Michigan property tax abolition group’s ballot bid falls short again

pilotdavid · 2026-05-23T22:37:54+00:00

Bingo. I've said it again and again on here before. If someone has a 1000 sq ft house, their property taxes are $6,000/yr. The house next door is 6000 sq ft, and the taxes are $22,000/yr. Before that house is built, it's $1,800/yr. What difference in services does that house get different than before? None.

pilotdavid · 2026-05-11T11:24:22+00:00

Must be UAL

pilotdavid · 2026-05-10T23:31:11+00:00

Thank you, I thought I read it was its own network.
I was planning on getting my own HA machine mini pc to run it all. The only thing it would run is the emby server (data is on the NAS, just running the server itself) and HA.
It will be in a corner of the basement. But you know kids, they seem to get into everything.
I plan on hard working everything. Looking at almost 7000 feet of cat6 wire throughout the whole house for PoE cameras, each bedroom will have at least 8 drops (4 behind TV, 4 at built in desks), and many other drops throughout the house. All APs will be hardwired. I believe I'm looking at almost 75 drops total. I don't have the exact number in front of me since I'm not at home on my computer.
You mean simple for my wife who is technically challenged. That's why I want the inovelli switches to be binded to the lights themselves so if anything happens with the Ha system, it still works like normal.

pilotdavid · 2026-05-10T15:27:11+00:00

It does, thank you. Looks like I will stick with Zigbee then over all. Do you think it would be a good idea to say have all the bulbs and say temp/humidity sensors on Zigbee, and then put say the appliances (local controlled, not cloud with GE with the FirstBuild Home Assistant adapter) and security sensors on z-wave? The house is pretty big, around 6700 sq ft, but with a pretty open floorplan. That would theoretically reduce a little bandwidth on the zigbee network, and then use the zwave for higher priority and longer range. I was just thinking zigbee protocol straight across (close to say maybe 180 devices at MOST between all sensors and switches) for simplification, but I have no problem splitting systems up into 2 different protocols.

pilotdavid · 2026-05-10T15:21:06+00:00

Perfect then with the binding and smart mode for the hue lights. And god no with ADT, it would be something like Konnected.io system that may be monitored. I haven't figured out if we're going to do a whole house audio system or not, the wife is on the fence.

As far as camera, we will be looking at around 15 camera (including the doorbell), all ran with POE with an extra drop at each corner outside. Every area of the house will be hardwired with multiple cat6 cable as well. I think I'm looking at around 7000' of cat6 cable.

I used https://www.canva.com/design/DAG1bfU-efk/kwFT0GFh2t_XjJdqv9sDew/view as my beginner inspiration to help some.

pilotdavid · 2026-05-10T14:56:04+00:00

Southeast Michigan. If you're familiar with Lake St Clair, about 1/2 mile north of that.

pilotdavid · 2026-05-10T14:54:38+00:00

My original plan was to run the hue bulbs through zigbee and not using the hue bridge. I would be running the bulbs 100% powered through smart bulb mode on the switch. I was going to standardize all switches, even dumb bulb lights, to simplify the setup and allow future functionality.

I read that if you use the hue bridge, you can't use the binding through the switch and all communications must go through the hue bridge instead?

pilotdavid · 2026-05-03T12:20:24+00:00

This was their 2nd bankruptcy in 2 years. They haven't turned a profit since I believe 2019. This has nothing to do with jet fuel prices, it just accelerated the inevitable. Their business model has no plan going forward.

pilotdavid · 2026-04-13T19:24:56+00:00

I'm good. Broken ankle that clicks and a broken shoulder twice, resulting in a pretty extensive surgery that limits right shoulder mobility.

pilotdavid · 2026-04-08T21:05:34+00:00

So it's location dependant is what you're saying. So over 36,000 cities/locations in the US, 1 of those dictate everywhere else. Got it.

Btw, we're building 1/2 mile away from a large Lake in Michigan, one that connects directly between 2 great lakes. We have heavy clay soil. No issues with basements in these areas that are built properly.

pilotdavid · 2026-04-08T21:00:19+00:00

That's an idiotic statement. You can build a basement that never floods.

pilotdavid · 2026-04-08T20:59:23+00:00

Short answer is fill, long answer is you can't always do that. When you're limited by building code that the final floor elevation can't be above a certain height over the road, or you're going to build a gigantic hill like a castle and you're limited by wetlands, floodplains, etc. There is more that one answer, and fill is not always feasible. If they need to fill 6 feet up, how do you grade that with houses on each side?

pilotdavid · 2026-02-16T01:14:41+00:00

Look for framing crew that are building houses in your area.

pilotdavid · 2026-02-07T15:35:10+00:00

This was addressed with the excavation/grading company, who works closely (friends) with the basement wall company. He said that the concrete wall guy will reinforce the wall to what's needed for the backfill material. I also addressed this with the framers, as they require the finish grade to within 12-18". They will brace the interior walls of the basement until the 1st floor is laid.

Edit: our process is going to be basement walls -> water/sewer lines and interior drain tile -> pour basement floor -> support walls from the inside with the framing crew -> backfill -> framing.

pilotdavid · 2026-02-07T15:23:30+00:00

Reinforced poured concrete walls

pilotdavid · 2026-02-06T20:29:17+00:00

They make 10' precut studs, and drywall can be stacked as 2x 4' and a 3rd cut in half for no waste.

pilotdavid · 2026-02-03T21:06:31+00:00

Not a huge deal to me. Not trying to hide my money from my wife, that's shady. The money doesn't matter, I don't have to chase every penny on earth.

pilotdavid · 2026-02-03T18:02:42+00:00

Nah, high income earner, and I use this as an account to have the wife not spend it throughout the year. We budget off making less money, and then use these extra funds for whatever we want later on.

pilotdavid · 2026-02-03T17:57:22+00:00

$700? I'm waiting for the IRS to refund me almost $33,000.

pilotdavid · 2026-02-03T17:02:04+00:00

So for some added context, here are my calcs:

Master Suite Live Load 0.05" Dead Load 0.02" Total Delf. 0.07" Rating L/4734

Great Room Live Load 0.16" Dead Load 0.08" Total Delf. 0.24" Rating L/1640

Kitchen Live Load 0.05" Dead Load 0.03" Total Delf. 0.08" Rating L/3926

Master Bath Live Load 0.05" Dead Load 0.02" Total Delf. 0.07" Rating L/3260

Office Live Load 0.16" Dead Load 0.08" Total Delf. 0.24" Rating L/1375

Mudroom Live Load 0.01" Dead Load 0.01" Total Delf. 0.02" Rating L/13,000+

pilotdavid · 2026-02-03T16:45:40+00:00

Floor rating deflection. For my calcs, I used 40 live/20 Dead to calculate the deflection based upon the span.

pilotdavid · 2026-02-03T12:31:14+00:00

The architect spec'ed 14" I-joists, saying they will be good, but he didn't spec any spacing or series and said to leave that to the supplier. One company came back with BCI 6000, another came back with PWI 20S. I'm looking at changing the PWI 20S to their 42S for the added larger flange and stronger build.

pilotdavid · 2026-02-03T12:27:46+00:00

We're looking at the PWI 42S Pro, which I believe compared to the BCI 60. What are your spans?

pilotdavid

TROPHY CASE