Dad's House
I don't think I've said much here about the house Dad lived in, about 50 yards or so from the Garage. There's a LOT I could say, but I'll give you the short version.
It's small, it's old, and it was mostly handbuilt by a guy who didn't have many resources.
It was old in '79. I think part of it was built pre-1900.
There's quite a few repairs that need to be done before it's lived in again. And I want it to be lived in, because I don't want that piece of property vacant.
Enter an old (as in, I was in Junior High when we met) friend of mine. I'll call him Bud.
Bud loves the country, and hates apartments. But due to various circumstances, this old friend of mine lives in an apartment here in Fort Worth.
Coincidence? Maybe. Bud and I started planning last summer on the repairs needed to the house, and him moving out of his apartment, and into the house, and paying me enough rent to cover property taxes.
Classic WIN-WIN situation - I get a renter looking after the place who I'd trust with Lisa's life, and get the property taxes covered, Bud gets out of the apartment and into a house, and out of the city and into the country (and still close to his job), and pays less rent in the bargain.
But we have to do some repairs first. They started this week, with Bud and a 6-foot, probably 15-pound wrecking bar ripping up flooring so we could find out what's wrong with the pier-and-beam foundation.
Basically, it wasn't built right to start with, and now it's a little shy of worthless.
This is gonna be a big job... but I think we can manage it. I'm subscribing to a derivative of the school of mechanical engineering that may have been pioneered by a good friend of my Grandfather's (who designed the first multi-level carhaulers you see on the roads today) - he didn't phrase it this way, I'm sure, but my derivative is "When in doubt, overbuild the damn thing".
It's going to be a lot of work for Bud and I, and I'm quite sure I'll wind up spending an awful lot on materials, but when we're done, Dad's House will have a foundation and subfloor to make anybody proud. I'll keep you posted.
It's small, it's old, and it was mostly handbuilt by a guy who didn't have many resources.
It was old in '79. I think part of it was built pre-1900.
There's quite a few repairs that need to be done before it's lived in again. And I want it to be lived in, because I don't want that piece of property vacant.
Enter an old (as in, I was in Junior High when we met) friend of mine. I'll call him Bud.
Bud loves the country, and hates apartments. But due to various circumstances, this old friend of mine lives in an apartment here in Fort Worth.
Coincidence? Maybe. Bud and I started planning last summer on the repairs needed to the house, and him moving out of his apartment, and into the house, and paying me enough rent to cover property taxes.
Classic WIN-WIN situation - I get a renter looking after the place who I'd trust with Lisa's life, and get the property taxes covered, Bud gets out of the apartment and into a house, and out of the city and into the country (and still close to his job), and pays less rent in the bargain.
But we have to do some repairs first. They started this week, with Bud and a 6-foot, probably 15-pound wrecking bar ripping up flooring so we could find out what's wrong with the pier-and-beam foundation.
Basically, it wasn't built right to start with, and now it's a little shy of worthless.
This is gonna be a big job... but I think we can manage it. I'm subscribing to a derivative of the school of mechanical engineering that may have been pioneered by a good friend of my Grandfather's (who designed the first multi-level carhaulers you see on the roads today) - he didn't phrase it this way, I'm sure, but my derivative is "When in doubt, overbuild the damn thing".
It's going to be a lot of work for Bud and I, and I'm quite sure I'll wind up spending an awful lot on materials, but when we're done, Dad's House will have a foundation and subfloor to make anybody proud. I'll keep you posted.
posted by Aaron Neal at 12:08 AM
2 Comments:
Send me some sketches/pictures. I'm not an architecht, and i don't play one on TV, but I do spend a LOT of time doing home repair, and I could maybe offer some suggestions.
Info sent. Thanks for your input, Og!
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