Do it yourself

I've got a broken pane of glass in a single hung window. The frame is about 60 years old and needs to be replaced, so I suppose this is the time to do it. However, is this a job I should attempt by myself? My fear is that I'll tear a hole in the side of my house, but for some unknown reason, not be able to put in the new window right away. I am also a lot less concerned about the aesthetics of both the inside or outside (it's a bedroom window facing the backyard) than Mrs. Carumba, but my survival instincts are telling me that there is going to be some rough waters to navigate if she isn't pleased by the results.

Call in a contractor, or leave the safe harbor, and set sail? Anyone tried to do this alone?

Quote: petroglyph

That looks like she is about 15 minutes from where I live,

She's been doing it a few weeks, check back
in a year. She's wrong, maintenance on a
small mini van would not be more than on
a 12 year old piece of crap Grand Am. Wait
till it needs repairs at $300-$400 a crack.

This was depressing to watch, she's lucky
if this works for a couple of months.

Quote: Ayecarumba

I've got a broken pane of glass in a single hung window. The frame is about 60 years old and needs to be replaced, so I suppose this is the time to do it. However, is this a job I should attempt by myself? My fear is that I'll tear a hole in the side of my house, but for some unknown reason, not be able to put in the new window right away. I am also a lot less concerned about the aesthetics of both the inside or outside (it's a bedroom window facing the backyard) than Mrs. Carumba, but my survival instincts are telling me that there is going to be some rough waters to navigate if she isn't pleased by the results.

Call in a contractor, or leave the safe harbor, and set sail? Anyone tried to do this alone?

Well I have a solution for you if it fails.

A great many people live like that. Its called 'urban camping' or 'stealth camping' wherein vehicles are being used as RVs but are disguised so police and neighbors leave them alone for awhile. Tickets and repairs do mount up though.

Kombi life is a youtube series about an Australian guy driving a volkswagon camper van from Tierra del Fuego to Northern Alaska picking up various hitchhikers along the way and filming their lifestyle of enroute outdoor adventures on ten dollars a day. When in your twenties two young Finnish girls will gladly share your orange juice and sleep on either side of you at night, but when you are in your sixties (and broke) two young Finnish girls won't have anything to do with either you or your gin. In your twenties you can sleep in a hammock slung between two redwood trees and use a hot female with six nipples as a nocturnal heat source, but in your sixties you don't want to sleep in a hammock or use a dog for body heat.

Air conditioning units are available but many urban campers use a five gallon bucket of water and a solar panel.

Walmart is their last resort.

One woman, now a ski patrol medic, has lived in a teardrop camper for over a decade. She knows how to eat things like peanut butter, rice, etc and generally live without much in the way of refrigeration. She had two masters degrees and proudly made about twenty grand a year driving around with her teardrop and two dogs, climbing mountains and having other outdoor adventures all the time. Its a lifestyle for the young, not old.

Quote: Evenbob

She's been doing it a few weeks, check back
in a year. She's wrong, maintenance on a
small mini van would not be more than on
a 12 year old piece of crap Grand Am. Wait
till it needs repairs at $300-$400 a crack.

This was depressing to watch, she's lucky
if this works for a couple of months.

Those vans behind her in the video now have generators, ac, toilets, kitchens etc. For a single person in that situation they are pretty comfortable. I agree on maintenance. There are a lot of older motor homes for cheap, just need a good wrench to inspect them inside out. Might as well be as comfortable as you can be. I really liked living on a boat. Not a lot different other than waking up on the water.

The two things I struggled a bit with were laundry, which they have some pretty decent small combo machines available, and a place for all my paper work. A lot of captains will tear apart one birth and make it a tool shop.

Back to the motor home full time living. I really like the compartments that go clear under the motor home, that are big enough to put a 4 wheeler in or tools, or freezer. Awnings almost double your living space with a big peace of indoor outdoor carpet on the ground.

Quote: Ayecarumba

I've got a broken pane of glass in a single hung window. The frame is about 60 years old and needs to be replaced, so I suppose this is the time to do it. However, is this a job I should attempt by myself? My fear is that I'll tear a hole in the side of my house, but for some unknown reason, not be able to put in the new window right away. I am also a lot less concerned about the aesthetics of both the inside or outside (it's a bedroom window facing the backyard) than Mrs. Carumba, but my survival instincts are telling me that there is going to be some rough waters to navigate if she isn't pleased by the results.

Call in a contractor, or leave the safe harbor, and set sail? Anyone tried to do this alone?

Quote: rxwine

Well I have a solution for you if it fails.

Hehe... That's a viable option, until the sun goes down...

Quote: Fleastiff

A great many people live like that. Its called 'urban camping' or 'stealth camping' wherein vehicles are being used as RVs but are disguised so police and neighbors leave them alone for awhile. Tickets and repairs do mount up though.
.

I would vote for public land for such activities, as long as people pick up after themselves and dispose of waste properly. They couldn't clear additional land or do other permanent structures though. Some people would call those National Parks, but I'm thinking more of spots of land that are otherwise not really attractive or viable for other activities.

I'd fine the hell out of those who didn't follow those requirements, or make them move on..

Heck, I'd rather see people live independently like that then keep lining the pockets of slum lords in derelict neighborhoods.

Quote: petroglyph

There are a lot of older motor homes for cheap,
I struggled a bit with laundry.

Many of those older motor homes have large quantities of mold and need a thorough teardown. Spend a fortune in bleach to do a thorough job. Its sort of similar to those old fiberglass sailboats: cheap but you will breathe clorox fumes for several weeks. Sleep in the boat and its unbearable fumes, sleep outside the boat and its unbearable mosquitoes.

Both LG and Fisher-Paykell make compact, small-capacity waher/dryers. I knew one woman who put a tight strap on her laundry hamper's lid but a loose strap around the hamper itself. When she filled it with water and drove around it was a free washing machine. Youtube has a washing machine featuring a large plastic container and a plumber's helper.

National parks often have weird rules: a camper van can be parked but if they raise their tilt-up roof for headroom and ventilation they get a citation. Strange.

Many trespassers in recreation areas do accumulate garbage such as plastic water jugs and other debris; they are the ones that make it rough for those who live in cars, often ones that no longer work and have to hike for water/food/etc.

Long ago one carpenter who became so crippled with arthritis that he could neither grasp nor lift a hammer moved his three kids to Nowhere, Alaska because rural poverty lacked drugs and gangs.

Quote: rxwine

Living poor or living cheap. Maybe I should call this no mansion in the middle of nowhere.
There's more to it than you may think, though I don't know how long I could do this. Removing seats, heater for cooking, tent, camping kitchen, toilet, solar light etc., And she has her dog.

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