Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Welcome......To Odd Acres

[-Brent-]

Yes there is a '55 and a '56 Chevy back there but they belong to the neighbor behind us. Many people have asked to buy them but the owner(s) won't sell. So they just sit back there and biodegrade. So sad......

Jeeze I had to go back and play "Where's Waldo" to find the car. Well, good thing is that it's AZ and it's not turning into dust for another half century. Maybe that's when I'll be able to get my hands on a 55.

 

[Finallygotit]

So now that the shop has it's leaks under control, time to get back to the master bath. With the plumbing and insulation done, it was time to close up the walls.

Hardie backer going in the shower area...

I did the rough drywall work and had a drywall company come out to finish and texture the walls. My wife and I then ordered the cabinets and countertop so now it's time to turn our attention back to the shop, or so I thought.

 

[drivesitfar]

FGI: you are doing a lot of DIY on your RETIREMENT HOME and looks like you get to ride in a fun car with your bride on days while the concrete is drying. love the dogs that look like they are happy and well fed.

do you do all your concrete work, just the forms or have you been hiring it all out?

keep up the good work.

 

[sublime68charger]

GREAT WORK on the place and keep posting up the pics of things you have been doing!

 

[lbperry]

You mention in one of the early posts that you put drains between sections of your walk. Are these drains something that is commercially available or did you construct them yourself?
I've got a similar situation where I need to provide for water running across a walk and would like some kind of drain.
Where did you get the drains or how did you construct them?
I've been trying to come up with something that will drain but not be a trip hazard.
Thanks

 

[ElCoche]

Incredible work buddy. You must be very proud.
Love the sunset in the third pic. Great setting for a home.

 

[Finallygotit]

FGI: you are doing a lot of DIY on your RETIREMENT HOME and looks like you get to ride in a fun car with your bride on days while the concrete is drying. love the dogs that look like they are happy and well fed.

do you do all your concrete work, just the forms or have you been hiring it all out?

keep up the good work.

Thanks for stopping by Drives.

I know my limits and concrete is not within those limits so I contracted out.

Regarding the "well fed" dogs, we adopt seniors and picked up these two. At the time of that picture, between the two, they lost over 40 pounds. Their previous owner kinda overfed them. They are sweethearts!

GREAT WORK on the place and keep posting up the pics of things you have been doing!

Thanks for stopping by! I have so many more pics to post...

You mention in one of the early posts that you put drains between sections of your walk. Are these drains something that is commercially available or did you construct them yourself?
I've got a similar situation where I need to provide for water running across a walk and would like some kind of drain.
Where did you get the drains or how did you construct them?
I've been trying to come up with something that will drain but not be a trip hazard.
Thanks

Thanks for being here! Those drains are commercially available. They are actually pool deck drains. They work quite well and are not very expensive. This is an internet picture but it is the exact same drain we used.

Incredible work buddy. You must be very proud.
Love the sunset in the third pic. Great setting for a home.

Thank you very much for the compliment, much appreciated. Sunsets (and sunrises) out here are incredible.

 

[sawduststeve]

Great work and a good read, well written.
Love the house name, it's a lovely property you have there.
Keep on keeping on.

Regards
Steve.

 

[yz-dwg]

Nice place, nice views, in fact we must be neighbors - I have the exact same veiw of the Rincons and Mt. Fagan as you

 

[Finallygotit]

Great work and a good read, well written.
Love the house name, it's a lovely property you have there.
Keep on keeping on.


Regards
Steve.

Thanks for stopping by!

Nice place, nice views, in fact we must be neighbors - I have the exact same veiw of the Rincons and Mt. Fagan as you

Hmmmmmmmm........ Welcome!

 

[Finallygotit]

After the drywall got installed in the master bath, it came time to install the new heat pump that finally arrived - YAY!!






Man, I'm telling you, I am really impressed with this setup. Besides the fact that is 19 SEER, it has VFD's on all three motors (air handler, outside fan and compressor). All have soft start and this thing is Q U I E T ! You and I can be standing next to it while it's running full tilt and have a normal conversation. Here's one thing (obviously of many) that I like, the system only works as hard as it needs to maintain temp. It will go from a barely noticeable idle to full tilt. In all the time we have now lived here, once the system has achieved set-point, it does not waver.

And now the other shoe drops. The previous owner converted the attached garage into a party room. I hate to do this but I will post a pic from the original listing. That floor is driving me nuts!


Well, in that room are two vents in the ceiling from the HVAC system and they are good sized vents too. But I always wondered why they felt the need to install a mini-split. (I had the mini-split removed and am going to later install it in the shop) That room would always be too warm or too cold and not much air flows through those vents. So I called my friendly HVAC guy and ask him to take a look. He climbs up in the attic and after crawling around a bit, I hear this big laugh followed by a couple of flashes. He comes back down, still giggling mind you, and asks,

HVAC guy - Did you install the ducting up there?
Me - No, why?
HVAC guy - Do you know who installed it?
Me - No, I can only assume it was the previous owner.
HVAC guy - I took some pictures up there for our wall of shame
Me - That good huh?
HVAC guy - Whoever installed the ducting up there used a reducing "Y" and hooked up backwards.
Me - Can I get a copy of that picture? (unfortunately I never got it)

Anyway, he called another one of his guys to bring the proper duct-work and installed it for free saying that his guys should have checked it out when they installed the new system. We are now good to go HVAC-wise.

 

[Finallygotit]

So back to the master bath, the cabinets arrived and I put them in for a trial fit. After drilling holes for the plumbing......


My wife and I also found some tile that we liked for the shower and got it home. A tile job like this is definitely out of my wheelhouse so luckily we found the Picasso of tile. Man he's good!



Then I installed some vinyl plank flooring in front of the shower and around the potty.


Then I installed the sliding glass doors, vanity top and porta-potty.



The reason my wife and I called it the porta-potty was because, for a few months, it lived on a furniture dolly I made and it moved from room to room to keep it out of the way. Like here in the bathroom while the carpet was being installed.


Or in the master bedroom while the work in the MB was continuing.


I think that toilet visited every room in the house.

 

[Finallygotit]

So while some of the work was continuing in the house, I called the manufacturer of the steel building to see if they had a recommendation for insulating that beast. They did and they pointed me to their website for data and pictures of the stuff. So I called him back, told him the size of the building and ordered insulation.

Now, the plan was to hang OSB on the straight portions of the walls in the shop so that I could mount whatever I needed to it. Little did I know what I wished for. My lovely wife and I started out purchasing about 15 sheets of OSB; that was about two thirds of what I figured we would need. My wife insisted on painting the OSB so we also purchased 10 gallons of exterior semi-gloss paint as she wanted to paint both sides of the wood to protect it. God bless her!

So now how to mount the OSB. Well, the ribs of the steel building would not match up, center-wise, with 4' x 8' sheets. More ...... I figured if I mounted 1" x 6" furring strips to the ribs, I could attach the 4 x 8's to it with a 2" filler strip in the middle. Back to Lowe's for 30 - 1" x 6"s.

Here on the left you can see the ribs of the building with those four upper bolts I had to clear. In the bottom left hand corner of the picture you can barely see the two bolts that needed clearance.

So one weekend, a good friend of mine came over to help with the furring strips. He made these beauties to thread to the ends of the 5/16" bolts sticking out.

These would serve to center punch the furring strips so that we could continue. Every furring strip needed clearance for the bolts and the nuts times 6, four at the top and two at the bottom. We started with the punch mark

Then counterbored with a Forstner bit

Which left a center punch for the clearance hole

Boy we were cutting-spotting-counterboring-drilling fools.

The last operation was to take the furring strips and mount them to the building ribs with these

There was just the right amount of room to mount the furring strips and use the Tee Nuts without having to modify anything else. Project complete.

 

[Giddyup]

Good work happening here.... love the garage/barn. Wish something like that would be available down under....

I reckon you cannot beat a big wide sky with a multi coloured sunset... you have a great spot...

Glenn

 

[Finallygotit]

Good work happening here.... love the garage/barn. Wish something like that would be available down under....

I reckon you cannot beat a big wide sky with a multi coloured sunset... you have a great spot...

Glenn

Hello Giddyup and thanks for stopping by our Odd corner of the universe.

BTW, I like your sig line but have to comment. As an engineer and a gear head, if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough power.

 

[drivesitfar]

FGI: nice work on the bathroom. also great thinking outside the box and good to have a handy neighbor to fab up some parts so you could get the shop insulated and ready to use. are all the leaks fixed 100%?

i can't even imagine how hot that shop would have been inside on those 120 degree days without any insulation. did the old owner die in there being cooked sort of like turkey?

keep up the good work and looks like steady progress.

 

[Finallygotit]

Drives

Except for an occasional driving rain pointed at the overhead door, the shop is sealed. Whew! I also used a few cans of Great Stuff expanding foam to fill in the large gaps where the north and south vertical walls meet the other portion of the building. The work done there was not as one would expect.

Luckily for us, given our elevation, we don't see 120° heat. Even Tucson proper does not see that kind of heat. That wonderful heat is reserved for the fine folks in Phoenix. But to answer your question, one would not want to be in that building when it did get to 100° out here.

Thanks for stopping by again!

 

[madoc1]

nice work on your place. sure will be following. my daughter spent her freshman year there and loved it but dear old dad couldn't afford anymore of the out of state tuition, so she finished back in texas. pls. keep us up to date. did you ever sell the old place?

jim

 

[Finallygotit]

nice work on your place. sure will be following. my daughter spent her freshman year there and loved it but dear old dad couldn't afford anymore of the out of state tuition, so she finished back in texas. pls. keep us up to date. did you ever sell the old place?

jim

Thanks for stopping by madoc1 (Jim). Regarding the old house, at this point in time we were in a new season that was usually pretty good for listing property so we put the old house back on the market.

 

[Finallygotit]

So, with the master bath complete, I put down more vinyl plank in the now remodeled guest bath

laundry closet (I'm trying to find those pics so please bear with me.) and hallway.

With those areas done, we finished painting that section of the house. In this case pictures really don't show well. So it was now time to carpet the three bedrooms. Boy it was nice to get to that stage.

My lovely wife mentioned that she really would like to have the exterior of the house painted. We both really didn't like the color and, holding true to form, the previous job was not done very well. She put on her general contractor hat and started making phone calls to git-er-done.

So the (much) better 1/2 found a contractor to do the work. We also wanted them to tear off the, for lack of a better word, "covering" on the side of the house. The previous owner installed this (you see where I'm going with this, right?) and it was.....not quite right. Picture below from listing.

You would not believe the hardware that was used to hold it in place. In some places, literally small 1-1/2" angle brackets.

This "covering" would sway in the breeze and was coming off the joist hangers on the house wall.

To secure it while we were there, I drilled clearance holes on the bottom of the joist hangers so that I could run up some screws into the 2x6's to keep them in place. To keep it from swaying (don't even think of leaning on it!!) I cut a couple of 4x4's and put them up at a 45° angle on the center post. That did the trick.

Anyway, the painters removed that and painted the entire exterior and we slept better from that day forward. The plan was to have a new cover built in the not-too-distant future.

More to come!!

 

[Finallygotit]

Guess what showed up next at the house?!?!

Shop insulation!!


The rolls were 4' wide and seemed as big as hay bales. I got five of them. At first I thought I received enough to do two buildings. And I know I gave the sales guy the right dimensions for the building. Oh well, we'll see.

So I come home one rainy evening and walked into the kitchen. Aw ****!! There is this aneurysm growing on the ceiling. Double ****!! So I poked at it gingerly. Yep folks, we have a leak in the roof. Isn't that special.

Me - Honey
Wife - Yes
Me - Looks like we have a leak in the roof above the kitchen
Wife - Aw ****!!
Me - Is there an echo in here?

We kinda knew the existing roof was on it's last legs as it was the original but we were hoping for another two years or so before we had to do that. So it was time for, no not concrete, a new roof! And since we were at it, we wanted to build a new patio cover over all of that new concrete. And for good measure, let's build that new cover over the side doors as well. Are we having fun!! Ya, you betcha!

Here we go..............






So here they are starting to lay the plywood deck


And with the roof stripped, underlayment installed, the new shingles get hoisted on the roof just as it starts to sprinkle. Surprisingly, we had no rotted wood.





Here they are starting to build the new cover of the side of the house.



The original "cover" had the 2x6 bolted to the header over the now gone garage door. The only problem was that the P/O left the stucco and foam sheathing in between. Every time he tightened the bolts, he kept crushing the foam under the stucco and cracking the stucco. Repeat, repeat..... So these fine folks cut the stucco away so that the new 2x6 could be bolted right to the header - securely.


Oh what the hell, might as well put a new roof on the shed.


All done!






And with the new lighter colored roof, it doesn't get nearly as hot as it used to. More energy efficiency.

More to come!

 

[Finallygotit]

So with the patio cover completed construction-wise, it's time to paint. My lovely wife and I prepped the area for spray painting.



Here's with two coats of Kilz on a Saturday



And after two coats of exterior paint on the following Sunday.





The temps were warm and very dry that weekend making it quite easy to paint. But man, my arms were sore after that weekend.

Got this painted too....


More to come!

 

[Terrick down Under]

What a change. Its looking so good.

 

[Bib Overalls]

The additional roof over the patio/deck gives the house some needed mass and character. Looks like a great place to entertain.

 

[dirt_dobber]

Man - that is a lot of work - I bet your arms were sore. Thanks for the update.

 

[Finallygotit]

While some of that roofing work was going on......

One evening I went into one of the bedrooms and needed to turn on the light. I noticed a somewhat bright arc flash through the clearance between the toggle switch and the wall plate. Ummmmmmm......that's not supposed to do that. Since we didn't have enough lighting in the house yet, that investigation would have to wait for daylight the next day.

So I get at the wall switch and remove it from the wall and it literally falls apart in my hand. ........sigh...........

Two things, given the P/O's handiwork and the bad luck I have had with electrical in houses in the past, I decided to replace ALL of the outlets and wall switches with new. I would say a good 70% of the old wall switches fell apart when pulled from the walls. (Wish I took pictures of that.) I can only assume that the quality of those switches was lacking. I personally do not like the way electricians use the push-to-connect terminations on the back of switches and outlets. I feel that they are weak and don't have the surface contact that you would get using the side terminal screws.

For the outlets especially, when I pulled off the wall plates, I found them loaded with cobwebs and spider carcasses. I can only assume that was due to the gap between the stucco and the foundation that was found.

I did find a few junctions that were only put together with wire nuts and were loose. I like to take all of the wires and twist them together with my electricians pliers so that it is a solid junction. If you were to take one of those junctions and shake it, it would not come apart. I basically use the wire nut as a cover for the junction.

It's one of those things I'm **** about.

Oh, and not to worry, I clocked all of the screws. The slots all point north to south. I've been doing that since 1976 after I visited an independent Rolls Royce repair shop. It just looked so clean. Talk about an **** mechanic!

TTFN

 

[Finallygotit]

What a change. Its looking so good.

Hello Terrick, and thank you! It's getting there.....

The additional roof over the patio/deck gives the house some needed mass and character. Looks like a great place to entertain.

Hi Bib, thank you. We agree with you, we like it. It's also a great place to just kick back, watch the sunsets and enjoy an adult beverage in front of the chiminea.

Man - that is a lot of work - I bet your arms were sore. Thanks for the update.

It's funny, I really didn't realize how sore my arms were until I tried to raise them and then it was "YOUCH!!"

 

[drivesitfar]

FIO: either you are the fastest working person alive or you have 100 people doing work at your house each day. or did you do all this work the last couple months while taking pictures and finally getting around to telling your story?

in any case your place is shaping up nicely.

the road signs you have inside your fence are interesting. i'd probably have these two at my place that might be GETTING HEALTY DRIVE and GETTING ORGANIZED BLVD. cause i'm working on finding each of those as i get older. of course my dream would be to have my own DRIVESITFAR'S HARDWARE STORE here so i'd never have to leave in the middle of any project.

cheers and keep up the great work.

 

[Finallygotit]

Hello Drives

...or did you do all this work the last couple months while taking pictures and finally getting around to telling your story?

This is the answer. As you can see, there has been a lot of work going on at Odd Acres and posting this progress was not in the schedule at the time.

......of course my dream would be to have my own DRIVESITFAR'S HARDWARE STORE

This made me laugh out loud. This frustrated me to no end as well to leave in the middle of the project. I would tell my wife that I had to leave to go to Ace. Her canned reply was, "Really? Whodathunk!"

More to come!

 

[-Brent-]

Wow, nice work on the exterior. I was fond of the original color but thought it could use something to offset/highlight some of the features but I do like that white. Will you guys have to pressure wash it to keep it clean? I assume dust/airborne dirt is not avoidable out there.

Also, while I'm asking questions, the mirrored tint, is that staying? I realize it's usefulness due to the heat but since the house was transforming I figured I'd ask.

The new porch roofs are great and like someone mentioned they do a lot for the space. Great ideas. I could see putting an overhead fan or two on the patio with the grill, for sure.

Lastly, did your concrete guys miss a spot??? I see those pavers by the French doors.

 

[Finallygotit]

Hi Brent!

Wow, nice work on the exterior. I was fond of the original color but thought it could use something to offset/highlight some of the features but I do like that white. Will you guys have to pressure wash it to keep it clean? I assume dust/airborne dirt is not avoidable out there.

Thank you! Actually, to keep the stucco cleanliness in check, we use our garden hose to wash it off. Works fine for us. I have to find the pics but we painted the fascia boards, soffits and front door a darker gray to offset all of that white.

Also, while I'm asking questions, the mirrored tint, is that staying? I realize it's usefulness due to the heat but since the house was transforming I figured I'd ask.

I installed the tint on those french doors and the sliding patio door. Those are the only window structures on the house that did not get the triple pane makeover. It really helps keep the suns heat at bay plus it works well as a privacy measure. Next!

The new porch roofs are great and like someone mentioned they do a lot for the space. Great ideas. I could see putting an overhead fan or two on the patio with the grill, for sure.

We're still undecided on the fan idea.

Lastly, did your concrete guys miss a spot??? I see those pavers by the French doors.

Ahhhhh.....those pavers....nope, the concrete guys didn't miss. But for the answer, you're going to have to wait for the upcoming concrete extravaganza!

Bahahahahahahahahahaha.........

 

[ambenz]

A ran thru your thread and I like what ya did with the place so far.
Subscribed!
It is interesting for me, living in non arid areas, to see what you deal with on a daily basis.
Biggest thing has to be the dust!
Bare dirt everywhere...gosh!

I hate to see a dust storm by you!

I would be concreting everything and putting in astro turf or outside turf carpet everywhere I could to cut down to minimize tracking in the dust and dirt.
Home Depot sells RealGrass brand artificial grass in 15 foot lengths.... it's expensive, but we do like spending other peoples money!
http://www.homedepot.com/p/RealGras...gclid=CJis-I68x9ECFRWBswod7NgLBA&gclsrc=aw.ds

I suppose you have stock in a filter company too?
How often do you change your filters and do you run your furnace as a whole house air cleaner?
Do you have a Hepa filter installed when you put in the new AC?
I am probably just being a goofy Yankee, but I do hate dusting.

I was also wondering about the wild life population in the area.
Any concerns for cougars or bear stalking your dogs?
Does the gate and fence keep out anything? or more of a boundary marker, fenced in dog space?
Thanks for sharing your pictures, pretty neat!

 

[Finallygotit]

Hello ambenz and welcome!

That picture you posted of the back of our home has had the addition of some landscape stone from the patio slab to about 30' out. I have to find the picture and post it. The plan is to hardscape most of the property in the future as time and funds permit. 15 tons of gravel doesn't go as far as one thinks.

We really don't get those haboobs you mention. The fine folks in Phoenix usually have to deal with those.

As for filter replacement, I use these 3M Filtrete filters

I usually have to change them about once every three months or so. The new HVAC unit monitors the pressure differential before and after the filter and lets me know when it's time to change. I attribute the infrequent changeout to how well the house is sealed up at this point.

The fencing has two purposes, keeping the dogs in and the larger wildlife out. We see the occasional javalina, wild horse and coyote but they usually stay to more open spaces. We do see lots of quail, rabbits, road runners and owls. If there are any large cats in the area, they are usually much closer to the foothills.

More to come!

 

[-Brent-]

If I could afford landscape our yard with artifical turf I would. So much water is wasted in northern Utah with folks wanting green grass. We don't even pay for water (we have a water share (rare for this neighborhood)) but it still bugs me how much water it takes to keep things green.

If I could use the water to mist for times we're outside enjoying the yard on some turf, that would be the best. But, the affordability isn't there, yet.

Can't wait to see what's next.

 

[jbmatth]

Glad I found this, as a fellow Cobra replica and leaking quanset hut owner welcome. Sadly you have already solved your leaking issue and I'm just dancing around doing the no rain from the south dance. I like what you have done and am interested in seeing what else you have planned.

JB

 

[MacTexas]

My second house was built in 1923 so I completely understand scope creep. Keep up the good work and you will have the home of your dreams. By the way is the first house back on the market.

 

[Finallygotit]

Glad I found this, as a fellow Cobra replica and leaking quanset hut owner welcome. Sadly you have already solved your leaking issue and I'm just dancing around doing the no rain from the south dance. I like what you have done and am interested in seeing what else you have planned.

JB

Hi JB and welcome aboard. Can we get a video of that non-rain dance?

My second house was built in 1923 so I completely understand scope creep. Keep up the good work and you will have the home of your dreams. By the way is the first house back on the market.

Hello MacTexas and Welcome to Odd Acres.

Next up, scope creep!

 

[Finallygotit]

So my lovely wife and I are sitting around enjoying our coffee one morning when this exchange happens.....

Wife - You know, I've been thinking.....
Me - (Wait, I've heard that phrase before....)
Me - willy_nil Sound the klaxons, this one is going to hurt!!! )
Me - What were you thinking, Honey?
Wife - Well, since the old house is listed and we're still living there and we're done with the other end of the house, I think it would be a good time to do that kitchen remodel we were thinking about.
Poor Sap - (See, I told you this was going to hurt)
Poor Sap - Honey, that's going to be a lot of work you know.
Wife - I know, but this way we get to leave the mess behind and not have to deal with it if we don't want to.
Poor Sap - Well, I can't argue that point
Poor Sap - (Time to buck up cupcake!)

And so begins another chapter at Odd Acres.

Pics to come.

 

[drivesitfar]

FGI: i have that same kinda talks with my bride if we slow down a bit to relax. it's ok you really wanted to get a new kitchen and she does have a point that you could do it while you still own the old house.

better start checking Craigslist if the budget is getting slim or the tool budget will be pretty lean in the near future. or maybe you already have the supplies and just need to do the work.

so when do we start the kitchen?

also are you caught up to date with your pictures and story on ODD ACRES now or do you still have more story to tell while you are doing the demo and remodel in the kitchen. good luck

i love the astroturf and if you play golf i've seen some awesome yards set up to practice your short game. if you might need a golf swing tip to improve your game just ask and it was the main reason for my GJ and Ebay handle DRIVESITFAR!!

cheers!!

 

[Finallygotit]

Drives

better start checking Craigslist if the budget is getting slim or the tool budget will be pretty lean in the near future. or maybe you already have the supplies and just need to do the work.

I have the tools and (most) supplies, just need to do the work. Have Sawzall will travel. Have I mentioned how much I like my Sawzall??

so when do we start the kitchen?

Actually, the kitchen is finished. I'm bringing this thread up to speed.

also are you caught up to date with your pictures and story on ODD ACRES now or do you still have more story to tell while you are doing the demo and remodel in the kitchen. good luck

Yes and no. I'm caught up with the pictures but there is still work to do here at Odd Acres.

i love the astroturf and if you play golf i've seen some awesome yards set up to practice your short game. if you might need a golf swing tip to improve your game just ask and it was the main reason for my GJ and Ebay handle DRIVESITFAR!!

That AstroTurf is not mine. I believe it was a suggestion from ambenz as to what he would do to get rid of bare ground. As for golfing, hahahaha...... You would not want to see me on a golf course. Images of Caddy Shack come to mind.

More to come!