Yesterday Art went with me to the Richardson Field Super Garage Sale. It's not exactly his thing, but we went because I love garage sales.
Today was his turn. We went to the Building Industry Association (BIA) Expo 2012. My brother, Dennis was happy to go with us. He and Art both enjoy building things. I went so I'd have something to blog about.
Art wanted to see if an indestructible screen door that was impervious to rust had been invented yet.
He found a door that seemed to fit the bill. Stainless steel and very strong looking. Art was figuring he'd have to give up and pay the $500 he thought it would cost. It had a 10 year guarantee.
His mouth dropped open when he found out it was $1400 for the screen door... JUST the door, not including the labor to install it. He said he'd think about it.
Then we listened at length to learn about this wireless alarm system.
This sounded pretty darn secure except that the control panel would drive mom totally up the wall. She would probably mistakenly call the police department a dozen times a day.
However, the video camera monitoring system sounded quite feasible.
This last booth that caught our eye was very helpful. Art was thinking he'd like to put hurricane straps on the older part of our house soon. This fellow provided us with good advice and even gave Art a couple of different kinds of straps that he could use.
All in all, Art said this was a great expedition. He's looking forward to trying out those hurricane straps. Apparently it will help lower our extremely expensive hurricane insurance too.
I'm glad he and Dennis had such a good time.
OK... my turn next.
What shall we do?
Today was his turn. We went to the Building Industry Association (BIA) Expo 2012. My brother, Dennis was happy to go with us. He and Art both enjoy building things. I went so I'd have something to blog about.
Art wanted to see if an indestructible screen door that was impervious to rust had been invented yet.
He found a door that seemed to fit the bill. Stainless steel and very strong looking. Art was figuring he'd have to give up and pay the $500 he thought it would cost. It had a 10 year guarantee.
His mouth dropped open when he found out it was $1400 for the screen door... JUST the door, not including the labor to install it. He said he'd think about it.
Then we listened at length to learn about this wireless alarm system.
This sounded pretty darn secure except that the control panel would drive mom totally up the wall. She would probably mistakenly call the police department a dozen times a day.
However, the video camera monitoring system sounded quite feasible.
This last booth that caught our eye was very helpful. Art was thinking he'd like to put hurricane straps on the older part of our house soon. This fellow provided us with good advice and even gave Art a couple of different kinds of straps that he could use.
All in all, Art said this was a great expedition. He's looking forward to trying out those hurricane straps. Apparently it will help lower our extremely expensive hurricane insurance too.
I'm glad he and Dennis had such a good time.
OK... my turn next.
What shall we do?
That is a really pricey screen door! Do you think Art will skip that one? I'm hoping you will find something fun to do; I'm pretty sure you will. I look forward to hearing what you come up with. :-)
ReplyDeleteNo kidding! Art thought at first, "NO way!" But he's thinking on it some more as he stares at the rust on our front door screen. He wants the security for my mom when we're away.
DeleteOur house has four metal security/screen doors and before we install them we first recoat them using "hammered paint" and have NEVER had a problem with rust. We used to get rust on our older screen doors before we started recoating it with this special paint. Do a google search to learn more.
DeleteSounds like Art had fun!
ReplyDeleteLOVE the t-shirt Art's wearing! Is that Cubs as in the baseball team? What's written on the back?
ReplyDeleteIt says Ka bu su (Cubs) on the front and Fukudome on the back. He was a Japanese player who played for the Chicago Cubs for a time. His career then sort of went downhill. I don't know where he is now. Our daughter, Tiffany bought that shirt for Art.
Deletego shopping of course...lol!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with getting the perfect screen door that doesn't rust! So far, we haven't had any on ours, but it's made of vinyl, which might be too flimsy for your front entrance. Ours leads to the back patio.
ReplyDeleteWe missed it, although husband asked me if it is something I want to see. We spent the entire weekend watching grandchildren. We have a few hurricane clips on but have not purchased the insurance. One of these days I should sit down and think about it more in depth. Hmmm...we have a life insurance policy we're paying that far exceeds the price of hurricane insurance (our thoughts were to keep our insurance policies til 70). I guess the risk of us dying is higher than the likelihood of hurricane damages? Only our PV panels are covered for now...lol Insurance is a big budget expense, so I think we need to carefully pick and choose. There's also long term insurance to think about.
ReplyDeleteL. from W.
Hurricane insurance is CRAZY expensive! However, it's spooky every hurricane season. We live on a hill where the winds are pretty severe so we know if there's a hurricane we'll be hit hard.
DeleteHurricane straps sounds a bit like the guy ropes we used to put on our tents. Certainly not something we
ReplyDeleteHenry Hank Chapin
ReplyDeleteWe went to the BIA show when we were building our house in 1999. This show is good for idea generating. We saw a woman there at her booth with stained glasss windows that she made. I immediately saw possibilities for having a couple of them for our house. We gave her the ideas and she designed the windows and it all worked out great. She was quite an artist and she knew what she was doing so they could be directly installed. That's the beauty of a design-build house. You can come up with ideas and make them happen.
The BIA show also had a booth where Seniors could sign up for their Senior Citizen reduction of appraisal tax discount, which we did. We have hurricane straps in the inner structure, the framework (apparently required now), of our house. I don't know how they would be installed in a house that is already built.
I can just imagine how beautiful your windows must be. We have hurricane straps built into the new parts of the house. However the old part in back doesn't have them. This we'll have to install on the outside to hold the roof down.
DeleteLike the way u people enjoy each n every day..:)
ReplyDeleteKay- Next Saturday, 9am - 2pm will be the opening of the exhibit of Japanese immigrant clothing from the plantations of Hawaii, "Textured Lives."
ReplyDeleteYour Mom might enjoy seeing her memories! Let me know if you decide to go as I'm considering it. However the "Biggest Little Air Show" will be at Ford Island 10am - 4pm....
I'm so eclectic that they both sound interesting to me...
Aloha from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
<(-'.'-)>
> < } } ( ° >
> < } } (°>
><}}(°>
Actually, mom didn't work in the cane fields so that wouldn't be part of her memories, I'm afraid. Coming to Hawaii at that time was also a traumatic, sad time for her. Another problem for this Saturday is that we're having our huge annual Cousins Party so we'll be really stressed out cooking and preparing the house for the big to-do. Thank you so much for thinking of us, Cloudia. You are such a kind, thoughtful person. We also hear of stuff happening in Hawaii after the fact. If you hear of anything else interesting, please let me know.
DeleteWill do, Kay :-)
DeleteOkay Kay, hurricane straps sound like a giant belt placed over the house and anchored down into the ground. But it appears to be pieces of metal to hold 2x4s in the house structure together. How do they really help?
ReplyDeleteOne tornado that went through Okla. City in '71, simply "lifted" the edge of the intact roof at one end of my band director's house upwards about 8 inches, but the house was otherwise undamaged. Not a cheap repair to reattach the length of roof back down.
DrumMajor
Oops! You're absolutely right! Art says they're called hurricane ties according to the brochures and yes they hold the 2x4s or 2x6s or whatever down. I guess you'd lose the shingles but at lest most of the roof would be intact. I hope.
DeleteI don't know which side of the island you are on, but I think the danger is greater on the west side, from hurricanes swinging around the Big Island and coming up the Kona Coast the way Iniki did.
DeleteA big hurricane coming directly at us, in our east-facing location, would reduce our house to splinters, so we don't bother with hurricane insurance. We do have clips on the roof and the deck. But so far the mountains seem to protect Hilo by deflecting hurricanes away from us.
I guess it is a worry about protecting your mother while you are away.
hurricane ties also keep the roof from racking (getting out of square) and loosening the nails unless it's a direct hit, but even in 60-70 mph winds, it's nice to have the roof still on the house becuz fixing it'll take weeks, getting rid of all the debris, etc., plus the lack of and the mad rush for available building materials on the island. With the roof still intact, it's like living under a tent, but at least, it's survivable. The nails specified for the hurricane ties are an inch long. Ever tried pounding inch long nails? 4 to 8 per hurricane tie (lol)? Btw, I believe after the roof rafters are tied to the top of the walls, the fasteners that tie the walls to the foundation have to be beefed up since you're moving the stress point, *I'm not a structural engineer.
ReplyDeleteThe guy at the BIA told us to use screws apparently. Hoo boy! This will be a project for after the one he's doing now.
ReplyDelete