3R Home and Barn Project

Danno1 · Jul 10, 2008

hayden said:
Rob,

Did you paint the floor in your barn/shop, and if so what kind of paint did you use? I want to get a real durable surface down in my shop while the floor is still virgin adn from what I can tell Epoxy paint is the best solution, but I've never used it before.

I used Benjamin Moore M40 on mine. 2 (3?) coats of their recomended primer and 2 top coats. It's an industrial quality epoxy (which means $$$) but it's bullet proof. It was recomended by a friend who owns a machine shop.

The prob w the homeowner epoxies is that once they start to chip/peel (and they will) you have to strip the whole floor to recoat. That means empty the shop and start sandblasting. No thanks!

.

charlz · Jul 17, 2008

I was thinking of something today. Do you use many cordless tools? Is there a way to directly charge them off the DC (batteries) versus using the AC charger through the inverter?

I wouldn't mind having a simple system like this in my shop, panels keep a larger battery charged and then you can plug in your cordless batteries when needed. Not likely to save any money but would be an interesting project none the less.
Since you are already on solar maybe it would save you a little juice when recharging cordless tools.

ultrarunner · Jul 17, 2008

charlz said:
I was thinking of something today. Do you use many cordless tools? Is there a way to directly charge them off the DC (batteries) versus using the AC charger through the inverter.

I have 12 volt chargers for the cordless tools I keep in my service truck...

bindian · Aug 6, 2008

Rob,
So are y'all all moved in?
hugs, Brandi

3RRL · Aug 7, 2008

Yes Brandi, pretty much...
There is a lot of un packing and organization to do of course, so we are just overwhelmed.
Sorry I've been neglecting to update this thread, but a lot of what we've done is just the moving part. We are now living up here 5 days a week and down South 2 days a week. And still bring up small loads in the trailer. But we will do that for at least a year since Loretta still works in the office 2 days ad from home (up here) the other 3. We thought we could sell our home down South, but the market is so bad right now, we've decided to keep it for a while and live there when Loretta is down South. So we are really living between the 2 homes.

What is of interest (maybe) is the grading Loretta and I have been working on. She got a new boxblade and can now help me contour and slope the surrounding grounds. We also started on a gravity feed watering system for the hillside below the home. Still tweaking that to get it to work right though. I haven't had any time to do any tractor projects either. Also learning A LOT about the solar power, now that we are using it every day. I have a few pictures but they are in my other computer. I will upload on Sunday and get some photos and a story posted.
Thanks for asking...

3RRL · Aug 7, 2008

On top of that we've had 12 birthdays in July and like 5 in August that have us busy with the kids and all. Loretta just let me order a Browning Cynergy O/U and I got her a new boxblade for her birthday. So I don't know about her, but I'm pretty happy.

Then early this morning we found out the fire department and ambulance know where we live now. Loretta started getting abdominal and chest pains around 2:30am. About 4am she called the Cigna Health care plan on staff nurse and described her pains and the nurse said she had 2 out of 3 symptoms for possible heart attack, The nurse recommended calling 911 so we did. They got here within a half hour, but the emergency fire truck got here in about 5 minutes, since he is local. We spent the rest of the night in the emergency room in Visalia. Fortunately, Loretta started feeling better and the tests came back showing she had a gall stone causing the pain... no heart attack. I have not slept for 2 days now and am pretty tired. Loretta is fine but man, was I ever worried! You know, move up here and that happens ... shees.

The new phones are AT&T and we just canceled our Verizon. They will waive the disconnect fees but I had to send them a utility bill as proof of residence. WTF

, we have no utilities I told them ... we are totally off grid so no electric bill, we have no water bill and no land telephone bill. It's too soon to get a garbage bill or any others since we just changed adresses. So they accepted my propane gas bill receipt and called it good. We are in the middle of changing our address and email to all our friends, customers and of course all our bills and services and online accounts. What a fricken pain that is.We have an air card that works pretty good and is a lot faster than dial up or satellite service. We got Direct TV (wow is it ever great too with our new HD 1080p tv) but their internet access is through Wild Blue and they suck around here. We got a link from Ravensroost (thanks dude) to new routers that you can plug the air card into and then feed all the other computers via wireless home network. Before that, we thought we might need a separate air card for each computer or have to live with Wild Blue service except Loretta's computer, but now we have only one bill for all.

Tig · Aug 7, 2008

Glad to hear that Loretta is ok and emergency services were responsive.
I hope things will calm down soon so you can enjoy your new home. We just put our home in the city up for sale and hope to be full time at the lake soon.

EddieWalker · Aug 7, 2008

Rob,

Nice to hear that Loretta didn't have a heart attack and that it wasn't life threatening. I don't know anything about gall stones, so you'll have to update us on how that works out and what they are.

As a newbie wireless interenet user, please keep us updated on your experiences with your card. I'm excited how mine is working out, but it's only been three days now and we haven't had a major storm yet. Rain, frost and I think sometimes, sunshine, all affected how my HughesNet connection worked and didn't work.

Good luck with selling the house. My parents are/were going to sell theres, but it just never worked out and now the market has collapsed where they are too. Prices are down over $200,000 in just a year for comps!!!! The house I sold in San Leandro, which is in the SF East Bay went up about $30,000 in comps over the two years after I sold it, then leveled off for awhile, but they are now down over $70,000 from that high. A good friend that we stayed with when we were in Livermore said his home is down $100,000 for a modest 3/2 in the last year. Hope it's better in your area!!!

Eddie

stumpfield · Aug 7, 2008

Rob,

Sorry to hear what you had to go through and glad Loretta was Ok. Man... I know how you feel.... Looking forward to see more photos and updates of your new place.

Tom