Downsides to Colorado's weather (Denver, Golden: 2014, homes, water heater)

[TCHP]

If you look at all the native vegetation between Denver and eastern Kansas, it should be obvious growing large trees isn't a big part of the natural formula. While there are the occasional forested area that has occurred naturally because of geographic features or proximity to water, the only reason there are any decent sized or collections of trees in Colorado east of the front range at all is because of human effort to put them there. This is called the high plains for no reason.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by Apple Tree

I think the main point is that the Denver climate was never meant to be green. I... Denver has a lot going for it, but being able to have beautiful gardens or a wooden lot is not one of them.

You want green ?... Just go up the road to Berthoud!
The Garden Spot of Colorado!
The Official Web Site of the Town of Berthoud, Colorado

Get yourself a parcel with an irrigation ditch running through it (and water rights)

[brightdoglover]

Heh. While I've been talking to different people about possible retirement to mountain Colorado, they level their eyes and ask, "How do you feel about winter?" and I ask if they noticed last years's winter in Boston, instant understanding! As I get older, I expect to have enough money to hire someone to shovel, and I won't have to get on the road to get to work, being retired and all. I still take more issue with East Coast humidity than anything that happens in winter anywhere.

[TCHP]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

Get yourself a parcel with an irrigation ditch running through it (and water rights)

While I would love to do that, it sounds ungodly expensive. Nice houses in Berthoud start around $300k. Get one on a largish parcel, add another $300-500k, get water rights will cost nearly $20k per share and you might want more than just a few shares to really make it worth while. Oh, and there is the whole historic access to those shares that mean if you can even get them, your last in line to use them as the newest owner.

[Arrby]

To get back to the original premise of this thread, why have none of us mentioned the wind? Great swathes of Colorado are afflicted with long periods of high winds. It very seldom bothers me, but it has caused more than a few people to move out of the area.

[lluvia]

What about static electricity in the dry weather?
I live in Fl and in the winter after a (rare) cold front, it seems I am always shocking myself when I touch metal.
Thx.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by lluvia

What about static electricity in the dry weather?...

MORE problem in dry (windy) weather. You can wear static dissipating socks / shoes (if you have some areas of conductive floor)

There are lots of remedies How Do I Get Rid of Static? - Real Simple

[gmm_24]

Static electricity would not keep me from moving somewhere.
I carry a lot of it especially during the Winter, my family calls me " Lightning Lady".
Funny not so funny story, I went to turn on the computer one day and I zapped it, fried the modem, memory, motherboard etc cost $400 to fix it. The computer guy told me to spray the carpet with fabric softener. Yeah that is a bit late but thanks for the advice. Heck I walk though the un-carpeted grocery store and I get shocked or give them lol.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by TCHP

While I would love to do that, it sounds ungodly expensive. Nice houses in Berthoud start around $300k. Get one on a largish parcel, add another $300-500k, get water rights will cost nearly $20k per share and you might want more than just a few shares to really make it worth while. Oh, and there is the whole historic access to those shares that mean if you can even get them, your last in line to use them as the newest owner.

WAY too conventional thinker for me... my last place near Berthoud (with irrigation access was $16,800,,, circa 1970 of course). I have 4 friends who have bought Berthoud area places w/ water recently for far less than $300k, I helped one move this summer. There are far more ways to get water / greenery than to play 'follow the leader'. I helped add a 20,000 gal rain water recovery system (underground / out of sight / mind).

Need to
1) never buy a place that is already listed for sale... DIG up your own BEFORE the realtors find it,
2) be CREATIVE and FAST with financing / closing
3) know the area and the neighbors very well (network with ole-timers)
4) be very helpful to county inspectors and regulators
5) be very 'Stealth'

It also helps to have your own dozer and backhoe... but you can rent them for $250 / day

DON'T be timid to smash the CHEAP house with the dozer, you can replace the house very cheap with a nice shop with apartment (out of view of the assessor).

For CO weather protection, build high and dry and into a hillside (buried house)
YMMV

[sunsprit]

RE: the above post and "I helped add a 20,000 gal rain water recovery system (underground / out of sight / mind)" where he further advises "5) be very Stealth".

I read this as a advice and admission to violate the water laws of Colorado. Water Law in the arid west is, and has been since the days of the settlers, a big deal.

Note:

Colorado Landscape/Architects have posted a clarification as to this issue:

"Collecting Rainwater Still Illegal in Much of Colorado
by Matt Corrion
Two new legislative bills were passed in Colorado this summer that seem to be causing some confusion regarding water rights. Senate Bill 09-080 and House Bill 09-1129 allow for the collection of rainwater- but only in very limited circumstances.

Many businesses and homeowners are looking for ways to be more sustainable, to save water, and to conserve resources to help their bottom line. I have been surprised to find that many people are not aware that collecting rainwater- even in a simple “rain barrel” system from your roof for use in watering a garden, is illegal in Colorado.

Historical Precedent

I think the Colorado Division of Water Resources website summarizes well the historical precedent in layman’s terms: “Colorado water law declares that the state of Colorado claims the right to all moisture in the atmosphere that falls within its borders and that ‘said moisture is declared to be the property of the people of this state, dedicated to their use pursuant’ to the Colorado constitution. As a result, in much of the state, it is illegal to divert rainwater falling on your property expressly for a certain use unless you have a very old water right or during occasional periods when there is a surplus of water in the river system. This is especially true in the urban, suburban, and rural areas along the Front Range. This system of water allocation plays an important role in protecting the owners of senior water rights that are entitled to appropriate the full amount of their decreed water right, particularly when there is not enough to satisfy them and parties whose water right is junior ro them.”

The New Laws

Senate Bill 09-080, which was passed by the general assembly and signed into law by the governor this summer, allows for limited collection and use of precipitation, but ONLY if the following conditions are met:

The property on which the collection takes place is residential property, and
The landowner uses a well, or is legally entitled to a well, for the water supply, and
The well is permitted for domestic uses according to section 37-92-602, C.R.S., and
There is no water supply available in the area from a municipality or water district, and
The rainwater is collected only from the roof, and
The water is used only for those uses that are allowed by, and identified on, the well permit.
ALL of the above criteria must be met.

That does not allow anyone who is connected to a municipal water supply (ie. most homeowners) to do this. I don’t really understand the reasoning behind this law. I have a hunch that they set out to create this law to allow the average residential homeowner to collect a limited mount of rainwater, but then in the negotiations the bill was paired down to its current form- and we ended up with a meaningless law that effects only a handful of people."

The limit on rainwater to be collected from a roof is a maximum of 500 gallons annually (IIRC), which is a small supplement to a gardening or landscaping effort. When I lived in the Erie & Longmont areas, it wasn't unusual to use several thousand gallons per month (per my metered water supply) to maintain a modest garden and landscaping around the house.

The premise for limiting run-off water collection is the doctrine of "first in time, first in right". By diverting water falling onto a property into use on that property, the water isn't being supplied to ground or surface right senior priority users who are entitled to that water. The historical background for the legal thinking is well documented, well known.

Due to the recent demands on water and water availability in Colorado, Big T (and similar Front Range irrigation water right shares) are far more expensive than SR's 1970's vintage price points. Try mid 5-figures per share these days, if you can find a seller. IMO, folk moving to Colorado need to know about the water situation and to comply with the laws regulating it.

Shame on you, SR for coming onto this thread and telling people to violate the law ... and admitting that you knowingly assisted somebody to do so recently via dozer and backhoe with your highly self-touted heavy equipment skills.