Homeowner's associations can be good and bad.
We has some bad apples in the Board a few years ago... so two of us got "stealthy-ly written in"... got 240 votes out of 480! A record. So we fixed up the capriciousness of the Board.
Most people are pretty mellow and good neighbors, but the Association just ensures that people are "good neighbors". As I wrote earlier, our CCRs are quite mellow.
Yes, I have heard about other Nazi Boards. Mostly condos. Here in California we have some excellent laws that truly control the power of the Board. I've read about horror stories in other states.
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BTW, even out on the County, outside of homeowners' covenants and city regulations, you still have to deal with County and State regulations and zoning, huh? Where my sister moved to they have 5+ acre lots. They are zoned for a maximum of 1 house per acre... some call for 1 hour per 2 acres. They do this to prevent developers from coming in and building massive developments with 10 single family houses per acre ( or condos ).
We has some bad apples in the Board a few years ago... so two of us got "stealthy-ly written in"... got 240 votes out of 480! A record. So we fixed up the capriciousness of the Board.
Most people are pretty mellow and good neighbors, but the Association just ensures that people are "good neighbors". As I wrote earlier, our CCRs are quite mellow.
Yes, I have heard about other Nazi Boards. Mostly condos. Here in California we have some excellent laws that truly control the power of the Board. I've read about horror stories in other states.
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BTW, even out on the County, outside of homeowners' covenants and city regulations, you still have to deal with County and State regulations and zoning, huh? Where my sister moved to they have 5+ acre lots. They are zoned for a maximum of 1 house per acre... some call for 1 hour per 2 acres. They do this to prevent developers from coming in and building massive developments with 10 single family houses per acre ( or condos ).
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Inexpensive - until it burns down really quickly and the termites and woodworm get to work, only held in check by having to use really toxic chemicals. to keep them in check every year. Also using timber stud and single plasterboard walls that give zero internal privacy. I noticed the horrific fire damage in Maui. Most of the houses just ash because they were all timber construction but all the brick/block built walls
still standing. The same thing happened last year north of London with heath fires - sparks got underneath the slate/tiled roofs into the bone dry timber joists leaving just the brick walls. All the windows gone as well, irrelevant that they were either wood or UPVC. Metal roofs with lightweight steel joists and external shutters made of aluminium or steel would have saved those houses. The French have adopted the German made electronically controlled exterior blinds, instead of the steel shutters they once used to use. Only the south of France has experienced forest fires this year unlike some of the Greek islands and Portugal and Spain. Sadly one year all the huge (for Europe) beautiful forests that France has will suffer the same fate. Latter day hippies build houses using straw bales or hemp blocks close to and inside woods and forests, great insulation but will disappear in minutes in the event of fire.
Obviously not having aercrete blocks anywhere in Canada/USA you don't know that it is entirely possible to build earthquake proof houses using this material. I would only ever use raft foundations, so the house can 'shimmy' in the event that any shock waves should reach the Tarn where I live from the tectonic plates that stretch from the Spanish border all the way to Agadir in Morocco. There are hollow corner blocks where you use steel reinforcing and filled with concrete that stop the lightweight walls from collapsing along with the special adhesive not mortar that is used in the 'thin joint method' of construction. Also these blocks are load bearing and can be used up to three stories. The OP is using metal walls, very common over here for putting up commercial buildings. of course he has to use insulation as metal conducts heat very well. Aercrete blocks don't need insulation as it is a feature of the material that it has great insulation and acoustic values along with along with being fireproof - cheap, no but peace of mind and much lower insurance costs - I wonder how much insurance is for rebuilt homes in California. If you take the long view which is the cheaper method of construction?
Same thing is happening all over the world now. It's impossible for working people and young professionals to buy property in London now. Our two bedroomed apartment in an old mansion house in a conservation area in one of the most sort after post codes outside central London now costs around £450K. It used to be full of local people who knew one another. We wouldn't want to live there now, murders, rapes, break-ins, hard drugs. I'd have to carry 'means of defending myself' if I went out at night. We live among friendly helpful neighbours, no complaints except for about three months of excessive summer heat - what's not to like.
There are ways to protect wooden structures: fire proof (*) roofs ( even 'asphalt' singles ), stucco, careful design of the attic venting and eaves, cleaning up oily heavy vegetation near the house, etc... and when that shaker and roller hits at 7, you want that house to sway in a controlled way, with windows, doors and shear walls installed per an engineered plan so the energy dississipates with minimum cracking of the stucco, no broken windows and no permanent distortion to the structure.
For that, wood and stucco is optimal, you really want to manage the mass of the structure. Too little and it falls, too much and it falls. Just right and it sways.
The worse movement is up/down. My old group secretary lived at the epicenter of the Northridge quake, a 6.7, and she mentioned that her house went UP and DOWN. They were in bed upstairs and her bed kept hopping around the room. Yet, the house sustained very minimal damage. OTOH, other of my coworkers in older Santa Monica houses lost their masonry chimneys ( Oh, did I mention that? No masonry chimneys... perhaps just 8 feet tall, but after that they get framed and a metal tube is used for the rest of the chimney... FAR less mass ).
Termites... well, it's all about maintenance.
(*) Our building codes are strict. ALL outside surface materials must be fireproof, not just fire resistant.
I find your post unbelieveable - Asphalt shingles - are you serious. Bitumous fake slate - don't you know that why all the houses bar one in Lahaina burnt to the ground - yes they are much cheaper than using slate - but look what happened. Have you seen the one house that did'nt burn to the ground and why, because the owners realised the danger in the event of fire and replaced with a metal roof. They also took out all plant growth that could catch fire near the house and even though it was timber it did'nt catch fire. So now these intelligent house owners are faced with being an island surrounded by ash. What's the bet that when eventually these houses are rebuilt it will be with the same stupid mindset - flimsy timber construction and CHEAP bitumen fake slate tiles.
You know absolutely nothing about aercrete blocks - they are not 'fire resistant' - they are fire proof. Why would you want to use really nasty chemicals to keep termites at bay when you can use a material that termites and woodworm can't touch. And what happens to your lightweight cowboy built timber houses when they encounter a strong wind - they collapse. I repeat that aercrete houses can be built - 'earthquake proof'. I sometimes watch a programme called Reconstruction Impossible, an American programme - I can't believe that Americans can be so stupid to buy this flimsy crap but they do.
Quote - our building codes are strict.All outside materials must be fireproof, not just fire resistant - really so ,all those thousands of houses that burnt down in minutes in Californis are an illusion LOL.
Did a bing search on aercrete block. Amazon says they stock them under office products. Only actual sales listing, all else were theory & guides. You think that might be the right thing? Ha Ha! When I clicked on the link Amazon showed me power cement mixers, 5 gallon bucket liners, compressed air outlet kit, 600 mm sliding rail guide, profoam foaming concentrate only $36 a quart, and electric drywall mortar mixer handheld. I think the nearest aercrete block for sale might be Ireland. Or maybe France. I need Amazon like a hole in the head.
Bing says proper nomenclature is "autoclaved aerated concrete". I'm in the market for a replacement foundation but I won't be allowed to buy these. Or only if I run my own container back from Marseille FR to Savannah, GA.
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And the shop is all but “done” - just waiting on some doors. A lot to do inside there too, but I have all winter. Next priority is the inside of the barn, so the horses have a place to stay. When those doors get here they are supposed to spray foam the house. Going with a thicker open cell foam there.
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Try www.xella.com you can find info in about 9 languages. You have to ask yourself why this product invented in 1924 in Sweden has never found it's way to North America - vested Interests? I worked with this product in 1979 and would never think of building a house with anything else.
If any young American or Canadian took a look and created a business plan they could be on to a good thing. Just don't ever contact venture capitalists, they are vultures. Governors of States which have suffered greatly from fire and termites wouldn't want to attract bad publicity by not showing an interest in providing capital to build plants to make these. Oh yes if a structure built using these becomes obsolescent they can be ground up and remade. If built properly the internal temperature is a constant 19C, very little heating or cooling needed - the only thing needed to use these is availability and an open mind.
They don’t know it yet but I’ve been working on their stalls the last couple weekends. Took friday off work too, to get some of this done. A bunch to do yet, but the hard part of it is done - till the rest of the fill and the crushed granite arrives. Tomorrow I get to put the rub rails all the way around and start putting up the slats. Sure going to be nicer than the converted carport they’ve been living in.
There’s some insulation in the house now too. The crew was out spraying yesterday. My guess is another 2 days on that….
There’s some insulation in the house now too. The crew was out spraying yesterday. My guess is another 2 days on that….
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Work has resumed. Believe it or not is quite possible to climb up a ladder on an iWalk, provided there is something to hold on to and brace yourself against. I’m walking in the boot now, but only 15,20 minutes at a time. I can work 3-4 hours at a time in the knee crutch. The horse stalls are nearing completion - they just need the gates installed and those 100+ pound apiece rubber floor mats moved over from the other building. Probably just going to find out what gate hardware I lack tomorrow. I just brought all I could find at the old place and haven’t gone through it yet.
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Quite a bit got done over the last month and a half. The builder finally got his fence guy to put up the main perimeter fence and the permanent dog run. I finished the interior of the barn, and got the last of the fence work that I was going to do - sone chain link on the concrete to contain the dogs, and some temporary sections that will need to come down and be replaced when the trailer comes out. Back to work on the inside of the shop next weekend. The place is NOW ready for the animals. Kind of nasty weather to try to move in right now, so I’m figuring on doing all the overhead work in the shop - putting up the 2x10’s and decking for the overhead storage - before bringing out loads of huge speaker cabinets.
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Pilot?
We got a Passport, iVTM4. No need for the 3rd row seat.
I love the idea of a barndominium... at one point we were looking at buying a lot in Washington St and building a 2nd home. But now it doesn't seem like we're gonna do that.
Sad, as I was really set on doing a ~5000 sq foot place with a 2000 sq foot dual purpose garage so we could park cars and/or use it as a party zone.
We got a Passport, iVTM4. No need for the 3rd row seat.
I love the idea of a barndominium... at one point we were looking at buying a lot in Washington St and building a 2nd home. But now it doesn't seem like we're gonna do that.
Sad, as I was really set on doing a ~5000 sq foot place with a 2000 sq foot dual purpose garage so we could park cars and/or use it as a party zone.
We had a Pilot, which eventually became a money pit and we bought the Highlander. When it becomes a money pit it will get replaced with a small EV. We still have two full size trucks for the heavy lifting.
About 5000 sq ft in total. It will be about 2300 sq ft living space (bonus room upstairs), 1800 plus a storage loft in the shop, and another 1000 in the barn. Then there is all that outside covered area. Necessary, since there isnt any other shade up close to the house. We are so sick of dealing with the mud bog between the house and the horses in the place we are in NOW. Walking straight from the house to the barn under cover is going to be so nice.
When we were originally breaking ground out there the neighbors were all asking us if we were worried about the flooding that happens out there. They’ve never seen this cr@p, that Ive been living with for the past 20 years.
About 5000 sq ft in total. It will be about 2300 sq ft living space (bonus room upstairs), 1800 plus a storage loft in the shop, and another 1000 in the barn. Then there is all that outside covered area. Necessary, since there isnt any other shade up close to the house. We are so sick of dealing with the mud bog between the house and the horses in the place we are in NOW. Walking straight from the house to the barn under cover is going to be so nice.
When we were originally breaking ground out there the neighbors were all asking us if we were worried about the flooding that happens out there. They’ve never seen this cr@p, that Ive been living with for the past 20 years.
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Flooding?
Out here in SoCal it is now official.
Our current unnamed Pineapple Express Storm is now bigger than Hurricane Hillary and Taylor Swift combined!
The weather lady in KTLA last night was on for 17 minutes non stop... she kept appearing every half hour for five minutes or so, but during the 6PM hour. the Special Event News Hour, she was on for 17 minutes in the first half hour and another 10 in the second. It was a performance worth an Emmy.
She outdid the sales women in the QVC channel who can talk 5 minutes about an ugly moomoo dress.
No flooding chez nous. Knock on wood. Maybe it'll drown the termites.
Out here in SoCal it is now official.
Our current unnamed Pineapple Express Storm is now bigger than Hurricane Hillary and Taylor Swift combined!
The weather lady in KTLA last night was on for 17 minutes non stop... she kept appearing every half hour for five minutes or so, but during the 6PM hour. the Special Event News Hour, she was on for 17 minutes in the first half hour and another 10 in the second. It was a performance worth an Emmy.
She outdid the sales women in the QVC channel who can talk 5 minutes about an ugly moomoo dress.
No flooding chez nous. Knock on wood. Maybe it'll drown the termites.
Hurricanes don’t do anything to us this far inland - other than a bunch of stupid wind on the backside of any that come up and devastate Louisiana. What dose happen is a train of storms that rolls through, raining for 24 to 48 hours straight. Or 5 inches in half an hour, that happens maybe once a year. Never gets more than ankle deep, but at the new place it comes in and is gone the next day. At the old place it stays somewhat underwater for a week. Nowhere for it to go.
Had to duck out of work mid week this time - to go get another load of 20 foot 2x10’s before dealing with rain again this weekend. At the local office, everyone’s kids are on spring break this week so a good time to do it. The shop is moving along. How to get sheets of 23/32 OSB subfloor up there by myself? With a rope and a pulley.
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