User Panel
Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
You're exactly right. And if the PVA hadn't lowered to your purchase price, you could have legally sued. If it will sell for that (whether high, OR low) at least here, there's not a lot of argument over the value. That's the proof, right there--the last sale price. View Quote I believe I forgot to mention a part of the PVA visit. When talking to the PVA he said "My dad is 90 years old and when he was a child he was in that house and told use stories about it". So the house itself has had people talking about it for a very long time. |
|
Boredom comes from a lack of achievable, yet challenging goals. If you're bored, it's likely you haven't created new goals for yourself lately, you've become complacent.
|
Plumbing update.
I fixed to more leaky pipes tonight. One was compression fitting that had a constant drip and the other was ruptured pipe under the kitchen sink. I removed the compression fittings and put a valve there while making the repairs as that line feeds half the house. After doing both repairs I turned the water on and I could hear it rushing full speed into the crawl space. Most likely another compression fitting that blew apart when the lines froze. This time it is far back in a crawl space and I'm not sure that I will even fit. There is an air handling system in the crawl space. From the looks of it they put in the air handler and then built the floor over top of it. I turned off the valve I added and made sure everything else was off. The water meter was still slowly ticking away. The former owner said there used to be a water faucet in the yard but someone ran over it and then patched the pipe. So most likely I have a water leak somewhere on the main supply line under the yard. |
|
Boredom comes from a lack of achievable, yet challenging goals. If you're bored, it's likely you haven't created new goals for yourself lately, you've become complacent.
|
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
KY, USA
|
Originally Posted By SWIRE:
Right. That is why I was surprised when I saw the value wasn't the purchase price. When it sold higher they spared no time in jacking that valuation all the way up. I believe I forgot to mention a part of the PVA visit. When talking to the PVA he said "My dad is 90 years old and when he was a child he was in that house and told use stories about it". So the house itself has had people talking about it for a very long time. View Quote Talk about your community support...you'll have it. It may take some subtlety with the neighbors, but over the time you are restoring it, you can make friends with them. They will be for saving it. A reservation-only place...it won't turn your neighborhood into a thoroughfare. |
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe Welding with a cheap welder trumps dreaming about welding with an expensive welder any day. ~~midmo |
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
KY, USA
|
Originally Posted By SWIRE:
Plumbing update. I fixed to more leaky pipes tonight. One was compression fitting that had a constant drip and the other was ruptured pipe under the kitchen sink. I removed the compression fittings and put a valve there while making the repairs as that line feeds half the house. After doing both repairs I turned the water on and I could hear it rushing full speed into the crawl space. Most likely another compression fitting that blew apart when the lines froze. This time it is far back in a crawl space and I'm not sure that I will even fit. There is an air handling system in the crawl space. From the looks of it they put in the air handler and then built the floor over top of it. I turned off the valve I added and made sure everything else was off. The water meter was still slowly ticking away. The former owner said there used to be a water faucet in the yard but someone ran over it and then patched the pipe. So most likely I have a water leak somewhere on the main supply line under the yard. View Quote I am all about trap doors in small crawl spaces. |
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe Welding with a cheap welder trumps dreaming about welding with an expensive welder any day. ~~midmo |
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
KY, USA
|
You know...if you schedule enough in advance, when it's time to have a floor refinishing or painting party...
You've got a bunch of folks here.. Just sayin. |
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe Welding with a cheap welder trumps dreaming about welding with an expensive welder any day. ~~midmo |
Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
You know...if you schedule enough in advance, when it's time to have a floor refinishing or painting party... You've got a bunch of folks here.. Just sayin. View Quote The pitched roof isn't that bad I would use foam on it but if you aren't comfortable there are always roof jacks. |
|
"I may be drunk, but I'm still a doctor."
-clivus |
Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
That right there. Talk about your community support...you'll have it. It may take some subtlety with the neighbors, but over the time you are restoring it, you can make friends with them. They will be for saving it. A reservation-only place...it won't turn your neighborhood into a thoroughfare. View Quote Getting zoning changed would then open up the door for the crazy neighbor, the one venting massive amounts of chemicals in my back yard to have even more leeway to do so. So he is the first problem that I need to take care. Lots of options, such as offering to show the house to key city people at a time I know he is venting chemicals. He is also a guy who admitted to stealing an mint condition Victorian walnut mantel out of the house when it was vacant. Just ripped it right out of the wall. He also stole some custom made original doors from the house and then started in on the interior shutters. Then he told me I wasn't a good person and refused to give them back. |
|
Boredom comes from a lack of achievable, yet challenging goals. If you're bored, it's likely you haven't created new goals for yourself lately, you've become complacent.
|
Boredom comes from a lack of achievable, yet challenging goals. If you're bored, it's likely you haven't created new goals for yourself lately, you've become complacent.
|
Originally Posted By carbine_red:
Let me start by saying I don't paint(to anal). I am a carpenter if you need help on a big project hit me up. However, I can't guarantee I won't be busy. The pitched roof isn't that bad I would use foam on it but if you aren't comfortable there are always roof jacks. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Originally Posted By carbine_red:
Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
You know...if you schedule enough in advance, when it's time to have a floor refinishing or painting party... You've got a bunch of folks here.. Just sayin. The pitched roof isn't that bad I would use foam on it but if you aren't comfortable there are always roof jacks. |
|
Boredom comes from a lack of achievable, yet challenging goals. If you're bored, it's likely you haven't created new goals for yourself lately, you've become complacent.
|
Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
You know...if you schedule enough in advance, when it's time to have a floor refinishing or painting party... You've got a bunch of folks here.. Just sayin. View Quote |
|
Boredom comes from a lack of achievable, yet challenging goals. If you're bored, it's likely you haven't created new goals for yourself lately, you've become complacent.
|
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
KY, USA
|
Originally Posted By SWIRE:
The house sits on one of the main roads through town. So it is already a thoroughfare. The guy across the street is a real estate agent that moved here from Minnesota. If he had his way he would have all the property seized along the road, torn down, and then zoned commercial...as long as he was agent getting all the commissions. He will probably oppose anything that I do as I didn't support him when was trying to get a permanent 3x3 foot commercial sign put in the front yard of his residential house. He would probably sell the house out from under his mom if he could make a buck doing. At least that is my impression of his. Getting zoning changed would then open up the door for the crazy neighbor, the one venting massive amounts of chemicals in my back yard to have even more leeway to do so. So he is the first problem that I need to take care. Lots of options, such as offering to show the house to key city people at a time I know he is venting chemicals. He is also a guy who admitted to stealing an mint condition Victorian walnut mantel out of the house when it was vacant. Just ripped it right out of the wall. He also stole some custom made original doors from the house and then started in on the interior shutters. Then he told me I wasn't a good person and refused to give them back. View Quote What's he doing, making drugs? What a jerkwad. |
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe Welding with a cheap welder trumps dreaming about welding with an expensive welder any day. ~~midmo |
Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
Holy crap! What's he doing, making drugs? What a jerkwad. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
Originally Posted By SWIRE:
The house sits on one of the main roads through town. So it is already a thoroughfare. The guy across the street is a real estate agent that moved here from Minnesota. If he had his way he would have all the property seized along the road, torn down, and then zoned commercial...as long as he was agent getting all the commissions. He will probably oppose anything that I do as I didn't support him when was trying to get a permanent 3x3 foot commercial sign put in the front yard of his residential house. He would probably sell the house out from under his mom if he could make a buck doing. At least that is my impression of his. Getting zoning changed would then open up the door for the crazy neighbor, the one venting massive amounts of chemicals in my back yard to have even more leeway to do so. So he is the first problem that I need to take care. Lots of options, such as offering to show the house to key city people at a time I know he is venting chemicals. He is also a guy who admitted to stealing an mint condition Victorian walnut mantel out of the house when it was vacant. Just ripped it right out of the wall. He also stole some custom made original doors from the house and then started in on the interior shutters. Then he told me I wasn't a good person and refused to give them back. What's he doing, making drugs? What a jerkwad. In a thread in GD about asking an emergency dispatcher a question, I posted a question as I called the non-emergency number to report the fumes. The response was 3 fire trucks to his door and then no one wanting to talk to me. I was told the fire marshal could help. He didn't, he told me it was an OSHA issue not a fire department issue, even though a bunch of people in the dispatcher thread "of course it is a fire department issue". How does OSHA regulate a non-business entity? So I'm not expecting anything to be done through the formal channels. So I'm working on alternative ways to get things done. |
|
Boredom comes from a lack of achievable, yet challenging goals. If you're bored, it's likely you haven't created new goals for yourself lately, you've become complacent.
|
Boredom comes from a lack of achievable, yet challenging goals. If you're bored, it's likely you haven't created new goals for yourself lately, you've become complacent.
|
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
KY, USA
|
Do you know what the mantel looked like?
I ask because I see mantels sitting out for sale at junk stores all the time. Our house is Federal style...WAY more simple than Victorian or... Wait...that's your other house. What style house is the Reverend Craig's? Those windows are rather confusing. ETA: Tell me the style and I'll watch for you a mantel. |
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe Welding with a cheap welder trumps dreaming about welding with an expensive welder any day. ~~midmo |
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
KY, USA
|
Wow. You've got a chopped-up confabulation.
I am quite sure that anything built in the Victorian era will be WAY more ornate than my (Shaker-built) Federal style (1849) house. There are few styles simpler than mine. Yours would be a lot more ornate. I'll look up the design and pay attention when I'm going by junk stores. How big is your fireplace opening? That would be a fun trip...coming up there to bring you a mantel. |
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe Welding with a cheap welder trumps dreaming about welding with an expensive welder any day. ~~midmo |
I will have to measure the space for the mantle. Just an FYI on the mantle though. The former owner would be considered a historic preservationist. He replaced several of the mantles in the house because the mantle architecture was not 100% historically accurate for the period that the rooms were built. So he found proper mantles that fit the style of the rooms and were built during the right years. He is not a fan of anything that is a reproduction.
The guy is still in the area and has been a great resource for me in helping with my 1903 house and also insight for this house. He said he would try to locate a proper replacement mantle and hates that the neighbor stole it. He filed a report with the police about it being stolen and gave the officer pictures but the officer never bothered to do anything. The officer just showed the picture to the guy and asked if he had it. Of course the guy said no, even though the guy openly admitted to me that he stole it and did have it. The bad neighbor pays local people under the table to do work for him and those people also know and talk to the former owner. The workers told the former owner that the mantle was in the guy's shop. That whole circle of people won't snitch on each other, so unless they get caught for something else and can give up details of other crimes to get a lighter sentence they won't talk. I have zero hopes or desire to get the original mantle back. I will try to get a better picture of the mantle so that you can keep an eye out for something similar. The older mantles are still out there but getting harder to find. I rather replace the mantle with something more ornate. In my 1903 one of the fireplaces was filled in, covered over, chimney taken down below the roof line, and no mantle. I pulled all of that out and restored it. Around the same time someone was "renovating" a 1905 Victorian, same style as mine but larger. They pulled a double height bird's eye maple mantle with columns and a large mirror built in. They had taken out the fireplace and were going to sell it. I was able to purchase that for $500 and put in in front of the fireplace that I had just opened back up. Something like that would be too ornate for the Craig house though. The great room addition of the Craig house has a huge mantle like that though. |
|
Boredom comes from a lack of achievable, yet challenging goals. If you're bored, it's likely you haven't created new goals for yourself lately, you've become complacent.
|
FINALLY got around to reading this whole thing.
Awesome find OP, and good luck with the work ahead! As far as the spirits thing, do be careful with stuff like that. Sounds like some of the "investigators" could have done more harm than any kind of good. Unfortunately, most "investigators" are goth type kids (at least mentally) that are trying to get a good scare because American Horror Story isn't doing it anymore. You want to get interesting stuff, just set out a digital recorder when nobody is home, or you are outside. You may be surprised with what you get. We got Indian war drums once on the digital recorder (used to be a large Indian camp by our house). Never, EVER, EVER use those particular board "games" EVER, nor ever ask anything to use you in any way. That gets into serious shit that you don't want to get into. I really can't stress this enough. Generally, if the spirits are prior residents (and are intelligent), they will eventually pickup that you are restoring the place and calm down. |
|
Our adventures in micro-homesteading: www.minnesotahomesteading.com
If I'm butchering the English language, I'm probably on my phone. Sorry about that. |
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
KY, USA
|
Originally Posted By SWIRE:
You would think that but not in this case. On previous visits the former owner kept talking about how the house was Victorianized in 1860, the 2 story house was actually built before the Victorian era started and then modernized when they merged the houses. It seems odd to say a house was modernized to the Victorian era but that is indeed what they did. The staircase is the most ornate part of the house and it is still rather plain. I never understood why the former owner kept referring to the Victorian part of the house because it is much more plain than my 1903 Victorian cottage. Everything about the house is simple and plain, which is rather disappointing. Still a great and interesting house, just nothing like a high end Queen Ann or Italianate style house. Here are the original two rooms of the house that Craig built. Main room http://www.afterhourtechs.com/millspring/craig_main_room.jpg Bedroom http://www.afterhourtechs.com/millspring/craig_bedroom.jpg Here is another picture of the Victorianized parlor. Not the best picture as I haven't gotten around to taking my own internal pictures yet. Generally the most ornate pieces would be in there. Other than the stairs that is as ornate as the house gets. Every room has similar molding and shutters. http://www.afterhourtechs.com/millspring/victorian_parlor.jpg View Quote I admit that I've always liked very simple styling in woodwork. Uxb prefers the ornate, but the house we ended up with needs the simpler style and he appreciates that too. I will enjoy watching for a mantel that is not in the style I usually am after. ETA: That built-in cupboard in the bedroom...Are those doors original? |
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe Welding with a cheap welder trumps dreaming about welding with an expensive welder any day. ~~midmo |
Very nice. I can see why you say that this is a long term project
|
|
|
Originally Posted By Rat_Patrol:
FINALLY got around to reading this whole thing. Awesome find OP, and good luck with the work ahead! As far as the spirits thing, do be careful with stuff like that. Sounds like some of the "investigators" could have done more harm than any kind of good. Unfortunately, most "investigators" are goth type kids (at least mentally) that are trying to get a good scare because American Horror Story isn't doing it anymore. You want to get interesting stuff, just set out a digital recorder when nobody is home, or you are outside. You may be surprised with what you get. We got Indian war drums once on the digital recorder (used to be a large Indian camp by our house). Never, EVER, EVER use those particular board "games" EVER, nor ever ask anything to use you in any way. That gets into serious shit that you don't want to get into. I really can't stress this enough. Generally, if the spirits are prior residents (and are intelligent), they will eventually pickup that you are restoring the place and calm down. View Quote |
|
Team Ranstad
|
Our adventures in micro-homesteading: www.minnesotahomesteading.com
If I'm butchering the English language, I'm probably on my phone. Sorry about that. |
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
KY, USA
|
Originally Posted By Rat_Patrol:
You laugh, I've seen plenty of shit. View Quote Work in old houses much and you pretty much have to be blind and deaf to NOT see stuff, or have far more ability than I have to ignore what's going on around you or "pretend I'm not seeing what I'm actually seeing." Maybe we need a thread for "Old homestead ghost stories." |
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe Welding with a cheap welder trumps dreaming about welding with an expensive welder any day. ~~midmo |
Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
Yup, me too. Work in old houses much and you pretty much have to be blind and deaf to NOT see stuff, or have far more ability than I have to ignore what's going on around you or "pretend I'm not seeing what I'm actually seeing." Maybe we need a thread for "Old homestead ghost stories." View Quote |
|
Our adventures in micro-homesteading: www.minnesotahomesteading.com
If I'm butchering the English language, I'm probably on my phone. Sorry about that. |
Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
I admit that I've always liked very simple styling in woodwork. Uxb prefers the ornate, but the house we ended up with needs the simpler style and he appreciates that too. I will enjoy watching for a mantel that is not in the style I usually am after. ETA: That built-in cupboard in the bedroom...Are those doors original? View Quote I would have to ask the former owner about the cupboard in the bedroom to be sure. I doubt they are original to 1789. That room has gone under slight modifications. At one point a wall was put up in that room to create sort of a hallway and allow the room to be closed off. Right now from the entry door you take a left through the front of that room to get to the dinning room and other bedroom. The room could be closed off now as there is a middle passage through the house but that came many years later. I've told him that I plan on having him over to the house to give me a completely history of the building process so that I can take detailed notes. Working in the attics and crawlspaces I'm starting to figure out things as well. Half the foundation is limestone rocks. Not huge cut limestone blocks like the 1903 I have but large rocks in a stone fence size. The foundation will often give clues of what really happened. |
|
Boredom comes from a lack of achievable, yet challenging goals. If you're bored, it's likely you haven't created new goals for yourself lately, you've become complacent.
|
Originally Posted By Rat_Patrol:
The stories I could tell....... View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Originally Posted By Rat_Patrol:
Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
Yup, me too. Work in old houses much and you pretty much have to be blind and deaf to NOT see stuff, or have far more ability than I have to ignore what's going on around you or "pretend I'm not seeing what I'm actually seeing." Maybe we need a thread for "Old homestead ghost stories." Since we are talking about odd things, any wives tales or paranormal theories on what it would mean for a 4 foot long black snake to just appear inside the house? |
|
Boredom comes from a lack of achievable, yet challenging goals. If you're bored, it's likely you haven't created new goals for yourself lately, you've become complacent.
|
Originally Posted By SWIRE:
Sounds like you two should start a thread and I'll chime in. Since we are talking about odd things, any wives tales or paranormal theories on what it would mean for a 4 foot long black snake to just appear inside the house? View Quote |
|
Our adventures in micro-homesteading: www.minnesotahomesteading.com
If I'm butchering the English language, I'm probably on my phone. Sorry about that. |
Originally Posted By Rat_Patrol:
You live down south, isn't crap like that common? View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Originally Posted By Rat_Patrol:
Originally Posted By SWIRE:
Sounds like you two should start a thread and I'll chime in. Since we are talking about odd things, any wives tales or paranormal theories on what it would mean for a 4 foot long black snake to just appear inside the house? |
|
Boredom comes from a lack of achievable, yet challenging goals. If you're bored, it's likely you haven't created new goals for yourself lately, you've become complacent.
|
Originally Posted By SWIRE:
Maybe Louisiana and Florida with all the swamps. Kentucky, not so much. I need to get my plumbing update posted so I can post a picture and tell the story. It just happened and was maybe 2 hours after I knocked a huge hole in a wall. See Kitties post about the ghosts getting worked up at renovation work. The following night I was hearing voices inside the house even though I was the only one there. That sound startled me enough that the hair on my neck stood up. View Quote |
|
Our adventures in micro-homesteading: www.minnesotahomesteading.com
If I'm butchering the English language, I'm probably on my phone. Sorry about that. |
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
KY, USA
|
Originally Posted By SWIRE:
Sounds like you two should start a thread and I'll chime in. Since we are talking about odd things, any wives tales or paranormal theories on what it would mean for a 4 foot long black snake to just appear inside the house? View Quote |
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe Welding with a cheap welder trumps dreaming about welding with an expensive welder any day. ~~midmo |
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
KY, USA
|
Originally Posted By SWIRE:
Maybe Louisiana and Florida with all the swamps. Kentucky, not so much. I need to get my plumbing update posted so I can post a picture and tell the story. It just happened and was maybe 2 hours after I knocked a huge hole in a wall. See Kitties post about the ghosts getting worked up at renovation work. The following night I was hearing voices inside the house even though I was the only one there. That sound startled me enough that the hair on my neck stood up. View Quote I grew up a little further east--around the Lake Cumberland area, and I've seen six-foot black snakes (and some monster cow snakes) over there in the barn lofts. Nothing like climbing the (totally vertical, fastened-to-the-wall) ladder to the loft, pulling yourself up to the top rung and being face-to-face wtih an enormous black snake lying right at the top of the ladder. Eject Eject!!!! Then again, there were supposedly copperheads and rattlesnakes all over that area, but my entire childhood, running around through the woods on our farm and in the surrounding areas, I never, not once, EVER saw a poisonous snake on dry land. Saw a cottonmouth or two at the edge of some ponds, but that was it. |
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe Welding with a cheap welder trumps dreaming about welding with an expensive welder any day. ~~midmo |
Apparently I have a rodent of some type in the attic of my 1903 place. I just moved one of my security cameras to part of the attic to watch a box that has pieces tore out of it. That just gave me an idea. Instead of putting a digital recorder in the Craig house, I should just setup multiple security cameras with audio and live steam them. Watching a crew dig up my lawn seemed interesting enough to some people. Maybe they will want to watch a for movement or audio during the witching hour.
|
|
Boredom comes from a lack of achievable, yet challenging goals. If you're bored, it's likely you haven't created new goals for yourself lately, you've become complacent.
|
"I may be drunk, but I'm still a doctor."
-clivus |
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
KY, USA
|
|
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe Welding with a cheap welder trumps dreaming about welding with an expensive welder any day. ~~midmo |
There hasn't been any food in that house for over a year. So I doubt mice. No signs of them. Birds however do end up inside the house. I'm thinking the snake tried to gain a position to snatch a bird.
But back to the paranormal. On all the witch type tv shows what is one common thing the super natural characters do? They either shape shift into an animal or they take control of the animal to see through its eyes. I busted a huge hole in the wall, the next night within an hour of me being there working on the plumbing a snake just happens to show up? Then the other night a bird flies through the house and gets injured. I took pity on it, took it to the 1903 and have been trying to help it recover. The thing stares at me all day long. I really need to contact the medium and get her over to both houses to see what she senses. When I brought the bird from the Craig house to the 1903 house odd things started happening, such as the smoke alarm going off for no reason, voices, and noises. It is probably all in my head but it does make one wonder. As for the rodent in the attic, I have a security camera setup and a trap. So far no signs of anything. |
|
Boredom comes from a lack of achievable, yet challenging goals. If you're bored, it's likely you haven't created new goals for yourself lately, you've become complacent.
|
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
KY, USA
|
Originally Posted By SWIRE:
There hasn't been any food in that house for over a year. So I doubt mice. No signs of them. Birds however do end up inside the house. I'm thinking the snake tried to gain a position to snatch a bird. But back to the paranormal. On all the witch type tv shows what is one common thing the super natural characters do? They either shape shift into an animal or they take control of the animal to see through its eyes. I busted a huge hole in the wall, the next night within an hour of me being there working on the plumbing a snake just happens to show up? Then the other night a bird flies through the house and gets injured. I took pity on it, took it to the 1903 and have been trying to help it recover. The thing stares at me all day long. I really need to contact the medium and get her over to both houses to see what she senses. When I brought the bird from the Craig house to the 1903 house odd things started happening, such as the smoke alarm going off for no reason, voices, and noises. It is probably all in my head but it does make one wonder. As for the rodent in the attic, I have a security camera setup and a trap. So far no signs of anything. View Quote 1-to get warm 2-to get cool (this is less common) 3-to hunt 4-to get out of water Mice do not have to have a food source to come into a house. They come in for some of the same reasons as a snake. It's a good place to hang out and be unmolested. That's not saying your house has mice. But an old house like that? I would be shocked to find there were no mice in it, whether it's had food in it or not. I don't think you need to look for any paranormal reason for the mice and snakes and birds. But weird things are weird. I will send you an IM. |
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe Welding with a cheap welder trumps dreaming about welding with an expensive welder any day. ~~midmo |
Do yourself a favor: watch those witch shows if you wish, but take them as entertainment and nothing more.
It's very possible something followed you home from the Craig house, the smoke alarm thing has happened to us too. Don't worry about it. IM me if you like, I can say more privately. |
|
Our adventures in micro-homesteading: www.minnesotahomesteading.com
If I'm butchering the English language, I'm probably on my phone. Sorry about that. |
I managed to informally get mentioned in the paper today. I previously mentioned the two week review period just opened for property taxs. The PVA has an article where he says he has received 50 calls a day from people not happy with the increased assessed value of their property. I am in the fastest growing county in Kentucky and our property values have gone up 10% in the last 2 years. Of the 200 complaints that he fielded he said "only one has filed for an appeal". That was me, which I posted about back on Tuesday. It seems even doing the minor work required to save money on taxes is too much work for pretty much everyone. I don't understand why people call and complain if they aren't willing to do anything about it.
|
|
Boredom comes from a lack of achievable, yet challenging goals. If you're bored, it's likely you haven't created new goals for yourself lately, you've become complacent.
|
Originally Posted By Rat_Patrol:
Do yourself a favor: watch those witch shows if you wish, but take them as entertainment and nothing more. View Quote |
|
Boredom comes from a lack of achievable, yet challenging goals. If you're bored, it's likely you haven't created new goals for yourself lately, you've become complacent.
|
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
KY, USA
|
Originally Posted By SWIRE:
I managed to informally get mentioned in the paper today. I previously mentioned the two week review period just opened for property taxs. The PVA has an article where he says he has received 50 calls a day from people not happy with the increased assessed value of their property. I am in the fastest growing county in Kentucky and our property values have gone up 10% in the last 2 years. Of the 200 complaints that he fielded he said "only one has filed for an appeal". That was me, which I posted about back on Tuesday. It seems even doing the minor work required to save money on taxes is too much work for pretty much everyone. I don't understand why people call and complain if they aren't willing to do anything about it. View Quote I think a lot of folks have such negative experiences with jumping through government hoops to only be stonewalled and told, "oh sorry, nothing we can do because you don't meet X qualification" and such, that they just don't try. NOW THEN...I think MOSTLY those folks have secondhand negative experiences. Or third hand. But they have this idea that it won't do them any good so why bother doing the work. Around here people are of the opinion that when the county needs money they raise property values, and there is some evidence for that. Getting stonewalled one time by one official tends to turn people off to all of them, and that's a shame. I think it is also a part of "it won't matter anyway, so why try, why show up for that town hall, why vote?" that is so very pervasive at this time. |
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe Welding with a cheap welder trumps dreaming about welding with an expensive welder any day. ~~midmo |
Plumbing Update
The update is plumbing will not be done anytime soon. I patched 3 more leaks and installed a valve so that I could run water to the part of the house that I patched. With the valve open it sounds like a garden hose is spraying somewhere in the my crawl space. That is the same issue I had 3 repairs ago just on a different part of the line. Also even with the valve and everything else off the meter is clicking away at over 70 gallons an hour, most likely a leak in the supply line in the yard. I don't want to see the bill for using 1,700 gallons a day, going straight into the ground, so the water is staying off at the meter unless I'm using it. Kind of a pain right now but I really don't feel like getting into a project where I tear up my entire front yard. Too bad the fiber optic crew at the 1903 house couldn't run a line through this yard. Thread for reference to that. http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1973272_Crew-lost-their--40-000-directional-boring-bit---Update-4-28-Settling-Issue.html&page=1 The crawlspace for that repair was too shallow for me, at least to feel comfortable crawling through it. So I decided I would dig it out some. First thing you have to do is find the secret trap door to get into that crawl space. I had no idea it was there until the former owner pointed it out. I will need to get a picture of it closed, which I do not have right now. When you look in that crawsplace you can see some of the terrible plubling work. You have a 1/2 inch supply line which feeds a full bath, laundry room, half bath, another half bath, two water heaters, sink, the kitchen sink, dishwasher, and refrigerator. On top of that they used compression fittings. Half those items were never finished but still a 1/2" line is not the right line. So how shallow was the crawlspace? This is after I dug it out. You can see the area on the left, that was the level. Maybe 4 to 5 inches of bucket are now above that level. The area on the right still has stones going down into the dirt even though it looks like dirt. So I didn't do anything to weaken the foundation. A different perspective on the crawlspace. Still just over a 5 gallon bucket deep but feels huge compared to how it was before. Once I got past the sewer pipe the crawlspace opened up and I was able to shimmy all the way. I had to use the camera to take pictures of the pipe because I couldn't fit under the last joist. There's the problem, they used a PVC splice to connect galvanized to copper. It works but when the pipes froze due to the management company not winterizing it properly the fitting was pushed off the pipe. The second galvanized pipe is supposed to be capped somewhere because there are no lines that it would go to. All of this needs to be dug out and redone. After I got that pipe put back together I turned the water on see where it leaked next. In the great room of the addition of course. I had to bust out the wall to find it. The leak was unexpected and I was dirty, so the first night I busted out the wall, located the problem, and counted the parts I needed but didn't have time to get them from the store. The next day I got the parts and came back to do the work. The sun was starting to set so I put a work light on the area and didn't bother with the room lights. I had the fan blowing to dry the floor but angled it up to the ceiling when I started to work. I did half the repairs and then noticed someone had thrown a 90 degree street fitting in with the regular ones so I couldn't finish the whole project. It was dark but with lights around me I could still see outlines of things in the room. I grabbed the top of the fan to angle it back down to the floor and the fan was soft and MOVED!!!! WTF, then I noticed something which made me jump. After the contact the visitor started to get down. Do you see him? How about now? In case you missed him. During the hour or so I was working on the pipes, some how a 4 foot long black rat snake made its way into the house and decided to craw up on top of the vibrating fan where it would sit until I reached out and grabbed it in the dark! It took a few second to figure out what was going on, then I snapped the pictures. Still not sure what to do or what type of snake it was I threw on some leather gloves, grabbed him, and put him in a bucket. Once he was in the bucket it still took about 5 minutes for my heart rate to calm down. So back to the paranormal thing. I destroy part of the house, the next night a huge black snake decides to pay me a visit, watch over me, and scare the crap out of me. The fan is a loud vibrating fan, the motor is in the middle, and it blows a ton of air so I don't see how the snake would ever think that is a good spot to sit. The following night as I tried to finish the repairs I heard a banging noise and voices but I was the only one in the locked house. That could just be my nerves from the previous night but it also felt as if something was messing with me. Once I identified it as a rat snake it down closer to the stream and let him go. |
|
Boredom comes from a lack of achievable, yet challenging goals. If you're bored, it's likely you haven't created new goals for yourself lately, you've become complacent.
|
Taggity
|
|
This one's for you Joe ~ EOW 12-29-02
Give me liberty, or give me pizza pie. |
How is the foundation on this old place?
Most the neat old places I see have some serious settling. |
|
|
Originally Posted By nsl:
How is the foundation on this old place? Most the neat old places I see have some serious settling. View Quote |
|
Boredom comes from a lack of achievable, yet challenging goals. If you're bored, it's likely you haven't created new goals for yourself lately, you've become complacent.
|
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
KY, USA
|
Originally Posted By SWIRE:
Plumbing Update The update is plumbing will not be done anytime soon. I patched 3 more leaks and installed a valve so that I could run water to the part of the house that I patched. With the valve open it sounds like a garden hose is spraying somewhere in the my crawl space. That is the same issue I had 3 repairs ago just on a different part of the line. Also even with the valve and everything else off the meter is clicking away at over 70 gallons an hour, most likely a leak in the supply line in the yard. I don't want to see the bill for using 1,700 gallons a day, going straight into the ground, so the water is staying off at the meter unless I'm using it. Kind of a pain right now but I really don't feel like getting into a project where I tear up my entire front yard. Too bad the fiber optic crew at the 1903 house couldn't run a line through this yard. Thread for reference to that. http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1973272_Crew-lost-their--40-000-directional-boring-bit---Update-4-28-Settling-Issue.html&page=1 The crawlspace for that repair was too shallow for me, at least to feel comfortable crawling through it. So I decided I would dig it out some. First thing you have to do is find the secret trap door to get into that crawl space. I had no idea it was there until the former owner pointed it out. I will need to get a picture of it closed, which I do not have right now. http://www.afterhourtechs.com/millspring/plumbing/trapdoor_crawlspace.JPG When you look in that crawsplace you can see some of the terrible plubling work. You have a 1/2 inch supply line which feeds a full bath, laundry room, half bath, another half bath, two water heaters, sink, the kitchen sink, dishwasher, and refrigerator. On top of that they used compression fittings. Half those items were never finished but still a 1/2" line is not the right line. http://www.afterhourtechs.com/millspring/plumbing/compression_fittings.jpg So how shallow was the crawlspace? This is after I dug it out. You can see the area on the left, that was the level. Maybe 4 to 5 inches of bucket are now above that level. The area on the right still has stones going down into the dirt even though it looks like dirt. So I didn't do anything to weaken the foundation. http://www.afterhourtechs.com/millspring/plumbing/crawlspace_digging.JPG A different perspective on the crawlspace. Still just over a 5 gallon bucket deep but feels huge compared to how it was before. http://www.afterhourtechs.com/millspring/plumbing/crawlspace_digging1.JPG Once I got past the sewer pipe the crawlspace opened up and I was able to shimmy all the way. I had to use the camera to take pictures of the pipe because I couldn't fit under the last joist. There's the problem, they used a PVC splice to connect galvanized to copper. It works but when the pipes froze due to the management company not winterizing it properly the fitting was pushed off the pipe. The second galvanized pipe is supposed to be capped somewhere because there are no lines that it would go to. All of this needs to be dug out and redone. http://www.afterhourtechs.com/millspring/plumbing/theres_the_problem.JPG After I got that pipe put back together I turned the water on see where it leaked next. In the great room of the addition of course. I had to bust out the wall to find it. The leak was unexpected and I was dirty, so the first night I busted out the wall, located the problem, and counted the parts I needed but didn't have time to get them from the store. http://www.afterhourtechs.com/millspring/plumbing/greatroom_wall_leak.jpg The next day I got the parts and came back to do the work. The sun was starting to set so I put a work light on the area and didn't bother with the room lights. I had the fan blowing to dry the floor but angled it up to the ceiling when I started to work. I did half the repairs and then noticed someone had thrown a 90 degree street fitting in with the regular ones so I couldn't finish the whole project. It was dark but with lights around me I could still see outlines of things in the room. I grabbed the top of the fan to angle it back down to the floor and the fan was soft and MOVED!!!! WTF, then I noticed something which made me jump. After the contact the visitor started to get down. Do you see him? http://www.afterhourtechs.com/millspring/plumbing/visitor1.jpg How about now? http://www.afterhourtechs.com/millspring/plumbing/visitor2.jpg In case you missed him. http://www.afterhourtechs.com/millspring/plumbing/visitor3.jpg During the hour or so I was working on the pipes, some how a 4 foot long black rat snake made its way into the house and decided to craw up on top of the vibrating fan where it would sit until I reached out and grabbed it in the dark! It took a few second to figure out what was going on, then I snapped the pictures. Still not sure what to do or what type of snake it was I threw on some leather gloves, grabbed him, and put him in a bucket. Once he was in the bucket it still took about 5 minutes for my heart rate to calm down. http://www.afterhourtechs.com/millspring/plumbing/visitor4.jpg So back to the paranormal thing. I destroy part of the house, the next night a huge black snake decides to pay me a visit, watch over me, and scare the crap out of me. The fan is a loud vibrating fan, the motor is in the middle, and it blows a ton of air so I don't see how the snake would ever think that is a good spot to sit. The following night as I tried to finish the repairs I heard a banging noise and voices but I was the only one in the locked house. That could just be my nerves from the previous night but it also felt as if something was messing with me. Once I identified it as a rat snake it down closer to the stream and let him go. View Quote Incidentally, he looks to me like he's fixin' to shed his skin. I sent you an IM about him, but... It might be that he thought the metal splines on the fan surround would help with that (they rub against sharp-edged things to get the skin to turn loose) but.. honestly that's a real stretch. Maybe you have snake angels. |
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe Welding with a cheap welder trumps dreaming about welding with an expensive welder any day. ~~midmo |
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
KY, USA
|
Originally Posted By SWIRE:
Garden update. I got more of it put in. Another 20 tomato plants, 32 pepper plants, 14 watermelon, 5 sun flower plants, drip line irrigation run to all the tomatoes (55 total) and everything watered in. Working with clay soil sucks. The ground was already tore up with a backhoe, and rototilled but to dig the holes I have to use a pick axe. To start combating the clay I put down about 500 pounds of compost in the holes. Total required work, 10 hours of back breaking work to get those things done. If I had decent garden soil that time could have been cut down by half to maybe 2/3's. It took 45 minutes to dig the pepper holes and get them filled with compost. Then about 15 minutes to plant 32 of them. I also sprayed about 1/4 acre of poison ivy. The old pond bottom is/was a lush poison ivy patch. I put landscape fabric down for the strawberries and the tomatoes. That was planned well before I started digging and before I found a cheap source of compost ($15 for a cubic yard). Now I wish I didn't have the fabric down and I would just use the compost as mulch everywhere and just keep layering it all summer. Last year I threw a few extra plants that I had in the ground at this house. It turned out to be a pathetic garden. Now I know why. If I continue to do a garden here it will take some major reworking. I might be better off completely digging out the soil and brining in all new dirt. The place that has the compost sells a 50/50 blend of their topsoil and compost for $15 a cubic yard as well. I have pictures cropping and resizing them is going to have to wait as I am far too sore and tired to work on them. BTW, I also post in the Keto thread as I've been on that type of diet since mid-January. I haven't eaten anything in over 24 hours and still managed to knock all that work out. I'm still not hungry. Not having food cravings is a good thing. Here is the pathetic garden from 2016. The plants initially grew ok but then quickly turned into a spindly mess and produced nothing. Bad soil, no additional watering, and there area gets a lot of shade due to all the trees. http://www.afterhourtechs.com/millspring/pathetic_garden2016.JPG View Quote Is this at the Elijah Craig house...aka black walnut central? If so, give up gardening there. Just give it up. Unless you have an area of ground that is WAY FAR AWAY from any existing tree. If so, then try gardening. And even so, since juglone seems to persist in the soil, I would not count on anything. If this is NOT at that property, by all means, carry on. |
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe Welding with a cheap welder trumps dreaming about welding with an expensive welder any day. ~~midmo |
Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
Wait. Is this at the Elijah Craig house...aka black walnut central? If so, give up gardening there. Just give it up. Unless you have an area of ground that is WAY FAR AWAY from any existing tree. If so, then try gardening. And even so, since juglone seems to persist in the soil, I would not count on anything. If this is NOT at that property, by all means, carry on. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
Originally Posted By SWIRE:
Garden update. I got more of it put in. Another 20 tomato plants, 32 pepper plants, 14 watermelon, 5 sun flower plants, drip line irrigation run to all the tomatoes (55 total) and everything watered in. Working with clay soil sucks. The ground was already tore up with a backhoe, and rototilled but to dig the holes I have to use a pick axe. To start combating the clay I put down about 500 pounds of compost in the holes. Total required work, 10 hours of back breaking work to get those things done. If I had decent garden soil that time could have been cut down by half to maybe 2/3's. It took 45 minutes to dig the pepper holes and get them filled with compost. Then about 15 minutes to plant 32 of them. I also sprayed about 1/4 acre of poison ivy. The old pond bottom is/was a lush poison ivy patch. I put landscape fabric down for the strawberries and the tomatoes. That was planned well before I started digging and before I found a cheap source of compost ($15 for a cubic yard). Now I wish I didn't have the fabric down and I would just use the compost as mulch everywhere and just keep layering it all summer. Last year I threw a few extra plants that I had in the ground at this house. It turned out to be a pathetic garden. Now I know why. If I continue to do a garden here it will take some major reworking. I might be better off completely digging out the soil and brining in all new dirt. The place that has the compost sells a 50/50 blend of their topsoil and compost for $15 a cubic yard as well. I have pictures cropping and resizing them is going to have to wait as I am far too sore and tired to work on them. BTW, I also post in the Keto thread as I've been on that type of diet since mid-January. I haven't eaten anything in over 24 hours and still managed to knock all that work out. I'm still not hungry. Not having food cravings is a good thing. Here is the pathetic garden from 2016. The plants initially grew ok but then quickly turned into a spindly mess and produced nothing. Bad soil, no additional watering, and there area gets a lot of shade due to all the trees. http://www.afterhourtechs.com/millspring/pathetic_garden2016.JPG Is this at the Elijah Craig house...aka black walnut central? If so, give up gardening there. Just give it up. Unless you have an area of ground that is WAY FAR AWAY from any existing tree. If so, then try gardening. And even so, since juglone seems to persist in the soil, I would not count on anything. If this is NOT at that property, by all means, carry on. The tomatoes were planted by digging about a 1 foot diameter hole and digging it a foot deep. The hole was filled with claybreaker (looks like mulch with gypsum) and compost. So 80 of the soil the roots will initially be growing in will be free from juglone. I just hope the compost is broken down enough to be useful. The garden is away from the majority of the walnut trees. There is one near by that has a smaller branch that reaches towards the direction of the garden. It will be removed when I have time. From what I've read, as long as you are outside of the dripline of the walnut the effects of the juglone us minimal. Back on page one, the satellite view of the property with the red outline. There is a circular garden in the middle of the property near the bottom. I've actually pushed that garden towards the center of the property a bit more. On the red line are two walnut trees. In the picture with the blue outline, on the blue line right below that garden you can make out the main trunks of two trees. Those are the walnut trees. The strawberries are closer and they are not showing any signs of juglone affecting them. |
|
Boredom comes from a lack of achievable, yet challenging goals. If you're bored, it's likely you haven't created new goals for yourself lately, you've become complacent.
|
Very cool undertaking! Your sig line really means something.
My wife frequently tells me how much she'd love to have an old house and work on it. I am going to show her your pictures the solve that problem. I think you're going in the correct order - fix the roof and the plumbing to prevent more water damage, then repair the other stuff. I do some restoration work as an engineer and I learn a bit about historic methods of construction. If you want a little more background, you might want to check out Donald Friedman's Historical Building Construction, George Nash's Renovating Old Houses and Eric Sloane's A Reverence for Wood. I've used all three of these to help determine methods of construction and materials for some of my projects. The Historic American Buildings Survey may have more pictures of the structure for you. I use this for bridges and "security-sensitive" structures when the local authorities refuse to allow me to take pictures, but it has a lot of stuff. I was talking with an exterminator about the damn mice in the house despite the presence of a sociopathic murdering cat. He says that mice will nest inside just for the shelter even without a food source, so that might be why you have snakes. Thanks for documenting this as you go. I know you're just expending energy with little in return, but I enjoy it. |
|
Daddy, let's go look at our rifles while mommy does the dishes! - my little sidekick.
|
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.