Storm damage nearly erased..

[scook]

You really dove in. I love electrical, so I always do all of that, the demo, framing repairs, siding, set up for flat work, all the finish carpentry, misc. stuff, but left drywall, paint, insulation, cabinets and countertops to others. We’re getting ready to build a downsize house, and prices are so obscene, I may build our cabinets. I got lucky - have a great new neighbor couple and he’s just started his own construction company. We’ve been helping each other out some and he just built a full set of cabinets for a house in my shop. He’s offered to help me build ours.

Nice fish, by the way.

 

[RidgeRunner]

Prices. I feel you there. Sold lumber for 20 years. Sold 1/2” cdx 4-ply in pt for $12/sheet.
1x6x8 #2 pine was $2.00/ea.

 

[scook]

Yeah - the whole south end of the house renovation T1-11 was rotted. It was less expensive to do it with Hardie plank. The few sheets of T-1 I bought to fix spot rot were over $100/ sheet for the better stuff, and a few of the filler patches curled up and fell out (and it was in the Summer)!! It’s crazy.

I don’t think most people realize that, just like “the miracle of compound interest”, there’s the curse of compound inflation.

 

[RidgeRunner]

True, so true. I paid $16.96/ea for 1x6x8 pine.
It wasn’t #2, it was a select grade from Home Depot. Ouch!!! But it was beautiful..
I tried to build back as if I were building a house not a trailer. No melamine board, pressed wood or anything that will fall apart when and if it ever floods again… cabinets are sealed all six sides with 4 coats of polyurethane. That’s what takes the time. Stainless screws everywhere. Issues to resolve you never thought you would see. Like this—-

 

[RidgeRunner]

Staples rusted on that wire next door. Would have never rusted if the floods had not happened. Moving the 9x18 shed by myself was a hoot. Electric underground, well it was, kept the shed from moving off-site.

 

[RidgeRunner]

I got PTSD from all this. Looking back it was a lot of work. For every problem a solution.

 

[RidgeRunner]

Phat It was all storm surge. Wind driven water 9’ above what would be a normal tide level. Most stilt homes were ok in Suwannee. Just up the coast the residents were not as lucky. Wind and water toppled some stilt homes and eroded foundations.

 

[RidgeRunner]

Leveled the old firehouse that was concrete block. Went through the restaurant and general store. The former rebuilt and reopened.

 

[RidgeRunner]

I got busted breaking kerfew. About 4 days into cleanup, no water or electricity, I woke and decided to drive to town for coffee. I didn’t get far. Roadblock with 10 weary officers. Wanted to know where I was going at 4:30am. I said coffee. He shot me a look and asked sarcastically,”Your gonna drive 25 miles for a cup of coffee?” My reply was “Yeah, you want one?” The other guys chuckled. When asked why I broke kerfew I said I had no idea there was a kerfew I hadn’t seen the news or listened to the radio to know. They let me proceed with the understanding that I needed to spend some time up town until the kerfew had expired.
They got their coffee, and donuts. They were Seminole county sheriff’s dept. deployed to our area to help with the situation. I helped them when they needed a place to clean their vehicles. The mud was relentless

 

[steplift20]

Nice work but don’t think I’m a jerk but I would say. Thanks mom and dad but I’m selling this house. Moving inland think about this. You can get it back to perfection and another storm comes by and wipes it out again. Is it worth it? I say no. Sell it and move. But that’s just me. It’s only real estate. Don’t get mad at me but that’s what I would do. Sell it

 

[RidgeRunner]

You could put anything up for sale. Nothing is selling except cheap junk. I have a house inland, this is just a fish camp. If it floods again I’ll deal with it then.
And
Why would I get mad at you? That’s sound advice. I’m probably nuts for doing it in the first place. But at the same time, I renovated on the cheap, I figure a livable piece of real estate in inventory is worth way more than an empty lot. It’s in the flood zone either way.

 

[scook]

Does it make sense to jack it up on tall enough stilts, after you’ve recovered from the renovation work?

 

[RidgeRunner]

Does it make sense to jack it up on tall enough stilts, after you’ve recovered from the renovation

That makes some sense but this old trailer isn’t worthy of that expense. The real issue with all trailers is the lack of a solid foundation in my opinion. This one is less solid than most. From an engineering standpoint that would be a mistake. There are other issues preventing raising it. There is a porch on one end and a garage on the other.

 

[RidgeRunner]

So in the past 45 years we had three floods that put water in the structure. She is a swimmer. Let’s hope I have seen the last flood. Or worse. So in other words hope and prayer as a plan.

 

[RidgeRunner]

Sadly the draw of people to the coastlines has created one hell of an issue with insurance and flood plain restrictions on construction. The latter being a good thing. If you want insurance the height of your floor here is 14’ above mean high tide. That is considered the 100 year flood plain restrictions on construction. Average adder for a 1200 sq ft home raised on piling and concrete pad under structure is approx $75k. Once your 14’ in the air and don’t really need flood insurance, your eligible. lol! No insurance for those that followed the letter of the law back in ‘79 when this swimmer was set on the property. Not for nothin, I’m a conservative not a liberal, not looking for govt to help me in any way shape or form. Sink or swim on your own if you decide to have real estate on the coastline in my opinion. And as a further observation, most people that live on the water don’t even use the water, they just like being close to it. Status symbol maybe?

 

[scook]

Well, it was a happy thought.