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

October 26th, 2017:

This is the oldest house on East Ashland; the same family has owned it since the 1880s!



This house still has a fuse box, by the way...

 

October 26th, 2017:

The rest of the houses of East Ashland...

This house is more than half a century old, but it has been thoroughly renovated. It features modern amenities like central air...

 

Get ready to bend over....

 

I hate bringing it to the dealer, almost entirely because I have a damn good idea what's wrong with the truck and they always want to "run diagnostics."

The only reason I prefer bringing it to the dealer for oil changes is because the dealer is right around the corner from my work, and I get a free loaner car...

 

October 26th, 2017:

I've gotten conflicting inforImation on this house (the one in the photo with the beige Toyota Corolla in the driveway). The property on which it is built originally belonged to the family living in the old green house on the corner. They had it subdivided in about 2002, and an independent homebuilder bought it a short time later. The people who live in the green house tell me that house (with the Corolla in the driveway) you see in the picture was built in about 2002. According to Zillow, the home was originally built in 2006. Either way, the house was almost completed, but then the builder ran into financial difficulties and the property was foreclosed. The house sat vacant and untouched for about a decade before another builder/investor purchased it in 2015-2016 and picked up where the original builder left off. When the house was vacant, it did not look much different than it does now. You could tell it had been vacant for some time just by looking at it, but the only major noticeable issue was that the central air was conspicuously absent. On the side of the house, you could see the connections for two A/C units, but the A/C units themselves were absent. The light fixtures on either side of the garage were turned upside down. I have no idea if this house had a complete kitchen and bathrooms, or any indoor light fixtures. All I can tell you is that the drywall was up. Granite countertops were starting to become commonplace in the entry-level home market in the early 2000s, so I guarantee you a house in this price range had granite countertops if the kitchen was completed before the foreclosure. If there were appliances, they were probably replaced because they were 10 years old by the time someone else bought the house. The house was completed and a family from Massachusetts bought it before it was even finished.

 

October 26th, 2017:

Ashland Street is a mixture of really old (1800s-1900s; Mostly Victorian-style and Farmhouse-style) houses, a couple mid-century homes that really don't fit in very well, and numerous McMansions that are designed to look old and blend in with the genuinely old house. In terms of overall build quality and attention to detail, he McMansions are a cut above the typical cookie-cutter tract home you'd find in a suburban subdivision, but they are much larger than the old houses they replaced. These are beautiful houses, but you have more house than you do land...

One of the people who lives in the old green house told me that one of their friend's daughter said Ashland Street reminded her of Disney World.

That said, it's hard to tell whether this house was built in the last 10-15 years or if it is very old and has been heavily renovated...

 

October 26th, 2017:

This house is like 60-70 years old, and I actually know the older gentleman who owns it...

 

October 26th, 2017:

Here's an example of a McMansion, next door to the former foreclosure house...

 

The rest of these pictures were taken on October 25th and October 26th, 2017:

This house is currently on the market, and features a heated driveway...

 

Here is one of two mid-century homes on Ashland that do not really fit in with the other homes on the street, and probably have a date with the wrecking ball in their future...

 

The other "misfit" house is right next door to the rancher. Unlike the rancher, which has been sold, this one remains on the market...

 

Here's another newer house...

 

This house was built in 1870 and is actually listed as a Historic Place. As such, it is safe and will never be torn down. However, as you can see it has been retrofitted with central A/C (check out that nice Bryant Evolution A/C unit on the right side of the house), and it is currently undergoing renovations and having an addition added to the back...

 

These are older houses. I don't think either of them are listed as historic, but they have both been lovingly restored...

 

This Cape Cod is not as old as most of the houses on Ashland, but it is not new either. An older couple owns it, and one of owners happened to be out in the front yard one day, when I was walking the dog. I asked them why the house had a window unit on the second floor when it obviously had central air (just out of sight behind the fence and shrubs on the right side of the house). I was told that the second floor was not finished and they used it as a spare room, so they didn't see a point in paying to have central air installed upstairs...


The Cape Cod shares a driveway with this house...

 

This is a newer Victorian-style house...


This one with the Subaru and the old Mercedes in the driveway, located right next door, is an authentic Victorian...

 

FYI, taking pictures of houses is exactly why I got stopped by local police in Doylestown Borough back in March 2013. You know what? I don't care! Photography is NOT a crime!



DISCLAIMER: First of all, I believe in full cooperation with the police, no matter how annoying and traumatizing it may be to deal with them over something as seemingly petty as photography; Most of the police in Doylestown know me and know that I mean absolutely no harm; Unlike the residential area where was I stopped by the cops back in March 2013, Ashland Street runs right through the touristy area of the Borough and these are probably some of the most photographed houses in town.

TRANSLATION OF DISCLAIMER: I encourage photographers of all types and skill levels to exercise their rights to take pictures in public, but at the same time I encourage full cooperation if you are stopped by the police for doing so; Most of the local cops know me, including the sergeant, and they don't give me a second look now because I've been wandering the streets of Doylestown with my camera for almost 7 years now...

 

This is one of the newer Victorian-style houses...



With some pretty cool Halloween decorations...

No joke; I thought for a couple seconds that an actual person was dangling from the balcony!