$83 !?!?!?!?

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Greg_Lewis
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$83 !?!?!?!?

Post by Greg_Lewis »

There was a shed over the pressure tank for our well. While the original owners of the house were morons and the shed was Very Sloppily Built, it managed to stand for 45 years as the termites worked their way to the roof. So it was finally time to replace it before it fell over or blew down the street in the next windstorm.

It wasn’t a large shed; its footprint was only 8 x 6 feet, and perhaps 8 feet tall at the peak. So I saved the cedar fence boards that were the siding and cut up what was left of the frame and peeled off the asphalt shingles from what was left of the roof. In the photos below, you can see what little wood there was. Not even half a pickup’s worth.

So I took that and the small pile of shingles — not enough of them to fill the brown trash barrel — to the local “transfer station,” which is the gateway to the dump.

I pulled up to the office, and the voice from behind the glass said, “Minimum charge, $83.”

:shock: :x :!: :shock:

Are you kidding me? Now I know why I see piles of trash, old appliances, rotten mattresses, and other detritus along the roads out in our rural part of the county.

No thanks. I can put the shingles in the brown barrel, half one week and half the next to keep the barrel from being too heavy, and the wood will disappear. We don’t have a working fireplace and burning in the field is not permitted, but there is another way. The second photo shows what happened to the wood. I put it out at 11:10 yesterday morning and by 4:15 it was gone. So in the end it still cost me $8 for the diesel fuel to drive out to the transfer station.

But $83? Really!

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Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
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Bill Shields
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Re: $83 !?!?!?!?

Post by Bill Shields »

Our local transfer minimum is $15 -> and I still see the crap you described all along our in front of our fields.

At least we don't have to pick up 1000 single use plastic bags every year since they got smart and banned their use in the state. Hate to have to pick that crap out of the combine.

Then there are the styrofoam cups and macburger carriers that seem to be neverending.

Sometimes (daily) I want to run the trashy idiots (oops I almost used the r word) into the front end of the running combine and make them clean it out on their way through.

Then they have the nerve to complain about the $ of beans and corn. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

You need to move to Delaware and/or own a working farm so that you can burn anything any time as long as you are 200' from anything and it is not "red hazard" time (usually July or August)

Did the crappy shed outlive the builder's needs? :mrgreen:
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: $83 !?!?!?!?

Post by Greg_Lewis »

Bill Shields wrote: Fri Feb 17, 2023 11:07 pm ...
Did the crappy shed outlive the builder's needs? :mrgreen:

Well they were the first owner and we are the second, and have been here 43 years, so the answer is yes. But among other things, these morons used 4x4s set into the ground as corner posts, two of which were set into concrete. Please, oh please, do not set wood posts in concrete. And for those who insist, please, oh please, do not use a whole bag of cement for each post.

Another example: There is a fence running a short way from one corner of the shed. Somehow these ignoramuses managed to find a 2x6 that was 18 feet long for a horizontal to which the cedar fence boards were nailed, and set only two posts for the fence 18 feet apart. No posts between. Yeah, it also lasted at least 43 years but where does one get an 18-foot 2x6 now that it's sagging? Fortunately the dirt between was soft enough that I could get two new posts between without tearing out the fence.

And get this: The east fence posts out at the road were on nice 8-foot centers. The north fence is on 7-foot centers and the south fence is on 9-foot centers. I've got quite a few 1-foot cutoffs from replacing boards. Need any?
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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Bill Shields
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Re: $83 !?!?!?!?

Post by Bill Shields »

7 foot centers and 9 foot centers and 7 foot centers average out to 8 foot centers -> so I do not see the problem.

Be thankful that the main house foundation is not cinder blocks set directly on dirt.

My father in law's porch/dining room was done that way back in the 1960's by a previous owner.

He eventually put in a rubber sheet to fill in the ever increasing gap at the point where the porch roof meets the main house wall.

He's been gone for 25 years, the roof still watertight. Gap has grown to maybe an inch.

In some parts of the States a bag of concrete around a 4x4 is considered to be " first level tornado-proofing"

As for the saggy 2x6 -> you can get these laminate beans almost any length, or the plywood I beams used for joists. Lowe's in our area carries them.

Or a scrap H beam from a metal reclamation company...which is what I used in the floors of my house 40 years ago.
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: $83 !?!?!?!?

Post by Greg_Lewis »

Bill Shields wrote: Sat Feb 18, 2023 7:26 am 7 foot centers and 9 foot centers and 7 foot centers average out to 8 foot centers -> so I do not see the problem.
So we're both up in the middle of the night. I'm complaining about morons and you're doing higher math. But that's a great idea. Just buy 8-foot fence boards. Cut half of them to 7-feet and hot glue the 1-foot stubs onto the ends of the other half to get 9-foot boards. Genius!
Bill Shields wrote: Sat Feb 18, 2023 7:26 am Be thankful that the main house foundation is not cinder blocks set directly on dirt.

Yeah. But it's on a slab, which has a nice crack that runs right down the middle of the kitchen floor. It was a spec house, which means everything is minimum code or whatever less will pass inspection. A house around the corner was built by the same builder at the same time and when it sold some years later the new owner started to fix it but after a while tore it down. Says something, I think.
Bill Shields wrote: Sat Feb 18, 2023 7:26 am As for the saggy 2x6 ....
Or a scrap H beam from a metal reclamation company...which is what I used in the floors of my house 40 years ago.

Now that would be the fence. Wouldn't blow away, that's for sure. Hard to attach the wood to it though. I don't think superglue is available by the gallon.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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Harold_V
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Re: $83 !?!?!?!?

Post by Harold_V »

Bill Shields wrote: Sat Feb 18, 2023 7:26 am 7 foot centers and 9 foot centers and 7 foot centers average out to 8 foot centers -> so I do not see the problem.

Have you priced lumber of late?
When discussing lumber, average is of no value unless you've discovered some magical way to attach the one foot sections removed from either 8' or 10' lengths so they don't go to waste. I have not known dimensional lumber to be sold in 7' or 9' lengths.
Is it different where you live?

H
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Bill Shields
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Re: $83 !?!?!?!?

Post by Bill Shields »

Yes I have (priced) and I was being facetious.

No idea why people would do that, but then I have quit wondering about why people do things that appear silly to me

People do what they are going to do...
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: $83 !?!?!?!?

Post by Greg_Lewis »

Oh Harold.... you are too serious. Bill and I are yanking on each other's legs.

I did, however, have heart palpitations when I saw the price for the four 4x4x10 pressure treated posts I needed: $28 each. And the plywood siding was $48 a whack. And the special screws I needed for the roof panels were $15 for a box of 55. That's 27 cents per screw (insert double entendre here). Of course, I was 15 short so I had to buy a second box, which made those screws worth a buck each (not to mention the cost of the diesel fuel to drive the 15 miles r.t. to Lowe's — just one of the perhaps 10 trips for this project). So far I've got $660 in this 6x8 shed that has only three walls — the west side is open. Now I'm off to spend about $50 for the stain/sealer for the siding.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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Bill Shields
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Re: $83 !?!?!?!?

Post by Bill Shields »

I have taken to putting pvc pipe in the ground with concrete around it and a cap in the bottom and dropping 4x4 s into it.

Fill with dirt.

Can be pulled out later if not too rotten.
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Harold_V
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Re: $83 !?!?!?!?

Post by Harold_V »

Greg_Lewis wrote: Sat Feb 18, 2023 5:06 pm Oh Harold.... you are too serious. Bill and I are yanking on each other's legs.
Chuckle!
I'm exposing the black and white world within which I live, eh?

Susan and I built our house and shop (that means we did the work---not that we hired others to do it) and are familiar with the cost of things not too long ago. I shudder to think of buying the same materials today.

As a kid, I can remember when concrete cost about $10/yard. Gallon of gasoline was only 22¢. Gold was $35/ounce (although illegal to own without a federal permit). A pack of chewing gum or a candy bar at Safeway was 3¢.

How things have changed.

H
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Charles T. McCullough
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Re: $83 !?!?!?!?

Post by Charles T. McCullough »

My kids and I know that no home project is complete without at least 3 trips to Menards (and that does not include trips to Lowes, Home Depot, the local hardware store, or the emergency room).
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: $83 !?!?!?!?

Post by Greg_Lewis »

Just got back from Lowe's. They don't carry the stain color I want even though it's on the chart. And it's not one they can mix. Another wasted trip. The Lowe's on the other side of town does have it. Go figure.

As to setting posts, putting gravel in the bottom of the hole first provides some means for drainage. Sitting in water is the problem even for treated wood. Although around here, with 10 inches of rain per year (less now), rot is slow to happen.

As to inflation, while I, too, remember gas for 28 cents, minimum wage was $1. So it was 3 1/2 gallons of gas for an hour's work. Today it's $15 per hour around here and gas is $4.29, so that's 3 1/2 gals. for an hour's work. There is no way to win the race.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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