Old and new

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Nicholas
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Old and new

Post by Nicholas »

Hi.

The Old:

My house, which I found out was started in 1914, completed before 1916. This according to my friend the town historian, she insists on it, there was documentation that there was a house being built on this street in 1915, and I found out from older than me neighbors a few blocks from me that this house was here in the nineteens. This is the only house on this street that had an outhouse, due to its then rural beginnings. There are similarities to another house nearby built at the same time, particularly the rear, which the historian says was built by the same builder.

So, I don't see horseshoe prints from Paul Revere's ride, nor are there any train tracks underneath the house from the underground railroad. But hey, its fine by me. The only history would be that the house was owned by a Cason, a well known family throughout north Central Florida, and lived in by her grandchildren, "those Tucker girls..."

The New:

We are about to have neighbors next to me and across the street from me. Next to me is going to be a modern one story Victorian, for Catholic priests, complete with rounded corner tower and hipped roof. It is going to be ten feet from my barn on one side, (they said they won't bother me about the overhang), This house is going to be 40 by 80, and I don't know how they are going to do this, but there is a lowland easement on one side, a flooded area or wetlands. Historian says she is surprised its a build able lot at all. Not sure they can fill, so I guess they are working things out.

Meanwhile, the lot across the street is surveyed, and now has an address, and although a skinny 55 by 100 lot, with ten foot building easements on each side, this is going to be a 35 foot wide house, and loooong.

I am expecting that these homes are going to end up going up at the same time. I have plenty of Tylenol on hand.

My box of Tylenol > :popcorn:
1915 Frame Vernacular Bungalow

"If it ain't leanin' or a little crooked then it ain't got character"
- local resident

The BumbleBee House

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Manalto
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Re: Old and new

Post by Manalto »

Add to my list of things I don't understand about new houses the need to make them huge when a big family is not involved. I understand big rooms; they feel comfortable and not cramped but how many of them do you need? (rhetorical) In cold-winter climates it makes even less sense. A friend's parents bought one of those sprawling houses when they were in their 60s. Now in their 80s and getting around with walkers, they can't even go upstairs.

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Gothichome
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Re: Old and new

Post by Gothichome »

Nicholas, a church on one side, a mance on the other. Best be on your best behaviour. ;-) . Did that Mobil home ever arrive on the church side property?

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Nicholas
Shakes a cane at new house owners
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Re: Old and new

Post by Nicholas »

Gothichome wrote:Nicholas, a church on one side, a mance on the other. Best be on your best behaviour. ;-) . Did that Mobil home ever arrive on the church side property?


The Padres can't put a modular within city limits, therefore the McMansion.
1915 Frame Vernacular Bungalow

"If it ain't leanin' or a little crooked then it ain't got character"
- local resident

The BumbleBee House

Sashguy

Re: Old and new

Post by Sashguy »

Keep a close watch on the new to be shady side of your home. Here in Houston the break in drying ability next to the McMansions are rotting out the original homes. I recently had to replace the majority of the sashes and bases on an 1880 due to a three story built up against it.

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Nicholas
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Re: Old and new

Post by Nicholas »

Sashguy wrote:Keep a close watch on the new to be shady side of your home. Here in Houston the break in drying ability next to the McMansions are rotting out the original homes. I recently had to replace the majority of the sashes and bases on an 1880 due to a three story built up against it.


Thanks for that, the house is a one story and will be over 40 feet away. The always shady and damp side of my house shown in avatar is where, yes, I had to do some siding and stud repair when we purchased.
1915 Frame Vernacular Bungalow

"If it ain't leanin' or a little crooked then it ain't got character"
- local resident

The BumbleBee House

phil
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Re: Old and new

Post by phil »

I know of a house here that was built about the 70's and somehow they built it right on top of a creek. it's up against the mountains so the creek turns to a pretty serious river during runoff. the foundation is sort of like trough which channels the creek right through. truly weird how they could get permission. usually here it is not possible to own any waterway or lake. you can only own land above high water mark. We have some ranchers that have a lake surrounded by ranch-land and they keep locking roads and it's a constant fight with the people who want to fish there..
My parents , now my mom own a 28 acre chunk of land on a lake. the government changed the dam and made it so they can raise the lake more, so we in effect lost land because of the change in maximum height. we have a building which was a workshop used to rent outboard motors from , now it's under the high water mark.. It originally had it's own meter but we discontinued it,, we are wondering if we should hook up power again in order to keep the right to have it. the poles and wires still run to it but the power company pulled the meter. we had three meters and three minimum payments, three accounts.. now it's only two.

our next neighbor has a lot of bullrushes, that's nesting grounds and you aren't allowed to tamper with the wetlands, so they have no lake access.. no one does for a mile or two. most of the rest is surrounded by farms and they cant' access either.

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Nicholas
Shakes a cane at new house owners
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Re: Old and new

Post by Nicholas »

phil wrote:I know of a house here that was built about the 70's and somehow they built it right on top of a creek. it's up against the mountains so the creek turns to a pretty serious river during runoff. the foundation is sort of like trough which channels the creek right through. truly weird how they could get permission. usually here it is not possible to own any waterway or lake. you can only own land above high water mark. We have some ranchers that have a lake surrounded by ranch-land and they keep locking roads and it's a constant fight with the people who want to fish there..
My parents , now my mom own a 28 acre chunk of land on a lake. the government changed the dam and made it so they can raise the lake more, so we in effect lost land because of the change in maximum height. we have a building which was a workshop used to rent outboard motors from , now it's under the high water mark.. It originally had it's own meter but we discontinued it,, we are wondering if we should hook up power again in order to keep the right to have it. the poles and wires still run to it but the power company pulled the meter. we had three meters and three minimum payments, three accounts.. now it's only two.

our next neighbor has a lot of bullrushes, that's nesting grounds and you aren't allowed to tamper with the wetlands, so they have no lake access.. no one does for a mile or two. most of the rest is surrounded by farms and they cant' access either.


...and nothing has happened next door. I think they are all scratching their heads wondering how to deal with this easement. Just like the bullrushes, it is not so much the water whether it is there or not, its determined by the plants that grow in that environment. The house has to be thirty feet away from said plants.

This church is itching to have access from this neighborhood, and everyone on this street is united against it. Meanwhile the house across the street is moving along, they cleared it and getting ready to put in the foundation.

That is really interesting about your almost underwater workshop. Maybe go into the scuba gear renting business?
1915 Frame Vernacular Bungalow

"If it ain't leanin' or a little crooked then it ain't got character"
- local resident

The BumbleBee House

phil
Has many leather bound books
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Location: Near Vancouver BC

Re: Old and new

Post by phil »

the change in lake hieght isn't hugemaybe a foot or so . there is maybe a 1/4 acre or so that gets flooded in the spring until they open the dam. the problem is that the willows love that environment and if we allow it they will turn into thick brush.. Ive been battling them with a big weed eater and bade but I can only do so much before big equipment is more practical.. the issue is if you ring in the big equipment then you can get called upon for disturbing the wetlands and the fines are stiff so all we do is try to keep it down where it always was open,, but it's a battle for sure.. the bullrushes float and collect stuff and grow out over the water on thir own floating "land" they can break off and I have seen giant clupps reposition themselves along the shore. Of course if one floats in you could tow it back out with a boat and let it float around until it finds a new home. a lot different when they are established duck habitats.

at one point they tried to brung in a huge dredge and cut a channel for two miles through the muck so they could lower the lake.. stupid engineering. it was Just like going to the beach and trying to dig a hole three feet into the water with a shovel.. yea you can but it' fills itself in pretty fast. they also hit clay and that isnt' fast to dredge and eventually they gave up on that idea. Dad could have got a lot of the mud they dredged but he didn't want t to cooperate because he was scared they'd turn his waterfront into ditch front swamp land. another neighbor gave permission for the location to put he fill and they probably built up a hockey rink sized area about 4 feet or so before they gave up. but not before spending .. millions I guess?

I saw another thing that never got off the ground but was a proposal. they wanted to pump water up into the hills to make a false lake. that would change the lake height six inches .. it's like 12 miles long two miles wide so that's a lot of water.. then at night they would let it refill the lake.. the purpose was to build a giant hydro electric battery because power ( on the grid) is expensive during the day but at night it is cheaper and more plentiful. I don't imagine the fish would like it very much and it never got off the ground.

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