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Jim Becker
10-24-2007, 10:05 PM
You know you've made a mark with your driveway and addition projects when the very first holiday card you receive (pre-Halloween, even) is on from the PA One-Call (811) service... :eek: :D

74094 74095

Ken Fitzgerald
10-24-2007, 10:12 PM
Jim.......are you going to mount that rascal......like one would do say a trophy buck or bull?

Jim Becker
10-24-2007, 10:29 PM
Jim.......are you going to mount that rascal......like one would do say a trophy buck or bull?

I'm not sure how to best express on a family forum that, um...I'm not into that particular kind of thing...:D Oh, you mean hang it up somewhere in commemoration? Perhaps.

But my GC and mason were almost rolling on the ground when I showed it to them! :p

Mark Rios
10-24-2007, 10:36 PM
I know I've made a little Mark when I get a phone call from the girl I met on vacation last summer.

:eek: :eek: :eek: :D :D :D


I made a little change Jim K., so you'd get it this time. LOL


BTW Jim Becker, got any pics yet??? We're waitin"..........:D

Jim Kountz
10-24-2007, 10:45 PM
I know I've made a little mark when I get a phone call from the girl I met on vacation last summer.

:eek: :eek: :eek: :D :D :D

Ahh youth, someday Mark you will be in my situation where the only time you get hit on is when one of your employees drops a board on your head!! LOL:D

Dennis Peacock
10-24-2007, 11:49 PM
Ahh youth, someday Mark you will be in my situation where the only time you get hit on is when one of your employees drops a board on your head!! LOL:D

Too funny.....

Too funny......

















but oh so true. :(

Jim Becker
10-25-2007, 9:20 AM
BTW Jim Becker, got any pics yet??? We're waitin"..........

Um, Mark...I've posted the BLOG address (http://toscax.us/blog/addition.htm) quite a few times...plenty of pictures...hundreds...are online "as we speak"...

But here's a few just to provide some immediate gratification. (not as good as your summer experience, probably... :) )

http://toscax.us/blog/uploaded_images/20Oct2007-5-709646.jpg

http://toscax.us/blog/uploaded_images/20Oct2007-9-764053.jpg

Mark Rios
10-25-2007, 9:50 AM
Wow Jim. I wasn't aware that you were that far along. Very nice. I wasn't aware of your blog but I'll have to go check it out. Thanks.

Jim Becker
10-25-2007, 10:07 AM
Yea, despite the township, we're actually making progress...but are still way behind. The latest delay is for the porch pour...the inspector (who is a "rent-a-inspector") is insisting that we pull up the rebar and put a 6 mil poly vapor barrier down...because "someone, someday" MIGHT want to close in the front porch. Yea, right. Enclose a FRONT porch on a 4000 sq ft house on a four acre property where the average home price is, well..."up there". Maybe somewhere else in this county, but not in this township! Never gonna happen. And the mason has done literally thousands of these porches and this is the first time that the vapor barrier is being required for an outdoor surface in his experience. Same for my GC... Oy!

We need the porch poured so we can get the porch roof framed and shod with the standing seam so that we can start siding. Every little thing delays the next step... And when we complained to the Twp, the inspector basically said, "you can appeal my decision, but then I'll put a stop-work on the entire job until you appear personally before the board..." which, by the way, is in turmoil right now because the zoning officer was pressured to resign recently. So, we'll put down the vapor barrier and move on. It's only money...what's another $500 when the twp has already raised the project cost by about $20K with their various "requests" and insistences...

Kyle Kraft
10-25-2007, 11:54 AM
Government...they're only here to protect you from yourself!

Randal Stevenson
10-25-2007, 12:04 PM
You know you've made a mark with your driveway and addition projects when the very first holiday card you receive (pre-Halloween, even) is on from the PA One-Call (811) service... :eek: :D

74094 74095



Jim, I think your missing the point. You call, They make the mark. ;) LOL

Matt Meiser
10-25-2007, 12:25 PM
What's all the dust collection piping for in the last picture? :D

Rich Stewart
10-25-2007, 12:57 PM
I know what you mean Jim. My BIL is a builder and they have all but run him out of business. The elecrical inspector will come out and fail the plumbing after the plumbing inspector already signed it off. And you can't say anything. They will just shut you down completely.

Art Mulder
10-25-2007, 4:39 PM
What's all the dust collection piping for in the last picture? :D

Y'know those pneumatic tubes that they have in stores like the Borg for sending receipts and things from the cash registers to the back office? Jim's putting one of those in from the shop to the house. That way he can be in the shop doing work, and he can have donuts and cookies delivered via pneumatic tube from the house. Very handy in inclement weather. Of course, when visitors come over he'll have a soda sent down the tube, and then stand back when they pop the top.

...art :rolleyes:

Jim Becker
10-25-2007, 9:03 PM
What's all the dust collection piping for in the last picture?

Ah, that...well...there is thing thing called rain that runs off the roof via gutters and downspouts and off the patio. Gotta stick it somewhere, so why not use a little PVC dust collection pipe. It should handle water well, too. :p


Jim, I think your missing the point. You call, They make the mark. LOL

Yes...like 8 times in the last year and a half did they mark the gas line. And guess what...the ONE time that there was digging to install another gas line over to the addition, it got nicked. Of course, it was a foot and a half off the marked line. The pipe in from the street is plastic and they never buried a locater wire with it...so they have to "measure" based on an originally hand-drawn diagram that is in the PECO computers. That shut the major road in front of the house down for about an hour. I passed the fire truck as I was on the way to pick up the GC for our appointment with the stair wizard...not knowing it was headed to our house. Not the kind of phone call you like to get when you're out and about!

Mark Rios
10-25-2007, 10:45 PM
........That shut the major road in front of the house down for about an hour. I passed the fire truck as I was on the way to pick up the GC for our appointment with the stair wizard...not knowing it was headed to our house. Not the kind of phone call you like to get when you're out and about!



Stair Wizard????.....Does he have a magic wand and everything?



:D

Randal Stevenson
10-25-2007, 11:41 PM
Yes...like 8 times in the last year and a half did they mark the gas line. And guess what...the ONE time that there was digging to install another gas line over to the addition, it got nicked. Of course, it was a foot and a half off the marked line. The pipe in from the street is plastic and they never buried a locater wire with it...so they have to "measure" based on an originally hand-drawn diagram that is in the PECO computers. That shut the major road in front of the house down for about an hour. I passed the fire truck as I was on the way to pick up the GC for our appointment with the stair wizard...not knowing it was headed to our house. Not the kind of phone call you like to get when you're out and about!


Tell me about it. When my brother decided to build his house, we had to call ours to mark the property as we knew a gas main ran through it. They came out and marked both sides (36" gas main). I wasn't there when my brother and his brother in law used an auger attachment on either a bobcat or backhoe they had ownership in, to dig the hole down to start to run the water line. Brought the auger up when it met resistance and found the tip bent. Peered down and the gas main was about five feet back from where it was supposed to be, with a big scratch on it.
County inspectors then got involved and made the gas company recalibrate ALL their equipment and said my brother was lucky he quit digging.

Jim Becker
10-26-2007, 9:17 PM
Stair Wizard????.....Does he have a magic wand and everything?

I think that a magic wand is standard equipment for anyone who builds stairs...and they are all amazing folks. Myon was pretty intense in our meeting, but he was doing very complex math in his head as we worked out the details to insure that the bottom landing was constructed "just so". When you look at his work, as well as work from Creekers like Richard Wolf and Steve Clardy, you really get close to the "wow factor". It takes a really good craftsman to build stairs that "sing"!