My brother sent me some stuff, including a bunch of canned meat and a certain item in keeping with the increasingly Spam-related nature of our poor long-suffering blog…
…and to my surprise I found they actually did taste rather like Spam. Thought maybe it was my imagination until I looked at the ingredients…
Dry Roasted Hawaiian Macadamia Nuts. Salt and SPAM Brand flavoring.
So that happened. For the benefit of those who wondered, Spam flavoring does not noticeably improve macadamia nuts. But it’s the thought that counts.
Also books! Including the one Heinlein I’ve never read (which arguably should never have been published, but there it is…)
As a Heinlein completist I’ve sort of wanted to read this ever since I heard about it, even though it’s widely reputed to suck and I don’t really want extensive lectures about a social credit utopia. But hey, it’s a Heinlein I’ve never read. It goes to the top of the stack.
Also a reloading manual…
This was serendipity of a sort because I recently paid far too much for a Hornady manual, forgetting that a reloading manual published by a bullet manufacturer might possibly assume theirs are the only bullets you plan to use and hence rather limiting the usefulness of the actual data in the manual. A manual published by a manufacturer of reloading tools skips by that shortcoming. It’ll get used. Thanks!
And check this out…
Six! of those great gelsocks! Last month I think the same guy sent me three – or at least they came from the same supplier – and that was cool because then as long as I wash them every week I could wear them every day – until they wear out, which they do rather rapidly. But with six more I can rotate them, and each will last longer! Which means I can be less reticent about wearing them, which will make walking much more comfortable. Thank you! These things are not cheap. Six in a box is a most welcome windfall.
Reporting on Joel’s Secret Lair Siding Bleg: Yesterday TUAK’s CFO reported having banked $380 from the Paypal account, which is just enough to replace the worst of the damaged OSB and then side and paint the cabin. So that will happen. If I can raise some more I can finish some ancillary projects like the flooring and balcony/fire escape, but for the big project I really needed to do this season we’re pretty much there. Thanks to all who kicked in!
How many additional $ to replace ALL the OSB, replace with new, and put in real bats of fiberglass insulation before the new siding goes on?
Approximately $600 according to Home Depot’s site, assuming my questionable arithmetic skills held up. But I don’t see how it’s a desirable expense. The OSB on the south side, which is also the drip side, is badly damaged – and by happy coincidence I need to pull that sheathing off to re-frame for a different window anyway. At the same time I’ll replace the insulation with batting that’s already clogging landlady’s barn. Total expense, not counting a few 2X6s, $27. All the rest of the sheathing is a bit shrunken and weathered, but it’s about to be covered with tarpaper and the very finest cement fiber panels. What purpose could be served by replacing them?
Nice to see another hermit with a Heinlein fetish. Plan on finishing off as much Heinlein and Asimov as I can get my hand on once I get a new set of glasses. I must say, I too get excited by a can of spam and a reloading manual. It’s the little things in life that make it worth while. I’m regretting the OSB I put up on my back porch as well. Even with a coat of paint it still deteriorates over time.
The shrunken & weathered sheathing is heavily damaged. OSB should not be wetted, certainly not for years. The damaged pile of wood shavings ( formerly OSB) has lost almost all it’s strength. You can probably pull it off with your hands.
Two purposes are served by having intact sheathing. Fresh OSB will hold nails, the damaged shavings will not. In a year or two the nails holding your Hardiplank will work out.
More important, sheathing is structure. It holds stick-built houses together. Heavily damaged sheathing could (eventually will) fail in a harsh wind gust and the building folds like a house of cards.
Hardiplank is not structure and won’t save you, especially when the nails have no purchase.
This is the voice of bitter experience speaking.
If another $600 goes into the kitty, will you replace all the OSB?
Couldn’t help it . . . my first thought was “We, the Living” by Ayn Rand.
Is Joel’s place big enough to have $600 of OSB in it? Hard to believe…
I have that book of Heinlein’s. It’s a bunch of socialist BS but is interesting as it shows how he progressed over the years.
Part of the price is based on his remote location; OSB is $13-$16 a sheet there. I pay $7-$11 for the same products from Home Depot.
I also requested genuine fiberglass insulation, and that adds up.
No. It has about $200 worth of OSB on it. However he also said install fiberglass batt insulation – which it mostly doesn’t have – and that would cost an additional $400 at full retail.
What S said. I also have OSB. The issues of wetted OSB and structural integrity are spot on and very real. Please continue to accept donations and as S said, replace all of it. Its integrity is compromised by years of exposure. If you haven’t got time or money to do it right, how will you have time and/or money to do it over?
So, if the $600 comes, will you build it? Fiberglass + all new OSB.
Sorry, I lost my internet connection last night and couldn’t send a reply.
You make a good case, S, but you’re suggesting that a lazy, one-legged old man strip his cabin to the bare studs. Though decent insulation and tighter seams are an attractive prospect, I’m not convinced you’re right about more than 3/4 of the OSB. I sink a nail into it – as I did yesterday afternoon, just to see – and it holds just fine. This is a pretty arid environment most of the time.
Still, let me take council with the person I’d be asking to help me do it. He’s not lazy at all, but ten years older and has had nearly as much surgery on his legs as I have. I’d hate to spring it on him that I’d arbitrarily more than doubled the scope of the job. I’ll be seeing him later this morning anyway. I’ll get back to you.