That’s currently beyond my skillset at the moment, but I figure I can learn. My grandfather was an amazing carpenter, and my dad was a decent carpenter and an amazing machinist, so I’ve got a bit of it in my blood.
Think bathroom gut jobs from the ground up; kitchen … ; scoring flooring in places to reduce the bowing effect humidity produces in freshly sanded ancient floors; snake removal from upstairs fireplaces; rats, birds, ladybugs, more rats, birds, ladybugs; collapsing plaster ceilings; armored cable rewire job to deter hungry rats; yearly roof repair; replacing most of exterior.
You’re now on an “earn while you learn plan”. Just be open minded for the adventure.
Seriously, I actually grew to love living in ours and I’d still be there if my wife had not died. A guest found a snake in an upstairs fireplace one night about 2 am. Great story I loved telling.
If you want to buy my house and then let me live in it for free then I think we could work something out.
Do you live in Burlington? My little brother’s best friend and his family moved there last summer. It’s quite small, isn’t it? Wonder if you’d know them.
Heheh, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind that. I’m as stretched as I can afford to be, sorry… Ask me in 16 months when I’m no longer giving my ex $3,000/month in spousal support. 
I do, and it’s possible that if I don’t know them one of my kids does. It is a small place, less than 3,000 people. I’m old so unless he works at the nuke plant we probably move in different circles. If your brother asks him about the house that burned down last month he’ll probably know exactly what he’s talking about.
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So here’s a picture from my porch the night it caught fire, and what it looked like this morning as I headed to work.
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Pretty place. I’d get a roof job, fix up first floor, and do second floor over time.
Get a professional to remove the fire smell, otherwise it’ll never leave.
I think removing second floor would be a costly mistake, but property values in your town will dictate what you do.
I doubt it. He was a pastor here in town, I thought that’s what he going down there to do, but I think I’ve also heard that he’s a bus driver on the side and might help coach the football team.
I’ll tell my brother to ask about the house.
EDIT: That house looks sweet. I don’t know much about the economy or the real estate market (probably should learn) but I’m considering seeing if I could make flipping houses part of my career. I’ve helped on a few houses and something like your’s looks like it could really be turned into something special.
My original idea was just to buy it and raze it, adding the acre to my lot, salvaging what I can from it. I only started to consider salvaging it once I started going through it and seeing the condition of the downstairs. I don’t know if saving the second floor is feasible, the roof is completely gone and most of the second floor ceiling as well. There’s also structure in the back that you can’t see here that’s pretty badly damaged upstairs. Ideally I’d love to do save all of it, just not sure if I’ll be able to.
Most pastors down here have to do something else to make ends meet, the town’s not big enough for the churches to be able to afford a pastor who is JUST a pastor.
The house is/was beautiful, and it was heartbreaking to see it go up in flames. Flipping houses is definitely something that can be lucrative in the right market, but you’d better do a lot of research and REALLY know what you’re doing or you can lose your ass. There are a lot of hidden costs far beyond materials and sweat equity.
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4/19/20 5/3/1 cycle 2 day 2 deadlift/press:
Warmup.
Deadlift:
5x45# + 2 power cleans
5x95# + 2 power cleans
5x135# + 2 power cleans
5x185#
5x225#
10x255#
Press:
5x45#
5x65#
5x95#
5x115#
10x130#
superset with chinups:1/2/3/4/5
and
front squats; 3x 45#/65#/95#/115#/130#
DB single arm press per arm: 3x10x40#
superset with bodyweight inverted rows 10/10/10
and knees to elbows 5/5/5
conditioning:
10x100m sprint, 1:30 rest between sprints.
Good workout. I needed more rest between the 100m sprints, because the sprints are getting closer to actual sprinting.
Also, The last 3 days I’ve spent a lot of time cleaning stuff up, mostly on the outside of the house, since in order to get the city to have patience for whatever level of restoration I decide, I need to make the property be not an eyesore, which the previous owner honestly didn’t do a great job of. I mean, the guy was a contractor, and I spent a big chunk of yesterday cleaning a house’s worth of removed shingles that he had just sitting on tarps in the back yard. I don’t know why he didn’t just take them to the dump, it’s like 2 miles from the house and it only costs $5 unless you get over a certain weight limit which this wasn’t. But no, now I get to clean up his mess…
Sorry, I digressed a bit there. Anyway, got rid of a couple trailer loads of trash, and I have another load ready for when the dump opens again tomorrow. Also crawled around under the other house fixing ventilation ducting, and got rid of a bunch or old carpeting. Busy weekend, and my workout wasn’t the only workout I got. Now helping the wife fix a ham, and green bean casserole. We’re doing Easter dinner a week late.
3 Likes
So, I had a pretty humorous ego boost this afternoon. I was at the county dump getting rid of a load of construction debris when 2 guys backed up next to me with a trailer carrying an old hot tub, one of the big square jobs with the padding all the way around it and the padded lid on it, like 10x10. I’m not sure how they got it on the trailer, I’m assuming they had help, but they planned to flip it off the back of the trailer. This was 2 young, fairly strong-looking guys and it didn’t budge.
Anyway, I offered to lend a hand, since 6 hands is better than 4 and there was plenty of room on the side they were flipping from. One of the guys said sure, I could help, he’d seen me deadlift before. Nice to be recognized for something, right? Anyway, we got it flipped. To be fair, it was really heavy, but it got a lot easier after the first 6 inches since it turns out there was still some water in it, and once the water ran to the opposite corner it was cake.
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4/21/20 5/3/1 Cycle 2 day 3 Squat/Bench
Warmup.
Squat:
3x45#
3x95#
3x135#
3x185#
3x235#
Joker:
3x255#
3x275#
Bench:
3x45#
3x65#
3x85#
3x105#
3x115#
3x140#
Joker:
3x155#
3x170#
Superset with chinups 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8
Bodyweight bar dips: 10/10/10
Superset with Zercher squats 3x 95#/115#/135#
Curl superset with standing tricep extension with 50# bar: 10/10/10
Conditioning: Run 4 x 400m, 2:00 rest between runs. My pace this time was 9:38/mile, so a :11 improvement from last time, gradually getting better.
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Regarding that fine house, an inspection from an architect or a structural engineer would be a good idea before you start real work. We used a building inspector before we bought our present office; after buying we found fire damage (I wondered why they kept the ac on in an unoccupied building) and foundation damage the guy totally missed. Wanted to sue but in our state he’s only liable for the fee he charged. We actually spent more on the building reno than the cost of removing the building and building a simple office on such a prime location.
You do seem energetic and strong enough to do such a reno, just don’t overspend for your local real estate market.
4/23/20 5/3/1 cycle 2 day 4 deadlift/press:
Warmup.
Deadlift:
3x45# + 2 power cleans
3x95# + 2 power cleans
3x135# + 2 power cleans
3x185#
3x225#
3x275#
Jokers:
3x305#
3x335#
Press:
3x45#
3x65#
3x95#
3x115#
3x135#
Jokers:
3x145#
3x155#
superset with chinups:1/2/3/4/5/6/7
and
front squats; 3x 45#/65#/95#/115#/135#
DB single arm press per arm: 3x10x40# (Last set with fat gripz)
superset with bodyweight inverted rows 10/10/10
and knees to elbows 5/5/5
conditioning:
100m farmer’s walk with 1x35# kettlebell.
11 rounds of kettlebell throw and retrieve (1 left arm shotput, 1 right arm shotput, 1 KB swing throw, 1 KB double overhand throw, 1 kb swing throw from left side, 1 kb swing throw from right side).
Walk 1/2 mile
11 more rounds of kettlebell throw and retrieve (1 left arm shotput, 1 right arm shotput, 1 KB swing throw, 1 KB double overhand throw, 1 kb swing throw from left side, 1 kb swing throw from right side).
100m waiter carry with 1x35# kettlebell.
Good workout today, strength is still returning nicely. Took a lot longer than usual, and the conditioning was a little wonky because my daughter came out and trained with me. I started her super light and easy, but she’s starting from a completely untrained condition, so she’s still going to be sore. She just walked carrying a 10lb plate for the conditioning while I was doing the KB carry/throw, and then we walked the extra half mile just to give the dogs a chance to run some more. I sort of spaced and did twice as many rounds of KB throwing than I intended, although it was with a 1/2 mile walk in between. I’m going to sleep well tonight.
Oh, I also did another load to the dump each of the last two days. I asked what the weight was on the last load out of curiosity, and it was 1380#, so I guess I can count loading and unloading 3/4 ton of construction debris as part of my daily conditioning. No work until Monday so I may be able to get several loads/day this weekend.
3 Likes
4/26/20 5/3/1 Cycle 2 day 5 Squat/Bench
Warmup.
Squat:
5x45#
5x95#
5x135#
5x185#
3x225#
5x255#
Bench:
5x45#
5x65#
5x85#
5x105#
5x125#
3x145#
5x165#
Superset with chinups 1/2/3/4/5/6/7
Bodyweight bar dips: 10/10/10
Superset with Zercher squats 3x 95#/135#/155#
Curl superset with standing tricep extension with 65# straightbar: 10/10/10
Conditioning: Sprint 10 x 100m, 1:30 rest between sprints.
Good workout, pretty easy, I definitely could have gone a lot heavier. Strength is coming along nicely, but I’m going to keep to the program, as always.
My daughter came out with me again today, and worked hard, but he’s definitely feeling our last workout still.
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I’ve had some issues and avoided squats for a bit, but I still trained. You did nothing for months and come back squatting more than me!
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Well, I have been back for a little over a month (first day back in the gym was March 16th), and you’ve had some bad history with squats, like I have with bench. If I ever go back above 2 plates on bench, it’ll be a long way down the road.
Plus, your deadlift and power clean are way more than mine. I’ll catch back up on deadlift I think, but I don’t know if I’ll ever power clean or hang power clean 2 plates, without some serious technique improvement.
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Luckily, this just takes practice and mobility. It’s an easy achievement compared to other lifting goals. 
4/29/20 5/3/1 cycle 2 day 6 deadlift/press:
Warmup.
Deadlift:
5x45# + 2 power cleans
5x95# + 2 power cleans
5x135# + 2 power cleans
5x185#
5x225#
3x255#
5x285#
Press:
5x45#
5x65#
5x85#
5x105#
3x125#
5x145#
superset with chinups:1/2/3/4/5/6
and
front squats; 3x 45#/65#/85#/105#/125#/145#
DB single arm press with fat gripz per arm: 3x10x40#
superset with bodyweight inverted rows 10/10/10
and knees to elbows 6/6/6
conditioning:
1/4 mile intervals, 2:00 rest in between, 4 runs, average pace 9:30. Run was interrupted because I brought 2 of my dogs out there to run today, and my dumbass bird dog decided he wanted to chase cows instead of stay on the road with me, so I had to get him corralled and back on the leash.
Daughter went with me again today, so 3 workouts in a row. She got 3 sets of 5 at 95# on deadlift, and 3 sets of 3 reps at 65# on overhead press. She doesn’t have the strength/ bodyweight to do chinups so I have her doing jumping chinups. I need to get some 10# bumper plates so she’s working at the right height for deadlifts, especially her warmup sets, and those should shoot up quickly, and she’s already doing really well on overhead press, especially coming from a totally untrained state.
4 Likes
She’s doing awesome Steve, girls just don’t have the same power as boys, she’s absolutely smashing it.
Be careful with low reps on her, if she never trained before. unless it’s very easy, like she could do 6 reps