Go read this article but make sure you have plenty of tissues handy. Hat tip to Matt over at Blackfive.
My heart swells with pride and crumbles into a thousand pieces at the same time when reading about guys and gals like Anderson and Edwards. God Bless them all.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
New Year's Resolution
My New Year's Resolution this year is to NOT kill anyone working on my new house.
Let's review...
Original estimate:
3-4 months and $250K
So far:
7 months and counting and nearly double the cost...
This isn't a big or fancy house but there is only one decent sized lumber yard within 120 miles so you kinda pay what they want for materials. Well, it just so happens that my job requires me to travel and make feed deliveries so my trailer is usually empty on the return trip. Not any more! I have since saved over $10K in materials by loading up at Lowes or Home Depot on these trips. Oh yeah, and the folks at the local lumber yard thinks everyone is an idiot when it comes to building supplies. They don't think that anyone other than a contractor knows anything about loads, stresses etc. They tried to tell me that my deck HAD to be framed with 2x12 lumber because of the spans involved. Well Hell's Bells; the longest span is 8 feet and a 2x6 i capable of carrying that load and more. All you have to do is look at the code books and they have all the engineering tables right there! Geez!
Okay, sorry for the negative spin there; back to our regularly schedule program...
The snow is about 3 feet deep at the house right now which is beautiful! If you've watched the news the last couple of weeks, you know Colorado had been getting some pretty good blizzards. We went snow shoeing this past weekend and it was so cool! We went with some friends who live up the road from our house (the one we're building, not the one we're currently in). We saw lots of deer but only signs of elk and cats. Dumb me forgot the camera, and missed a shot of a four point buck, with only one antler. Strange sight, since they shouldn't lose their horns for a while yet.
That's about it kiddos; I'll try and get some new pics up soon.
Let's review...
Original estimate:
3-4 months and $250K
So far:
7 months and counting and nearly double the cost...
This isn't a big or fancy house but there is only one decent sized lumber yard within 120 miles so you kinda pay what they want for materials. Well, it just so happens that my job requires me to travel and make feed deliveries so my trailer is usually empty on the return trip. Not any more! I have since saved over $10K in materials by loading up at Lowes or Home Depot on these trips. Oh yeah, and the folks at the local lumber yard thinks everyone is an idiot when it comes to building supplies. They don't think that anyone other than a contractor knows anything about loads, stresses etc. They tried to tell me that my deck HAD to be framed with 2x12 lumber because of the spans involved. Well Hell's Bells; the longest span is 8 feet and a 2x6 i capable of carrying that load and more. All you have to do is look at the code books and they have all the engineering tables right there! Geez!
Okay, sorry for the negative spin there; back to our regularly schedule program...
The snow is about 3 feet deep at the house right now which is beautiful! If you've watched the news the last couple of weeks, you know Colorado had been getting some pretty good blizzards. We went snow shoeing this past weekend and it was so cool! We went with some friends who live up the road from our house (the one we're building, not the one we're currently in). We saw lots of deer but only signs of elk and cats. Dumb me forgot the camera, and missed a shot of a four point buck, with only one antler. Strange sight, since they shouldn't lose their horns for a while yet.
That's about it kiddos; I'll try and get some new pics up soon.
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