Grand and Glorious Curmudgeon
Went through closing on Lot 3B of Geary Dome Estates. Went immediately to County Offices to get new title for the Fifth-Wheel Trailer and to submit application for permits to get the Conex Boxes registered as storage. They now do a lot of the back and forth via the web these days. I got the following in email this evening:
Among the interesting items of note are the address, 7401 Geary Dome Rd.
Next step in get a ground water permit from the State Engineer. And so it begins.
Just got a call from the realtor’s office. The closing is scheduled for 11:00am on Tuesday June 29th. I’ve got the down payment in my checking account so I should be all set.
In other news I’ve touched base with the realtors that we bought the condo from in 2003. They have a lot of experience with the Promenade at Bethany Village and recently sold a third floor unit for over $500K. We’ve got a lot of work to do at the end of July but things are moving ahead.
Also, since I had the cash available, I have paid off the cruise I’m going on with Jill & Jan in Feb 2022. It’s a 5 day cruise out of Galveston with stops in Yucatan and Cozumel. I will be flying down to Houston on Feb 4th and spending the night at the Harbor House Hotel. That should be fun.
I met with the Planning Dept and the Building Dept of Natrona County yesterday and things are starting to take shape. Thus far, I have had the property surveyed and the percolation test of the lot done. So far I see the following tasks as needing to be done:
1. Close on the property. Until it is properly mine I don’t want to sink a lot of time/money into it. Immediately after closure submit permit to county to use the two Conex boxes as storage units. (Previous owner did not do so and that is required)
2. Apply to the Wyoming State Engineer for APPLICATION FOR PERMIT TO APPROPRIATE GROUND WATER to drill a well and use up to 25gallons per minute for Domestic Use. I think the proper land description is NE¼ of the NE¼ of Section 33, Township 34 North, Range 78 West, 6th Principal Meridian of Natrona Wyoming.
3. Get the well drilled. A neighbor warned me that I’ll probably need to drill down 400′ go get good water (at $34. per foot). Once the well head is in, I will build a 8×12 foot shed to insulate the well and provide space for eventual solar power installation, and run power to it.
4. Once the well head location is determined, install a septic tank and leach field (greater than 100 ft from the well head). While that is progressing, I can layout and pour/get poured, the concrete pad for the trailer. I want to build a shed roof over the trailer to reduce heat gain in the summer and provide rainwater catchment. Finally move the trailer on the pad and hook up power, water, and septic system. Once that is done I can get an Occupancy Permit and get address assigned and move in as desired.
5. I would like to get this done, but time really isn’t critical. I have an apartment lease through the end of the year so I can take my time.
In other news I have decided to sell my condo in Portland. I am planning to go back in late July to babysit cats while the girls go camping and I may bring Charlotte back for a working vacation. I will bring back any thing that I am wanting to keep (actually not that much) and have been talking to Jen & Kate about managing the disposal of most of the interior for a reasonable cut of my profits.
I figure I will still visit the girls once a quarter or so, but for a fraction of what the condo is costing me I can stay in a really nice Residence Inn by Marriott. This will also free up considerable funds for further development of the Wyoming property.
Below is the first draft of what I plan to do with the 2 40 ft containers, (pending of course, my discussions with the county planning department).
Since the surveyor was out and marked all of the property lines, I went over after church to see what exactly I was planning to buy.
First of all 13 acres is bigger than you think. The lack of trees and terrain features (especially on the southern end) is somewhat deceptive. The terrain has enough contour though that from the southern square (hereby designated as the Hermitage) you really can’t see the pond or the trailer.
Off the left edge, amongst the pallets and hay bales, is a decent flat spot that might be a good spot for the RV pad. I’m thinking the trailer will go along the road that goes to the left in front of my car. should have a good view of the pond. I also learned that I need to keep water in the car. After about 90 minutes walking around the property a combination of the altitude and low humidity meant I was parched.
Today was a busy day. The furniture I ordered from Montana Woodworks arrived today. Since I tried to cheap out and ordered directly from the factory rather than through a furniture store it; came palletized and FedEx just dropped them off.
After sleeping on it and googling more on Mr Gore’s Interwebs and really thinking about what I really want to do I find I’m leaning towards the really cheap option – converting the shipping containers.
One realization is that, assuming I can live in the trailer that is on site, time is really not a driving factor. I can take my time and using what help is available and do the work slowly over time.
Once upon a time, long time ago (circa 1980 or so) I took a welding course in Groton through a Navy/Community College program. I did mostly acetylene gas work, and just started up stick welding when I had to go back to sea. Ed & I re-wired our basement in Seattle in ’75-’76 (get me a couple of drinks and ask me about 08 Gauge wiring) and I had done electrical work in the Navy previously. Finally over the years as a homeowner I have done minor piping / plumbing / irrigation projects. I really don’t see anything in a Conex box conversion that is really beyond my capabilities or ability to learn.
Looking at the long term this is kind of what I envision happening.
1. Get through closing this summer and get a really good look at the land and decide what is going to go where. Touch base with the county and get familiar with County Codes & get an address. Determine the well siting and septic & drain fields. After septic tank is in, re-position the trailer and get the first section of solar panels sited. Determine (in consultation with Jon & Cathy) where to put the RV parking slab and connect to water & septic system. Finally, start planting trees.
2. Over the winter if not already decided, decide where I want the Conex boxes, and prepare mounting, slab or whatever. If possible get all concrete work done at the same time. As soon as the Conex boxes are sited, start construction of shed roof over them to reduce heat gain in summer months, provide shade for deck area, and allow rainwater collection as auxiliary water source. This will provide backup for well, or replace well, if water not found. Prepare cisterns & water storage.
3. In Spring, if not before, move out of apartments and onto site, in the 5th wheel trailer, full time. Maybe look at building roof over the 5th wheel to make more comfortable year round. Determine where and how to store existing furniture. Maybe in a Conex box or more likely in a rental storage unit. Continue site preps, water collection, & storage, improve solar installation, plant more trees.
4. Assuming I am comfortable in trailer with access to water, power, propane, etc, I can finish up site work before opening up the Conex Boxes. Once started, I can afford to spend the time to do them right rather than depending on them for living space from the start.
The more I type this out, the more reasonable it seems. The goal is twofold; first to get an off grid, comfortable living space; second to give me a long term project that I can work on for at least the next ten years. I think it seems do-able.
Comments welcome.
After talking to people, and especially Jon, I have decided to pull the trigger on a property. It’s on the North East side of Casper on E. Geary Dome Road in Evansville, WY.
It is a series of trade-offs that I had to sort through. I had originally driven by it, and crossed it off due to the fact that it was semi-populated on lots of about 10-50 acres. I was looking for something more isolated. After looking around all of the other properties, there were other issues from covenants to access issues. Most were well off the paved highways which might be problematical in winter, not to mention Amazon deliveries.
I came back to view the property with the realtor. I examined the 5th wheel travel trailer on the property and the two 40′ containers. But I also saw the decider – a year round (so claimed) pond in the middle of the property.
Beyond the pond you can see one of the drawbacks, the neighbor’s horse barn. Along the right is the fence line of the other neighbor. The property is an odd shape, long and narrow as shown below.
Budget Home Kits. They sell a steel framed kit built home. The base price for a MacArthur 1080 sq ft 3bdrm/2bath house is $54K . It comes as a kit, packaged and they claim it can be assembled without cranes, etc by 2-3 people. Pictures here. They claimed (at least prior to COVID) to ship 30 days after receipt of payment.
Low ball option. The property comes with 2 40′ shipping containers. I have been poking around on Mr. Gore’s interwebs about people who have converted them to living spaces. For instance HERE or the contrarian view HERE. I think that part of the appeal for me is a. it’s cheap and b. I’ve already demonstrated that I can live in a long metal structure with little access to the outside world.
One thing that intrigues me about the Budget Home Kits is that if we could re-constitute the Kling Bros Construction Company we could get the house exterior sealed in a week’s vacation if I got the site prep work done before hand. After we build mine we could do a reprise for David if it works out.