Burgulars! Crooks ripped me off!

[jaybee]

Of course if they are determined, they can find a way in.

You ain't just kidding about that.  Whatever you do it's just in the nature of making them think another place would be a more attractive target.

My house was built in 1951, so it's pretty solid as well.  Drywall on the inside, but 3/4" sheathing with cedar shakes over the top.  The garage has Masonite siding so at least you need to saw through it if you're going to go through the wall.  I considered cementboard siding & if I were having a house built new would likely use that or maybe vinyl-coated steel.

[Russ]

Years ago I had a small workshop at the house we had in Calif.

Being a CHP Trooper, everyone kept an eye on each others house during their shift.

Me, I was too far out for most of em to check mine.  Wife and kids went back to Missouri for a weeks vacation.  I was at work, dispatcher called me and said my garage had been broken into.  Neighbor had seen a panel truck leave.

Called the Insurance company, got an adjuster out there and presented him with a Spread sheet list of every item in the garage before the robbery and a series of pictures of the inside of the shop.

They B*tched like all get out, but they did pay up fully....  I gave em the list and said you determine what is missing.  then I'll recheck your work and we go from there.  Adjuster was very though, he only missed 1 item...........

So, everyone who hasn't been hit yet, inventory your shop, everything in it. serial #'s and etc.  It pays off in the long run.  Unusual items, take a good picture of that item, otherwise take overlay pictures starting at the door and working around the room.....  Don't forget up in the rafters....

Oh yeah, they found some of the stuff a few years later in Pawn Shops.  That was before the Pawn Shop owner had to record names and etc.  So no one was ever prosecuted.

[Bruce Dorsi]

... 3/4" D&M pine siding. on the inside there is more D&M siding

- - - - - - - - - -

I'm not familiar with the "D&M" terminology.

Will you elaborate, please?

We probably have it out here, but know it by another name.

Thanks!

[enjenjo]

Tongue and groove siding, from the shape of the edges, A D and an M, 3/4" thick, and about 5 1/2" wide.  In years past it was often used for sub floors. This is the only house I have ever seen that had it outside and inside on all the walls. even the interior walls are nearly 6" thick.

The man who owned and built this house was a builder in the 20's, and obviously wanted his own house to be top notch. He bough the southern 60 acres of a 240 acre farm and built this house on it. In an era when most framing lumber was rough cut, this house is 100 percent milled lumber. all the interior trim is custom milled, and has always been varnished, never painted. The house was a Sears Roebuck precut, with many custom finishing touches. There are several more houses like this one in this area, several of which he built.

In the 30's, home building was not real lucrative, so he bought some trucks, and started hauling mail for the postal service. At one time he had 5 trucks, all Federals, and built a garage to house them in bad weather, several hundred feet north of the house. My father dated one of his daughters before the war.

In the 40's, he sold the house and farm to a man and his family that converted the use to a dairy farm. The garage was disassembled in panels, moved south to just north of and behind the house, and sections added to it, along with a Mansard roof, with a loft, for use as a dairy barn. He also constructed an 18 by 20 milk house directly behind the house to the east. He was not much of a carpenter, the milk house was more than 4 inches out of square, and the barn does not have a straight wall in it. I also assume he was short, nothing he built had a ceiling over 7 ft. with some of them as low as 6ft. 6in.

In 1955 it was sold to a butcher and his family, and he raised beef cattle and hogs, along with some sheep, so he added a cinder block farrowing house behind the milk house, which he converted to a garage, and a sheep barn north and east of the barn.

In 1968, the butcher's son and his wife bought the farm, they continued to raise beef cattle, and sheep, and raised turkeys for a turkey processor near here until the processor was sold in 1972. They did some remodeling, new windows, new bathrooms, and the kitchen. He wasn't much of a carpenter either. in all this time, the outside of the house had only been painted twice, first blue, and then white.

My wife and I bought the house, but not the whole farm, just 1 1/2 acre in 1973, and the previous owners had a new house built on the other end of the farm. our purchase did not include the barn, and the farrowing shed. Ten years later we bought another acre, and the remaining out buildings. In the mean time I enlarged the milkhouse to 34 ft. by 40 ft. for use as a shop, and raised the ceiling to 10 ft. we also built a 10 ft by 12 ft shed to store lawn and garden stuff. The farrowing house is now a two car garage full of cars. We did paint the house tan with brown trim. We are in the process of painting everything again.

When we moved here, this was all farm country, now there is just one farm left in a 2 mile stretch of road. In 31 years, 26 houses have been built in the mile to the north of us, and two subdivisions, one just south of us, and another started two years ago across the street. This summer they ran water lines down our road, guess it's time to move.

[Sean]

My dad's house was a Sears House too. A Huge two story with an attic so big it could easily have been made into a third floor. Dad still uses the Cast Iron Radiators to heat the house, although now it is a Wood Fired Boiler instead of the old Coal unit. The Coal Boiler and automated stoker are still in the basement though.

His has ten foot ceilings though. Did yours have any Pocket Doors? Dad's has two 8'x10' Pocket Doors in the living room, one on each side. one still works, but the other has fallen off the track back inside the wall. No way to fix it without tearing the wall apart.

[Bruce Dorsi]

Tongue and groove siding, from the shape of the edges, A D and an M, 3/4" thick, and about 5 1/2" wide.

Thanks,Frank!

Out here it's known as T&G for tongue & groove.  

As I suspected, it's the same material, with a different regional name.

[enjenjo]

My dad's house was a Sears House too. A Huge two story with an attic so big it could easily have been made into a third floor. Dad still uses the Cast Iron Radiators to heat the house, although now it is a Wood Fired Boiler instead of the old Coal unit. The Coal Boiler and automated stoker are still in the basement though.

His has ten foot ceilings though. Did yours have any Pocket Doors? Dad's has two 8'x10' Pocket Doors in the living room, one on each side. one still works, but the other has fallen off the track back inside the wall. No way to fix it without tearing the wall apart.

My living room has a partial divider wall the may have been set up for pocket doors, but it doesn't appear that they were ever there. It does explain why it is there though

[Pope Downunder]

Thursday morning my son in law called me, saying, "hey, how come the Mig welder is behind the maple tree in the pasture?" Immediately I knew it was gonna be a bad day....

Snip
Dave R.

I am really sorry to hear that.  

The police are probably right.  Somebody you know, or somebody they have talked to.  Some guys are harmless enough, but they have big mouths.  (Loose lips sink ships).

Little story.  When I had a break from rodding for about 10 years, I still retained enough stuff to build the little pickup, but sold everything else.  Anyway, I had a party at the place I had just built (using all my car money), and the pile of deuce stuff for the pickup was stashed in a back shed, away from the party.  Nobody really knew it was back there.

Anyway, a year or so later, I went to a run (first in a while) and I bumped into this guy who I knew had some very 'unsavory mates' (drug dealing, thieving types).  He says; 'How are you going on the pickup?'  I was very surprised so, I just said; 'Oh, I sold that with all the other stuff years ago.'

He didn't believe me, so I said; 'You seem to know more about what I'm doing than I do myself!' and walked off.   Pretty rude of me , I guess.