The cost of getting old

[Donystoy]

Oooooohhh! FIREWOOD!


Where do you live? I'll be right over!

I certainly have enough firewood to keep the woodstove on 24/7 during the winter. Have never paid for it. A few years ago I kept the stove running from one huge oak tree that had sadly died. I probably still have over 100 dead ash trees of various sizes. Some in the woods have already fallen. Very sad to see these huge trees die as they made a beautiful division between two farm fields.

 

[Mark_BX25D]

Yes, the Emerald Ash Borer has been a very sad catastrophe.

I sure love burning Ash, though!

 

[Donystoy]

The ash situation brings back memories of the Dutch elm disease.

Getting back to Dans original post, I find it puzzling as to why a residential door company would not do the repair on his garage door. I worked in the trades for many years and found it a crap shoot whenever I had to rely on anyone else. Even in Canada that would be an astronomical cost for the repair. I have two 1/2" rods that I use to do any work on my garage door springs. I had three large garage doors installed on a new shop 10 years ago by a well-known company. It took them almost a year to get them working adequately during which time three different crews worked on them. One older chap finally recognized that one of them came with the wrong hinges. After all this one of the doors with a side operator frequently jammed. I stood back looking at it one day and could easily see that the left rail was on an angle inward at the top. I had to release tension on the spring and reposition the rail. I just cannot understand this incompetence. All they do all day is install the same item and still cannot do it right. I cannot count how many times that I was asked over the years to look at someone's furnace or A/C installation. Frequently found stupid mistakes made by the installers. Furnaces even come with very detailed installation instructions that apparently, they never read.

 

[Yotekiller]

I feel differently. I hung both of the shop doors myself - 12 x 10 and 20 x 10. Both are insulated and have one full width insulated glass panel. This was the smaller one and I have zero concern with winding the springs on either one then or now. The only tools needed are a socket, two 1/2" x 18" steel bars, and the ability to count to 42. I can still climb a ladder and in retrospect I should have done it myself.

Dan

I was the construction tech for a very large storage company here in the Midwest and have replaced or repaired more garage doors than most people. I would agree, they aren't difficult or really dangerous if you just pay attention to what you're doing. It was the counter balance springs on our parking lot steel lift gates that always concerned me the most. lol You better have your full focus on those dudes cause they would take off an arm fast.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

re: I just cannot understand this incompetence. All they do all day is install the same item and still cannot do it right.

The guys must be cousins of the concrete foundation walls guys that did next door. Real simple house with attached garage. I thought outer garage wall looked 'funny', during the pour, buy heck, I'm the nosey neighbour, what do I know. Framers chalk out for the bottom sill....'out of square' OVER 8 inches ! They couldn't get the sill plate on square and wall is only 24' ! Next day, former guys are back, remove wall, reform,pour over next 3 days( week really. They don't work fri/sat/sun). this time 'only' out 2 INCHES.
Considering it IS the ONLY job they do and have all the fancy LASERs and stuff,just HOW could they get it wrong ? Meanwhile, timber framer is upset over being 1/8" off in 40' run........

 

[SMRY]

re: I just cannot understand this incompetence. All they do all day is install the same item and still cannot do it right.

The guys must be cousins of the concrete foundation walls guys that did next door. Real simple house with attached garage. I thought outer garage wall looked 'funny', during the pour, buy heck, I'm the nosey neighbour, what do I know. Framers chalk out for the bottom sill....'out of square' OVER 8 inches ! They couldn't get the sill plate on square and wall is only 24' ! Next day, former guys are back, remove wall, reform,pour over next 3 days( week really. They don't work fri/sat/sun). this time 'only' out 2 INCHES.
Considering it IS the ONLY job they do and have all the fancy LASERs and stuff,just HOW could they get it wrong ? Meanwhile, timber framer is upset over being 1/8" off in 40' run........

They're recreating the world famous "Leaning Tower Of Pizza". Damned nosey neighbors.

 

[SMRY]

Yes, the Emerald Ash Borer has been a very sad catastrophe.

I sure love burning Ash, though!

Green Peace they'll be at your door wanting to "Kick Your Ash". I can hear Mark now. "Come-On, Kiss My Ash".

 

[Sidekick]

Green Peace they'll be at your door wanting to "Kick Your Ash". I can hear Mark now. "Come-On, Kiss My Ash".

They can kiss my ash stumps and ash pile . When life gives ash the EAB, make heat .

 

[RCW]

They can kiss my ash stumps and ash pile . When life gives ash the EAB, make heat .

One of my favorites for firewood.

Lots of ash has been harvested over recent years due to EAB.

Last I knew price was still holding decent at about $400/Mbf.

 

[L35]

We haven’t had ash in my area since 2018 or so eab came through fast and furious. So many dead trees on the side of the road.

 

[Outnumbered]

With the onset of health problems I suddenly find myself having to pay people to fix things I used to fix myself. I never realized how much money I was saving.

Just recently the commercial torsion spring garage door opener in the shop hiccuped and the cable jumped off the drum. My $25 / hour handyman tried to put it back on and failed. He refused to even consider my request to retensio the springs because it was "too dangerous".

I was forced to call a local commercial door company - all the residential guys refused to come out.

Commercial guy was great - showed up on time and inspected the door,. Then he told me it would be $875 to fix it!!! I already had a $400/hour service truck phone quote from a different company so I agreed.

Less than an hour later it was fixed. He simply used two winding bars to release the tension on the two springs, put the cable back over the drum, and rewound the springs. Total time on the job 1.5 hours. GRRRR.....

Dan

I am right behind you as I am in my 60's and realizing I cannot keep up with the things I used to do with ease. I have always been self sufficient for repairs and construction around the homeplace and it pains me terribly to pay someone for something that I can do myself. I was planning to replace my roof myself next year and now with some degenerative back issues I am going to have to hire someone to do that for me which is a big adjustment. My wife and I are trying to make things easier where we can by looking towards low maintenance options as we update or repair things. I have purchased a few more items for the tractor (grapple last month ) to make things easier and safer for me until I get too old and feeble for that.

 

[Poohbear]

75 here. I still do a lot of fixin stuff but I have found it takes longer and I run out of energy a lot faster than when I was a youngster of say 60.
My problem is makeing sure I don't get hurt or sick as my wife's Parkinson's is getting much worse at a faster pace . As a lot of y'all know 1st hand being a care giver is not an easy task

 

[chim]

I'm very blessed. Although at 75 things often take a little more time (and breaks) they still get done.

Last couple of week a few tasks got done. The oak tree is down, cut and cleaned up. Tossed the smaller stuff on the brush pile. Put the new backpack blower to the test getting rid of leaf litter type of mess. Best bud wanted the wood for his campfires so he helped saw the big pieces and hauled them away.

This past Saturday #2 Son and I replaced the deteriorating shingle roof on the older (24x12) shed with a metal roof. On Monday I cleaned up the old roof material that we just slid off and onto the ground.

 

[TheOldHokie]

75 here. I still do a lot of fixin stuff but I have found it takes longer and I run out of energy a lot faster than when I was a youngster of say 60.
My problem is makeing sure I don't get hurt or sick as my wife's Parkinson's is getting much worse at a faster pace . As a lot of y'all know 1st hand being a care giver is not an easy task

My title for this thread was probably poorly worded. Its not age per se thats getting me - its the sudden onset of a debilitating health issue. You cant turn back the clock but with luck modern medicine may be able to get me up and running again with an inframe "overhaul"

Dan

 

[D2Cat]

The title of the cost of getting old.... This has little to do with age, but as time goes on it has become almost impossible to find anyone who can help with small projects.

 

[Henro]

My title for this thread was probably poorly worded. Its not age per se thats getting me - its the sudden onset of a debilitating health issue. You cant turn back the clock but with luck modern medicine may be able to get me up and running again with an inframe "overhaul"

Dan

I think your thread title was good. There are costs to getting old. Some relate to health, some relate to losing a bit of strength every year physically while still being in relatively good health, and so on.

There are many reasons why as time passes we may not be able to do what we used to do, at least to the same extent.

So I think your thread title was on Target. It gets from me. We all can relate to the point you were making in different ways…

 

[JimDeL]

The title of the cost of getting old.... This has little to do with age, but as time goes on it has become almost impossible to find anyone who can help with small projects.

Actually, it has a lot to do with growing old. I'm 79, and in reasonably good health, an fairly strong and agile, but "fairly" is the key word there. I've lost some strength and agility in spite of remaining active.

As a result, I find that we (wife and I) are hiring out some of the jobs we used to do ourselves. We could probably still do some of them, but would take a lot of extra time and effort to accomplish them. Tree trimming and deck rebuilding were two of the jobs we hired out this Summer, along with a roof repair - no more ladders for me!. I'm sure many others in my age group are doing the same.

 

[Moose7060]

It's not the cost of getting old per se, but the cost of having things done for us that we cannot or should not necessarily do for ourselves anymore. Whether that be caused by age or physical challenges, or a combination of both, it doesn't change the fact that we need to accept some changes in our lives. I'm relatively young compared to some of you, but recently found out I have degenerative disk disease in my neck causing pain and/or numbness in my right arm from pinching nerves and during this discovery they determined I had fractured my back at some point in time. For now the advice from the doc is don't pretend I'm 18 anymore, live life but go easy, don't over do everything, and not to be too proud to ask for a little help now and again. Nothing wrong with paying someone to climb a ladder or dig a hole for me at this stage of life, after all, that's the whole reason why I saved some pesos along the way.

 

[D2Cat]

It's not the cost of getting old per se, but the cost of having things done for us that we cannot or should not necessarily do for ourselves anymore. Whether that be caused by age or physical challenges, or a combination of both, it doesn't change the fact that we need to accept some changes in our lives. I'm relatively young compared to some of you, but recently found out I have degenerative disk disease in my neck causing pain and/or numbness in my right arm from pinching nerves and during this discovery they determined I had fractured my back at some point in time. For now the advice from the doc is don't pretend I'm 18 anymore, live life but go easy, don't over do everything, and not to be too proud to ask for a little help now and again. Nothing wrong with paying someone to climb a ladder or dig a hole for me at this stage of life, after all, that's the whole reason why I saved some pesos along the way.

That's what I'm saying, hard to find those folks willing to help... and the amount of pay is irrelevant..can't find them!!

 

[lynnmor]

That's what I'm saying, hard to find those folks willing to help... and the amount of pay is irrelevant..can't find them!!

I have numerous small jobs that I have been trying to hand over to contractors. No takers, my thought is that there has been way too much free money handed out.