Buying forest land, implementing solar

Got a closer look at the leg my dog is chewing on. He appears to be chewing on the leg of a large dog judging from the paw at the end. How exactly did that dog die? I get the impression dog shooting is not that uncommon here...

With so many stray dogs (dropoffs) and so many gun enthusiasts... it's not hard to surmise how exactly it could've transpired.

When I first came here, this particular street had one OK mexican family, one BAD mexican family, TWO caucasian families. This year, looks like that's changing to ONE caucasian family, Two OK mexican families, and THREE BAD mexican families. This place seems to doing some anti-gentrification! This particular street seems to be becoming mexican, and there's more bad mexicans than good mexicans. (A bad mexican in this particular area tends to be a young, poor aggressive/hostile mexican male or several.)

In the mid-longterm, I'm more seriously considering some white flight possibilities. This property was really intended to be my segue into Houston with the possibility of setting up my mansion here. I think I might just leave it as a minimal "working base"/base-of-operations.

But, dag nabbit... I /really/ want a lap pool and this property would be the quickest way to get one since it's already in my possession and cleared enough.

I guess I could always fortify up and come up with a good barrier plan. It's cool having a dog as perimeter watch, but he doesn't distinguish from insect noises and human intruders at night and that's annoying when he wakes me up over some insect, lol.

I'm now calculating the actual vinyl costs... see if it's right...

$96 for a 4x8?

Let's see...

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Double-4-in-x-150-in-Khaki-Vinyl-Lap-Siding-PC40N4H/301835884

Each piece is 4 in x 150 in.

24 pieces to a carton.

Each carton is $159.

area per piece = 600 sq in = 4.16 sq ft.

area per carton = 4.16sq ft*24 pieces = 100 sq ft.

So $/sq ft = $159 / 100 sq. ft = $1.59 per square foot. The web was telling me $3/sqft. Adding on the other costs (nailing, rain guards, etc?), I'd guess it might be $2/sq ft in total.

So each 4x8 = $64 for vinyl siding vs 4x8 7/16 osb at $13.25. Yep, siding is expensive. It seems to make up about 80% of the cost of just the wooden house structure (framing+sheathing).

So the web estimates for stucco are probably in the ball park. Wow, each 4x8 in the $100+ range for stucco.

I guess another way to compare siding costs...

sheathing($13) + vinyl($64) = $77 per 4x8
sheathing($13)+stucco($128) = $141 per 4x8
smart siding = $26 per 4x8.
T8-11 = $32 per 4x8.

I really do wonder if oil primer + latex paint would protect sheathing from moisture? Maybe it wouldn't... seems less risky to just go with smart siding. Now, let's calculate wall costs for my courtyard house...

56 ftx10 feet (north/south exterior face) = 560 sq. ft.
32 ftx10 feet (north/south interior face) = 320 sq. ft.
76 ftx10 feet (east/west exterior face) = 760 sq. ft.
48 ftx10 feet (east/west interior face) = 480 sq. ft.

total sq ft =

560*2+320*2+760*2+480*2 = 4240 sq. ft.

vinyl -> 4240*($77/32) = 10202
stucco -> 4240*($141/32) = $18682
smart siding -> 4240*($26/32) = $3445.

Then there's the roofing, trusses, framing, flooring, drywall, etc.

I'd guess framing is $2000. drywall is probably $3000. Roofing is probably $3000. Flooring is probably $2000. Then maybe $5000 for windows. $1000 for doors.

I'd guesstimate around 20,000-25,000 to build. Previous estimates were at 30,000-35,000, so somewhere in that ballpark.

Looks like I might actually have the funds to build it next year, isn't that interesting.

Of course, there could be a market crash next year if the Great Depression historian is right that the GOP tax bill comes straight out of 1929. Which could be a good thing, or maybe not. Hopefully I'll have my garden well established by then. I might be more concerned with the neighbors... if they're this hostile in the best of times, I don't want to experience how they might be during the worst of times, lol. Maybe I can find land with better neighbors at firesale prices... I don't get the impression that mexicans are everywhere in this part of houston (It seems to be predominately Caucasian), just increasingly so in this particular forgotten/neglected suburb, like an increasingly festering wound.

I might be understimating the windows cost. All I know is that the front needs wide sweeping windows for the best first impressions. The rest can be somewhat sparing.

It's funny about the mexicans, I didn't really have a bad impression of them as neighbors as compared to blacks. But coming here sure has changed my mind fast!

It's funny, the girl backed in Spokane informed me "Serial killers hide in the woods" as she said with a smile... funny enough, that's precisely what the armed mexican neighbors do...

As to falling in love, I know I can fall in love with an older girl, because I got the same feeling talking to an older chick back in Cheney, WA but I didn't recognize it as love at the time. I thought maybe I was sensing empathy or something along those lines.

Talking like Bitcoin is a social indicator. And it probably is. As though Bitcoin predicted the presidential election. If it collapses before 2020 is that another prediction?
http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/01/investing/bitcoin-criticism-outlawed

Dauntless said:

Talking like Bitcoin is a social indicator. And it probably is. As though Bitcoin predicted the presidential election. If it collapses before 2020 is that another prediction?
http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/01/investing/bitcoin-criticism-outlawed

Click to expand...

I keep hearing about normal people becoming interested in investing bitcoin in various channels... tells me it's likely going to collapse soon enough... late coming masses typically signify that...

Are you saying the siding is only 4" high? What I read is Double 4 in. x 150 in. So it is 8" x 150".

I thought you said it was a quite, safe neighborhood, from the start.

Dan

DAND214 said:

Are you saying the siding is only 4" high? What I read is Double 4 in. x 150 in. So it is 8" x 150".

I thought you said it was a quite, safe neighborhood, from the start.

Dan

Click to expand...

Well, it WAS when I was parked at the end of the street further away from the hostile neighbors to the left which I was at for about a month. Now that I'm right in front of my property, that's apparently a little too close for them! (They operate a drug manufacture location at night about 400-600 feet directly in front of my property and they apparently treat that area as "their territory". And, hey, I just happen to be right there in front of "their territory". No, they don't own the land, it's just vacant woods.)

Once I get setup on my property, getting microphone triangulation going seeing where all these sounds are coming from. Whodunnit and where.

The dog /seems/ to be doing a reasonably effective job of keeping them away. They hide in the woods so other people don't know, that's hard when the dog's barking at them, lol.

DAND214 said:

Are you saying the siding is only 4" high? What I read is Double 4 in. x 150 in. So it is 8" x 150"

Click to expand...

Oh, that's what they mean by double, just a passing glance. So, that means the vinyl siding cost is likely somewhere around $1/sqft instead of $2/sqft?

So osb+ vinyl --> $45/4x8, smart siding -> $26/4x8.

Darn, thought I was putting that in the bitcoin thread. It's all more difficult using the phone somewhere while I wait.

Whatever "Historian" tries to talk about taxes causing the Great Depression is no historian at all. The kid of tax hikes Obama kept threatening would have been deadly if the Democrats had gone along with him that first 2 years, but they weren't THAT crazy.

The mentality that caused the Great Depression was rather like the Real Estate Bubble in that the Government caused the whole thing. Mandating low interest rates to create jobs was SUPPOSED to drive up demand, but it didn't really happen that way. lA 1926 magazine ad for the Republican Party claimed they had put "A car in every garage and a chicken in every pot." Of course there were many saying they'd never gotten their car, chicken, garage or pot.

Meanwhile, economic thinking was quite simplistic back then. They thought low interest rates meant people were saving a lot of money instead of spending it, so the banks had all this money they were desperate to lend and the depositors had it to withdraw just as soon as they saw what they wanted to spend it on. Soon the warehouses were full of excess inventory.

Now comes the part I'd love to read a more detailed explanation of, but noone ever gets into this part in any book I've found. The stock market didn't just up and crash one day, it worked its' way down for awhile then had a bad Friday, a weekend of simmering fear, then at last that Tuesday. If you read up on the decline of Enron it sounds similar.

So guess what? Not only are people out of work, but there's this inventory to be sold off before they're need to come back. The factories close, boy is it hard to open a new one after they've cleared out the old one. Then there's things that were some bad timing = the Dust Bowl, etc. And the just plain bad ideas - the Smoot Hawley tariff, Roosevelt's Keysian spending that drove UP unemployment, etc. Contrary to what people tell you, it was worse under Roosevelt and dragged on in the U.S. well after the rest of the world had recovered.

If you want the drug operation out of there, talk the local television into coming and doing a TV news story on this, cameras and all. These people will disappear.

As for dogs getting shot in out of the way places, don't forget poachers. They're not supposed to be there, a dog barks at them, they shoot it.

Dauntless said:

The mentality that caused the Great Depression was rather like the Real Estate Bubble in that the Government caused the whole thing. Mandating low interest rates to create jobs was SUPPOSED to drive up demand, but it didn't really happen that way. lA 1926 magazine ad for the Republican Party claimed they had put "A car in every garage and a chicken in every pot." Of course there were many saying they'd never gotten their car, chicken, garage or pot.

Click to expand...

The economy is definitely demand driven (Supply side economics sounds like it's not quite on the mark, demand drives the economy) and demand is caused/affected by emotions and needs (lust,greed,desire to fulfill a dream (i.e, MY DREAM HOUSE, lol, or get a college education),fear,despair, etc.) and limited by available funds. And recessions/depressions have a way of reducing available funds.

Okay, well, about 5 minutes before I turned on my generators at 8 a.m. like every day, my dog starts barking at the "person" hidden in the forest pretty much right near the front of my RV someways in.

What...

The...

F....

Do they really just want to watch me turn them on? Didn't know it was such a show.

Or, did they intend to do something at a time and place they knew I would be there? And what was that something?

Regardless, immediately went armed guard, sights on and carried on. Dog is getting posting ALL HOURS on the day now, I'll probably throw him in the van at 10:30 p.m.

Suspect the dog got shot by "poachers" like dauntless suggested, since my immediate neighbors are definitely poachers.

Jeez, now where in the world and I'm going to find a ballistic vest at reasonable prices sometime after 8 p.m.? The academy?

Wow, just thinking. If I bought a girl a wedding ring, I could buy her a big hunker if I wanted. But, that dream house is a higher priority, lol. (I'd rather make a ring, a bit cheaper and seating a diamond on prongs is easy.)

Someone just called me chunky hunky, apparently this random girl thinks I'm looking, lol.

Who knows why... "are you real"... might be faking something...

Something the "being crazy busy for holidays"... NOPE, THAT'S VERY REAL! lol.

Something the "Building my dream house, first iteration coming up soon."... NOPE, THAT'S VERY REAL! lol.

I think the "Building my dream house" probably what attracted her attention. Bitches love houses. They probably love dream houses even more, lol.

They might like guys who build their own house. I'm doing it just to keep costs low so I can build more house, I guess girls might be imagining this "hard worker" or something.

And google suggests some women find construction workers hot.

Okay, let's get a very quick way to estimate housing costs. Knowing that siding+sheathing makes the bulk of the cost of a house...

OSB+Vinyl = $1.33./sqft.

Smart siding = $.8/sqft.

A 56*16 foot house, 10 feet tall exterior walls...

wall area = 2*(56*10)+2*(16*10) = 1440 sq ft.

So, OSB and vinyl = $1770.

And smart siding = $1152.

The framing might be $1000.

Then doors, windows, drywall = $1000.

So about $4000 for a 56*16 home.

Seems like I could build the entire south and west wing in one go if I wanted....

Multiple signals suggest a recession might be starting soon enough, so how does that affect my planning?

DO NOT BLOW THAT MONEY!

Always was a plan, since I definitely know how miserable abject poverty is and it's amazing seeing how fast money can disappear.

PUT THAT MONEY INTO INCOME EARNING OPPORTUNITIES!

Always was a plan, just more so now that a recession could be on the horizon.

I'm definitely staying conservative with housing size and I'll build up incrementally over time. Definitely won't skip to the third phase right out the starting gate even if I could.

I think it's wise to start small, because not only does this conserve funds, but it keeps costly beginner mistakes to a minimum, lol. If I make costly choices during the first time I construct, I'd rather learn them on something small, lol.

It might also help keep me a less tempting robbery target...

It's interesting that this thinking gies along with the observation that the rich have most money tied up investments/businesses whereas the middle class have it mostly tied up in real estate. I guess that might mean my thinking destines me to become rich, lol.

Makes a hell lot of sense - the more money you have making money, the wealthier you're going to be. That's almost like a DUH! lol

I will continue with subsistence gardening efforts. Might be a lot of learning the first year. Hopefully I'll get maximum productivity from the land by the second year to keep that food bill as low as possible.

swbluto said:

Someone just called me chunky hunky, apparently this random girl thinks I'm looking, lol.

Who knows why... "are you real"... might be faking something...

Something the "being crazy busy for holidays"... NOPE, THAT'S VERY REAL! lol.

Something the "Building my dream house, first iteration coming up soon."... NOPE, THAT'S VERY REAL! lol.

I think the "Building my dream house" probably what attracted her attention. Bitches love houses. They probably love dream houses even more, lol.

They might like guys who build their own house. I'm doing it just to keep costs low so I can build more house, I guess girls might be imagining this "hard worker" or something.

And google suggests some women find construction workers hot.

Okay, let's get a very quick way to estimate housing costs. Knowing that siding+sheathing makes the bulk of the cost of a house...

OSB+Vinyl = $1.33./sqft.

Smart siding = $.8/sqft.

A 56*16 foot house, 10 feet tall exterior walls...

wall area = 2*(56*10)+2*(16*10) = 1440 sq ft.

So, OSB and vinyl = $1770.

And smart siding = $1152.

The framing might be $1000.

Then doors, windows, drywall = $1000.

So about $4000 for a 56*16 home.

Seems like I could build the entire south and west wing in one go if I wanted....

Click to expand...

Your numbers keep hanging. What size is the Dream House now?
Do you plan on doing it all yourself?

Dan

DAND214 said:

swbluto said:

Someone just called me chunky hunky, apparently this random girl thinks I'm looking, lol.
ho knows why... "are you real"... might be faking something...

Something the "being crazy busy for holidays"... NOPE, THAT'S VERY REAL! lol.

Something the "Building my dream house, first iteration coming up soon."... NOPE, THAT'S VERY REAL! lol.

I think the "Building my dream house" probably what attracted her attention. Bitches love houses. They probably love dream houses even more, lol.

They might like guys who build their own house. I'm doing it just to keep costs low so I can build more house, I guess girls might be imagining this "hard worker" or something.

And google suggests some women find construction workers hot.

Okay, let's get a very quick way to estimate housing costs. Knowing that siding+sheathing makes the bulk of the cost of a house...

OSB+Vinyl = $1.33./sqft.

Smart siding = $.8/sqft.

A 56*16 foot house, 10 feet tall exterior walls...

wall area = 2*(56*10)+2*(16*10) = 1440 sq ft.

So, OSB and vinyl = $1770.

And smart siding = $1152.

The framing might be $1000.

Then doors, windows, drywall = $1000.

So about $4000 for a 56*16 home.

Seems like I could build the entire south and west wing in one go if I wanted....

Click to expand...

Your numbers keep hanging. What size is the Dream House now?
Do you plan on doing it all yourself?

Dan

Click to expand...

I forgot roofing and flooring, so let's add on 2000 for that.

So about $6000 for a barebones no internal walls, no wiring, no plumbing yet everything else 900 sq. ft. home (56ftx16ft).

That's about $7/sqft.

With the courtyard house at 3000 sq. ft., that'd predict at about $21000, which is in the range we already recently calculated ($20,000-$25,000).

When that craigslist girl called me baby, she reminded me of this song oddly enough. Appropriate considering she just addressed me as hunky, lol. (Warning, it's inappropriate)

[youtube]Go9tbQ7AN_8[/youtube]

With no internal walls i hope you are planning to use post and beam construction?

slacker said:

With no internal walls i hope you are planning to use post and beam construction?

Click to expand...

It's called 2x12s. 2x12 yellow pine is good for 23' feet at 16" spacing, will work perfect for 16 feet.

talking about construction, stopped by this building they're contructing near lake conroe, and I saw the various states of building up the exterior. It started at plywood, and then weather wrap, then stucco/concrete (Gray stuff), then they put these like 1" thick stone veneer(tan bricks) infront of the stucco, I assume they use some kind of mortar? Kind of cool seeing the whole process, wondered how stone is typically implemented and suprised to see it so thin, always assumed they were real bricks when I saw them on houses, lol.

Thought you might be building the traditional 24-28 foot wide home,my mistake. Good luck in your endeavor.

slacker said:

Thought you might be building the traditional 24-28 foot wide home,my mistake. Good luck in your endeavor.

Click to expand...

Well, now that might be interesting. Make the front a traditional 24-28 wide foot home with traditional home functions, then have the halls and bedrooms making up the wings surrounding the courtyard. The complexity is kind of thrilling.

24x56 = 1344 sq. ft., yep, that sounds like a regular home.

Although, this is what 16 feet looks like.



Looks pretty good for my structure, especially with the abundant windows I would have facing the courtyard.

So the central courtyard is going to be 32ftx48ft. With a roof that extends over the walls(And there will likely be a wallway there, maybe 2 feet wide, so a 3 feet overhang?), that'd make the courtyard about 26 feet wide that isn't covered. I wonder if that'll feel "open enough"?

Now this is an idea for the courtyard with a lap pool, a tropical direction kind of like the pearland mall (I love the pearland mall's landscaping. Deep green grass and palm trees.)



I think I'm going to try my hardest to raise enough funds to complete the project next winter and then try to sell it, so I can build another one, and sell it again, lol.

So, that'd actually be technically 1 year? Jeez, that'd beat the 3 year estimate by a WIDE MARGIN, lol.

I should plant the palm trees this winter...

Or maybe next year... house should get priority funding over the palm trees...

It can be downright humiliating when you think you're cool with a girl that you've been hanging out with and when you ask her to become your girlfriend, she turns you down. Or, when you meet a girl and ask her out, you find out she isn't single and turns you down. Well, instead of looking for a girl the traditional way, why not ...

Click to expand...

Lol, what? Ask a girl to be your girlfriend, lol. Jeez, I thought these things went unspoken, they become your girlfriend when you make a connection with them, they stand substantially closer to you and they start using terms of endearment.

It's kind of like kissing a girl. You don't ask to kiss them, lol, when the mood is right, you take control and go for it. Surprise her!

swbluto said:

DAND214 said:

swbluto said:

Someone just called me chunky hunky, apparently this random girl thinks I'm looking, lol.
ho knows why... "are you real"... might be faking something...

Something the "being crazy busy for holidays"... NOPE, THAT'S VERY REAL! lol.

Something the "Building my dream house, first iteration coming up soon."... NOPE, THAT'S VERY REAL! lol.

I think the "Building my dream house" probably what attracted her attention. Bitches love houses. They probably love dream houses even more, lol.

They might like guys who build their own house. I'm doing it just to keep costs low so I can build more house, I guess girls might be imagining this "hard worker" or something.

And google suggests some women find construction workers hot.

Okay, let's get a very quick way to estimate housing costs. Knowing that siding+sheathing makes the bulk of the cost of a house...

OSB+Vinyl = $1.33./sqft.

Smart siding = $.8/sqft.

A 56*16 foot house, 10 feet tall exterior walls...

wall area = 2*(56*10)+2*(16*10) = 1440 sq ft.

So, OSB and vinyl = $1770.

And smart siding = $1152.

The framing might be $1000.

Then doors, windows, drywall = $1000.

So about $4000 for a 56*16 home.

Seems like I could build the entire south and west wing in one go if I wanted....

Click to expand...

Your numbers keep hanging. What size is the Dream House now?
Do you plan on doing it all yourself?

Dan

Click to expand...

I forgot roofing and flooring, so let's add on 2000 for that.

So about $6000 for a barebones no internal walls, no wiring, no plumbing yet everything else 900 sq. ft. home (56ftx16ft).

That's about $7/sqft.

With the courtyard house at 3000 sq. ft., that'd predict at about $21000, which is in the range we already recently calculated ($20,000-$25,000).

Click to expand...

The last line of my post asks. Do you plan on doing yourself?
Or do you asking the drug runners help Just kiddin as I know you fear them.

Dan

DAND214 said:

swbluto said:

ote=DAND214 post_id=1338166 time=1512323447 user_id=7094]

swbluto said:

Someone just called me chunky hunky, apparently this random girl thinks I'm looking, lol.
ho knows why... "are you real"... might be faking something...

Something the "being crazy busy for holidays"... NOPE, THAT'S VERY REAL! lol.

Something the "Building my dream house, first iteration coming up soon."... NOPE, THAT'S VERY REAL! lol.

I think the "Building my dream house" probably what attracted her attention. Bitches love houses. They probably love dream houses even more, lol.

They might like guys who build their own house. I'm doing it just to keep costs low so I can build more house, I guess girls might be imagining this "hard worker" or something.

And google suggests some women find construction workers hot.

Okay, let's get a very quick way to estimate housing costs. Knowing that siding+sheathing makes the bulk of the cost of a house...

OSB+Vinyl = $1.33./sqft.

Smart siding = $.8/sqft.

A 56*16 foot house, 10 feet tall exterior walls...

wall area = 2*(56*10)+2*(16*10) = 1440 sq ft.

So, OSB and vinyl = $1770.

And smart siding = $1152.

The framing might be $1000.

Then doors, windows, drywall = $1000.

So about $4000 for a 56*16 home.

Seems like I could build the entire south and west wing in one go if I wanted....

Click to expand...

Your numbers keep hanging. What size is the Dream House now?
Do you plan on doing it all yourself?

Dan

Click to expand...

I forgot roofing and flooring, so let's add on 2000 for that.

So about $6000 for a barebones no internal walls, no wiring, no plumbing yet everything else 900 sq. ft. home (56ftx16ft).

That's about $7/sqft.

With the courtyard house at 3000 sq. ft., that'd predict at about $21000, which is in the range we already recently calculated ($20,000-$25,000).

Click to expand...

The last line of my post asks. Do you plan on doing yourself?
Or do you asking the drug runners help Just kiddin as I know you fear them.

Dan
[/quote]

My neighbor who's building a house next year said he'd help me. I don't think he knows I'm building a 3000 sq. ft. courtyard house though! LOL. Just like my neighbor, I'm just some random bloke living in a broke down camper, lol. They don't realize I got BIG PLANS and much funds! lol.

I plan on doing as much as possible by myself. Seems like it should be possible, might take some specialized DIY equipment to hold things in place.

Will probably do the wall 8 feet at a time. And add the header blocks after standing it up.

You should have a roof top pool. That would leave you room for all the rest of what you want to build on that little lot. And use the trafficers, much the illicit substance that you snort, inhale, shoot up, all grown by slave labor up and down the Americas. I'm sure the drug lords have them build houses, too.

Oh, this H.E.B. stud puppet guy you were talking about all the gazing into the eyes and such, put him to work, too.

swbluto said:

It can be downright humiliating when you think you're cool with a girl that you've been hanging out with and when you ask her to become your girlfriend, she turns you down. Or, when you meet a girl and ask her out, you find out she isn't single and turns you down. Well, instead of looking for a girl the traditional way, why not ...

Click to expand...

Lol, what? Ask a girl to be your girlfriend, lol. Jeez, I thought these things went unspoken. . . .

Click to expand...

Um, sounds more like a kidnapping fantasy. But I want an answer to the question. Why not what? Or was that the kidnapping suggestion?

swbluto said:

When that craigslist girl called me baby, she reminded me of this song oddly enough.

Click to expand...

Why? She gave you a headache?

The oh so serious problem is she should be making you think, at the very least, of something more like this:

[youtube]dGghkjpNCQ8[/youtube]