Episode 102: PreFab Prepping... An Audio Guide

spk_0:   0:02
We're podcasting in the ring, broadcasting in the rain. Welcome to the show. The big show, The damp show. The show that is being recorded in the middle of a thunderstorm as we're driving in our car. Because distracted driving isn't a thing. Now, actually, doing this is no more distracting than actually talking to somebody in your car because we have headsets on our heads, okay?

spk_1:   0:30
And we know we can cut stuff out if we have to be distracted, the like

spk_0:   0:34
drive, you know. And frankly, we are in the middle of new where? So it's not like there's traffic to deal with. I see a car about a mile behind me coming up a small rise. I can't see what's in front of us. It's a course for 1/2 mile behind me and just coming up the top of this rise will be able to tell you this exciting, right? Do you see anybody for the mile in front of us? I think there's somebody in our lane about a mile in front of us, but nobody coming give you an idea? No, these small rural blacktops like the one we're on, our pretty dangerous actually They're very low traffic because they have no shoulder to speak of. This one has about two feet worth of gravel, but in many places that drops straight off. Large sections of the road will drop, you know, 2030 feet into a just dropped right into a ditch. So

spk_1:   1:29
making it perfect places for dear to pop up out of apparently nowhere and stand in front of the of you in the middle of the road.

spk_0:   1:35
Yeah, these These are the kind of places, though, Well, at least heat movement brought an excellent novel called The Blue Highways. These are the blue highways that we're driving on and what we're talking about. We were talking about where we live. We have the blue highways and then we have the gray highways which are not even really were on a numbered road right now. It might have a number, something like 1 56 1 36 You know something like that. But they will get off onto smaller roads which will have t t h H highway. Why? Stuff like that, which are what's known as around here is state roads. Trees are maintained by the state and then you get off of those and you get into gravel. Roads in the gravel roads, at least in Missouri, are maintained if they're maintained at all, are you? He does a pretty good job, but actually the gravel roads are maintained by the county's. And then you get off into the lanes of those air maintained by the landowners. Those air

spk_1:   2:43
double lane cow paths never trust it. When the grass starts up hearing in the middle between the two tires,

spk_0:   2:49
you don't never trust it, especially if it's been raining. And lastly, there are driveways. Well, why am I bringing all this up? Because if you live in the city, you have a whole different road system. You have the interstate. We don't have interstates here. We don't have. They're not. There's not an interstate within 100 miles of us. No interstates. Okay, then you got the regular highways, which your 468 10 lanes. Okay. And then you've got the secondary roads, which are four lanes, and then you've got the neighborhood roads, which are two lanes. There are no boats. You know, there was some gravel parking areas, but you know, does what you're used to, And if the stuff hits the fan, I think people will mostly stick to what they're used to. I think if you go out of a city late, I'm gonna take ST Louis because it's one of the three biggest cities, big cities that is nearest to us, and we're not actually anywhere near ST Louis. But it's one of the

spk_1:   4:05
closest Any of

spk_0:   4:06
the chances of somebody going from ST Louis to where we have our place is just astronomically small, unless there's a reason for them to go there unless they know that it's there because there are so many turns between us and them,

spk_1:   4:24
and they have no reason to know about it or want to go there or note exists.

spk_0:   4:29
So what we did is we. We have bought a piece of land, and part of it's for our own recreation. To be honest with you, it's it's recreational, it's a getaway spot. We built a fishing pond on it and we put up a cabin and you know, it is very obscure because you almost have toe be a local to get there, and I guarantee the locals know who belongs and who doesn't So, you know, we decided many years ago that we're gonna buy a place in the country. Put up a pond if it didn't already have one. Put fish in it. Water and protein all at the same time. And recreation too, if you like to fish, We don't like what we

spk_1:   5:20
I like to watch my fish.

spk_0:   5:21
No. There you go, Rox. He and, uh, we've got that. And then we've got to cabin. That's really actually go to talk more about the cabin. And what we decided what we built we had built for us what we like and what we don't like. It is in a company story that's already published on three B. Y to go with this. But the first I wanted to paint a picture of what we're talking about a cabin is we're not talking about something that's gonna be sitting next to an interstate here. Okay, if you're gonna go and we see it all the time, we're driving over and especially over. No, we're driving on the road down Thio Caro Whenever 67 whatever interstate that is and we see all there's all bunch of people built these nice little legs, Nice little recreational areas. They got a pond out there cabin right out there on the lake and they're sitting right next to an interstate, and we gonna shake our heads. Go. Really? You must love road noise. And here's the truth. I'm gonna talk about the truth after I take a drink of my libation.

spk_1:   6:40
Sometimes you gotta wait for truth. And

spk_0:   6:45
don't take this wrong. If you're a city person, could you probably are. We consider a city person. Anybody lives in a town of more than 10,000 people. You're a city person. You like noise. It's what you're used to. And you like what you're used to. And I know this because we're cyclists and one of our favorite rides to do when the weather is nice is to Katy Trail Ready Trail State Park in our favorite area of the Katy Trail State Park is the section right around Roche port because it's so beautiful. You got these towering cliffs on one side and you have the Missouri River just right there. You've got Cliff, comes down Katy Trail and then right into the river. And so it's beautiful. It's gorgeous. All times of year, and so we enjoy riding it. But we're always a little flummoxed because about a mile and 1/2 ish, more or less downstream from Roche Sport I 70 goes over the trail and almost every single time that you go there, you will see people who have stopped and are chatting with friends in the shade of I 70 where there's a huge amount of this. The din of the traffic is right above your heads.

spk_1:   8:15
It's not like it's the only shady, the three deliveries the whole way.

spk_0:   8:19
There's benches in the shade where you can sit down and look at the river and enjoy the river. And yet people will sit underneath the interstate because after thinking about it for quite a while, I figured it out. It's the noise. They're comforted by the noise. That's what puts them in their comfort zone.

spk_1:   8:42
Yeah, I heard a lot of people tell me they can't sleep without a fan or something running, and I sleep out of the cabin often, which has no power, no running water. There's a barely paved road that our driver comes off of that you will occasionally hear a car on, but the majority of the time. What you hear is wildlife and nothing else.

spk_0:   9:06
But to be fair, unless it's the dead of winter, it is not quiet. 50

spk_1:   9:11
wildlife can be

spk_0:   9:13
riles. It could be raucous. Okay, what is all my point? My point is what we're talking about. Well, parts of it may translate. Two. You know, if you're having this in a in a more city area, we're not talking about citified stuff. We're talking about our cabin sitting out in the middle of nowhere. Pros and cons,

spk_1:   9:47
which is often seen as a prime type of bug out location for a

spk_0:   9:51
lot of people, right? So what are the pros and cons of sitting a cabin out in the middle of nowhere, and not just a cabin but a pre manufactured first? Let's talk. Let's talk for a second about what we're talking about. A pre manufactured cabinets, one that's on a skid or a floor that's built up. There are pictures on the website. You could see what I look like

spk_1:   10:14
are being slid into place. In fact,

spk_0:   10:18
it's called in on a truck is made by a manufacturer, and it's fairly certain that you have a manufacturer. We're going to get a train

spk_1:   10:30
they call in. Portable buildings

spk_0:   10:32
were running over a train. We always enjoy reading over trains in our car, Not the reverse. Yeah, portable buildings just do a search will find him. And they're everywhere. And they're cabins, their little cabins, the manufacturers making the Holland stick on your property. And again, why don't we just missed it, Pro. We missed the train. We didn't quite get run over the pros and the cons. The president of Constant. They become pretty evident after you've owned it. But we will be four years now. Yep. No. So way made a list of the president. We're going to talk about them a little bit. Talk about why you might want to do one of these cabins for The first question that comes to mind is how much money are we talking about? I don't mention that story. Well, that really depends on exactly what you want done what kind of cabin you want and how much how big it is. How about expensive things are your part of the country? Ours was built by a local company. And let's just say it was somewhere in the $10,000 range, More or less. I don't remember exactly what it was, but something around $10,000. But we got ours. Pretty deluxe doubt.

spk_1:   11:50
Yep. And that was a little bit under. Not a little bit over 10,000.

spk_0:   11:56
And okay for our $10,000. What did we get? Just describe. The

spk_1:   12:07
cab was trying. Think of what size we actually ended up way.

spk_0:   12:10
Actually. Pull up the story of my phone so we could keep organizer. Yeah, 26. We

spk_1:   12:17
have two windows in the front, two in the back, two on each side. So that is not one of the standard configurations,

spk_0:   12:25
right? And what we had done as we had the door flipped from their standard configuration that usually put it in the middle and or on the one side and then a window. Well, we had double windows put on the front time, and we had double windows put in on the back

spk_1:   12:44
directly across from it to have a nice breeze through

spk_0:   12:47
right. And then we had an extra window put in on each side directly across from each other. So with the breeze is blowing, it would go right through it.

spk_1:   12:57
No matter which way the wind is coming from, you can shove a nice screened windows and have a breeze through it.

spk_0:   13:03
Right now, where our cabin sits is kind of at the top or near the top of a rise, so it does get pretty good air flow. For example, our ponds sits down in a bowl, which, obviously,

spk_1:   13:18
you know what the water goes down there.

spk_0:   13:20
That's where the water goes. But if you really get very sorry, a seat belt was uncomfortable. I was digging in. I had to fix it. That was what the beginning. Okay, um, you really get no air flow at all time by the pond? None. It's just stagnant. It's really hot down upon which is okay. Never

spk_1:   13:41
lived without air conditioning. You may not be aware of the importance of having good airflow through a building. Just opening windows if you don't have a good airflow is not an efficient cooling method,

spk_0:   13:50
right, And that's why the old houses were built. Kind like they were. They were built with windows would cool the place.

spk_1:   13:56
The old Southern cheap cabins were called shotgun shacks because you could shoot a shotgun straight through from the front door, through the back door, Right There's a big air way down. The

spk_0:   14:07
minute they were built that way, largely toe let the air flow through them and they were cheap to build. But, you know, that's what a shotgun check have the advantage of, as you could keep it cool in any way. So what did we get for our say, $10,000 ish.

spk_1:   14:24
So the cabin, I believe, is 24 by 36 feet.

spk_0:   14:28
No, it's, uh no, it is 24 feet log at 15 feet wide.

spk_1:   14:34
15. Okay.

spk_0:   14:35
Do you have one of the limiting factors is they're bringing this in on a truck,

spk_1:   14:41
and it's a barely paid two lane road, and then you got to get through the gate to get onto the property. That's what would fit

spk_0:   14:48
15 feet wide is pretty much the legal limit of what you're gonna be able to get down on highway without a special permit. So a lot of them are 12 feet wide. We had our well since we were actually very close to the vendor, and they just come down, come down the back way. We were able to get the white is why to say offer So and, um, we did not get the longest we could have gotten because, you know, I

spk_1:   15:17
couldn't make the turn into the driveway. Yeah, that was determining factor.

spk_0:   15:21
That is a limiting Gregor. You've got X amount of space to get this thing in.

spk_1:   15:25
So I didn't think of that when we were talking about Khan's, because it's not really a con, but it's a consideration. You gotta think about how you're going to get it in,

spk_0:   15:32
right. And you have to think about height because this thing's gonna be sitting on a trailer. You know what, have you got anything? Have you got any low, low bridges between you and them?

spk_1:   15:43
Yeah, they're probably zero under passes between us and the builder, so

spk_0:   15:48
it's a consideration. I didn't

spk_1:   15:49
think about

spk_0:   15:49
that either. Told us now. So what did we get, though? I mean, what is the cabin?

spk_1:   15:55
It's a solidly built wood frame building with the metal skin. Insides ply wood flooring, a single layer of bubble wrap insulation on the inside. The windows are good, tight, easy, open, easy clothes. Ah, technically lockable. Although they wouldn't be scared. If anybody was serious about it. Double paying double paned

spk_0:   16:23
we got We actually got the

spk_1:   16:24
weather striping, weather stripping screens.

spk_0:   16:27
We got the window upgrade on her cabin. We got the good windows.

spk_1:   16:30
Double paned for better insulation and good screens is the better windows. There's a loft over each end of the cabin above head height so you can use that for people to sleep in. You can use that for storage space. There are two small windows, one right under each eve. So if you go up into the attic places, you can open those little windows and get flow through from what end of the building to the other through those windows as well.

spk_0:   17:02
And that works really well. Now you're not. These lofts are not the kind of loss that you could be standing up in but you can sleep.

spk_1:   17:12
Yeah, I can kneel upright right in the middle of them. But then, of course, they narrowed down to almost nothing at the sides. And you access them by a very nice, sturdy build would ladder that came with it.

spk_0:   17:26
We got two ladders with thes ladders are

spk_1:   17:29
good beefy lighters.

spk_0:   17:32
Actually, I think we actually took one of them and start it because we really want in a shipping

spk_1:   17:39
container. That is one of the cons. Guys, these cabins are not scared. Uh, the door's come

spk_0:   17:45
to the comes when I'm just describing. So

spk_1:   17:49
that's what we've got

spk_0:   17:50
to keep one thing in mind. These are not on standard studs. These air, not this is not a house, Okay, it's a cabin, and they're not on standard with studs, so their little less built than house would be so they might be a little more susceptible to win. But I want to make sure that every realizes are not standard studied in walls, but they're not bad. And depending on the quality or builders, they meet code. We don't have a code where we live in because we weren't born no yesterday. Building where there's a code is not what I consider a good use of my money. Besides, if there's a code, that means there's lots of people around. Yeah, I don't wantto bug out location with lots of people. I don't want a bug out location where I have inspectors coming into my place to tell me what I have to Dio. That is not my idea of a bug out location. So we have The only codes there are on our property are some statewide codes regarding sanitation and their statewide. And basically, we can't build a a

spk_1:   19:06
septic system within 50 feet of the property. Line

spk_0:   19:09
seven depends on which kind you're building in the specific, but we're not anywhere near our property line, so it doesn't matter because there's different. There's different rules for For if you have a field array, if you have a pond,

spk_1:   19:25
you can't let raw sewage into the waterways. Oh, wow.

spk_0:   19:28
You can't dump it over on your neighbor. Yeah, so

spk_1:   19:33
we've also got a nice, solid front porch because the floor of the place extends. Do the porch area. So we got a nice and the porch

spk_0:   19:42
in the pre fabs go into the prefab, go into their ones I have there and walk on them. If they creak, don't buy him because they haven't built the floor right? Yeah, it's one of the things our builder is known for. His building bombproof floors. I mean, his floors don't creak at all,

spk_1:   20:02
and the porch has a good salad roof over it. your group extends

spk_0:   20:05
right now you could buy. We could have bought this without a porch extended the inside space, but one. It makes it really ugly. And to a porch is a tool. The porch is a tool. It's not just a something to sit on in the summer. We're planning on eventually screening on it in. And then we're gonna have an outdoor sleeping right there. It's

spk_1:   20:28
an old country trick when it gets really, really hot. You sleep out on the screened in back porch. Ours isn't screened in yet, But what? I've been staying out there when it was gonna be really hot and hot through the night again, no power I would set up. They got a little 10 with screen walls that I would set up out there. I set it up right on the front porch because then it doesn't get all, dude and I can pack it up early in the morning and it's still dry.

spk_0:   20:53
Okay? No, sir. Run through the pros and cons of buying Prefect. Now you could build your own. Of course, you could build your own, but we're not carpenters, and we have day jobs in cooler full time here. I work in 60 70 hours a week, and so is she, you know? No. Just know I don't have time to build a cabin. And even if I did, I couldn't build one nearly as good as the one we bought Waas. And even if I did, it would cost me more than it cost to buy the thing. So

spk_1:   21:23
we had a good, reliable builder and that Does that mean people know where our cabinets? Yeah, but they put in hundreds of these things a year and don't basically just like it. They don't care. And we've got their own.

spk_0:   21:36
The moment we had slices, we had some problems early on with settling. They helped us help Just get it straight infected, came out and and leveled it really, really, really good for us at no charge. Additionally, just came out, did it? You don't find many builders will do that. This was not part of the deal. Yeah, we'll come back to a leveling in a bit.

spk_1:   22:02
So it was We went from not having a cabin one day to having a perfectly serviceable ready to go watertight. A wind tight, almost insect tight although it needed a little bit of work and still needs right under the eaves. It's hard to keep out all the tiny little cracks

spk_0:   22:20
since the heavens, and we could easily do it. But we haven't finished the inside. You would do that when you finish. It was

spk_1:   22:28
a

spk_0:   22:28
feeling on

spk_1:   22:29
the inside was finished. That would be naturally done way.

spk_0:   22:31
Just haven't

spk_1:   22:32
been that step yet.

spk_0:   22:33
No, there's a caveat here. I I wanted to put in, she says. Yeah, way went from not having a cabin having Kevin. That's true. We did, But we went from having a gravel pad prepared for a cabin to sit on to having cabin.

spk_1:   22:53
That's one of the kind. You gotta prep the site first. Yes, you want this to work,

spk_0:   22:58
and you cannot. You can, but it is not recommended in the extreme by anybody. It's you can. You can sit on the ground just sitting on the ground. You can do it, but you will greatly decrease both the stability and the life of your cabin. By doing that, because ground contact with wood is a bad thing.

spk_1:   23:24
The underside would rot basically, and also the ground would settle much more readily, and you would have a lot more leveling problems than we had.

spk_0:   23:32
Okay, so basically, for pad to sit on, you have three options. One is set it on the ground, which is very, very bad option. Don't do that to put a put gravel Pat in it, who are Jewish is what we did.

spk_1:   23:43
Hired somebody to come in with his earth mover and make it nice and flat and then hired the same guy actually, to come in with some loads of rock and gravel it and make it suitable. And then we're ready to

spk_0:   23:59
write. When he did this, we also had him do the driveway and the pad worthy. Oh, storage container sits on. We have done all they dropped that they dropped the cabin right on the pad. Okay, go ahead.

spk_1:   24:18
It's a sturdy, well made building. It is not as it's as well made as some modern tract homes, but not the best fighter

spk_0:   24:28
tractor. No, it's not like, for example, if I had to, if I was in a severe windstorm and I had to choose being my cabin or being in my house, which is a 19 twenties house that was built by a carpenter as a show house. And I know this is the house that the two and 1/2 foot thick tree limb hit the porch and did no structural damage to it. Yes, this tree limb came. I did Cem Cem facing damage to it and it knocked off some some things. Yeah, trashed our our gutters and it knocked off some tails. Tiles, um, for a single single single Sorry black downing. It knocked off a bunch of single but the actual substructure of the roof. Not a crack, because that's how well this thing was built that built the porch on this house on our house is built with crossing two by eights and two by twelves. It's really it's insane how much lumber he put in that most

spk_1:   25:45
modern houses aren't built to near that number, though, and I've been in modern houses that are built, really not much more sturdily than the cab, but go. It's nice and starting.

spk_0:   25:54
But keeper, this is a cabin. This is not, you know ah, house. It's a cabin. There's a difference, and we keep coming back to that because you should not have the same expectations for boat.

spk_1:   26:05
Since we've got it in, we can make improvements as time and money allow. We intend to put in electrical of were aiming for a duel. Ah, to 10 1 10 and maybe 12 0 yeah? Well, so we can put a solar array

spk_0:   26:23
was a huge in want in kind of the

spk_1:   26:25
same wiring? Yeah,

spk_0:   26:27
more. Well, it isn't, but it is

spk_1:   26:29
the way it comes. You have access to the interior frame so you can bore through and run your wires through and dual all that before you put in final insulation and to cover it with drywall or whatever. You wanna cover paneling, whatever you want to cover with so you can make improvements. As time goes on, you can design and build the own electrical system so you can double wire the thing before you get everything sealed up. And it's gonna be a convenient time, an easy way to do it. It is built to meet or exceed a building codes. In any place that allows portable buildings, everything is in standard sizes. So if a window gets broken or something like that, it would be a relatively easy job to swap out the damaged piece

spk_0:   27:19
right now we've got We've got to do couple screen repairs right now. Bugs ate through the screens. You know, this is not a problem of the cabinets just living in the country and in for years with lots and lots of flies and all this other stuff. So but, you know, it's a standard standard screen. Pop it right out. We got the screen repair kit. Haven't done it yet, but it's on the list, you know so But even if we had replaced the windows, they're standard sizes.

spk_1:   27:48
It's a proven job. I know some people who have built their own homes and, uh, some some people in my family are architects and stuff like that. And when you would do a brand new design of your own, you get a lot of the features you want in it. But you also usually find some surprises that little things that are annoyances that weren't really obvious until somebody tried out the design for the first time. These were all proven designs.

spk_0:   28:16
Yeah, in fact, they were. So we have one family member who built a radical house. I mean, it was just very much very, very much radical ideas. Music don't. Yeah, it was a genius IQ term. And not just any geodesic. No, it was a geodesic dome using a certain type of of

spk_1:   28:33
his own idea for materials

spk_0:   28:35
considered and mostly were. In fact, the house is still there. The house is absolutely is still there. Ah, Having said that, there are some issues that they've had to live with from day one

spk_1:   28:51
stuff you just didn't know until you tried it. We're slowing down now as we pass another.

spk_0:   28:56
We're passing a dealer for these cabins. I'm going to have her take a picture. So Okay, picture taken. That was just a There was a bunch of cabin that I need a picture to use with podcast because they have a bunch of

spk_1:   29:09
different designs and and, uh, appearances. And

spk_0:   29:12
and this is actually we're driving past a dealer for the cabins that that we have the same company that made our regional so

spk_1:   29:23
and you can size them to order. So we got to choose the biggest cabin that would fit on the roads and get into the spot. We did have to get the spot level, so it comes as an empty shell, so it does still require some construction. You don't get plumbing. You don't get electricity as part of the standard bill.

spk_0:   29:49
No. And then you have to account for that. If you're gonna have plumbing underneath the cabin, well, you know, you can either put it in the plumbing the underneath part beforehand or realize that you're gonna have to dig it out later. One of the other.

spk_1:   30:05
Yeah. Susceptible to strong wind, as in I've been out there in a serious thunderstorm, and although it was quite loud because it's a metal scan and only mildly insulated at the moment, it was really loud. But it was also really solid, and I had no feeling that part of the roof might blow away. And I've been in houses where I kind of wondered in thunderstorms like that if Chunk a roof might blow off on me.

spk_0:   30:31
Having said that

spk_1:   30:33
it was a tornado. No, I would have been out there in, uh, lion flat off the side off the crest of the hill. If it were tornado, there were

spk_0:   30:45
a tornado. I'd be down by the pond. Yeah, I'd be chilling out on the back side of that Damn a which is not going anywhere. It's too

spk_1:   30:57
far away for trees to fall on you. Basically,

spk_0:   30:59
Yeah, there are no trees and blow enough.

spk_1:   31:01
That tornado would pop over your head as it came over one ridge and landed on the other, right. So is it a tornado comes through that particular spot, we might end up with cabin going to join our neighbors.

spk_0:   31:14
Now they do come with tight outs trying to tell you, you know, that comes with a tie down. You know, it's kind of like a mobile home, but it does. It's not as unstable as a mobile home can not jacked up quite so high. But it's something to consider.

spk_1:   31:27
And it doesn't have a high wind profile for what it is as a mobile home does, either.

spk_0:   31:31
No, but it is something to consider. Yes, it is not gonna hold up like a like a stick build home. Well,

spk_1:   31:38
uh, empty cabin just sitting there can attract Vandals or druggies in our area. Meth makers

spk_0:   31:45
maker? Yeah,

spk_1:   31:45
so we take care with cut a little long around it mostly to be a firebreak. Yes, because in the fall the high, dry standing stuff is a significant fire risk. And we wanted to add a little bit away from the cabin,

spk_0:   32:00
especially with us when we're trying to get into the into the as much of it stuff back into a native prairie is we can Well, that's a fire risk. So we do have pesky right around the house, and we do keep it. Well, we did.

spk_1:   32:13
We did. We got it, Newt.

spk_0:   32:16
But we're gonna keep that is a firebreak.

spk_1:   32:20
So you and I make sure I go out there and mow it once a week during the summer to make place, look more lived in and unattractive to trespassers.

spk_0:   32:30
And frankly, that brings us to the storage container.

spk_1:   32:34
Yeah, because cabin itself would be ridiculously easy to break into. It'll standard front door, home frame windows are nothing to break into.

spk_0:   32:45
So we don't just don't leave anything of value in the cabin.

spk_1:   32:48
Yeah, and we don't cover the windows so anybody can peer in and see There's nothing of particular value in the cabin because we don't want to breaking in to find out right. And I

spk_0:   32:57
know we've had people up to the side of the cabin several times. I know we have.

spk_1:   33:02
Yeah. Well gone and found tire tracks before we put in the new cable gate. Tire tracks across the grass right in front of the cabin with

spk_0:   33:12
cable. The cable gate does actually stop people.

spk_1:   33:16
Yeah, apparently somebody just often trash the lock. But I didn't get in.

spk_0:   33:22
Yeah, there were. Upon careful looking around. There were pieces of the front of a truck that were lying around.

spk_1:   33:32
I think somebody believed they were going to go hunting on us and decided that was a bad idea.

spk_0:   33:37
And the sign blew off That said, No trespassing. So it is a cable gate, and so it's just cables going across the yacht. It, uh, stopped him.

spk_1:   33:50
They were marked with orange tape. So it's not like it would surprise you,

spk_0:   33:53
but if you was in the middle of the night or early, But we're going hunting, you know, you're half asleep. Obviously, somebody had a problem with it yet. Um, so anyway, long story, short security is a consideration. Another thing that you could d'oh! And a strange as that may sound

spk_1:   34:13
as we can pass the container place.

spk_0:   34:16
Yes. We just past the place where we got our container. And, um, another thing you could do is just have your neighbors. You know, Tell him that if it ain't us, call the cops.

spk_1:   34:31
Yep. Kind of area we live in. I was out there working one day, and one of the neighbors comes by and just see who's there. Say hi. So, uh, we stopped and chatted for a bit, and I told him why he was seeing me all the time and that, you know, my husband, You sharing this place with me. But I work a lot closer to the place than salty does. So he sees me out there a whole lot more. Just introduce myself. Say what we're doing with it. If anybody else is messing around out here, well, it would be nice if you would call the cops. So our neighbors were kind of looking out for a little bit there.

spk_0:   35:15
And also we have befriended. Or she has befriended local conservation agent. Yes. Who knows that nobody should be out there hunting on us, and he drives around the area all the time. And he knows nobody should be hunting on us. If it's not us, not her. It's state. Shouldn't be there now. Yeah, I know. Government. You're saying? Oh, yeah. You got the government in your land. That's really good idea. But here's the deal. You know, four beers are training for us. We're not doing anything illegal. We're not trying to hide anything for us. We have a little place out in the country to hunt and fish on, and that is such a normal thing in North Missouri that nobody thinks two things about it.

spk_1:   36:10
It's entirely unremarkable. And the government does not care.

spk_0:   36:14
They only care about poachers. And if we're built for cooking math or something, because

spk_1:   36:20
they might be able to tax that care about that. Okay,

spk_0:   36:23
this is funny. True story. I called the assessor of the counting and ah, and January February just to make sure that I was getting the forms to report, I said, Yeah, I've got a report that we put a little cabin on the property. It's one of those one of those portable, affordable buildings and oh, yeah, I got that. It's a 24 by 15 and this is like two weeks after we put it on there. This is the Countywide assessor. Sure, he knew it was there. She knew what size it waas. Which means she had gone out and measured it on my land.

spk_1:   37:14
Or she talked to the builder.

spk_0:   37:16
No, she went out and measured it. That ought to tell you, you think you and this is not sitting right on the road. Either It's back a ways that ought to tell you what you need to know about the government. They knew to within two weeks that that cabin was there. And what size it? Waas? Obviously they know the builder because the builder is in the community. But you know that she did. She went out. I asked her, Did you go out in measuring? Yeah, last week. And I almost said I did not give you permission to go onto my land, but I didn't. I shut up about it. It's okay. We'll just wanna make sure you knew. I appreciate that. So I called A friend of mine who is a new assessor, worked in the assessor's office and our county. Can they legally do that? And she said, Yes, they can. For purposes of assessment, the assessors can go anywhere keep this in mind. At least in Missouri, the assessor can access any property. And since they see something, I'm sorry I wasn't finished. If they see something in their duty as a CZ a assessor that looks like a crime is being committed. That constitutes probable cause for a warrant. Something to keep in mind for us. It doesn't matter because we're not doing anything illegal. Keep that in mind then. This is the state of Missouri. They legally come on your property to assess. And if they see something that they considered could be probable cause they can report that to your share, just letting you know.

spk_1:   39:09
And they could also do any sort of using whatever satellite pictures air out there or using whatever drone flights they feel like they can use to absolutely see if new structures were popping up on or land. I don't know if they bother, but or in

spk_0:   39:25
our case, she just go measure. Stick could cap it because we don't know where we are boring when it comes to the law. Because we just really don't break the law. We encourage you all not to break the law.

spk_1:   39:39
If you don't like dealing with the government. Absolutely. The easiest way Thio handle that situation is to be boring. So yeah, absolutely. Insurance could be a pain to get.

spk_0:   39:49
It just could be a real pain to get because especially ifit's, it depends on how they classify it, because insurance companies don't like to ensure things. Insure places that people aren't living

spk_1:   40:05
because they know they attract handles, right? Squatters things.

spk_0:   40:08
And they really don't like it. If you put would heat in there, they really don't like that, Would he isn't no, no Ruth insurance company. They will write it. But, um, we just got ours written for the base Value Way actually had to put a writer on our insurance for the base value of the cabin. Just the base value. If it gets destroyed in a storm or something like that will get paid. Basically, what costs replace it. That's it.

spk_1:   40:36
We already mentioned. You have to be sure you know what code zoning are?

spk_0:   40:40
It's stone cold. Sure,

spk_1:   40:42
criminals aren't allowed everywhere.

spk_0:   40:44
The zoning thing is a really big deal. In some places, you really have to know. In fact, when you're buying a bug out property, gotta know that zoning before you buy it, because there are, in many places restrictions on access and what you can put their that you made. That may not be obvious. This may be the perfect piece of land it, but it may have been. It's for sale for three years, but it's the perfect beautiful, and it's a great price. But what legally can you put on it? There's several places around, even in Missouri, which is pretty easy on zoning, where you can't put temporary structure

spk_1:   41:24
and a lot of places have. One of the other options is a tiny house on a trailer, and a lot of places have rules against tiny houses.

spk_0:   41:32
Yeah, so

spk_1:   41:33
you can't hear me rolling my eyes, but I am. But there it is.

spk_0:   41:36
So no, your zoning. Or better yet, go to a place that doesn't have any anything to worry about.

spk_1:   41:46
You don't get a basement, you don't get a root cellar, and you don't get a storm shelter unless you dig it separately.

spk_0:   41:51
And that's the deal that's on. You know, you gotta understand what is your tornado plan? If you're out in the middle of nowhere, you're not going to a nearby tornado shelter because there isn't one unless you build one. What is your plan?

spk_1:   42:04
We've got a long term plan to put in a root cellar Storm cellar out there, but it's gonna take some engineering because I know how soon the holes I dig for trees filled with water from the clay and how well the clay holds the water. Yeah, and I don't want a swimming pool. I want a root cellar, so

spk_0:   42:20
I don't think it's gonna happen. Uh, Chelsea will see. I just don't think it's gonna happen.

spk_1:   42:28
You do have an open space under the cab that can lead to animals moving in in your they make a basement for themselves. You know, you might be lying on the floor to Could happen the mornings, Theoretical to shell. You could be in a deep sleep when it starts to rain, the crude or under the cabin could realize that the water is running into its little Ah Dennett made and decided to rearrange by taking the gravel underneath and throwing it against the bottom of the cabin. Is it as it digs and re settles in a spot that's got less water

spk_0:   43:04
what happened? We're not chunks

spk_1:   43:05
of gravel could to hit the underside of your floor right underneath your head at two o'clock in the morning, just saying it's possible to happen. It could be very surprising. Ah, you might wake up disoriented and wonder why big chunks of rock are hitting the floor under your feet. You know that sort of thing Hypothetically, Yeah, but you'll figure it out the next morning when the big fat woodchuck waddles out from the underside of the cabin and starts munching on the backyard.

spk_0:   43:36
So you do Another thing, too, is when you're dealing with plumbing and stuff like that. If you're in a cold area like we are something to consider, your pipes are gonna be going under there. So you have to, you know, you have to think about this, have a

spk_1:   43:49
way to access him and have a way to keep them from freezing.

spk_0:   43:52
Yes, very similar. In this this sense, it's very similar to what you would do with a mobile home. It's not an insurmountable type thing, but

spk_1:   44:01
something you got to keep in mind

spk_0:   44:03
and also keep in mind that you are at the tail in. If you're having a is a bucket look atyou at the tail end of of the electrical system. And if you used, like, he tape and stuff like that to keep your pipes from freezing is

spk_1:   44:19
gonna go out in an ice storm and they're not gonna get the power back on for a week and 1/2. And you're gonna have frozen pipes just saying

spk_0:   44:25
just saying keep

spk_1:   44:27
expect to have to re level the cabin periodically.

spk_0:   44:31
Yeah, we went twice a year. We have to honor it unless you put it on concrete. If you put it on concrete, you'll be fine. That concrete is the way to go, if you can. I do kind of wish we had put that increases the cost quite a bit. And it also increases the time quite a bit. But a good concrete pudding I've actually thought about as a long term improvement. Um, excavating where the camera sits now and putting in a, uh, concrete pad underneath it.

spk_1:   45:03
Yeah, we could even have a basement under it that way. So it's maybe,

spk_0:   45:07
you know, that's $15,000.

spk_1:   45:13
Expect to re level it periodically. It's not a big deal. I can do it myself. I got a little bottle, Jack. You have been re leveling it about once every spring because if it's even a little bit out of true, then the doors quit opening and closing and latching properly. And that's how I know it's time to re level. So it's not like it's hard but have the equipment. I know how to do it. It's gonna be a thing. I'm glad we did it. I like it and I get a lot of good use out of it, and we can get even more use out of it as we have time to improve it over the years.

spk_0:   45:46
Right? Or it may just be a secondary thing. We may come up with and do something bigger, better actual on actual house airport, pour in a basement, a full basement type house underground. You know something like that, we may end up doing that, but as time goes by, but we have, what we have now is we have a solution to a problem We had immediately we needed a structure, and it is kind of a glorified tent at the moment, if you think about it that way.

spk_1:   46:18
But a glorified tent is enormously better as a place to going crash than a real tense. So,

spk_0:   46:25
you know,

spk_1:   46:25
I could just go out there, open a door, walk in. I've got screened windows, I've got breeze, I've got dry. I've got no bugs. Eso yet. It doesn't really matter that it's really primitive. It is a 1,000,000 times more comfortable than an actual tent.

spk_0:   46:41
And you could have real furniture in there too, so you could be really, actually comfortable when you sleep with money. A real, a real thing to sleep on. Not just a sleeping bag. So all right, cabin thoughts. I hope you enjoy them by