Long road to home.

[ENG18LT]

YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME! THIS THREAD HAS CRACKED THE 15,000 VIEW MARK!

Thank you to all of you for taking such an interest in our slow/long road to happiness. It is overwhelming to think this thread has had so many views already. We aren't even getting to the good stuff yet.

I am humbled, thank you all.

Lee

 

[ENG18LT]

I finished up getting rid of the old cabin. Spent monday filling the second 20yd dumpster. i was going to set up the GoPro to get some "action" shots however, it was upper 20s, snowing, and a 20-25mph wind. I wasn't really in the mood to have my picture taken! :irked: I did manage to get some after pics for everyone in TBNland.







Once the weather gets better we are going to prep the site to move the camper there, away from the road. There are a couple concrete slabs from the old cabin that we are going to use, but I will need to set some 12" sonotubes for one of the front jacks and both rear jacks. I promise some action pictures when I do that.

 

[Obed]

I finished up getting rid of the old cabin. ...
Once the weather gets better we are going to prep the site to move the camper there, away from the road. There are a couple concrete slabs from the old cabin that we are going to use, but I will need to set some 12" sonotubes for one of the front jacks and both rear jacks. I promise some action pictures when I do that.

Lee,
Looking good. You might want to run a magnet over the site to pick up some loose nails before you park your camper their. When we built our house, I bought a magnet like the roofers use and religiously picked up nails around our house. Fortunately I didn't get any nails in any of the tractor, truck, or trailer tires.
Obed

 

[ENG18LT]

One of the more pending things that need to be done is to do a cheap bathroom remodel on the existing house. I am not sure if I mentioned this before or not but the plan is to demo the house after we get a new one built behind the pond. There is no fixing the house without tearing it down and starting over. Unfortunately if we tear it down then the "set back" line comes into play and screws up the existing location, thus the plan to build behind the pond. Until that happens we want to be able to utilize the house as a place to use a bathroom, much easier than having the camper pumped out every 5-6 days we are out here. The existing bathroom is in a section of the house that has settled 6-8" over time. This settling has been enough to cause the soil pipe to now run uphill slightly. As many know "poop don't roll uphill"! The plan is to strip out the shower and fixtures, put in a new floor system that is level and 6" higher then existing floor. This will give me enough room to pitch a new soil pipe downhill to the outlet. I also found that the soil pipe is not vented, gonna put in a cheater to fix that. Then I need to frame up a shower stall with walls that are plumb. These will get some plain white "seconds" tile and grout. New linoleum on the floor and sheetrock the ceiling and walls. Hope to keep it under $1k.







And more good news.... the oil furnace hadn't been serviced in years. The service man condemned the unit and felt so bad for me that he didn't even charge for service call. I am getting a new HEIL propane furnace from a friend at cost to replace the now dead oil furnace. That is project number two on the must do list for this year.

One of these days I may get back to prepping for the new house...... :jaded:

 

[dave1949]

I wonder if it would less money and work to buy a bottom-end single piece shower unit? Or, multi-piece if you couldn't get a single through the doors.

And rather than laying tile, you could use the "looks like tile" sheets that are common. That would be cheaper and a lot less work for something you will eventually dumpster.

 

[ENG18LT]

That was going to be my first choice. However there is a window in the way so I may ned to do a custom sized mortar pan. I will check it on tuesday when I go back out.

Good suggestion though.

 

[dave1949]

I've seen sheet products, like what is behind the stool and sink, used for shower walls too. It works, just doesn't have the service life of tile. If you seal, caulk the edges and seams so you don't get a mold farm going, I think it would be fine for your goals.

I can understand itching to get going on your new house.

 

[Obed]

Lee,
Ever consider an outhouse? For showering, you can bathe in the camper and just run the greywater waste through a water hose onto the ground. We had a camper on a piece of rural property with no septic. We did our business outdoors but showered in the camper as described above.

I'd just hate to spend any money or effort on a house you will demolish. Plus, you'll need to heat that house in the winter if you turn on the water.
Obed

 

[ENG18LT]

Obed,

The family wouldn't go for that. I look at it this way, I put in 1k now, and use of it spread out over the next five years comes out to 200 a year. That's still less then I have been paying to have the camper pumped every week each summer. But, most importantly, it will keep the girls happy. And we all know keeping the ladies happy is the key to a happy life.

 

[ENG18LT]

I've seen sheet products, like what is behind the stool and sink, used for shower walls too. It works, just doesn't have the service life of tile. If you seal, caulk the edges and seams so you don't get a mold farm going, I think it would be fine for your goals.

I can understand itching to get going on your new house.

Dave,

I saw some panels at Home Depot today that they called FRP panels. Is that what you were thinking? It would certainly be alot quicker and cheaper.