our S.E. TX story and a half

CjAl · November 24, 2011, 10:50:43 AM

i really hate trucking. i need a new job. 20 years of this and i cringe every time i have to go to work.

i have been working on a deal for a 30' pace arrow motorhome for a few weeks. he started at $7k, i got him down to $3000. i have a tax return check sitting here for $3003. but now i have to pay my heavy use tax which is a bs tax that nobody seems to know what its for anyways. and i have some repairs to make to the truck so there will be no motorhome.
i think there is a problem when after 20yrs in business your in worse shape than when you started.

henderson · November 24, 2011, 11:38:48 AM

i got out of o/o 3 yrs ago and never looked back. it was hard but i sure do love all the benifits that i have now at no cost to me for the entire family all 5 of us. good luck.

December 03, 2011, 01:01:22 PM

i should have started a building months ago and left the roof off. mabey our drought would have ended months earlier. still only have half the roof sheething up and its supposed to rain all week.

had to pay my $550 yearly hiway use tax this week, $350 oil change and i failed my dot inspection. going to cost me about $2500 for four tires and another grand in other minor repairs. so who wants to be a truck driver???

money is gone so starting my foundation is going to have to be pushed back $:-\$

CjAl · December 03, 2011, 01:03:33 PM

oh btw, last week i took advantage of lowes black sunday sales.

no more daily use of the 100lbs circular saw

Gary O · December 03, 2011, 01:24:39 PM

N-I-C-E!

Hey, CJ, if you'd be so kind, let me know how you like that circular saw.
I'm shoppin' for a battery powered one, but with left side view, but my experience (years ago now) was the batteries pooped out way too soon, and seemed to bog down a bit at times. I'm hopin' things have changed since then.

Really enjoy reading your thread, as your experiences are pretty close to my wheel house.

Keep a fire

December 03, 2011, 01:48:29 PM

i will. i havent used it yet, hope.its good. i used to have an 18v dewalt that wasnt bad as long as you cut straight. if you had to start leaning o. it one way or another from going off line it would bog down. they do use the battery power tho and i dont have a fast charger for these yet.

i know i really like the drill so far. i can not grab it and stop it by hand and im no weakling. i was worried sindlce black n decker ownes them now and i have one of their 18v drills thats useless. think its 150in lbs of d*torque. the porter is 470 if i remember correctly.

i am trying to get out and lay my last three sheets of roof sheething before the rain starts tonight but my wife decided to go to bed. i drive my semi out there because i have a large power invertor for power, she has to drive my suburban because all my tools are in it.

i just ran out and tore the invertor out of the truck so i can hook it up in the burb. think im headed out there alone now.

Gary O · December 03, 2011, 02:14:04 PM

Rain???!!!
SW Texas?!

Enjoy

CjAl · December 03, 2011, 06:23:15 PM

southeast texas

i live 30 miles from louisianna in the woods. west tx is a little too brown for my tastes. up untill last month we hadnt had but a few inches of rain in the last 12 months. i think we were something like 50" behind on rainfall last i heard. the lakes were empty, they are starting to fill back up now so i can go fishing again as soon as i find where i put my dynamite.

i used the saw today but not much. it cuts good but like i said if you lean on it to one side or the other much it will stop. dont know about battery life as i only cut two sheets of plywood in half.

btw. i bought 6 sheets of half inch plywood for the roof. it is possibly the worst plywood i have ever seen. i really dont want to use OSB on the house but if i cant find better plywood than this i am going to have to.

and after climbing on the 10/12 pitch roof on the shed i am seriously considering using 12' walls and doing a 6/12 or 7/12.

at least i got the sheething on the roof. no felt or metal though. i might run out in the moring and put a tarp over it. i had to do this myself as my wife was at home. so i was beat after lifting it up there myself

i have two windows i salvaged off my old storage bldg when the tree fell on it. i just have to cut the siding out and put them in, openings are already framed

Gary O · December 03, 2011, 08:10:52 PM

O-h-h-h-h, SE........
Wife is from Port Arthur, Beaumont area....born in Texas City.
Beautiful down there.

Yeah, when the rains come , they come all at once down there it seems.
Not like the 12 month drizzle we get here.

Some acquaintances of mine near Corpus Christi have been talkin' about severe drought in their area....hard for me to imagine

Great progress today...you gotta be spent....made me thirsty just thinkin' about it

December 03, 2011, 08:23:07 PM

my wife is from groves which is right down there by port arthur. i load at the port every week. i am a yankee WI boy but ya gotta love a TX girl.

Gary O · December 03, 2011, 08:27:14 PM

right arm
been lovin' mine for 42 yrs

CjAl · December 03, 2011, 08:31:23 PM

i guess i am a rookie. i only have 13 years in.

Gary O · December 03, 2011, 08:44:15 PM

Well, you should be fully cured from your northern ways by now, and probably don't even know that now you have a bit of a southern drawl

Note; the next 30 years gradually get even better and better.

CjAl · December 04, 2011, 10:35:08 AM

she may not have come out to help with the roof but she had a big ol pot of chicken and sausage gumbo ready when i got home so its hard to be mad.

i woke up to rain so i guess i get to be lazy today

December 04, 2011, 10:58:03 AM

Enjoy it all, CJ, that's what them Texas gals do to/for ya.

CjAl · December 12, 2011, 07:20:01 PM

getting a little closer on the shed.

i need to cut three more gable end studs and blocking to go between the rafter at the wall, felt and metal on roof, box out that front overhang then trim it all out. i have it everything to finish except time. i am not cutting out the openings for the windows untill we are living on site.

oh btw gary. the saw eats batteries. mabey lithium would be better, i dont know. the saw works good just doesnt last long. if you have a fast charger its fine tho. also the left hand view saw is more of a pita then i thought it would be. having a hard time getting used to that

CjAl · January 09, 2012, 08:27:57 PM

Went out yesterday to finish the roof on the shed but i wasnt feeling it so instead i set up batter boards and strun it off. We got a few holes dug for piers. My wife is going to see how many more she can get dug while i am on the road this week. Altho if it doesnt stop raining i may not get my truck out of the driveway in the morning. Dont need any more tow bills.

CjAl · January 10, 2012, 01:18:06 PM

Does anyone have any reference material on how to frame a gambrel roof?

duncanshannon · January 10, 2012, 05:30:36 PM

here ya go! http://bit.ly/x3TQbw

goes to a search results page

CjAl · January 16, 2012, 11:47:56 PM

I already did that. The vast majority is people building those site build trusses with the joints fishplated with plywood. Is something like that sufficient for a house even if we dont get snow loads?

January 17, 2012, 12:13:37 AM

For my "barn" I needed a second floor but not a cathedral in the gambrel. I ran a rafter tie as the second floor ceiling joist across at the pitch break, forming a stable triangle up top. The steeply angled "walls" of the gambrel support that upper triangle. The joint where upper rafter/lower rafter/ceiling joist comes together is plywood gusseted.

Another way this was built is to run 2 support beams down the building under the pitch transition on either side that support the joint.

CjAl · January 17, 2012, 12:20:20 AM

Ya this is more what i was thinking

I guess since half of the 32' length of the house will be open cieling then i would have to run beams under the pitch break to run supports up?

CjAl · January 17, 2012, 12:26:27 AM

My thinking here is this would be an easier roof to do myself. Not the framing but the sheething and roofing. I really am not up to doing a 10/12 or 12/12 pitxh myself which i would need for headroom in the loft. The lower pitch at 24/12 i figure i could do from a scaffold and lean out enough to reach the top then the upper pitch at 4/12 i can easily walk on.

Am i way off base here?

Don_P · January 17, 2012, 07:41:52 AM

You'll end up on the steep pitch, it's too far to lean with a sheet but it is easy to scaffold onto a steep pitch, similar to an A frame. The purlin beams under the pitch break do need support all the way down to ground.

CjAl · March 06, 2012, 09:10:55 AM

perhaps the gambrel isnt a good idea with wanting to keep the cathederal type cieling in half the house. supporting the pitch break would take some good sized beams i dont want to spend the money on.

btw i have been away for a while. my truck died, i had to find and buy another one. between the down time and the costs of getting another truck up and running ate up every bit of my savings so work pretty much stopped. i am starting to see some cash flow now so i went out and finished up the shed this weekend. i just need my wife.lisa to get a coat of paint on it so i can trim it out.

my wife did go out and hand dug the 15 holes 4' deep for the piers.of course since i couldnt afford the concrete and we had some good rains they are all back to 3 foot now. shes not happy. lol. i am having the water meter put in as soon as they can get to it and then we will start pouring piers.