First full year in TN

[DraxTheDad]

Just finished my first full year in TN.   Loving every minute of it.  I relocated from Southern California (Orange County).

Some things from the last year :

* Most people here are very friendly, really can't complain about the people at all.  If they don't like you, they'll tell you . . . which is much better than the fake friendlyness of CA.

* Winters are different, but not bad.  Yes, it gets colder and it does last longer than OC, but not nearly as bad as some people think (note, I grew up in Connecticut so it was a lot colder)

* Summers get more humid, but didn't find it unbearable.  

* Housing is big.   Houses in TN are built different, and honestly, not as well as the SoCal houses.  One thing that CA has are a lot of laws and rules around house building, some of them make sense, especially after seeing some of the work done on the houses here.   Newer houses are much closer to the CA standards though.

* Finding good contractors has been HARD, really HARD.   Lots of flaky contractors, really have to be on top of them or they just stop showing up or do crappy work.  One guy I have been using and like, said that there aren't so many restrictions so just about anyone with a hammer and some nails claim to be a contractor.  So watch out.

* Roads, oh man, I40, you have to dodge cars driving like crazy, worry about the truck behind you no further back than 3 feet, and the massive amount of pot holes.  Ugh.   

* If you get away from cities, there is a ton of open land, everywhere.   It's beautiful out there, go explore!  

* If you're from SoCal like me, having 2 or 3 days of rain a year, you're in for a surprise, 2 or 3 days a week more like it.   Not bad, but different.   When buying a house, make sure you're not going to have a leaky basement or in a flood zone.

* So much peace and quiet, it is great.   

 

I'm sure there is more, but man, I love being in TN.   Just got my Hunting and Fishing license, so I'm ready to go.   NOTE: it seems like they are valid from Feb to Feb every year, so if you buy it in September it is only good until February.  Now is a really good time to buy yours.  $160/year for the all inclusive sportsman (with few exceptions).  Now I just need some fishing gear and some more guns.

[TGO David]

I bet the construction codes are quite a bit different from the sake of earthquake tolerance alone.  What other things have you noticed about the way houses are built here?

In the last twelve months, three homes in my tiny little neighborhood of less than 30 homes were sold by their original occupants to Californian refugees.

[DraxTheDad]

I've noticed that codes for running water lines is different, they are often exposed.  Gas lines as well.   No pylons allowed in CA for the house foundation, must be a full solid foundation (and likely right, due to Earthquake reasons).   Just a few things like that.

Lots of CA imports heading to TN.  As long as they leave their politics behind, that's good.   If you're a home owner, prices going up is a good thing.

[KahrMan]

1 hour ago, CylonGlitch said:

I'm sure there is more, but man, I love being in TN.   Just got my Hunting and Fishing license, so I'm ready to go.   NOTE: it seems like they are valid from Feb to Feb every year, so if you buy it in September it is only good until February.  Now is a really good time to buy yours.  $160/year for the all inclusive sportsman (with few exceptions).  Now I just need some fishing gear and some more guns.

They just changed the rules on the hunting/fishing licenses.  Now they are good for 12 months from whenever you buy them.

[OldIronFan]

15 minutes ago, CylonGlitch said:

I've noticed that codes for running water lines is different, they are often exposed.  Gas lines as well.   No pylons allowed in CA for the house foundation, must be a full solid foundation (and likely right, due to Earthquake reasons).   Just a few things like that.

Lots of CA imports heading to TN.  As long as they leave their politics behind, that's good.   If you're a home owner, prices going up is a good thing.

I don't think I have ever seen and exposed water line to a house. Are you talking meter to home or PEX/copper in a crawlspace? If the the former they are 100% underground to the house. If you meant the later I am not sure how you would do it any different other than the lines being buried in a concrete slab foundation. Same goes for gas lines. They are 100% underground until the get to the meter at the side of the home.

Foundation choices are often about ground type, ground water/water table, and cost. Concrete slab foundations are expensive. They are only used when absolutely needed/required. Go toward West TN and most homes are slab foundation with no crawlspaces or basements, water table is high and crawlspaces would stay wet. Here in Middle TN there are few basements and many crawlspace based homes. Lots of rock and fewer water table issues. Crawlspace construction is generally flexible, cheap, and efficient. Less digging, rock breaking, or blasting is needed.

[DraxTheDad]

1 hour ago, KahrMan said:

They just changed the rules on the hunting/fishing licenses.  Now they are good for 12 months from whenever you buy them.

That's awesome, I just, I mean this morning, purchased mine because I was waiting until February.   I did notice it said from 3/2/22 to 3/2/23 but I thought it was just the way their system was.  But this is really good to know.  :). Thanks.

1 hour ago, OldIronFan said:

I don't think I have ever seen and exposed water line to a house. Are you talking meter to home or PEX/copper in a crawlspace? If the the former they are 100% underground to the house.

Yeah, water, power and even electric are generally in the foundation of the house in CA.  They then come up in the locations needed.   It isn't bad, but man when one breaks, that's a royal pain in the butt.

My house in TN is mostly on posts here in Nashville area, go into the crawl space there there a few dozen posts sitting in concrete holding the house up.   Roof isn't much better, Just enough poles to hold it up.   Rafters in the houses in CA are so complex you can barely walk up there.   I do believe this is all for earthquakes.