biggerboat's building boondoggle blog

Congratudolences. If it's line number Cobol for Bob Bullock, run for your life.

I doubt rates have changed very much since I've been retired. The pay is good enough for me to do this.

LOL, not COBOL. Close, though. The programming language is definitely the easiest language I've ever used. COBOL lite.

Our new granite countertops.......

The guys that put them in did a fantastic job installing. However, they dumped sealer on it and didn't do a very good job. There were streaks everywhere.

I googled a bit and the the prevailing idea for a remedy was to put more sealer on, but apply and dry it properly. So, my wife and I spent a considerable amount of time trying to do this correctly. However, it is even worse now. There are streaks everywhere.

One of the suggestions was to use acetone. Bad bad bad idea. That left a pretty bad spot where I tried it.

People are still saying that we just have to keep applying sealer until we do it correctly. It can't be allowed to dry on its own. It's quite possible we didn't dry it enough. I dunno. But it seems every thing we try to do just makes it worse.

Not sure what to do.

Ask the ppl who did the job and left streaks, how to have it result in no streaks - either doing it yourself or having them come back.

I took a walk around the extended neighborhood this morning. The part I walked through is quite a bit lower than us and was underwater the last 2 years. My estimate is 50% of the houuses are vacant and half of those are for sale.

I ran into a friend who was flooded twice. He had those water barriers but the water went over them. I asked him if he thought they would have worked if the water didn't go higher and he said absolutely. We will probably invest in them for the garage and front door. He was living in a camper after the first storm, trying to remodel when the second one hit. He has decided to bulldoze his house and rebuild.

He told me that his architect was telling him about his experience in other areas hit by storms like this. He said for about 18 months its a mess. People selling and a lot of rebuilding. But he says he's seen it every time that once the area gets over the hump, property values shoot up.

Anyway, my wife and I are getting more used to the idea of staying put for a while.

Here's what the area of empty houses looks like and a couple more getting raised by us.

I'm curious about the house raising, if you have any idea on this aspect.

I wonder how much the difference is between bulldozing and building a new raised house vs raising an existing house. There's some value in a brand-new design, I suppose.

My next door neighbor just talked to a company that raises houses. He estimated around $400,000 for a turnkey project. That includes walling in the bottom and garage. Stairs, etc. That's not much better than bulldozing imo. You are able to save the interior, cabinet etc. if you raise, but then again if you start new you design it the way you want. The other advantage to raising is you can live in your house almost the entire time it is being raised.

I dunno. We've pretty much decided we aren't doing either. We're going to invest in water barriers for the garage and front door and be really prepared to seal up the rest of the house.

This is a silly little thing but we had a wonderful avocado tree that our friend grew from a seed. It really was awesome. Salt water knocked it down. We didn't think it was going to live. No sign of green at all but I resisted pulling up the roots. But yesterday we saw new root growth. It really lifted our spirits. Maybe symbolic. I dunno, but it sure made us feel good.

I have a couple of avocado plants in pots that I supposedly planted when I was like 5 years old. Since I've taken over caring for them rather than the grandparents I've thought I killed them several times, but they keep coming back. They'll never put off any fruit, but they're kinda cool and I like them.

Still haven't heard about the job. I'm surprised it is taking this long. Or not. My guess is the guy making the decision is passing my resume around to get approval. I was a bit of a, ummm..., controversial employee. I did fantastic work but I ruffled more than a few feathers. Might have burned a bridge or two. Not sure. I got along fantastic with the guy that we submitted my resume to but I'm guessing he's trying to get a consensus from some other folks there.

I'd give my changes maaaayyyybbeeee 50-50.

I'm researching flood barriers.

There are a lot of things out there. Some are just water filled tubes that lay against the house. I don't want that. Some are these sort of l-shaped things that you set up along the walls.

I don't really like that either.

So, I've settled on the ones that fit snugly in the doorway and sort of lock the entryway shut. This is an example.

I've managed to find 3 companies that make these.

One of them gave me a rough estimate of $5600 for the garage and the front door. I don't need them anywhere else. They seem pretty legitimate, have great customer reviews, and they have decent customer service so far. That does not include installation. I could probably do that myself. Not sure.

I haven't talked to anyone at the second one, but I went on their website and created a cart based on the openings I have. $8,000! Yikes.

The third one looks cheaper but there isn't much out there about the company. No reviews or anything. I emailed them. We'll see.

Of course, my other option is to build them myself. People do this out of plywood, then seal the openings with expanding foam and caulk. They look like crap and the might work but I dunno.

We will be getting something before hurricane season next year.

The other thing we have to do is get a backflow preventer for our sewage lines. The city sewer system completely failed and sewage came up through our tubs. Happened everywhere.

Getting these two things will give me a lot better peace of mind going into next summer.

Well, the actual estimate from the first guys came in at $9500 which includes installation labor. They are suggesting we take out a row of pavers in front of the front door and replace with a concrete footer. This makes perfect sense because water is sure to get in through pavers.

Ugh.

What if you're inside, doors are sealed, and there's an emergency?

We have an exit window. Already in our game plan.

Plus you said you're not going to ignore evac orders anymore, right?

Well...... It depends.

For people in your area who want to sell, does it have to be for cash? Is it possible to get any kind of loan or insurance there?

I tossed the idea of doing it myself to my wife and she was OK with it kind of, but I could tell she didn't like the idea. I've been thinking about the DIY method some more and part of me feels pretty confident I can pull it off, but the problem is you don't have the luxury of a failed first attempt. Gotta be right the first time.

So, I'm leaning towards hiring this company to just do the garage. The front door is fairly tight as it is. Some flashing tape is all it really needs. The garage is really where all the water came in. And just sealing it may not be the best solution. A lot of garage doors simply collapsed from the water pressure.

Most (maybe all, I'm not sure) of the houses that were flooded are cash only. These houses got flood damage and have been remediated (sheetrock and cabinets removed) but not put back together. I don't think you could get a loan, but I might be wrong.

Surprisingly a lot have sold, mostly to developers.

There a a handful that didn't get flooded. I never really noticed but some close to me are on higher ground for some reason. And, the ones that were already raised are out there as well. But the ones that didn't get flooded are the minority of houses being sold.

I wanted to ask about this. Where does the support against the water pressure come from? Looking at the pictures of the front door treatment, is there some kind of concrete barricade that slips in behind it?

Tell the old job you'll work for however long it takes to make $10K, problem solved.

While it's early, do people in a disaster get any kind of break on taxes? I'm not thinking monetary, but more "filing late is ok, because you're dealing with so much ****."

Good luck on the work, hope you are able to find quality installation at a good price.

No. That particular barrier just sort of squeezes into the opening. There's a pump that pumps up some chambers to make the seal. This is a brand I've eliminated, for those reasons among others.

This is the one I've settled on. There are metal brackets bolted into the cinder block. And a center stabilizing post bolted into the driveway. The planks slide in and are lined with rubber epdm to make the seal. There are bolts that push the planks down and towards the back to further seal it.

For me, it looks like the best product on the market and not any more expensive than the others.

Our HOA met last night and my wife and I watched it on zoom. First time we've watched one.

It was a lot less contentious than the ones at our condo. There was a bit of a back and forth on slightly modifying the rules on how far docks can extend into canals, but otherwise pretty sedate. The sound sucked so we didn't hear everything.

They had a guy that owns a house raising company speak. He didn't really say much that I didn't already know except he warned that flood insurance will definitely skyrocket in the coming years. Like, by a lot. Apparently there are some new rules or something. Not exactly sure what.

Then, a local realtor spoke. Just so happens it was the same realtor that sold us our house. She is pretty prominent in this area. She said right now about 50% of the homes in our neighborhood are vacant. She said there has been a bit of a fall off in sales and they were divided by homes that got no flood damage and are selling close to pre-storm levels, and ones that were flooded that are selling about 30% lower as tear downs.

She surmised that the market would come back as time goes on, but wasn't really sure what the values of homes that got flooded would end up being. I mean, we got flooded but you would never know it now, other than our yard.

Anyway, my wife and I are staying put for a while so we'll see how it plays out.

Reinsurance is up 100%, so I'm guessing insurance will go up at least that, plus juice. It seems more likely to just disappear.

My wife stained these tables. Came out great.

Before and after

Looks great.