Of course, everything will change by next week, so I'm expecting practically nothing that we stored will be used, except for her collectibles, of many kinds (she wants me to make some space in my "exile" dayroom/office, my personal space, for the anticipated overflow of her books and junk). Won't happen! At last, I'll get a space for my stuff, and not let hers creep in to take it over...at least that's my plan (she took over two sheds, and half my garage already, even though she built a 12x24 shed for her use only, though I am storing two wheels/tires there, underneath three A/C window units we kept from the old house). Her collectibles are like Kudzu.
  • With her and the birds out of this TT, now, it isn't so bad. I have my laptop and separate monitor on the dinette, and I can watch movies or surf the web half the night without disturbing her (I also manage the dogs, and she doesn't have to, so she can rest undisturbed, for awhile at least, until we go to the new house). Hopefully, we'll be in the house before Christmas, but if not, then I won't miss the non-stop Xmas music that she has on for two months every year (I have my own favorites, stuff my family played in the 50's-60's, that I like, and she doesn't like so much).
2013 HHRv "squareback/squaredrop", rugged, 4x8 TTT, 2225 lbs
  • *3500 lb Dexter EZ-Lube braked axle, 3000 lb.springs, active-progressive bumpstop suspension
  • *27 x 8.5-14LT AT tires (x 3) *Weight Distribution system for single-beam tongue
  • *100% LED's & GFCI outlets, 3x fans, AM/FM/CD/Aux. *A/C & heat, Optima AGM, inverter & charger(s)
  • *extended-run, on-board, 2500w generator *Coleman dual-fuel stove & lantern, Ikea grill, vintage skillet
  • *zinc/stainless front & side racks *98"L x 6" diameter rod & reel carrier tube on roof
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Re: neglected TT,our home for awhile (w/blackwater problem)

Postby low277 » Sun Nov 19, 2017 9:06 am

The shoddy contractors should not only be ashamed but embarrassed to perform substandard work!!!

In Minnesota, all electrical work is supposed to be inspected. Most of the state by state inspectors and a few areas by city inspectors if their area is enforcing to a higher standard.

All electrical contractors are required to licensed, bonded and insured. If the inspector finds a installation that fails to meet NEC code standards, he can issue a correction order. It usually requires the contractor to complete any repairs or corrections, sign and date the order and return it to the inspector for re-inspection within 10 business days.

I have been a electrician my entire adult life, spent years in the construction side, working for others until I got my Journeyman and Masters licenses. I was also a state inspector for a number of years, now I head the electrical dept. of a large manufacturing companies facility group.

The work that a contractor performs and leaves behind is a direct reflection of his character!!!

I apologize on behalf of real legitimate contractors who take pride of the work that they do!!!
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