At Home In The Woods

[CurlyDave]

....I like this house; I would be plenty happy living in it. It's almost too nice for a rental...

Obed

DW and I have had rentals for many years. We have some rules which prevent bad investments.

1. We never buy anything we would not live in if we suffered a reversal of any kind.

2. Never buy anything where it might be necessary to carry a weapon to collect rent or make repairs.

3. Never fall in love with a rental house. Don't make it nicer than necessary.

4. Renters are not your friends. They are more like customers. Once they are behind in rent, they will almost never make it up.

* * * * * * *

We have both stocks and real estate. I think they are about equally trustworthy.

 

[Coyote machine]

I have investments in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, annuities, life insurance, real estate in various states, etc. There are no sure things, but being spread out across a wide net can ease one's mind. I let my broker do the worrying, while I get on with my life. If things tank badly enough for me to go broke, there are going to be a lot of other bigger issues we all will be facing in this country that being broke may not top the list. YMMV (Your Money May Vary).

 

[Brimfield]

My log pile got overgrown this summer. It didn't take long to clean it out with my Stihl.

View attachment 337675 View attachment 337676 View attachment 337677

I was extremely fortunate. While cleaning out the briars and saplings, I got a little careless while moving around in the mess with my chainsaw. After I had cut a sapling, I started walking while the chain was still moving. The moving chain caught the top of my pants just above the knee. Instantly the pants were ruined and I had the slightest scratch on my skin. I was a fraction of an inch away from having a serious injury.

Chaps all the time now. I came home on day from a 12 hour overnight to a tree in the driveway. I got the saw and while I was Walking up a berm to make another cut the saw slipped and like you got my pants but not me. I was lucky. I normaly had chaps on but I was rushing so I could get some sleep, bad news all around that one time. Guy at church cut his foot really good by not having steel toe, he had sneakers on in the yard just putting around. Saws are trouble waiting to happen if you are not carefull.

 

[Obed]

concrete hump at the edge or somewhere to divert the water whereever it comes from.

clemsonfor,
I suspect that's what I will do. Mix up some quickcrete and make a little hump in front of the carport to divert the water off to the side.
Obed

 

[Obed]

The replacement shower pan is a little taller than the original. I had to shorten the shower walls to compensate. The Dremel worked great as a cutting tool.

 

[tony Cecil]

Obed---Greetings

I think I would measure the length, and purchase a angle iron bar about two and a half inches ---the correct length----then turn it on it`s upside down side and drill a few holes lengthwise , get some anchors , and bolts, and install....It will look professional, and have some sort of caulk to bed it in....Make sure to paint it with the proper type of paint....My experience with cement is that it will break apart when rolled on unless it is sufficiently thick whith reinforcement......Hope this is a help Tony

 

[Dr Dave]

They make a rubber garage door threshold, this is glued down to the concrete and is designed to be driven over.

Dave

 

[Obed]

3 1/2 years ago, I replaced the tractor battery. You can see the pictures and hear me complain here.

Yesterday, the battery was dead again. I put a battery charger on it last night overnight but the battery would not charge. So today I tried to loosen the bolts that hold down the battery.



The new bolts and nuts I bought 3 1/2 years ago are already in bad shape. The heads on the bolts and nuts just felt apart when I put a wrench on them. Sound familiar? Somehow it seems to me that steel bolts and nuts should last longer than that, even in the elements.



This time I was in a pickle regarding how to loosen the bolts in order to remove the battery. Finally, without loosening the bolts, I got a crow bar and forced the old battery out of its place.



I think that with the battery out, I might have room to cut out the old bolts with the angle grinder.



I don't want to go through this routine every 3 years when I have to replace the battery. Replacing a battery should be a simple task. I may replace the bolts with stainless steel and see if that helps any.

 

[Obed]

They make a rubber garage door threshold, this is glued down to the concrete and is designed to be driven over.

Dave

Dave,
I didn't know about those. Thanks for the idea. It's a little pricey but sounds like it would do the trick.



Installation sounds easier than my quickcrete idea.

 

[dave1949]

Probably not as often as I should, I take my battery cables off the battery, clean up everything with a battery terminal tool and then mix baking soda with water and give the battery, cables and everything around it a good cleaning. This neutralizes the acid build-up.

Reassemble with a battery post sealant and new bolts & nuts. Take preemptive action so to speak.

 

[Tororider]

Dave, I didn't know about those. Thanks for the idea. It's a little pricey but sounds like it would do the trick. <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=344343"/> Installation sounds easier than my quickcrete idea.

Similar product can be found at harbor freight for significantly cheaper.

 

[Dr Dave]

Now would be a good time to clean the radiator and condensor. If you have some Por 15 paint, I would repaint the tray.

When you reasemblem your hold downs, coat the bolts with silicon, and install the nuts. Reaply to the exposed threads.

On the battery terminals, I use the red/black treated felt washers and the red spray grease terminal protector.

If your only getting 3 years out of a battery, an Optima may be worth the extra money, and no acid mess.

Dave

 

[PhysAssist]

Similar product can be found at harbor freight for significantly cheaper.

I couldn't find anything like this at HF, but they have them at:

Tsunami Seal 10' Garage Door Threshold Seat Kit - 445669, Garage Accessories at Sportsman's Guide

For under 100$ as long as it os under 20' wide. They have bigger ones, but they're more expensive.

Which is better than at Home Despot:

Search Results for tsunami seal at The Home Depot

But about the same as here:

Park Smart Tsunami Seal Garage Door Seal: Seal out the elements with this permanent garage door seal from Park Smart! garage door seal strip, rubber

But this is even less expensive:

Garage Door Threshold Weather Seal Kit - Shop Garage Door Threshold Seal by the Foot

Though it is not the Tsunami brand....

This is for the name brand, and may be a thecbest price for that brand, but they all depend on shipping costs don't they...

Thomas

 

[Obed]

Thanks for the garage seal options!

 

[Obed]

I came home today and found that my wife was burning firewood in the fireplace. It's only November. She must think the stuff grows on trees
!

 

[PhysAssist]

Thanks for the garage seal options!

De nada, especially since we just got our barn floor poured and are now lilely to needing one ourselves.

May I be so bold as to hijack your awesome thread for 2 questions? 1) Do you or any of your followers have a recommendation for a product to seal and/paint the 1200sq feet of our new concrete barn/garage floor, adding non-slip properties would be a plus, but are not required, but preventing hot tire pickup is mandatory.

2) Given the (to me) huge expanse of our 35'x40' freshly poured (last Tuesday) concrete floor, is it unreasonable to expect that it os smooth and flat, vs. wavy and irregular?

We first noticed it because my boss, Patricia has balance problems and felt like there were irregularities in the floor when walking on it, and when we looked at it with a worklight sitting on the floor, we saw why she felt that way. It has numerous waves throughout it, in fact it appears that there is no really flat area present.

We feel like for >$6K, we should have a generally flat and level floor, rather than what we have (so far).

Is this an unreasonable expectation? If not, what can the mason do to fix it? I know that there are leveling compounds available, but they seem to be mostly for prepping floors for being covered with flooring, which we do not plan to have done.

If Obed doesn't mind, I will follow with some pictures ASAP. Obed, do you mind awfully?

Thanks,
Thomas

PS: I have been trying to figure out where and how to post these questions, should I do so in a separate thread?

Are there any designed to be the top layer?

 

[PhysAssist]

Thanks for the garage seal options!

We started using our wood stove about 1.5 weeks ago, and my spouse has no delusions that wood grows on trees because she signed the checks for the logs we had delivered. We do burn a lot of wood from our own property, but with only 8 acres of swampy woods, we always need supplemental wood and because of my health issues, we have had it delivered for the past few years, rather than go out and find it. I am looking forward to resuming the hunts for free firewood as soon as Pat and my orth MD will let me.
Thomas

 

[Robert_in_NY]

De nada, especially since we just got our barn floor poured and are now lilely to needing one ourselves.

May I be so bold as to hijack your awesome thread for 2 questions? 1) Do you or any of your followers have a recommendation for a product to seal and/paint the 1200sq feet of our new concrete barn/garage floor, adding non-slip properties would be a plus, but are not required, but preventing hot tire pickup is mandatory.

2) Given the (to me) huge expanse of our 35'x40' freshly poured (last Tuesday) concrete floor, is it unreasonable to expect that it os smooth and flat, vs. wavy and irregular?

We first noticed it because my boss, Patricia has balance problems and felt like there were irregularities in the floor when walking on it, and when we looked at it with a worklight sitting on the floor, we saw why she felt that way. It has numerous waves throughout it, in fact it appears that there is no really flat area present.

We feel like for >$6K, we should have a generally flat and level floor, rather than what we have (so far).

Is this an unreasonable expectation? If not, what can the mason do to fix it? I know that there are leveling compounds available, but they seem to be mostly for prepping floors for being covered with flooring, which we do not plan to have done.

If Obed doesn't mind, I will follow with some pictures ASAP. Obed, do you mind awfully?

Thanks,
Thomas

PS: I have been trying to figure out where and how to post these questions, should I do so in a separate thread?

Are there any designed to be the top layer?

The floor should be fairly level. If it is wavy it is most likely from poor workmanship. There is no easy fix outside of removing and replacing. Did the mason have insurance?

 

[1bush2hog]

Yeah and you can do the waterbar with crossties and rebar stakes too Fairly inexpensive. Hit me up if you need details

 

[PhysAssist]

Yeah and you can do the waterbar with crossties and rebar stakes too Fairly inexpensive. Hit me up if you need details

Please do send some more information, we would appreciate it greatly.

Sorry Obed!

Thomas