BACK TO HAVASU

The drive between Tucson and Lake Havasu City, is one that's almost an auto pilot trip for us.  In the motor home, it takes just about 6 hours to cover the 325 miles, and that usually includes a stop or two for fuel, and whatever.  We pulled out of the Chance Ranch at 9am, and arrived at the old homestead just before 3pm.  There wasn't much time left to start any serious packing, however, that didn't stop Patty, as she dove into one of the closets, sorting through clothes that will either go with us, or end up at one of the local charities.

When I looked around the garage, one of my first thoughts was that we're going to need a bigger truck!  Lots of stuff to get from here to there.  We did get a call from a mover in Tucson, that gave us a quote of around $2,000.  That number is more to my liking, and is only a few hundred dollars more than what it's going to cost us for a rental truck, fuel, and the hiring of temp labor on both ends.  We're checking with a couple of other movers here in Lake Havasu, and we'll have to make a decision in a few days.

BEFORE & AFTER

 Before

With a tractor, even a small one like my Kubota L39, you can dig up a lot of dirt and move it around.  When I first got here, about 2 months ago, I identified several areas where dirt needed to be removed, and other places where it needed to go.  I had 80 tons of fill dirt delivered, and it was used to build up the area next to where the motor home is parked.  Now, there's enough room to drive around the motor home into the back of the property.

The next priority was to level the area where the garage was built, removing most of that material to the lower driveway.  The first picture shows the lower driveway, which was about wide enough for a regular vehicle.  When I drove the motor home onto the property, I knew that it had to be widened, particularly for those times when I would need to make a turn around the circular driveway.

   

 During

The second picture shows where I stacked the dirt adjacent to the lower driveway, and the last picture shows that same area after I leveled it all off.  I probably added about 10 feet of width to the lower drive, and it should now be a little easier to turn the motor home around.

This morning, I'll find out, as we're leaving for a few days.  This trip back to Lake Havasu will be when we pack most everything up, and get it from there, to here.  Patty did some price checking with moving companies yesterday, and it looks like $3,000 is about the average number.  Renting a large truck for the one way trip will be around $7-800, including fuel.  I think we're going to go the later route, and hire a couple of strong, young kids to load the heavy stuff, and save a bunch of money.   We'll see how that develops once we get to Havasu.

 

After

GARAGE ELECTRICAL FINISHED

 This corner will eventually be a storage room, and the separate circuit wires are in place.

Ray and I started again, yesterday morning, at 8 am, and we wrapped up the garage electrification at about noon.  A total of 11 hours x two people, and the entire project was almost finished.  After another trip to Home Depot yesterday afternoon, for some heavier wire, and a 50 amp RV plug, I  completed that last part of the project as the day ended. 

The total project cost for all of the electrical came in at just under $1,500.  The end result is as follows:
                              100 amp sub panel
                               2 outside 20 amp, & 1 outside 50 amp RV outlet
                                switched security light over the people door
                                switched 2 flood lights at the front of the building
                                9 inside 110 electrical outlets
                                1 inside 220 electrical outlet
                                4 eight foot florescent lights on separate circuits
                                wiring & separate circuit to future storage room
                                1 bang on the head from large pliers falling off the ladder
                                

By the time I got everything cleaned up, it was well after dark, and it was nice to see how well the inside, and outside lights worked.  The next big electrical step, will be the installation of two garage door openers.  That, and several other inside the garage projects will have to wait until we get all of our stuff moved.  We're leaving tomorrow for Lake Havasu, and with a lot more packing, we're hoping to get everything moved by Christmas.

While Ray hooked up lights and switches, I put together the 4 florescent lights.

 

Ray, installing the two flood lights at the front of the garage.

WE HAVE IGNITION

 The source of the new power for the garage.

The new garage entered the modern world yesterday afternoon, with real, honest to goodness electricity!  This necessity that we all take for granted, was introduced to the new building, after Ray and I worked for about 5 hours.

 The four 6 gauge wires above the underground run.

My neighbor, Ray, was at the house at 8 am, and the first order of business was to make a shopping list of all the things we would need.  I had sketched out a diagram of where I wanted the plugs, switches, & lights to go, making it easier to fill out the list.  We then drove to Home Depot, and as I picked out the lights, Ray started filling his cart with all of the electrical components.  When we walked out the door, the total bill came to $1,030!  This was higher than we both had estimated, but when I started looking at the bill, the 4 strands #6 copper wire (each 110' long),  was over $400.  The two 250' rolls of romex wiring was $150, and when you add $300 for lights, it wasn't hard to see how the bill hit a grand. 

Pulling the 4 wires through the underground conduit that I had previously buried, was uneventful, and when I glued the final plastic pipe together at both ends, Ray started to connect the wiring.  This is the part where I deferred to Ray, who has years of experience as an electrician.  When it comes to electricity, I understand the basics, but just don't like to mess with breakers, buss bars, and electrical panels.  My job as electrician apprentice was to drill most of the holes through the studs, run the romex wiring, and install the plugs.  By mid afternoon, we had used the 500' of romex, but most of the circuits were hooked up.  When we quit a little after 3 pm, a couple of the plugs were hot, and about 75% of the job was done.  I did some cleanup (drilling 3/4' holes in wood, creates a huge mess), then went to the hardware store to pick up more romex, and a few other things that we'll need today.

Ray is busy installing the electrical panel.

This morning, we'll start again at 8 am, and according to Ray, the entire job should be done in another 4-5 hours.  This will be a huge check off, on my long list of projects, and thanks to my neighbor, I'm getting this job done for at least 1/2 the cost of an electrical contractor.  The satisfaction of doing something yourself has an intangible value, and given the choice, if I have the ability, I'll always be a D.I.Y. person. 

GARAGE STEP 7 - ELECTRICAL

This morning, Ray, my neighbor and I, will start on electrifying the new garage.  When I checked with Ray on Saturday, he said he was available to start the work today, and so the first order of business this morning will be to determine what electrical components we need.  Once we have our shopping list, we'll head for the closest big box store, and I'll do my part to stimulate the economy.  With lights, plugs switches, wire, electrical panel, etc, I'm budgeting $500 - $750. 

As the pictures show, the new 32' x 47' room is already starting to accumulate "stuff".  I think the decision to delay our trip back to Lake Havasu to pick up more "stuff" was a good one.  The less "stuff" we have in the garage for this latest project, the better.  In the next few days, when we're finished with powering up the new building, we'll make a trip back to the old homestead, and make arrangements for a mover to pick up the furniture.  If we can schedule a mover for the time we're there, we'll complete the move in the next couple of weeks.  Wishful thinking perhaps, but we're both anxious to get er done!

THE CHAIR SAGA

It all started the day before Thanksgiving, when we went shopping for a recliner.  Patty has wanted "her very own" chair for reading and watching TV, so off we went.  The largest furniture company in Tucson has about 4 or 5 stores, and they're all very large, with countless displays.  Sam Levitz furniture had exactly the one she wanted, so the purchase was made.  Before making payment, I asked the salesperson if we would save any money by waiting until the weekend sales kicked in.  I was told no, so we went ahead and bought the chair.   We had to drive to the main warehouse to pick it up, and we were home with the new chair by mid afternoon.

 

On the way home, we stopped to pick up a newspaper that had all of the Thanksgiving weekend ads. It was so big and heavy, you almost needed a shopping cart just to get the paper to your vehicle.  When we got around to looking through the ads, I discovered that Sam Levitz had what looked like the same chair on sale for $50 less that what we payed.  "Son of a B#@%&"!!  The idea of being taking advantage of, even though it was only $50, kicked my blood pressure up a couple of notches.  

Armed with the ad, and the receipt, yesterday, we returned to the furniture store, in search of Lorenzo who sold us the chair.  Ready to do battle, we were intercepted by a rather attractive young lady who said she was helping Lorenzo, and could she help.  Being slightly disarmed, I explained the situation that we were told we wouldn't save any money by waiting a couple of days to make the purchase.  She immediately said "let's get you your $50 back, follow me" Slightly amazed, and with my blood pressure back down to a reasonable level, the refund was in cash, and we started to leave the store.  

But wait!  Patty stopped to look at some area rugs that were also on sale, and the price for these rugs was so ridiculously cheap, we ended up with two of them.  Not knowing exactly where they were going to go, it didn't matter, because neither one of us can pass up a super-duper bargain like what was staring us in the face.  Hey, they were practically paying us to carry them out the door!  It turned out these were the last two rugs in any of their stores, so they were rolled up, and we drove off with a short lived chair refund, but, we now have 2 rugs, and absolutely no idea where they're going to go. Who said life isn't full of twists and turns?  

 

BACK TO WORK

Getting this garage done has been at the top of the list, in terms of things that had to get done, before we can complete the move from Lake Havasu City.  Now that the construction is finished, the next step is to bring the power from about 85 feet away, and do all of the electrical work inside the garage.  Instead of making a trip back to Havasu for more stuff, I think I'm going to check with my neighbor Ray, and see what his schedule looks like in the next few days.  If he's available to start the electrical, it makes more sense for us to get that done before the garage gets cluttered with boxes and lots of other stuff.

So, yesterday, after digesting that great meal that Patty, Chandra, and Claudia prepared for Thanksgiving, I started digging again.  I had already run the electrical conduit from near both ends, but not knowing exactly where the garage was going to be, it wasn't quite finished.  Near the garage, I dug a short trench, ran the conduit to where the ground was tied into the foundation, and stubbed it out below where the electrical panel will be.

On the other end, near the power source, I finished the run up to within a few inches of the meter, which didn't require a lot of digging.  Just a little shovel work, and the electrical pipe is now ready for some wire to be pulled inside. 

At some point in the future, I'll be cleaning up this gas and water jungle, where both lines go into the house.  Probably when I start hooking up the irrigation station, wiring, and valves  will be a good time to start that project.  Right now it's a mess!

GIVING THANKS

Someone finally lost that upper front tooth, and made $5 from the tooth fairy.

Thanksgiving Day is traditionally a day for most people to be with family and friends, and yesterday was no different for Patty and I.  We spent the better part of the day with Marc, Chandra, & Laila at their house, and Marc's Aunt Claudia & Uncle Marty drove down from their home in Phoenix.  We skyped  with Jeff, (Claudia & Marty's son), and his family from Florida, and enjoyed each others company up to, and through a great meal that was a combination of efforts from Patty, Chandra, and Claudia.  We all left the table stuffed, full of turkey, and all of the usual food that you would expect on Thanksgiving Day.

By the time we got back to the ranch, we were both yawning like crazy, and it didn't take very long for us to call it a day.  This morning, I'm up at my usual  4:30 - 5:00 am, and after some coffee, I'm off to Lowes for a few black Friday deals that just can't be passed up.  I'm usually not one to battle with the hoard of shoppers on this day that starts the holiday shopping season, but some of the deals are worth putting up with a bunch of people.

Marc finishes carving the turkey, before a great meal.

 

From the left - Patty, Marc, Chandra, and Claudia.

 

GARAGE STEP 6 - DOORS, WINDOWS, & PAINT

Now that Google has its hooks into me for a whopping $2.49 a month, I once again have enough storage capacity for as many pictures as I will ever be able to put on this computer.  Perhaps there was another way, like removing photos onto a disc, or something like that, but what the heck, sometimes it's easier to just go with the flow.

The garage is done!!  Yesterday morning, the smaller roll up door was installed, the county inspector came by and signed off on the final inspection, and we now have a 1,504 square foot building that will allow us to get serious about moving everything to the new place.
 

During the last couple of days, all 3 doors were installed, the 3 small windows were installed, and the entire building was painted to match the colors of the house.   From start to finish, the entire project took exactly 2 weeks, and that included a few days of down time waiting for the roll up doors to arrive from Utah.  There were also some delays getting the building permit, but the actual construction only took a little over a week.

My next focus is to get the underground conduit closer to the building, and to where it will tie into the main power source at the left side of the house.  I also have some plumbing and utility clean up work to do in that same area, where the power comes into the property.

This experience with the Original Shed & Garage Company, has been a very positive experience through all phases of the project.  It took me awhile to commit to a contractor, getting bids from several builders, and that delayed the process.  Once I decided to have Spence, Bobby, and their crew build the garage, everything went just as promised, with no surprises.  There were extra expenses on their end, such as increased costs for the doors, and a re-engineering of the plans, but there was no attempt to pass on those additional costs.  Total cost of the building, including concrete patio & walkway = $42,000.  When making the final payment yesterday, I told Spence that I would be happy to serve as a positive reference for any future customers.  

Now that the building is complete, the next priority is to get back to Lake Havasu, and get serious about moving our stuff to the new place.  That's going to happen right after this Thanksgiving Holiday weekend.

A Happy Thanksgiving day to all, and a special thought for our son Michael, who is in transit back to Afghanistan.

REACHING THE LIMIT

This post was supposed to be about the finishing touches on the garage.  When I started to load the pictures of the paint being applied, the doors and windows being installed, I got a pop up from Google, stating that I had reached my storage limit of 1 Gig in Picassa.   What the heck is going on?
Further examination showed that after reaching the storage limit for pictures, you have to purchase more space, and that it can take up to 24 hours for the increased storage capacity to be applied.  So, no pictures this morning.

Swell, I love surprises at 5 am, particularly when they are going to be unexpected hits to the bank account.  I guess I shouldn't complain, considering up to this point, that Gmail has been free for all of these years.  The only cost associated with the blog, has been the annual purchase of a book, that I have created from the blog, through blog2print.  Maybe by tomorrow, I'll have more cyber storage space, or whatever they call it, and I'll be able to post some pictures.   By the way, the cost from Google for the increased storage is $2.49 a month.  I think I can afford that.

MOVIN MORE DIRT

When the roofers were finished, I started moving about 12-18 inches of dirt away from the right side of the new garage.  I have a 12 foot wide area next to the building that's going to be used as a parking area for trailers, the tractor and it's implements.  From the top of the slab, to the roof eve is 11' 3", and when I'm finished, there will be a little over 12 feet.  Almost enough clearance for the motor home, but not quite. 

I'm going to extend the roof out 12 feet, from just under the eve, and with close to the same slope as the roof, by the time it gets out to the end, there will be about 10 1/2 feet of clearance.  That will be high enough for everything except the motor home, which needs a minimum of 13 feet.  Eventually, there will be some type of shade cover to the left of the house for the motor home.

All of this extra dirt is going over to the lower driveway, which I'm widening, and building up, so that it is more on the same level as the upper drive.  The idea is to make it easier to turn the motor home around, instead of having to back up and go forward a bunch of times.  When all of the dirt is moved to where it needs to be, I'll have several truck loads of driveway gravel brought in to cover it. 

Today, the two garage doors are supposed to arrive from Salt Lake City, and when they are installed, along with the man door, and the 3 windows, the only thing left will be the paint.  We're getting close!

 

HILLBILLY LAILA

Marc, Chandra, & Laila came over for a Sunday morning breakfast, and I finally convinced Laila to pose for a picture.  One of her top front teeth is so loose,  she can push it forward with her tongue, close her lips, and the loose tooth sticks out like it's the only one in her mouth.  As loose as the tooth is, it's not quite ready to come out, as several attempts have been made at an extraction.  I think any day now, somebody will be talking with a lisp.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, we're looking forward to spending the day with our family, and enjoying the traditional feast.  We've already purchased the Butterball turkey, and Chandra, Patty, and Aunt Claudia will be putting together all of the other yummy stuff.  Tomorrow, our oldest son, Micheal will be flying back to Afghanistan, and we'll all be thinking about him a lot, until he returns to his wife Amy, and their home in Georgia.

A NEW DISH

With the purchase of a new flat screen TV, it was time to have our DISH Network account moved from Lake Havasu to Tucson.  The technician came out yesterday morning, installed the new DISH antenna, ran some new cables, and had the TV up and running within an hour or so.

We're slowly making the transition from our old home, to the new one.  With the new garage almost finished, it's time to get serious about getting all of our "stuff" down here to the new digs.  Right after Thanksgiving, we'll be making a trip back to the lake, where we'll load both of the trailers, and find a mover to bring the furniture.  I'm hopeful that by Christmas, we will have made the complete move, and the last chapter to close, will be the sale of the house.  No offers yet.  The Boat Brokers sold our boat, and we should have a check within a week or so.  By consigning it in Lake Havasu, we took a pretty good hit on the amount of money in our pocket, but, I didn't want to drag it to Tucson, and it just wasn't possible to put it up for private party sale, without being in Havasu.

I spoke with our oldest son Michael yesterday, who is just a few days away from heading back to Afghanistan for his second tour.  He will be working at Bagram Air Base for 4 months, with a return sometime in mid March.  Since his retirement from the Army as a Chief Warrant Officer, Mike has served as a contractor, and is now a civilian employee for Uncle Sam.  His job in the intelligence community, under the National Security Agency umbrella,  is similar to what he did during his time in the Army.   Even though his work, and living location at the air base will be fairly secure, we'll all be glad when this latest tour is over.

GARAGE STEP 5 - A ROOF

The roofing crew showed up mid morning, and there was a question before any work even started.  The shingles that they brought were brown, matching the two exterior colors of the house.  However, the shingles on the house are white, and fortunately, they asked before nailing down any of the darker shingles.  One of the H.O.A. rules, is that detached buildings must have the same paint colors, and the same roof colors.  This little glitch was more my fault for not communicating the need for the same shingle color as the house.  In a couple of hours, they were back with white shingles, and the two man crew started putting the roof on.

While I was leveling the approach to the garage, one of the guys came over and asked how high my loader would go.  I raised it to the top position, which was only slightly below the roof at 11 feet, 3 inches.  They asked if I would lift the very heavy shingle packages, so they wouldn't have to carry approx. 70 of them up the ladder.  The pictures show that they only had to put the shingles in the loader, then take them out at the edge of the roof.  This sped up the process, and saved them the agony of manually climbing the ladder with all of the shingle packages.

When the sun started to set, they had one side of the roof done, and about one half of the other side.  I think they're coming back on Tuesday to finish roofing, install the two garage doors, and the man door, then start painting.  If we get the final inspection on Wednesday, we're still on track to be done by Thanksgiving.

GARAGE STEP 4 - A BUILDING

The construction sounds of nail guns, hammers, skillsaws, air compressors, and the ever present boom box radio, blasting music that lets just say, isn't on my Ipod, was not present yesterday.  It was back to normal, as the framing crew finished the garage shell about 36 hours ago, and the peace and quiet of the rural desert had returned.

The garage shell is up, and what remains to be done, is a little bit of trim, doors & window installation, roof shingles, and paint.  The roofing crew will be here today, and the two large garage doors are due to be delivered next Tuesday.  A final inspection is tentatively scheduled for next Wednesday, and when we sit down for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, the garage project should be finished.  Notice that I used the word "should".  I shouldn't be quite so skeptical, because this project has moved along at a rapid pace.  When you consider that only 8 days ago, there wasn't even any concrete on the ground.

Now that the building is up, it's much easier for me to visualize where everything is going to go, and this smaller version of the garage/shop that I originally wanted to build, is going to be more than adequate for our needs.  It's just not big enough to house the motor home. 

While I was picking up some of the scrap wood yesterday, Ray, one of my new neighbors came by, and we were talking about how fast this project had progressed, once it got started.  During our conversation, he asked me if I had contracted with an electrician to do the electrical  yet.  When I said no, I was planning on getting several bids before committing, he let me know that he was retired from a 30 year career as an electrician.  When he offered to do the job, at a fraction of what I was expecting to pay, I quickly accepted, and in a few weeks, I'll add apprentice electrician to my resume.  He estimated that materials, minus lighting would be under $500, and the total cost wouldn't be much more than that figure.  Wow, what a surprise, especially when I was budgeting around 2-3 thousand for the job.  Maybe I'll be able to return the favor, with some tractor/backhoe work on his property. 

This morning, the noise returns, but by the end of the day, there should be a new roof on this latest addition to the Chance Ranch.
  

BAD WORKMANSHIP

Late yesterday afternoon, Mike from Creative Aluminum came by to do the final measurements for the new patio/walkway cover, that's going in front of the house.  While here, I had him take a look at the 10 x 40 awning that covers the back deck.  In just a few minutes, he confirmed my suspicions, that whoever put this thing up, didn't know what the hell they were doing. 

It looks OK to the casual observer, but the first clue of problems came during a rainstorm.  The entire 40 feet, where the awning attaches to the house, leaked like it was a mini waterfall.  When I got up on the roof, I discovered that the flashing had not been secured under the drip rail, but instead, it was simply screwed to the facia board.  I did a temporary repair, by caulking the top edge of the flashing, which stopped most of the water from making its way in between the roof edge, and the awning.

The scariest discovery was that the awning was not attached to the roof edge properly, and where the 5 support posts are attached to the deck, it's  a disaster waiting to happen.  Rather than being bolted to the deck, each support is attached by 2 small wood screws, that according to Mike, will not hold during a strong wind.  Can your just imagine a 400 square foot aluminum sail, flapping in the wind, as it waves like a flag over the top of the house.  Don't want to go there, so when Mike comes back to put up the front awning, he agreed to do all the things necessary to fix, and secure the back awning according to code.  His schedule is pretty full, and with Thanksgiving next week, it's going to be about 3 weeks before Mike can get back here to do the new installation, and fix the existing awning.
Hopefully, there are no strong winds in the future weather forecast.

GARAGE STEP 3 - LUMBER

During the day long process of replacing the front doors of the house, and all of the water damaged wood, the new garage lumber arrived.  The 4 man framing crew started building the walls, and continued non-stop for the next 5-6 hours.  When they finished, the front, and both side walls were done, and ready to raise.  Due to some pretty good wind gusts, they decided to wait until yesterday, to put the walls up.

At 7 am yesterday, the carpenters fired up the air compressor, and the two nail guns started spitting nails into the wood about as fast as I can fire my AR15.  Before I finished my morning routine (coffee, blog post, email, food, shower, etc.), the 4 walls were up, and this project finally started to look like a building.

During the weeks leading up to this point, I have been waiting for the official approval from the Homeowners Ass'n (HOA).  I have spoken to the president on several occasions, and he has given me a verbal OK, despite the fact that the new garage will  be taller than the CC&R guidelines.  With the horsepower that HOA's have, I'm going to be a little nervous, until I see the approval in writing.  The HOA board of directors met last night, and I anticipate hearing something today, or in the near future.

One of the reasons the building will be about 2 feet taller than the maximum 14 feet, is because I wanted a 10 foot door.  The door to the right in the above picture is the larger door, and the one to the left is an 8 foot high door.  With a 10 foot door, I will be able to fit everything, including Marc's boat, inside the garage.  The only thing that won't fit is the motor home.

View from the back of the garage

  

 At 47 feet deep, I think all of my toys, tools, and other stuff will fit.

 The trusses arrive.

About mid day, Patty and I drove into town, and when we returned a couple of hours later, the crane had arrived, set the trusses, and was leaving when we pulled into the property.  Now the structure is really starting to look like a building.

When the workday was done, most of the roof plywood was firmly nailed down, and one wall was sheeted with the siding.  Today, the roof, minus the shingles, will be finished, the walls will all be covered, the man door installed, and a bunch of other stuff will be completed.  The intermediate inspection from the county has been requested for tomorrow, and by Friday, the roof will be shingled, and the only major things left to complete will be painting, and installation of the two garage doors.

With the completion of the garage just days away, Patty and I are both starting to focus on getting everything moved to Tucson.  We were going to make a trip back to Lake Havasu next week, but because of Thanksgiving with family & friends, it looks like we'll be making that trip in a little over a week.