No place to build

[mothercoder]

Maybe ask around and offer to pay for a spot in a regular homeowner's yard?  Offer to trade some work?  I know some elderly ladies that can't afford the $25+/hr of a handyman, but need some relatively simple work done.  If you could find someone like that, you might be able to work a deal and use their electricity.

Some locally-owned grocery stores around here have bulletin boards.

Good idea but as an almost 62 year old woman with limited skills, I'm no one's idea of a handyman. Lol. I'll be crossing fingers that I can pull off my own build.

 

[mothercoder]

AngryVanMan - thanks for turning me on to the whole foam board build idea. This is something I know I can do and I can do it almost anywhere, including my living room! I'm very excited about this and my head is filled with ideas on what I want to do. I was beginning to think I'd have to spend thousands paying someone else to do the work for me but now I see it is possible for me to do this myself.

 

[cyeaste]

When I built my van I had the same issue with apartments and noise....so I did this:

1. Most measurements I rounded up to square dimensions (straight cuts). This means I could get the cuts done at home depot or lowes for free when I bought the wood.
2. Bought cordless tools and did the remaining cuts in the van itself. Also bought a dewalt cordless vacuum to clean up after each cut.
3. Installed my solar in the parking lot of the apartment complex. The outdoor work was just putting on the roof rack. That's normal car stuff that most apartments don't have an issue with. Then attached the panels at like 5 in the morning before everyone was up. Used ratchets and quiet tools for that.
4. Bought a ladder that folded up small and was quiet when extending it.
5. Always kept the tools and the mess contained in the van as much as possible. Figured I would eventually have to learn how to do without the apartment for storage anyways so it was good training.
6. Found a couple of parks close by that didn't have many visitors...drove the van over there and did some work on early Sunday mornings.

All these things took longer but I never had an issue with complaints. Plus it taught me how to work with just the van. It required a lot of thinking it through and winging it but it worked. It also made me more aware of my surroundings as related to the van, how to be stealth etc.

Hope that helps

 

[AngryVanMan]

I first saw the foam build technique used over on tnttt.com which is a site for teardrops and tiny travel trailers, and I honestly dismissed anyone who would build in such a manner as an absolute nutter - they were building whole trailers like this! Once I saw the outcome with the strength of the laminates and the light weight using these off the shelf materials, I started to be swayed a bit.

When I saw ViaVicavi's video with Jed/Into the Mystery 13 demonstrating the cabinet builds, and the strength he was able to achieve supporting over 20/lbs per square foot with ease, I was pretty sold on it by that time. It's great - fairly easy to build, and might open up options for people with lighter weight vehicles 1/2 ton vans, mini vans, etc. to get more usable payload capacity while having built-ins too.

 

[Wanderer]

When I built my van I had the same issue with apartments and noise....so I did this:

1. Most measurements I rounded up to square dimensions (straight cuts). This means I could get the cuts done at home depot or lowes for free when I bought the wood.
2. Bought cordless tools and did the remaining cuts in the van itself. Also bought a dewalt cordless vacuum to clean up after each cut.
3. Installed my solar in the parking lot of the apartment complex. The outdoor work was just putting on the roof rack. That's normal car stuff that most apartments don't have an issue with. Then attached the panels at like 5 in the morning before everyone was up. Used ratchets and quiet tools for that.
4. Bought a ladder that folded up small and was quiet when extending it.
5. Always kept the tools and the mess contained in the van as much as possible. Figured I would eventually have to learn how to do without the apartment for storage anyways so it was good training.
6. Found a couple of parks close by that didn't have many visitors...drove the van over there and did some work on early Sunday mornings.

All these things took longer but I never had an issue with complaints. Plus it taught me how to work with just the van. It required a lot of thinking it through and winging it but it worked. It also made me more aware of my surroundings as related to the van, how to be stealth etc.

Hope that helps

That's what I liked when I did my van repair (Shattered window) and all it took was some time and some coffee and thinking.

I have made shelving for my van, had a small HF generator, skill saw and drill. Had it all cut and then waited another day and installed it.

Too many think "I can't" but I prefer the thought of "How best to do this?" usually when someone finally says "The hell with what others think, I'm going to try doing it" is when they really see their potential for making this work for them.

 

[DannyB1954]

The problem with asking permission for using a parking lot owned by a business or church is that if they say yes, they are assuming some responsibility if something goes badly. If you get hurt like drill a hole in your head, you were on their property working with their permission. Rarely will they want that liability so they will say no even if they really don't care. Sometimes it is better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission.

Here this last month we did a lot of building on BLM land.

 

[drysailor]

AngryVanMan - thanks for turning me on to the whole foam board build idea.  This is something I know I can do and I can do it almost anywhere, including my living room! I'm very excited about this and my head is filled with ideas on what I want to do. I was beginning to think I'd have to spend thousands paying someone else to do the work for me but  now I see it is possible for me to do this myself.

Admittedly, I know absolutely squat about this building method, but I think you need to ask the same questions that you would of any other material that will be in your personal ecosystem: does it contain formaldehyde or other nasty chemicals, and will it outgas, particularly if left in an enclosed van in summer?