Posted by Don-NY on July 14, 2007 at 06:44:32:
I was wondering after reading your book and listening to the cd’s if your homes were all elect. An all electric home would be quite cost prohibitive in this area.
Noob L/H developer Life - Posted by Don-NY
Posted by Don-NY on July 04, 2007 at 10:12:05:
Well, We started Our first land home semi development project monday. The old home was pulled by 10:00 am. The contractor was there by 9:30 sizing up the new septic tank install, tank was in by 1:30. On to the water line, we never had much flow from pipe (1" plastic) so he digs back to valve and finds out plastic only goes to an old iron pipe and it is constricted. He calls for an emergency stake out so he can dig to the street meter pit and replace the line. While we are waiting he scrapes for the new cement pad. Stake out is done but we decide to finish Tuesday. I am attending an expensive school of hard knocks here. more to come…
Days 5/6 - Posted by Don-NY
Posted by Don-NY on July 14, 2007 at 06:57:58:
Started to remove forms from pad and discovered they were stuck! I managed to get most of them out but had to leave a few chunks of 2x6. This was a “droop edge” or what we call an “Alaskan” Slab, 6" thick with a droop to 18" deep by 18" wide at the edges. I formed it with 2x6’s and they were no right at the outer edges of the ditch. I should have put scrap plywood down from the forms to the bottom of the ditch. That may have saved me the extra truck of concrete and made removing the forms much eaiser. (hey I’m an industrial machine mechanic) but I’m learning. The electrical inspection went without a hitch, whew. The gas company came and is going to have the meter moved from the front yard to right next to the home. I have to pay for this move though. The home is scheduled to arrive next friday. It is coming from the dealer not the manufacturer so delivery should be on sched. I tried hard to get a wholesale type deal on a home in my area. But could not land a deal so I went with the dealer with the best reputation.
Day 4 - Posted by Don-NY
Posted by Don-NY on July 11, 2007 at 16:27:35:
The 1st concrete truck is coming at 7:30 Am so I am on site at 6:45 scrambling to put more braces on the forms. The truck pulls up at 7:12. With a volunteer crew we pour the first truck and it looks like I under ordered. I ordered 3 trucks (30 yards) it looks like I will need more like 40 yards. Sigh. So I order another 10 yards @ $104.50 per, plus $40 a load for Saturday delivery. Well after the third truck gets there it looks like I will only need about 5 yards to finish it off. To late! The truck is already being loaded. So I paid for 4 yards of concrete I couldn’t use. (Where’s my sign) Good news is I saved a lot of money over paying a contractor to pour it. And it came out really good. Plus the plastic lawn shed now has a 6" thick concrete base!
Day 3 - Posted by Don-NY
Posted by Don-NY on July 11, 2007 at 16:16:24:
After removing about 12 tons of gravel I set up the transit to set the forms and level the gravel and realize I still have too much! So out comes about 5 tons more. Ok now we can rake tamp and set up the forms. We get the forms set and they are 1 1/2" to low (I am a dumba$$ sometimes) so quick fix is to rip some 2x4’s in half anf screw them on top of forms. Finally ready for the concrete. An electrition friend comes over and puts a new service in for me. The new home is only 100 amps so that is what we put in.
Re: Noob L/H developer Life - Posted by Don-NY
Posted by Don-NY on July 06, 2007 at 18:12:24:
Day 2: Contractor comes back and digs to find where the copper line from the meter connects to the iron line. We find it right at the meter pit. He moves back to dig on other side of sidewalk so we can pull the new line through with the old line, he catches the old line with the bucket and just about pulls the meter out of the bottom of the pit! Luckily We get it pulled back up without breaking the meter or the pipe. The rest of the new line job goes smoothly. I ordered chrushed stone for under the pad WAY TO MUCH CRUSHED STONE! OOPS.
Re: Noob L/H developer Life - Posted by rise2it (VA)
Posted by rise2it (VA) on July 05, 2007 at 04:09:22:
Hope the rest is smooth sailing for you, Don, but these things usually never seem to go that way.
Keep a sense of humor, and everything will turn out fine. Also, thanks for sharing and helping others learn some of the things to ‘watch out for’.
Re: Day 3 - Posted by Tony Colella
Posted by Tony Colella on July 11, 2007 at 20:14:01:
I would recommend installing 200 amp service in the future if you can. Every 100 amp service and/or panel I have has proven to become a problem at some point.
Here the older homes had 100 amp interior panels but they often got around this by wiring the furnace directly from the outside pole which in our area is no longer allowed.
100 amps does not go far when you include furnace, stoves, dryers, hair dryers, etc.
Just my 2 cents.
Tony
ps. thanks for these updates, I do enjoy reading them and am sure others do as well.
Re: Day 3 - Posted by Don-NY
Posted by Don-NY on July 12, 2007 at 07:04:18:
I was thinking about going with 200 amps also. But my electrician looked over the power needs and said I should never need more than a 100 amp service. Furnace, stove, dryer are natural gas. In NY I have never seen the furnace hooked before the panel. For the small difference in cost I probably should have gone with a 200 amp.
Re: Day 3 - Posted by Tony Colella
Posted by Tony Colella on July 12, 2007 at 07:27:12:
Then he was probably right. Almost all of my units are all electric. If your homes are running the stove, furnace and dryer off natural gas then your electric demand is well below the 200 amps mine require.
You should be fine.
Tony