Harvey

Joe in PB · Post by **Joe in PB** » Sat Sep 02, 2017 5:45 pm

Booming Houston built over land meant for flood projects

San Diego has done similar building at a smaller scale on the Mission Valley flood plain. The idea of more property taxes for the city pretty much means everything will eventually get paved over. Not good.

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Sat Sep 02, 2017 8:31 pm

Joe in PB wrote:Booming Houston built over land meant for flood projects

San Diego has done similar building at a smaller scale on the Mission Valley flood plain. The idea of more property taxes for the city pretty much means everything will eventually get paved over. Not good.

No way

Diego in Seattle · Post by **Diego in Seattle** » Sat Sep 02, 2017 9:20 pm

Go Coogs' · Post by **Go Coogs'** » Mon Sep 04, 2017 8:05 pm

Everything's out and drying. Restoration company coming out Wednesday for dehumidify and mold treatments. Bids starting to come in @ $80-100k for complete rebuild. Might be less now that I found out the cabinet maker is going to charge only cost (50% off) for replacement of cabinets. My aunt and uncle sold me their bumper pull camper for $2k when they were asking for $8k. My stepdad is going to run point on contractors. I'm gonna do the floors and most of the drywall myself. My mom is itemizing our belongings as I type this. I'm just worn the fuck out. Time for some cold beer.

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ML@Coyote · Post by **ML@Coyote** » Mon Sep 04, 2017 9:24 pm

I've been a building contractor all of my working life, and I offer the following advice: No matter how anxious you are to get your work done, be very careful who you hire. It's hard enough finding a good contractor when times are normal, and with the huge demand suddenly created for them in your area, all kinds of opportunists, flakes, and con men are going to be looking to sign contracts with homeowners.

Left Seater · Post by **Left Seater** » Mon Sep 04, 2017 9:33 pm

I have always used contractors associated with my insurance company. Something like contractor connection or similar name. The good news is they have already done the verification and financial vetting.

Sorry to hear all the crap you are dealing with Coogs'. Best of luck.

ML@Coyote · Post by **ML@Coyote** » Mon Sep 04, 2017 9:59 pm

Left Seater wrote:I have always used contractors associated with my insurance company. Something like contractor connection or similar name. The good news is they have already done the verification and financial vetting.

That's great advice.

Also, no matter who refers you to the contractor:

1. Get additional references and call the references
2. Get proof of their liability and workers comp insurance, and make the carriers name you as additional insured before the work starts
3. Call and verify that their state license is in good standing.
4. Never pay for anything in advance. Pay proportional to the work as it's been completed.
5. Make sure your contract lists explicitly all the work they will be doing.
6. Get a start and completion date in writing.

Derron · Post by **Derron** » Mon Sep 04, 2017 11:39 pm

What ML said. He got me beat in contracting experience by 5 years, but his stuff is all spot on. Here is a link to Texas contracting laws, worth a read ..seems to be fairly much the same as a lot of states.

https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/cp ... and-repair

There will be a ton of shitheads coming out to rip people off. I am still working part time running project management for some people, non profits, and others. These contractors are not your friends. They are doing a job. If they do it right they get paid. If they do it wrong they don't. Some are idiots, most are financial simpletons. Most are operational morons.

I held 18K back from one who could not get a job done for a client. It took him 3 weeks to get one last thing on the punch list done so he could collect his final payment. Called that fucker every other day and left messages until his mailbox was full. I cannot imagine what a mess his company and cash flow was doing jobs like that. Russian motherfucker anyway. He was not my choice as the contractor, I got brought in to unfuck the situation. He did not much like me or the way I managed the project, but he was not paying me the client was and the contractor had fucked him plenty up to that point.

Make sure as you make progress payments to the contractor that they show you proof of where the materials for your job were paid for. Make them show you a paid receipt from the vendor with your job address on it. Call the vendor and ask them if the invoices for your job have been paid. Do not make a final payment to the contractor until you have that proof from the vendor because the contractor could take your payment, not pay for the materials and the vendor will hit you for a lien on the unpaid materials.

I had one client this summer who got hit with a 13K supply lien from a materials house. The contractor did not pay the bill. I called the material vendor a couple times, and chatted up the gal in accounts receivable. Turns out the sales person for the account had authorized the credit sale of the materials to this contractor even though the contractor was 75 days late on his account payments. Not the best thing to tell a project manager for a client you are trying to lien.

I then called the branch manager and told him that he best release that lien in the next week or I would go to his regional manager and ask why the fuck they extended terms to an overdue account who fucked my client. Lien got released, sales person got canned and my client did not have to pay an extra 13K on the materials package.

Goober McTuber · Post by **Goober McTuber** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 12:00 am

smackaholic wrote:
Go Coogs' wrote:
BSmack wrote:Coogs? You work at a petrochemical plant right?
I use to work for Arkema, but not that facility. Ironically enough, I do work for a facility now and my particular unit uses the same organic peroxides Arkema makes. We were faced with the same issue. Everything Arkema planned for and their contingenciesin place were all correct. The only thing I would have done differently is found high ground for the refer trailers to park at a nearby facility. Them moving the storage totes to a refer trailer that was taking on water wasn't going to help. We moved our totes to a refer trailer at the highest point in our plant, filled it with fuel, and hooked up a backup generator to it. Our plant took on 6.5' of water, but we have a much larger facility than Arkema and had an area called 'the hill' that is built 8 ft above the other parts of the plant. We parked the trailer there and took an airboat over there every 6 hours to check the fuel level in the trailer and made sure it was cycling. I just reunited with my wife today and started cleanup and demo inside my home. It sucks, but people are in worse situations than me. Its all about perspective at this point.
How high did the water get in casa Rump? I just saw on fox where they are in a neighborhood where the water was about 3 ft deep. They show one house, with a huge pile of shit out front. The house next door, built with about a 4 ft wall is untouched other than the garage which will need sheetrock work. Funny how that whole elevation thing works, the thing that goobs and the rest of the morons ridiculed.

You have a pretty good sized crib there, goobs.

Are you drunk?

No, still just weapons grade stupid.

Go Coogs' · Post by **Go Coogs'** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 12:15 am

I have two family friends giving me bids right now. They've done work for me in the past and are very reputable. I should be good in that department.

ML@Coyote · Post by **ML@Coyote** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 1:42 am

I don't know you, and probably isn't my business. But my experience (approx 40 years as a contractor) is that one of the surest ways to wreck a friendship is to do business with each other. You'd be wise to follow the list I gave you, whether you're friends with your contractor or not. Well, except for calling the references. Sorry you have to go through all of this, and good luck!

Moving Sale · Post by **Moving Sale** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 2:54 am

My advice is don't take legal advice from people who are not only not Texas attorneys, but are not even attorneys anywhere.

smackaholic · Post by **smackaholic** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 4:29 pm

Coogs , might want to look into cedar or teak cabinets. Cedar is prolly too soft and teak would be hella $$$$$ but either material will put up with a few days underwater.

And maybe concrete board with cedar wainscotting in some rooms.

Are you going to have to peel off any of the exterior brick work?

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smackaholic · Post by **smackaholic** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 4:35 pm

So what can be done to avoid this in the future. I think they should look into building something like the cement "rivers" you see in LA. Use the material that will be excavated to build up new building sites. Do this right and you creat a lot of new river front property. Maybe hire some Dutch consultants. They've been playing this game for hundreds of years.

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Bucmonkey · Post by **Bucmonkey** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 9:27 pm

Stick to what you actually know please smack...

smackaholic · Post by **smackaholic** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 10:49 pm

Why should I be any different from the rest of you shlubs?

Did some reading on how the Army Corp of Engineers pleaded with them to keep plenty of prairie, but as has been said, sub division homeowners generate better tax revenue than prairie dogs.

smackaholic · Post by **smackaholic** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 10:54 pm

Goober McTuber wrote:Are you drunk?

No, still just weapons grade stupid.

Goobs, coogs. Similar words that my feeble mind mixes up.

Now go fukk yourself, coogs, or whoever you are.

Left Seater · Post by **Left Seater** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 2:17 am

Harris county in which Houston sits isn't all that population dense nor is the city of Houston compared to other large us cities and counties.

Just look out the window the next time you fly over LA or NYC or Chicago or Philly and compare that to Houston and Dallas. There is far more green visible in Houston than other cities.

smackaholic · Post by **smackaholic** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 2:46 am

Yeah, but Houston has 2 things those others don't.

The ability to get a years worth of rain in a few hours and damn near no variation in elevation. Given these two facts, they are going to have to get creative when it comes to figuring out how not to drown.

First off, they need to increase the capacity of their reservoirs. Make them bigger or just dig them out deeper. The latter means adding big ass pumps to keep them from filling, but it can be done. I really think a network of fairly large canals that drain in the gulf is a big part of the answer.

Goober McTuber · Post by **Goober McTuber** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 3:30 pm

Bucmonkey wrote:Stick to what you actually know please smack...

Well, then he would just never post.

Stick to what you actually know please smack...

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 5:16 pm

Goober McTuber wrote:
Bucmonkey wrote:Stick to what you actually know please smack...
Well, then he would just never post.

Stick to what you actually know please smack...

12rnd

smackaholic · Post by **smackaholic** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 8:44 pm

schmick wrote:If they can build oil pipelines why dont they build water pipelines so when they get so much rain they just pump it to the part of the state that is dry and arid

Such pipelines and pumps would be too expensive to build.

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Go Coogs' · Post by **Go Coogs'** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 8:45 pm

schmick wrote:If they can build oil pipelines why dont they build water pipelines so when they get so much rain they just pump it to the part of the state that is dry and arid

The water table says hi.

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Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 8:59 pm

schmick wrote:If they can build oil pipelines why dont they build water pipelines so when they get so much rain they just pump it to the part of the state that is dry and arid

Sanctions.

Left Seater · Post by **Left Seater** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 10:28 pm

Mikey wrote:
schmick wrote:If they can build oil pipelines why dont they build water pipelines so when they get so much rain they just pump it to the part of the state that is dry and arid
Sanctions.

Nope. Lawsuits. Groups like the Sierra Club and Greenpeace will file lawsuit after lawsuit to prevent such pipelines. There are a few that exist already. The City of Corpus Christi (think Harvey landfall) owns water rights at Lake Texana just north of Edna TX. The pipeline runs 149 miles to the cities water plant.

Lawsuits aside pipelines are expensive. Desalination of brackish ground water is the way of the future. We have vast aquifers of brackish water under much of the state. El Paso is currently running a large desalination plant. Once again though Sierra Club and others have sued to prevent more desalination projects. They complain about the amount of power desalination uses.

The State has set up a water fund that takes any surplus from the rainy day fund, and rolls it into the water infrastructure fund. This fund then makes low interest loans available to counties, cities and other water Districts to use to get water projects started. In other words it is a way to fund a legal defense of the countless lawsuits opponents throw up.

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 10:56 pm

I was kidding. Maybe I should have written NCAA sanctions.

Derron · Post by **Derron** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 10:57 pm

schmick wrote:If they can build oil pipelines why dont they build water pipelines so when they get so much rain they just pump it to the part of the state that is dry and arid

You do understand how much water / rain that fell and that it is imfuckingpossible to move that much water by gravity when you have no elevation, by pumps when you have no electricity and the shear volume of water trying to move through pipes or even canals ??

Diego in Seattle · Post by **Diego in Seattle** » Thu Sep 07, 2017 1:06 am

schmick wrote:They knew they were going to get 50" of rain before Harvey hit them, they could have pumped all the rivers dry before the storm so all the rainfall would have had a place to go.

Left Seater · Post by **Left Seater** » Thu Sep 07, 2017 1:45 am

Diego nailed that one.

Shlomart Ben Yisrael · Thu Sep 07, 2017 2:08 am

Left Seater wrote:Diego nailed that one.

I'll take "Things the District Attourney announces during the Discovery Phase" for $400, Alex...

Shlomart Ben Yisrael · Thu Sep 07, 2017 2:17 am

Derron · Post by **Derron** » Thu Sep 07, 2017 5:14 am

schmick wrote:They knew they were going to get 50" of rain before Harvey hit them, they could have pumped all the rivers dry before the storm so all the rainfall would have had a place to go.

Most of Texas is desert, they could divert water west or be underneath it

I will just assume you are trolling because that is the most stupid thing I have heard on here ever..including all of Moving Sales verbal shit talking and Rick in Salt Lakes horseshit takes.

Light another bong hit bro.

smackaholic · Post by **smackaholic** » Thu Sep 07, 2017 11:02 am

I know you think you have a nice spread, but the houston area is a little bit bigger. Do you understand the area and the amount of water we are talking about?

One thing I could see working is make the reservoirs a good bit deeper, and run them very low this time of year. This would create some elevation difference. The trouble is, that pesky water table thing, especially if it is brackish as LS says. If it is fresh, it could be used for consumption or agriculture. If it is brackish you have to either pump it into the gulf or treat it.

Left Seater · Post by **Left Seater** » Thu Sep 07, 2017 12:38 pm

That may have helped Coogs' as his place was flooded from the release of water from Lake Conroe which is an actual lake with water in it year round. The other two were detention lakes. These "lakes" are dry 95% of the time. They were built to detain water in large rain events from all reaching Buffalo Bayou at once. They were not designed to detain 50 inches of rain. So rather than be overtopped water was released which led to flooding downstream.

Go Coogs' · Post by **Go Coogs'** » Thu Sep 07, 2017 1:28 pm

A detention reservoir is probably the best idea between the west fork and lake Conroe

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Derron · Post by **Derron** » Thu Sep 07, 2017 5:58 pm

Left Seater wrote: They were not designed to detain 50 inches of rain.

Reality is a difficult concept for some people to grasp. Engineering and physics is way beyond that.

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Thu Sep 07, 2017 6:21 pm

Derron wrote:
Left Seater wrote: They were not designed to detain 50 inches of rain.
Reality is a difficult concept for some people to grasp. Engineering and physics is way beyond that.

Yeah but Schmick regularly backwashes 50 inches of water out of his pool. So, what's the problem?

Go Coogs' · Post by **Go Coogs'** » Sun Sep 10, 2017 7:44 pm

Drying out. The restoration companies were charging $7500-$13000 for mold remediation. Fuck that. I pulled every resource I have and got lucky.

The 24 reading was pegged out yesterday. Should be 10-15 by tomorrow which is dry.

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smackaholic · Post by **smackaholic** » Sun Sep 10, 2017 9:06 pm

I would think one of those big spray bottle thingies typically used for spraying insecticide, loaded with a strong bleach/water solution ought to do the trick to hose down all your studs.

Are you going to have to do anything with the exterior of the outside walls? I assume that is a brick veneer attached to a plywood/osb sheathing. Plywood would stand up to water for a short stretch, but osb holds up only slightly better than sheetrock.

smackaholic · Post by **smackaholic** » Sun Sep 10, 2017 9:08 pm

Is the blue/black thing a dehumidifier?