I built bookcases for what we call the library. In my garage - which is one level below the main house. Full size floor to ceiling full width bookcases with the shelves made from 2 pieces of 3/4 ply. I’ve made a bunch of other stuff but those were the biggest. Built them in 4 sections - 8’x5’ and carried and built them in. Took me plus 3 other guys to lift the top pair in place.

Why am I saying this?

1. You need a big door to take out furniture. If there isn’t one, put one in. Especially if you want to put a car in later.

2. This gravel path deal. 150’ is a bloody long way. Make sure you have a rough terrain dolly that’ll work on your surface so you can pull stuff or make sure the surface works with whatever you end up with. If it’s flat and you are set with gravel or grass think about using an ATV and trailer.

3. Power and lights. You can’t have too much of either.

4. Consider AC. I hate the heat. The room in I’m in right now is 62 degrees and I’m in a T shirt. If I had to work in 95 degrees with humidity, I wouldn’t work. Ymmv.

One thing with the rat poison is you end up killing the animals that help kill the mice and rats, then you end up with more rats, set a couple of traps placed so that you can keep an eye on them.

Right, I'd thought of that as well. Like I said, I haven't seen any unwanted critters or evidence of the current owners dealing with them (traps, poisons, etc...) around the house or garage. I can't imagine why there wouldn't be any around, but maybe raptors take care of them.

There's a huge garage door facing east.

Good recommendation. I've built stuff too, but I cut the wood in the garage and then built the stuff in place. Either way, (assembling in place or carrying assembled or mostly assembled stuff to the house would be a huge pain.

Yes, I think we have enough power (or, at least, a reasonable amount). But I'll definitely have to add a bunch of lighting.

I don't like, but I can work in heat up to a point at least. We do get to the point where I can't work in the heat in Houston at times. I think we can get a decent breeze but that remains to be seen. I think I could maybe install a couple of fans too. To install AC I'd have to re-skin the outside and then finish the inside which is possible, but not currently in the plans.

We had a few outdoor cats around our hillside. They took care of all the rodents. Now we have coyotes. They took care of the cats maybe the rodents too? Haven't seen any in a long Time. Thank goodness.

I've seen deer tracks on the property, and birds. That's about it. I don't even remember seeing squirrels which is weird since there are a half a dozen pecan trees on the property.

I'm very curious to see what sort of birds and wildlife we see/get. I'll also be getting gear to view the stars since there will be much darker skies than we've got in town.

Pecan trees?
You would have built in free fuel for the monster smoker!

Looking forward to more photos and your projects.

The realtor's boyfriend was with us on one of the other trips to the property. He was looking at a dead tree on the property from a distance and saying he though it might be mesquite.

Don't forget to decorate

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607364635.jpg

Nice hardtop.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607369625.jpg

Thanks. I bought it after getting the car. Lucky to find it and in correct color. It was $800 including shipping from New Mexico to metro DC. That car was my DD in DC and I had a second set of wheels with snow tires. Perfection!

Have you ordered your lift yet? Take care of that first. The rest will fall into place.

Just a idea for one corner of the shop... those cold winter evenings

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607388296.jpg

Wow, that's an amazing deal. If you tried to buy one for a miata it would cost you at least $800.

I'm guessing OldSpool87 was talking about a different kind of lift. ;) :D

Just wondering if we will get to see pic of the house too.
It's good to get pic of the before and after there too.

Cheers Richard

Sure. These are the pics from the realty website so they include the current owners' furniture/decor. The current owners have a couple of horses that they keep onsite, hence the saddles and barn/stable.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607461048.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607461048.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607461048.jpg
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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607461048.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607461048.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607461048.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607461048.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607461233.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607461233.jpg
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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607461233.jpg

That looks pretty cool Steve.

Thanks, we like it. It's got issues, but it's also got a bunch of character.

AND it has another barn for you to expand into as well!

Yes. Dirt floor in that one, so it may take some work before that was ready for much.

As far as we can tell, the downstairs is original wood floors, and much/most of the downstairs is shiplap (walls and ceiling). There is some siding in one room downstairs that we assume was added during a renovation at some point (guessing 80s-90s).

It's got central HVAC with a full Trane system that was installed 1991, so I think that's when it was renovated. It's also modern copper romex and PVC for plumbing. Downstairs has a full bath with semi-private toilet, clawfoot tub and separate small shower. Upstairs has a half bath that looks like it was squeezed in above the downstairs bathroom.

The ceiling downstairs is probably 10' or maybe a bit more. The ceiling upstairs is only about 7'. We are hoping that there's a way that we can expand that up a bit, maybe remove the drywall and open up to the rafters, but that's not going to be any time soon.

I peeled back a corner of the carpet upstairs last Sat and it looks like that's original wood flooring too. We are hoping the entire upstairs has the same flooring.

The upstairs is roughly T-shaped and is all drywall. I got into the attic space and it seems to have some rough old planking with drywall over the top of it. We may at some point (depending upon what happens with the ceiling, change the upstairs to shiplap to match the downstairs. It's just an idea at this point.

The siding is all cement board, hardie board or something like that. Things like casing around windows, fascia, etc... are wood, and some of that has some spots of rot. We are probably going to replace any wood with something like hardie so we don't have to worry about rot.

I'll start another thread on the house itself. The son is getting married in March and wants to do it at the house (outside assuming the weather supports it), so we aren't going to do anything big/major that may not be finished in March or would ruin the atmosphere for the wedding. That gives us a chance to think.

In the stairs in the house, there are 3 photos. One of the photos is of an old couple, and the other two photos are before/after of the renovation. I'll get better photos of those now that we (nearly) own the place. I am hoping that there may be text or a note of some sort on the back of the photos to provide more info about when they were taken or who the people are.

Before
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607466964.JPG

After
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607466964.JPG

Very nice!

Since the house is old (for around here) I was curious to see if I could discover any of the history of the house. I found an owner from the 90s and reached out via email. The gentleman called back last night. They bought the house in the early 90s and renovated it because it had been boarded up for a long time and was run down. That's why the HVAC all shows as having been installed in 1991.

He advised that when they moved in, the upstairs was an unfinished attic, and they finished it out so their kids would have rooms and more space. He said it was using old tree stumps for piers so they had the foundation dealt with. Downstairs was shiplap with large sheets of a cardboard like material over the shiplap. When they pulled that off, they found something that said (this guy had an amazing memory to remember this from 30 years ago), "his house built by W E Ermis Oct 1924"

I thought I'd try to search for any "Ermis" family in the area, and found a fair amount with the best stuff being on findagrave.com. That lead me to a William J Ermis who would have been about 18 in Oct of 1924, but his father was William F Ermis who would have been about 43 at that time which seemed to me to be about the right age to be building a house. On the findagrave website, someone had taken a picture of the gravestone for William and his wife. And the gravestone has a photo at the top.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607634827.jpg

The house has 3 photos in it, two are before and after the renovation in the 90s and the third is of an old couple.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607634880.jpg

I'm pretty sure that I've found the original builder and his family. I'll look them up and reach out at some point to see if they have any more info.

I also found out that someone since the renovation has taken a wall down between two rooms downstairs. We had no thoughts or plans to put that back in place, but after talking to the missus, she's considering putting a wall back. The room is long and narrow, and having 2 rooms would give me a place to work, an "office" of sorts.

And I think it may be possible to get and use a 5G connection for work if I can't find any wired high-speed Internet.