This house withstood Maria (Cat 5) with nothing more than an outside railing down, but yes, all bets are off when it sits on you for almost 2 days.
Project JPSK8 - my last build??
- Thread starter Jeepskate
- Start date
This house withstood Maria (Cat 5) with nothing more than an outside railing down, but yes, all bets are off when it sits on you for almost 2 days.
Precisely!! You have to understand what you're potentially facing & then decide if you're up for it. People get these notions of paradise and then are like 'oh, sh*t' when that potential reality hits. Everything comes with a price beyond the monetary price tag. We purposely bought a well-built house away from the coast (the daily salt spray is bad enough, even 3/4 mile back...just put my hammock back up which I took down during Dorian prep & the chromed rings on it are starting to rust) & have been making upgrades to it & will bug out if anything beyond a Cat 3/4 is going to hit.
Back on topic ---
What exactly do you get for almost $15,000 in yearly home owner fees?
You made the right choice (even though I am sure you already made that choice long before being shown the 2 throw-down choices).
I asked the same question...we did actually look at an identical unit (save for the turtle paintings) the next row up during our actual house hunt. I think most of the folks who are in there use them as vacation rentals (pretty common for the condo crowd). The 'conflict' of condo vs. house was real. I kept telling my wife that I have way too much stuff (I also do most of our home improvement & repairs too) for a condo which would necessitate a storage unit on top of the mortgage & HOA fees). We may pick up a condo or two later for rental income. The first house had the "wow" factor, but needed a LOT of work...first floor was pretty much a gut job...the camera framing didn't show how bad it was, all of the drywall was shot. There was a little trepidation going in that we might see something better than what we had bought. That honestly wasn't much different than the real house hunt...we came down for about 3-4 days & made our decision...we tend not to drag things out.
- City
- Allen Park
- State
- MI
Thanks for all of the detailed replys. It sounds like you guys have a real good handle on living down there. I hope you 2 have the best time living there. 
I absolutely LOVED my brief time in the Caribbean years ago.
I absolutely LOVED my brief time in the Caribbean years ago.
- City
- Richmond
- State
- TX
Having no experience with a cistern, do you use the reclaimed water for drinking (potable) or is it grey water. If it is potable, do you use a filter system?
Having a net zero "footprint" is a very interesting and admirable goal. We should all strive for that.
Having a net zero "footprint" is a very interesting and admirable goal. We should all strive for that.
- City
- River Ridge
- State
- La
I grew up down in the Caribbean also. We had approximately 2,500 gals of cistern water in 4 different tanks collecting rain water. My good buddy down there has 2 cement tanks like a basement of his 3 story condo with 50,000 gallons. We used ours for strictly drinking water. My buddy uses his for everything. Showers / flushing and everything else. To me rain water is the best tasting water.
- City
- Wilbur by the Sea
- State
- FL
Hurricanes are part of natures air conditioner and will always be part of living in the warmth of the tropics. The damage a severe hurricane can do is rught up there with a nuclear bomb sans the radiation. When mother nature wants a clean slate we aint stoppin her, just get out of the way. I'm a Floridian and have lived through many tempting fate with some. After Andrew went through South Florida I had to go down and help my Ex in laws salvage their belongings. It was the most humbling and lasting memory I have of utter and complete annialation as far as the eye could see. To have that same potential storm sit on you for 2 days is crazy.
Your Jeep looks great in it's new home and best of luck in the next chapter of your life.
Your Jeep looks great in it's new home and best of luck in the next chapter of your life.
It is potentially potable (primary issue is that it sits in the tank for a long time). We pour bleach in the tank every couple of months & we have a 3-stage filter plus UV. We use it for everything other than drinking only because we haven't had it tested yet...don't want to jump off of that cliff blindly. There are vending machines all around the island with purified water that you can refill jugs at & that's what we currently use for our drinking water.
Should be on solar by the end of the year...they're actually getting ready to start a tweaked version of net metering back up again & the guy who's doing my system is on the guidance committee. Should only need the grid when we have guests & run both bedroom mini-splits at night...he said we'd run out of battery around 3-4 am & pull from the grid at that point & will be able to charge the batteries via generator in the event both the grid is down & there's not enough sunlight.
We've got a 50k gallon tank & by all accounts it has never run dry. It was super dry when we got here & the water trucks were running refilling people's cisterns (alot of them are under 20k)...first little bit of rain & ours was overflowing. Once we get it tested & balanced out, we'll use it for drinking (use it for ice cubes right now).
Pretty much your only source of fresh water & has to hold you through the dry season. We take quick showers & live by "If it's yellow, let it mellow". Dishwasher & washing machine are very efficient, let the rain wash your vehicles, getting ready to swap out the toilets for dual-flush models.
- City
- River Ridge
- State
- La
The island I lived on actually had fresh water/ well water.. There was about 12" of fresh water sitting on top of the salt water layer, probably the rain water filtering through the sand and sitting a top the Salt water layer. Never had the water tested, but there were few people then, don't think I would do that now. That was 40-50 years ago and things have changed a lot.
There are a handful of wells here, but it's not common. Actually found the Berkey that we bought before we moved & have that up & running, so no more water vending machine trips. The guest suite is up & running as of last week & we're heading back to OH in a few weeks to empty the storage pod & bring/ship my Scrambler parts (gas tank & skid, radiator & a few other odds & ends) down so that I can get it up & running early next year.
- City
- Dexter
- State
- MI
^^^This!^^^
Thanks. Got it ready a few days before our first scheduled visitor arrived, just have to swap out the toilet & it's done until we redo the shower (poor quality materials & workmanship & was setup for kids so the shower head is too low).
Definitely. Working off of the color palette of the bedspreads that I bought so that all of the sheets, bedspreads & curtains are interchangeable. Finished the master bedroom just before Thanksgiving, have to do some electrical in the master bath & finish painting it when we get back from OH.