October 4, 2017

Yesteryear
One year ago today: October 4, 2016, ho-hum Miami.
Five years ago today: October 4, 2012, where not to be.
Nine years ago today: October 4, 2008, Lighthouse Park.
Random years ago today: October 4, 2013, I thought it was $8,000.

           The morning was cool enough to move around, maybe fall is finally here. Remind me to show you the progress on the living room floor. It’s moving along because now I’ve got an idea what I’m doing. I used the same old trick as the bedroom. Find the most out of level corner and bring it up to the highest spot. Then leave it for a while. Again, the old lumber will creak and groan, but it finds its old shape. When I measured again this morning, the building had self-corrected to only 4-1/2 inches out at worst. Pardon me, 3-1/2”, see photo.

           I’m shoring above the concrete blocks by a neat method. I’ve got a stack of pieces of each common thickness, all cut to the shape of the blocks. That’s 3/4”, 1”, 1-1/2”, and 3-1/2”. By using combinations of these, gap between the blocks and sill plate can be leveled to within a quarter inch. The string lines don’t lie and the north side of the building had to be raised 2-1/2” along most of its length. The unexpected happy consequence is the front of the building no longer has that hillbilly tilt to it, but keep reading.

           This, I predict, is the right kind of experience. Once I learned how, it’s a snap to oversee others doing the work. The building did not settle evenly. I’ve got one half of it blocked up, and I’ll wait another 12 hours for it to sag into place. But one thing did not work out well. The siding on the front of the building is now warped. That’s the siding that I suspect was put on after the building had slumped. So now it has a definite bow visible from the street—but also exactly the part that will be hidden by the porch. There’s also a wee bend to the roof line. But that sumbitchen floor is flatter than Salt Lake City.

Picture of the day.
Line dancers.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           This was a nothing day so don’t be surprised if the idlest of things make the blog. Like the book I’m still reading, the Prometheus thing. Half the plot is nonsense, kind of movie filler. Going into detail about what the women are wearing but not the men. The predictable psychological insights into everybody’s military files (“he’s a loose cannon” rubbish) and page after page on how American bravery and valor is better than everybody else’s. And don’t forget the spy who is really a Mossad agent. I’m 90% done the book, so yeah, I’ll finish it.

           Don’t expect much more during October, since I’m broke. The only thing getting a workout is my 30-ton hydraulic jack. That car did a real haircut on my budget. During September between the collision and month’s end, there were ten days when I spent an average of over $400. That is in addition to all household and operating expenses. I guess you could say the good news is I wasn’t wiped out. But all that reserve has to be replaced. You bet it drained the coffers.

           Which brought my attention back to the vacant building from last week. Forget it, no way is the guy getting $1.2 million for that block. If I didn’t say, the same person owns the whole side of the street, but they are not a matched set of buildings. He only wants to sell it as a unit. Once again, unless that high-speed train corridor between Tampa and Orlando is a go, these communities are slowly dying. Record numbers of millennials are living at home with their parents, I read in some states as many as 38%. That’s one mass of damage to the real estate first-time buyer’s pyramid scheme. Without that railroad to turn the adjacent little towns into bedroom communities, there is no reason for young people to even drive through here.

           [Author’s note: my old rule of thumb says even if you manage to get a $15 per hour job, the most expensive house you should be buying is $30,000. That’s right, two thousand times your hourly earnings. And taxes were much lower when I came up with that formula.]

           And the big hotel building down south, the one that was slated as a hotel and night club for the lawyer trade at the court house in Bartow? It’s still sitting there. Rumor has it the purchaser is a bit of a yahoo. Another rumor is that before the building will be approved for any use, a modern sprinkler system has to go in. The quote on that was one million dollars. Might be smarter to buy ten houses and rent those by the room.
           Didn’t I mention only 22 houses sold last month? My bad, I meant 22 of the type of houses I’m looking for. Two bedroom, less than $80,000, ready to move into. This is only 5% of the total movement. All told, including condos, mobile homes, vacant land, and such, there were 400 sales last month.

Quote of the Day:
“Women want the truth
but they don’t want to be honest.”
~ various.
           The car has a fold up central console. It had never been touched. Located under the arm rest, it folds up toward the dash with three cup holders, a small compartment, and a latching holder for those old cell phones the size of a brick. I also reset the roller guides on the band saw and made a small box. Just a box-joint square box out of 1x4”. It’s no beauty, but it is the finest box I have every built in my life. And Pastor Bob pointed out that for the week after the collision I was disoriented so badly he thought I’d lost my memory. He drove me around for the week until I got the car, and he says I could not remember streets we’d just driven down.

           Don’t tell Pastor Bob that I don’t even remember anything about driving around, but I remember giving him money for gas. I know he gave me an important ride to Winter Haven, but other than stopping for coffee, I can’t recall where we were. I am not pleased with this development. Usually when I don’t remember something, I know exactly what it is. Like my four foot bubble level. Couldn’t find it, but at least I knew it was missing. (It fell behind the ironing board, as seen here, I found it.)

           Other than novels, I do a lot of rather diverse reading. My favorite is learning anything technical; my least favorite is that type of sing-song articles in the New Yorker, particularly their book reviews. I want to hear about the book, not how it affected the writer’s karma. So there I am, reading and listening to cabin creak and groan. Very slightly, similar to the odd squeaky stair. But around 8:13PM I noticed something. The living room windows began to shut by themselves more completely than before. They always stuck a bit. Two hours later, as I walked down the hallway for a glass of water, I noticed the interior doors no longer swing shut by themselves.
           Until now, I never thought about it, but a lady friend who knows I read told me she imagined me in an easy chair, like the stereotypical college professor. Ha, wrong, that is the least likely poses to find me reading. Foremost, I read lying down probably 80% of the time. I usually fall asleep with the light on and have the ex-girlfriend’s to prove it. I’m squarely in the class of people who read themselves to sleep. My second-most common posture is sitting at a desk with the book in front of me, like your classic college student at the library. Last, you’ll find me reclining in a chair, and right now, I don’t even have such a chair.

ADDENDUM
           Once more, I’ve decided to add sister joists. My theory remains that the lack of rain gutters is the cause of most of the settling. The Florida tendency to high winds means the older architecture had very narrow eaves on the houses. This means any rainwater off the roof fell close to the foundation. Over the years, that part of the support pylons gradually sank faster than the ones further under the building. So today, the center of the floors is, I’d guess, around 1-1/2 inches higher than the perimeter. That’s what is being fixed.

           I’ve not been thinking yet about what to do with that bowed siding. It is noticeable from the street. But I’d like to put some 12-foot 2x6 ledger plates along the whole length of the building. This would reinforce the worst part of the old lumber, the part along the front of the house. And being a ledger plate, it would be the anchor point for the planned porch. That addition was always planned to be fully screened and it would potentially make the siding hard to see.

           The spider wiring has to go, see photo of typical electric box nearby. Yes, those are bare wires hanging down. I’m re-routing the entire living room electrical to split the house from three to six circuits. The new work will be the air conditioners, followed by the closet lights on the same circuit as the exterior outlets and new bathroom lighting. This is work I should be doing myself, but I had to hire a helper. I don’t know that the last guy saved anything with his wiring method. It fooled me how two of the three 220V lines ran away from the direction of the appliances they were serving. That, and how that tiny hot water heater was a 220V.
           Have you read about the significant portion of American households that are now using solar electric panels? The price drop and federal incentives are unquestionably a factor, but if you ask me, you can add dissatisfaction with the way the standard electric utilities run their operations is also up there. I’m one of countless thousands in Florida who have never had any electric service connected in my own name. Do that, and you’ll find out the Everglades isn’t the only stinking swamp in the state full of vicious predators.
           Also note that every piece of information I ever gave a Florida bank to open an account sooner or later got published on the Internet.


Last Laugh

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