At Home In The Woods

[Obed]

Obed, I think if you used a ladder stabilizer you may not have to buy a taller ladder. I use a simple one and it does make the ladder much more stable. The down side is that you have more weight on the top end. It will also keep your ladder of the gutters on your shorter walls. Look at the Louisville Adjustable Ladder Stand-off. I got my simple one at Lowes.

Bart

Bart,
That's a great idea! It might do the trick. I really like the idea of having the ladder lean against the brick instead of the slippery aluminum gutters. Today I noticed that the friction of the ladder against the brick prevented the ladder from wanting to slide sideways at the top. When the ladder was leaning against the gutters, the top could move sideways much easier. I mays have to check out those ladder stabilizers. Thanks for the idea!
Obed

 

[CurlyDave]

Obed:

Your gutter cleaning pictures look like a circus act without a safety net.

You definitely need a better (and safer) method.

Think about a man lift, or hiring someone to do it.

 

[Obed]

Obed, I think if you used a ladder stabilizer you may not have to buy a taller ladder. I use a simple one and it does make the ladder much more stable. The down side is that you have more weight on the top end. It will also keep your ladder of the gutters on your shorter walls. Look at the Louisville Adjustable Ladder Stand-off. I got my simple one at Lowes.

Bart

Bart,
That's a great idea! It might do the trick. I really like the idea of having the ladder lean against the brick instead of the slippery aluminum gutters. Today I noticed that the friction of the ladder against the brick prevented the ladder from wanting to slide sideways at the top. When the ladder was leaning against the gutters, the top could move sideways much easier. I may have to check out those ladder stabilizers. Thanks for the idea!
Obed

 

[dcyrilc]

My wife installed an aluminum angle bracket support for the kitchen bar top. The countertop installers did not install a support at the end of the counter. I'm not sure why. I'm not sure if it was an oversight or if something was preventing them from doing it at the time. My wife may have told them not to install a support there because she wanted to have it done the way she would like it.

My wife didn't like how it would look by just installing an aluminum angle bracket so she fashioned a piece of moulding to go cover the angle bracket. I personally would have lived with the angle bracket but I'm not particularly attuned to aesthetics.

Is that a sofa I see in the background?:thumbsup: Looks like you found one.

 

[dstig1]

Dave,
Those are some good suggestions. I think I'll just leave the ends of the gutter drain pipes wide open. However, I believe I'll put grates on the ends of the two pipes that connect to the foundation drain tiles. Those pipes shouldn't have tons of water flowing out of them like, unlike the gutter drains. Thus, the drain tile pipes won't self clean out if critters build nests in them. However, unlike the gutter drains, the drain tile drains will not have a lot of leaves and hopefully very little other debris so I think that putting grates on the ends of them will be ok.

Obed

Makes good sense to me. I'd agree with both your ideas (screening the footing drains and leving the gutters open) for the reasons you note. You can always add screening to the gutter drains later and clearing them out will be an easier process than having to do it on the footing lines.

I'd still say you should add a wye with a cleanout where the downspout enters the drain line at grade. Will make life easier down the road.

 

[patrick_g]

Standby generators: PTO type can work fine but... when using your generator you don't have a tractor. I migrated through a number of generator solutions over the years and now have a propane fired automatic generator. Again, tractors can be made into generators but they wont be automatic. If the power goes out while you are away for a few days, then what. Food safety may be compromised. Power comes back on and everything is frozen again and you probably won't know it unless you get sick and then you might not realize the cause.

An hour meter (keeps track of total hours it is energized) can be hooked up to your electricity and you can check to see if the reading is about right. If it is a couple days too low you had a two day outage.

Gas generators are OK too but built-in fuel tanks are too small and modern fuel degrades all too fast so you have to keep draining the tank (tanks if you use an aux tank to increase run time) to burn the gas in your vehicles before it goes bad and refilling the gen tank with fresh fuel. Stabil helps but only lengthens the cycle time, you still need to do it. Propane does not degrade so you don't have to fuss with it.

Diesel gensets are super for LOOOOONG runtime applications (especially the 1800 RPM type) but for typical automatic backup generators in residential service the short runs are not a diesels forte. Propane is very very clean and short runs are no problem. My automatic propane fired genset runs for 12 min every Monday morning which keeps everything ready to go over the long term. No one that I have personal knowledge of has ever had any maint on this sort of genset except toping off the oil during extended runs and changing the oil and filter which is super easy as the MFG gave me terrific convenient access.

I'm sure the genset will eventually age and something will wear out or require non-routine maint but that could be many years or a few decades down the road. The genset could easily outlive me. I too hate the proliferation of little engines and their time consuming upkeep but sometimes there isn't much way around it. I can run a PTO powered water pump but it is not convenient to have the tractor tied down to be a pump so I have a 6 HP 2 inch water pump. I have a pressure washer with its own engine and that could be a tractor PTO solution as well. I have a ride on trencher that is essentially a small backhoe (13 inch bucket) on wheels (it is its own trailer) and can maneuver itself on a jobsite. IT has its own pull start gas engine. I like the arrangement as I like to be able to use box blade and FEL bucket on the tractor and still have the backhoe equivalent as a separate capability.

I confess I do have a PTO driven 3PH mounted cement mixer instead of one with its own gas engine (OK I have an electric cement mixer too and and a 17500 Watt gas generator on my welding trailer but don't like having to make multiple trips afield to get all the equipment there to set fixtures in concrete... so the PTO/3PH mixer.

Time was my only back up power was a small Honda generator and I got by fairly well but my needs were much more modest. A small Honda generator on a 100 ft (or more of) extension cord is so quiet that running it overnight to power electric blankets in sub zero temps with no tent was imminently doable and probably not a job for a PTO driven genset unless you trailer your tractor to the mountains with you on a winter camp-out.

Whatever you cobble up make sure it is not physically possible to connect the generator output to the grid. It is not enough that with proper discipline you can choose between the grid or the generator and not have a melt down, you need to make it not possible otherwise Mr. Murphy will come gunning for you.

Pat

 

[Obed]

Is that a sofa I see in the background?:thumbsup: Looks like you found one.

Cyril,
What you saw is a love seat that we had in our storage trailer. We have not found any living room furniture. I have to admit that my wife has not been looking very hard on Craigslist recently. We own a piano that has been at a friends house in NC for the last 13 years. The piano that will probably get moved here by a piano moving company in June. My wife would like, if possible, to see the piano in the living room before buying living room furniture. We might do some furniture shopping in Hickory NC on the way to visit friends.

We did find this solid wood desk on Craigslist. We paid $150 which I consider to be quite a bargain. I love the desk. I don't know how old it is. It is very well made. It has intricate craftmanship. I'm not sure you could even buy a new desk like it today. I've never had a nice desk and am really enjoying this desk. I typically work 2 days a week from home so I spend a lot of time at the desk. Plus, I do most of my TBN posts from the desk.

Obed

 

[dave1949]

Cyril,


We did find this solid wood desk on Craigslist.

Obed

That is a nice desk. Watch out for heat from your laptop, it could toast the finish on the desk. Just like toasted thigh syndrome
Dave.

 

[Obed]

Standby generators: PTO type can work fine but... when using your generator you don't have a tractor. I migrated through a number of generator solutions over the years and now have a propane fired automatic generator. ... Pat

Pat,
Your comments all have validity. For my situation, I expect to rarely need a generator. We've been living onsite here for 1 1/2 years including the time spent in the camper. During that time, I only remember one power outage that lasted more than a few minutes. A couple months ago the power went out for a span of between 30 minutes and two hours; I don't remember the exact amount of time. As such, I think I can live without being able to use the tractor long enough to run the fridge, freezer, and well pump. If I do need to use the tractor for some task, I think it will be ok for me to unhook the PTO from the generator for a period of time. We can heat the house with the fireplace if it is winter.

The biggest inconvenience of losing power for us would be the loss of the well water. But that can be dealt with using a 5 gallon water jug we have. I normally keep some water in that jug just in case. I have a shower at work I can use. And my wife is a female. She doesn't stink.

Obed

 

[Obed]

Obed:

Your gutter cleaning pictures look like a circus act without a safety net.

You definitely need a better (and safer) method.

Think about a man lift, or hiring someone to do it.

Curly Dave,
You're right; I need a safer method. Actually, the act on the roof with the rope was quite safe although it might not seem that way. We have enough rock climbing experience to know what we were doing. However, the ladder contortion tricks I performed had more risk to them than I would like to admit.

BTW, I love the hat you are wearing in your avatar (I'm assuming that's you and not some brawny actor).

Obed

 

[CurlyDave]

It is the genuine me.

The hat is an American knockoff of an Australian hat. I wear one like it almost all the time.

 

[walleyed]

Obed I just thought I would show you how your house build changed my renovation job. Thanks for the pictures of your floor from way back...

The first 2 pics are the design in the kitchen floor and the other is in the breezeway but a sheet of plywood is covering part of it. Guess I should take some new pictures.

House was dirty and under construction at the time ( still is) these were taken so don't mind the dust. That crusty old chair was my break chair during the work and had since been put in the garage.:thumbsup:

 

[ToadHill]

As far as gutter cleaning goes, I bought an attachment that looks like a telescopic shepherds crook that you attach to the wand of your power washer.

Turn on the washer extend the wand up to the gutters and the pressure blows out the leaves.

Unfortunately I can't recall who I bought it from but if you google gutter cleaners I'm sure you will find it.

 

[Obed]

Obed I just thought I would show you how your house build changed my renovation job. Thanks for the pictures of your floor from way back...

The first 2 pics are the design in the kitchen floor and the other is in the breezeway but a sheet of plywood is covering part of it. Guess I should take some new pictures.

House was dirty and under construction at the time ( still is) these were taken so don't mind the dust. That crusty old chair was my break chair during the work and had since been put in the garage.:thumbsup:

wallyed,
The tile looks great. Thanks for posting the pictures. We really like the carpet tile design in our kitchen. It was a little extra that adds a very nice touch.

Obed

 

[Obed]

As far as gutter cleaning goes, I bought an attachment that looks like a telescopic shepherds crook that you attach to the wand of your power washer.

Turn on the washer extend the wand up to the gutters and the pressure blows out the leaves.

Unfortunately I can't recall who I bought it from but if you google gutter cleaners I'm sure you will find it.

ToadHill,
I have looked online at several gutter cleaning devices. However, I've not seen any that will let me clean the 2 story gutters while my feet are on terra firma.
Obed

 

[Obed]

I didn't like seeing a queen yellow jacket entering my front porch wall through this low voltage box to build a next inside my wall. I filled the hole in the back of the box with spray foam to keep the varmits out.

 

[Obed]

Here are pictures of our ridge vents that are letting wasps get into the attic. One picture shows the end of one of the vents that is completely open so that wasps can freely come and go. The workers cut off the ends of the last ridge vent sections to make them the right length. Unfortunately, they placed the open end that they cut off at the very end of my ridge vents. If they would have rotated the cut section 180 degrees, the end of the vent would be closed off properly. At some point, I may stuff some screens in the open ends of each of the ridge vents. I assume that would put a damper in the number of wasps that try to build nests in our attic.

In addition, I don't think the roofer used enough nails to keep the sides of the ridge vents flush against the roof so we have gaps along the sides where wasps can crawl under the sides and get in the attic. The roofer just did a sorry job installing the ridge vents. If any of you guys build a house or re-roof your house, make sure you talk to the roofer about how the ridge vents will be installed then check their work.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Glad to see you are getting all settled.

That little girl is getting so big.

For cleaning the gutters I got a piece of aluminum flex duct, maybe 3" dia and 8' long. I put it over the end of my leaf blower and go to town. I can bend it in any angle.

For a generator I went nuts trying to figure out what was best. Ended up with a Troy Built 8,550 Watt unit. It has nice big wheels and I poured a pad of concrete next to my AC unit with a loop of Rebarb in it for chaining it down. I have a whole house transfer switch and a large twist lock plug near the genny pad. Simply roll it out of the barn, hook it up, chain it down, fire it up, flip the transfer switch and I am back in business. I have propane heat and hot water so it does everything I need. Out of power for 8 days one time. It used 9 gallons of fuel per day.

As for a wood splitter I built one with the aid of local fabrication shop for my 3 point. It goes horizontal and vertical but to be honest I have only used the vertical feature a few times. My rule is if I can not lift it I dont mess with it. My back is too valuable to me. Cost $450 and runs off the tractors remotes.

Chris

 

[tony Cecil]

You could use Bronze Wool to place in any exposed opening....It won`t rust out like steel wool....Tony

 

[CurlyDave]

ToadHill,
I have looked online at several gutter cleaning devices. However, I've not seen any that will let me clean the 2 story gutters while my feet are on terra firma.
Obed

I have one that fits in my pocket -- my checkbook.

I have two two-story multi-unit buildings that need gutter cleaning every year. A handyman does it for $250 each year. I figure a max of $125 to clean a single house.

My old geezer feet stay on the ground...