The Front Porch Swing

[Lacy Blues]

We are lucky in the fact that we can do a lot of the work ourselves. DH knows plumbing, electrical, rough framing. drywall, tiling, etc. We could probably build a house by ourselves, except for the county requiring certified professionals to do everything in order to pass inspections. I trust his work over some of the "Pros" out there nowadays. He has fixed so much on our current house that the pros did half-assed. Only one valve in the entire water system - and that was right after the pressure tank. In order to pull the toilet to paint the bathroom, we had to turn off the water to the entire house.

This is required in Wyoming?

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

eeeeeeeUUUUUUUukkkkkkk! What's that horrible smell? Oh, right! I'm baking egg shells. Ooopsies.

 

[Beekissed]

eeeeeeeUUUUUUUukkkkkkk! What's that horrible smell? Oh, right! I'm baking egg shells. Ooopsies.

Oh, why, oh why would you bake an eggshell?

 

[Lacy Blues]

I put mine in the microwave for about 2 minutes (for a couple dozen egg shells) so they're nice and dry. Then I crush them down to a manageable size and put them in my little coffee grinder and grind them up and add into my feed bucket.

 

[Beekissed]

I put mine whole, out in the yard and they eat them au naturel. Wouldn't want to bake off any of the goodness!

 

[Searsmom]

We are lucky in the fact that we can do a lot of the work ourselves. DH knows plumbing, electrical, rough framing. drywall, tiling, etc. We could probably build a house by ourselves, except for the county requiring certified professionals to do everything in order to pass inspections. I trust his work over some of the "Pros" out there nowadays. He has fixed so much on our current house that the pros did half-assed. Only one valve in the entire water system - and that was right after the pressure tank. In order to pull the toilet to paint the bathroom, we had to turn off the water to the entire house.

This is required in Wyoming?

Required here too. Lucky we knew someone who was a professional. While he worked, my husband worked - they split the labor. It cut down on the cost and still qualified as "professionals". It's not so fun if you don't know anyone.
Question though, if you buy the house, can't you just move in? When you want you can do your own wiring? We were building from scratch so didn't have a work-around.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Oh, why, oh why would you bake an eggshell?

Because it makes me feel good, like I'm doing something "good" and "useful" for the planet and for my birds. And it is a very efficient way for me to achieve that feeling. A feeling which is almost completely lacking from my life.

When I crack an egg I put the shell in a big metal bowl. When the bowl is full I bake them and then crush them and then put them in the oyster shell hopper in the chicken coop.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I put mine whole, out in the yard and they eat them au naturel. Wouldn't want to bake off any of the goodness!

I became paranoid about that because I was told I'd poison the birds (

) or turn them into egg eaters (

). So I bake them first. THEY say it leaves the calcium but kills the "germs."

 

[perchie.girl]

We are lucky in the fact that we can do a lot of the work ourselves. DH knows plumbing, electrical, rough framing. drywall, tiling, etc. We could probably build a house by ourselves, except for the county requiring certified professionals to do everything in order to pass inspections. I trust his work over some of the "Pros" out there nowadays. He has fixed so much on our current house that the pros did half-assed. Only one valve in the entire water system - and that was right after the pressure tank. In order to pull the toilet to paint the bathroom, we had to turn off the water to the entire house.

Here in California "The nanny State" you can do the work yourself or without a certified professional.... As long as the work passes inspection. They may look at it a little longer to be sure you are safe.... But the only thing that is required is if there is an engineer needed to calculate beam loads for like Moving a wall or messing with an existing foundation.

If you ware going to build from scratch then get an architect to look over your plans..... or have an architect draw up your plans.... Because the plans have to be submitted and approved for the building permitt. Here if you are "improving" your house If you dont change more than a certain percentage of the house you dont have to bring the rest of the house to code. Go over that percentage and you have to bring the WHOLE house up to code...

Things I would recommend to do IF its an old house with Knobb and Tube wiring Is to completely rewire the house. Even if Knobb and tube is running fabulously its not set up to run a modern house. Get a professional to come in and put in the breaker box because he will do an estimate of how big of a breaker you will need and what kinds of breakers to put in for your high load electronics..... Refrigerator and freezer and AC and etc.

I have only done one set of Architectural drawings in my life. Believe it or not To get a building permitt you only have to be a good hand sketcher here. Unless you live in a City with STUPID planning people. The original owner did this and it was passed. He had taken the original plans for the restaurant and bar and hand sketched the Patio he wanted to do .... California passed laws not allowing people to smoke even inside a Bar. So the patio would be for the smokers.....Lots of bars were doing this. Someone in the planning department flipped his wig and suddenly was forcing the remodel to include Handicapped access to the bathrooms Which the owner had already done on his own. As well as including ALL the site layout.... We are talking the exterior footprint of the building and exsiting structures around the building including the parking lot and the planters and the Utilities. The bar hired me to do the initial drawing in CAD Just the new patio and french doors to access the patio and to bring the plans up to date with existing mods that had been done already.

Each time the owner took the drawings in with the changes the inspector wanted made.... Someone else would inspect the drawings and make new changes.... FIVE times. Apparently the bar owner was not in good graces with the planning commission.... or something. Greek family Great food and a gusto for life. Funnily the Restaurant wasnt a Greek restaurant it was a Mexican Resaurant... Their Poppa spent alot of time in the bar Kind of "supervising" good will kind of person.... When He found out I had never tasted Ouzo..... OMG

Dont EVER let the bar owner decide to offer you a free drink.... unless you are prepared to go home in a taxi. And he wasnt serving the regular bar stuff it was his own PERSONAL brand.... it tastes like black licorice Which I love any way... only slightly sweet and VERY sneaky.

wow.... sorry I wrote a book....

It all started out as "YOu can do it without being certified as long as you get some help along the way"

deb

 

[Searsmom]

Because it makes me feel good, like I'm doing something "good" and "useful" for the planet and for my birds. And it is a very efficient way for me to achieve that feeling. A feeling which is almost completely lacking from my life.

When I crack an egg I put the shell in a big metal bowl. When the bowl is full I bake them and then crush them and then put them in the oyster shell hopper in the chicken coop.

Because then the half of the eggshells that I add to my compost actually deteriorates instead of digging up compost a year later and finding whole eggshells hanging out with the worms. The chickens get the other half.