The Squamidian Report – May 31 / 08
Issue #314
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
We were riding in to Horseshoe Bay one warm sunny evening last week. It dawned on me and I started laughing out loud. Here we were, two silvertips on a Geezer Glide cruising along listening to Lightfoot music over the bikes stereo system, heading to a destination not for the bars or the restaurants, but to have an ice cream cone. Horseshoe Bay has several bars and eateries that attract tourists and bikers from all around. They are busy places with way too much noise and way too many people. But there is also an ice cream place where you can get a cone, then go sit on one of the park benches and enjoy it while watching the boats, the ocean and the activity. So now we have become the Geezers, riding in on the Glide only to sit quietly on a park bench feeding the pigeons, and sea gulls, and geese. One has to laugh.
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For the better part of the last 6 months or so we have been building an industrial subdivision at work. This one is just across a road from the one we built a few years ago that now houses Wal-Mart and Home Depot etc. One of the requirements of the municipality for the developer is that the main road running through the area must be rebuilt including all the underground services. Another requirement is that the road cannot be closed, it must be kept open and passable at all times.
This creates major problems. New hydro and telephone duct banks and vaults must be installed. New water mains must be installed. New storm sewer mains and lines must be installed and all the new lots must be serviced. So ever day we must close down a section of road while keeping at least one lane open for traffic. Manholes and vaults can be quite large and require very deep holes making traffic diversion difficult.
What is really difficult is the fact that there are some existing buried services that we must continually work around, going over, under or along side thereof. One is a 6-inch high-pressure gas line. If that thing were to be damaged and blow, you would hear the blast all the way to the east coast. There is also some fiber optic lines underground that will be replaced in the future but for now they are a royal pain. Then there is the 16-inch forced sewage main. Because the valley floor is relatively flat you can’t use gravity to move sewage along. It must be pumped under pressure. If this line were to be damaged there would be crap shooting all over the place. Not a nice prospect at all.
Because the engineering of the site was poorly done, we had to lower the forced main in several places due to conflicts with the elevation of some of the new lines we have installed. That meant excavating along both sides of the main, then digging the material out from under it and letting it settle to a lower level. Lots of fun.
So anyway, much to the frustration of the motoring public, every day we seem to be digging up part of this road only to fill it back in and re-pave. This repeats day after day. Its probably driving them nuts trying to figure out what the heck we are doing and why.
doug
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Hello
everyone!
Last
weeks Squamidian was a chart buster for sure! I thoroughly enjoyed every one of
the submissions and hope more of you get inspired to participate. It’s fun to
do and even more fun when you get a reply or reaction to what you’ve written.
Keep ‘em comin’ it’s great to read others thoughts and stories of their past
experiences.
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We’re in
the middle of a project right now and it’s coming along very well. I’ve never
built a roof over anything before but that’s what I’m into this week. Carole
suggested we build a roof over our concrete patio out back. We did have a
wrought Iron and canvas “Gazebo” on the patio for the past few years but it
only covered about half of the length. So, I priced a prefab roof from a local
aluminum siding company. I was totally shocked when I got the quote sent to me
in an e-mail. The sales guy at their office made no indication to me that these
things are expensive. He matter of factly smiled and said no problem Mr Payne,
we can have one at your house within a week and it’s a snap to assemble it for
you. We have a company that makes the roof panels in any size you wish and they
snap together in a matter of hours. We can have a 12’x20’x4” roof over you
patio in a day and a half. I said “Sounds good! I don’t want this thing to turn
into a $7,000.00 project so let’s not remove the siding from the wall of the
house to attach the roof to the house. Let’s just bolt it to the house right on
top of the siding and caulk the point at which they meet to keep out any
water”. He said there was no problem, they could easily do that in a matter of
half an hour and complete the rest within a day or so. Sounded like things were
shaping up. About a week went by and I received his quote via e-mail. I was
totally shocked when I got the quote. The price for this “Simple, snap
together” roof was a mere $15,000.00 + taxes. I almost filled my pants when I
read that quote!
I
immediately wrote back to him and expressed my shock at the exorbitant price
he’d quoted me. In the next sentence, I told him that I would not be ordering
our new patio roof from his company. Needless to say I didn’t hear back from
him!
I figured
I could probably build one for a lot less than that, after all, I had already
built a 2800 sq ft two story home myself and its still standing after 18 years.
I could surely handle a little roof over a patio! I set out to make a list of
materials I’d need to build the roof. I took the list and a drawing or two up
to the Home Centre in Wellesley. They helped me when I built the house and I
was sure they’d have good prices and quality lumber today too. Adam and I spent
about an hour with one of their sales people and came away smiling. We were
quoted less than 1/15th of the cost that the aluminum roof would
have been. Carole was happy with the quote and my design and we decided to go
ahead with it. Yesterday, the materials arrived and Adam and I started to work
on the project. We got the header mounted on the wall in a couple of hours
yesterday and today we managed to get the 3 pillars mounted in the edge of the
patio and the headers cut, leveled and mounted to the tops of the posts. They
were a challenge to mount level and square to the house with the wobbly pillars
but we did it and tomorrow we should be able to complete the framing for the
roof structure. We are going to use a steel roof rather than asphalt shingles.
I’m sure it’s going to turn out just fine and I’m tempted to forward a picture
of the finished project to the guy at the aluminum company’s office, along with
a copy of the invoice from the lumber company. But when all is said and done,
what I finally did to cover my patio is none of his business… literally, so to
hell with sending him anything!
I will
however send Doug a picture of our finished roof because we’ll be proud of it
when it’s done and that will feel better than any money we saved by doing it
ourselves! I’ll ask Doug to post the picture so we can share the product of our
hard work with our friends in the Squamidian and show you what can be
accomplished if one puts his mind to “Doing It Yourself”!
Gotta go
catch up on some sleep for the big day tomorrow. The framing will be completed
and then the steel will arrive within one week. It should only take one more
day to install the steel roofing and then we can celebrate with a BBQ under the
new roof!
That’s it
for this week. Thanks for tuning in and I look forward talking to you all again
next time in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now…. Greg.
PS:
Something To Think About>
Remember
the ant and the rubber tree plant?
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Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
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