PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

I don't think anybody's building houses like that anymore though. It looks like something that would be built by a WWII veteran with a wife and two kids in the late 1940s...

 

Best scene in the whole movie...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GKxPb_0yFwY

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LtfELsaX7RA

 

If you give your builder code approved plans they will build whatever you have a budget for.

You can also use a smaller house to build a better house with higher quality insulation, fixtures, windows, etc. There are only 6-7 windows in that house, it is a lot easier to afford high quality windows when you don't have to buy 40 of them.

Ask yourself, how much space does one actually need? Many years ago I lived in an old 12 x 60 house trailer - 720 square feet, less actually as the dimensions are outside.

My living room was 17 feet long with a floor model TV at one end, my chair, end table and lamp at the other. It felt like a football field as I had so little furniture.

I had a bed, dresser, desk & chair and a kitchen table & chairs - that was it. There was so much open space in that small space. My first day off work I would do the vacuuming and bathroom scrubbing, etc. in less than an hour.

There is a great deal of freedom to be found in minimalism.


Houses & vehicles are the greatest example of "keeping up with the Joneses". To have more than you need just because "everyone" does it makes very little financial sense.

You have said you like to entertain, with a full basement under that little ranch you could host more people than you would want around.
Pay a bit extra for a full 10' ceiling, basement bathroom and a walk out to the back yard and really get a great deal of bang for your buck while still keeping the costs way down over a 2800 square foot house full of extra rooms that you won't use.

 

More house = more money. Not just for the initial purchase and monthly payment either. More to heat and cool, more to maintain, more to clean, more to furnish. My house now is roughly 1800 square feet, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, split level with a basement under half of the house, 2 car garage sitting on roughly .25 acre in a development. Takes me about 1 hour each week to cut the yard and trim as needed. Taxes where I'm at are reasonable enough and I'm blessed with some really great neighbors around me. That said, one bedroom is a guest room that's been used twice in the past 2 years. One bedroom is now an office as my g/f works from home. We have a rec room that we just bought furniture for that has a decent TV with surround sound set up and yet we rarely use it, our 2 cats hang out down there now that the gas fireplace is on. Just had a new roof put on in August. We caught a break there in that we suffered some hail damage and the homeowners insurance paid for the bulk of that. I had been looking at around 10k to put on a new roof. My heating and cooling systems are 22 years old at this point and while I have them maintained eventually they will need replacement. Most of the appliances are original to the house meaning they're all 22 years old and the windows are the same way. I've been repairing stuff like the tension springs on some of the windows already trying to make them last as long as possible.

I'm at the point in life where I think a slightly larger piece of land, not in a development, with a smaller ranch style or even bungalow with a larger detached garage of about 4 car size would be more my speed. Someplace where I could have a nice fire pit in the yard would not be awful.

 

I just bought some new stickers for my new back window...

 

I ordered both of these in white...

 

And my autism ribbon magnet is cracked, so...

 

Well said, I've always stated a bigger house is just more goddamn work for me..both weekly in terms of cleaning and long term IE windows for instance. I'm around 1100 square, 2 bed 1 bath and small basement..how small? I can't stand up at 5 foot 10 unless I'm between joists. For 2 people and 3 cats it's not terible of course, I would like a bigger garage as it's only one bay and (worse) the door clearance is too low to get either my truck or her SUV inside.

As you said, my lawnmowing is about an hour (a tad more with the push mower, a tad less with the tractor) and I'm lucky to have good folks around.

Roof is fun, mine was about 11K 2 years ago. I went metal plus had a decent amount of plywood/sheathing that was junk as I suspected.

Having an almost 100 year old house is an adventure, especially in 2004 when we moved in and had to play catchup. Windows all sucked..no insulation in most of the walls..electrical was from the early 70s..you get the picture.

I do have a small pit and garden which is about all we need; hell, I don't think we lit the fire once this year.

 

I've always wondered about those metal roofs , cheaper than asphalt shingles I guess. Wonder how long they last. I have a huge roof that's 12 yrs old , so when I'm geezing I'll have to replace it if I'm still here.

 

You might want to price a roof in your area. Metal roofing around here generally runs twice what a shingle roof costs. Installation is apparently more involved and a higher skill level crew to do them.

 

Definitely price both at the point you are looking to do it. I got the old style (sheets I guess?), there's an interlocking system now that is beautiful but was about 20K for my house. Overimprovement for my overall situation.

Asphalt was about 7-8K for me but it wasn't happening because my back roof is very shallow pitched and prone to ice damming. I have a roof rake I could pull about the first 6 feet of roof off from the ground, but if I got 6 inches of snow I would have to do that plus climb up with a shovel and shovel the rest of the back half.

From what I'm told the metal will last about 40 years. Asphalt about 20-25 years so average per year the metal worked out better as well, though in my situation it wasn't a driver in my choice.

 

Metal costs more than shingles but it lasts much longer.
As long as nothing lands on it like a tree it wears for decades. You can also have it refastened and coated after 30 - 35 years or so, keep it coated and it will last a lifetime.

 

I bought two sets of these LED light sets with magnets on the back at Home Depot...

 

Currently experimenting with different locations...

 

Unfortunately, they are dry/indoor use only...

 

But they really do look awesome!

 

This is probably illegal, but I don't care. If you mistake a 13-year old shitbox pickup truck with green and red lights on it for a police car or any other kind of emergency vehicle, then you really are a special kind of stupid...

 

Nice!

 

People up the road from me are getting a metal roof put on, but it looks like shingles. I'm sure it isn't cheap, but it looks a heck of a lot better than a typical metal roof.