House for my Parents

[EddieWalker]

Thanks Dave, i mistyped the doors being 8ft. Should have said three 9ft doors. I was at two differnet houses this week with three 9 ft doors and really liked the way they looked. Both where high end homes. One had a Mercedes Sedan in one bay and a huge Lexus SUV in the other. Third bay had a ATV in it. The other house also had a Mercedes Sedan and a Cadalac Escalade in it with the third bay being empty. What impressed me about these garages is how roomy they seemed. With the 16 or 18ft door, it seems to me that those two cars park very close to each other and it becomes very crowded. My original plan was the single and then the double door, but after seeing those two garages, I'm strongly leaning towards going that route.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Dad and I have been digging a trench almost 200 feet long from the meter to the place on the garage wall where the panel will go. He bought 210 feet of wire and 200 feet of 3 inch conduit. We are only over by a dozen feet!!!

Most of the trench is two feet down, but where one of the roads is, we went down four feet.

We used both the backhoe, the ditchwitch, shovels and the pic to get it dug. There really isn't one tool that can do it all!!!

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Water will come in from a once in Schedule 40 PVC line. There is a one inch brass gate valve that has PVC at one end and then 1 inch PEX at the other. The PEX runs from the valve to an interior wall, next to the location of the Water Heater.

I like to put a six inch PVC pipe under my water valve boxes so I can get the lid above the finished ground and stilll keep the dirt off of the valvel.

Eddie

 

[foozer99]

door handles levers not knobs easier to open as they mature

 

[Artisan]

Eddie if you ditch the Sch40 MIP x PVC adaptors and
use instead Sch 80 you can sleep much sounder... If it
is gonna get broke it will break there, w/ the Sch 80
it is a whole new world...FWIW.

 

[wedge40]

Eddie, congrats on the new project/house. You're a very lucky man to still have two active parents. I still chuckle when I think of the story about your dad and the backhoe. I envy you not only for your family, but wish I could muster up half your energy.

Wedge

 

[EddieWalker]

Eddie if you ditch the Sch40 MIP x PVC adaptors and
use instead Sch 80 you can sleep much sounder... If it
is gonna get broke it will break there, w/ the Sch 80
it is a whole new world...FWIW.

I didn't want to run Schedule 40 under the slab, so that's why I went with PEX after the valve. I've never seen Schedule 80 in water lines, just grey conduit. Do they make Schedule 80 connections too? My experience with PVC is that the pipe is never the problem, it's always the connections, which is why PEX is so nice. Very few connections to worry about.

Eddie

 

[Artisan]

Yep, Sch 80 PVC fittings. They make darn near
everything you can buy in sch 40. I only keep Sch 80
MIP x PVC adaptors on the truck, everything else is
sch 40 when I use PVC. Like you say, it is the connections*
people** break and the worst of the bunch is the MIP x PVC
adaptor. Go Sch 80 and they are like twice as thick,
way less apt to break.

*and PVC pipe exposed to UV rays becomes VERY brittle.

**Expansion and Contraction and Ground movement as well breaks it.
Look at how thin the plastic is at the threads!

1/2-3/4 and 1" PVC Sch 80 MIP x PVC Adaptors;

 

[wlamarparmer]

I have followed most all of Eddie's projects, and am impressed with You're house for parents. Usually don't post, but as someone early 70's felt needed to add input to this discussion. House design and ideas great as all Your projects. I disagree with those that suggest doing handicap NOW. If You can design where easier to add in future O.K., but to do now with fully functional parents to me just says I'm getting ready for what's gonna happen to You. WE DON'T WANNA HEAR THAT". I am 71 and eldest son, with some health problems, but still active, mobile, and productive. My Mother @ 89 and still mobile and living alone has buried her 2 youngest. So don't do handicap until needed, give me the benefit of the doubt. Spent 2 months in bed with with fractured spine, but willed myself to get up and walk, so don't start building handicap ramps until needed. My Rant Over!!!!

 

[Bird]

I have followed most all of Eddie's projects, and am impressed with You're house for parents. Usually don't post, but as someone early 70's felt needed to add input to this discussion. House design and ideas great as all Your projects. I disagree with those that suggest doing handicap NOW. If You can design where easier to add in future O.K., but to do now with fully functional parents to me just says I'm getting ready for what's gonna happen to You. WE DON'T WANNA HEAR THAT". I am 71 and eldest son, with some health problems, but still active, mobile, and productive. My Mother @ 89 and still mobile and living alone has buried her 2 youngest. So don't do handicap until needed, give me the benefit of the doubt. Spent 2 months in bed with with fractured spine, but willed myself to get up and walk, so don't start building handicap ramps until needed. My Rant Over!!!!

I think I can partially understand your feelings, but I'm a year older than you and also the eldest son, and disagree with you completely. My Mother died 6 years ago at the age of 85 and buried my youngest sister 3 years before that. Maybe you don't want to hear what's going to happen to you, but whether you hear it or not, it's gonna happen to all of us someday, and I'd much rather prepare well in advance than get caught needing something I don't have. I think most, if not all, handicap friendly things such as ramps instead of steps, wide doors instead of narrow, handrails in bathrooms, taller toilets, seats in showers, etc. are actually quite nice even if you're a 30 year old athlete.:laughing:

So while I don't need that handicap stuff right now, I wish my whole house had been designed and built with it.