Don’t tell Fed Ex, but the last cedar shed delivery I got I kinda got a “lift gate” service for free.
With the cedar pergola pretty much the driver and hand unloaded a pallet, and I figured the same would happen when the shed got delivered, but in fact the driver used a pallet jack and lift gated the entire pallet into my driveway.
I covered it with a tarp and stored it there until I could create an envelop of time to build it out. Had to build out a foundation first… a pressure treated platform for some elevation, and a backfill of peanut gravel.
The new twice as big cedar shed has the same pallet size footprint but is stacked taller. Something like 1100 pounds.
I imagine that from Canada Fed Ex heads into the U.S., so I think this is why somehow tariffs and taxes somehow get skirted.
I think somehow at my local Fed Ex depo they know that my neighborhood is a maze of dead ends and small streets that will not allow a tractor trailer, and they just happen to use a truck with a lift gate.
So pretty much “Slippery” Calvin kinda bypasses payments and gets a service for free. Of course I tip the driver handsomely, he is just a working guy.
So I gamble again. Pretty much I’m an optimist, and I think I will get over again. Let’s see… Worse case is that I get billed for the lift gate at delivery. Oh-well I say. Just call me “Slippery Calvin.”
I intend on doing a tare-off and replacing the hip roof on my 20x21 foot garage. I deem the garage as a two-car, but the city says it is a 1 1/2 car garage. Somehow the 1966 C-10 of “Gas Guzzler” fame that somehow annoyed someone (a jerk) greatly, barely fits in the garage. Don’t tell the building inspector they made a mistake…
Another project is building garage doors that are like barn doors. I got an estimate for some Cloplay insulated garage doors and at $7K it seemed like buying wood working tools like a nice table saw, a router, and a radial arm saw would be gained assets, even if I go the route of using cedar to make my own barn doors.
Pretty much I would make very handsome custom doors, perhaps save money (the goal), and then have useful power tools as a huge bonus.
I think the barn doors have value added because the garage would more resemble a carriage house. Know that my garage door openings are 8x8, meaning they are about a foot taller than most standard garage doors. Inside I would effectively have a vaulted hip roof ceiling without garage door tracks.
The inside lacks structural rafters, so I could build out and add a storage loft, maybe for a third or a half of the garage, or maybe only one side keeping the second side vaulted.
I think I like the idea of cedar and letting it get bleached by the sun and weathered. I might even be able to use reclaimed lumber. My lumber yard goes back to the 1850’s and clearly is the oldest lumber yard in Westchester. I already am good friends with James the owner.
Have to get a spring or hydralic door pull for the new front entrance to make it woman and child proof. My enclosed front porch can now easily be a 3-season space. I think I will leave it at that, but I will insulate the roof and ceiling to snug it up.
Things are moving slowly, but the quality of work is such that it is a slow process. I now understand that with Covid and the slow economy booby trapped with shortages that will likely not go away as long as the Ukraine War continues and the secondary war on inflation.
Thanks Austin for helping me realize the above is the harsh reality.
In effect the world is at war whether we realize it or not: one war is in the Ukraine; and the second war is with inflation. We live in fraught times…
One thing about being “Slippery” is you embrace risk, but are prepared for the unintended consequences. That article about positive mental attitude, risk taking, sense of adventure, and open attitude that often leads to good luck seems to be true if I am a case study. I have more than my share of good luck.
I figure I later learned that I kinda got the back-backyard for free (a second building lot).
How lucky is that. Know my Baby-Victorian went unloved because it was not a turnkey house.
Cal
