The last house I will build! (Project)

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I wish I had the ability to get a group together and spend a week helping Gump, then go to Jim's house to help him, then go elsewhere to help others. We are all like minded, and not only could we all really get to know our members, we could get some much needed exercise.
 
gumpy said:
I've poured a lot of concrete in my day also. Decided that I wasn't up to it. Laying blocks is a lot cheaper and less labor intensive. This boulder I'm building this house on top of is to irregular to form easily.
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I have wondered as well why you didn't pour concrete instead of using blocks. I have done some tuckpointing on my 128 year old home. I can tell you, I end up in lots of pain anytime I do that. If I didn't have pain, I could have spent one summer tuckpointing and been done. Nope. After two weeks, the pain kept me awake at night so I realized I could do a batch on Saturday, and then wait until the next Saturday to do some more. It is not my preferred way to do it, gradually, but like you Gumpy, we have to do what our bodies allow us to do.
 
Weedygarden said:
I have wondered as well why you didn't pour concrete instead of using blocks. I have done some tuckpointing on my 128 year old home. I can tell you, I end up in lots of pain anytime I do that. If I didn't have pain, I could have spent one summer tuckpointing and been done. Nope. After two weeks, the pain kept me awake at night so I realized I could do a batch on Saturday, and then wait until the next Saturday to do some more. It is not my preferred way to do it, gradually, but like you Gumpy, we have to do what our bodies allow us to do.
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I taught my wife to tuckpoint. She said it looked easy! Haha in 15 minutes she was ready to sling her trowel in the woods. It's not as easy as it looks!
It reminds me of a time when I was finishing some sheetrock in a house I was subcontracting on. The owner came by and watched me for a while and asked me how come he was paying me so much for what I was doing. I asked him if he would like to try it? He said sure. After about 30 minutes of slinging sheetrock mud everywhere he handed my tools back and said he'd clean up the mess he made and pay me what I was charging gladly!!
 
Gumpy, are you going to put rebar and concrete to fill and connect the blocks?
 
gumpy said:
I taught my wife to tuckpoint. She said it looked easy! Haha in 15 minutes she was ready to sling her trowel in the woods. It's not as easy as it looks!
It reminds me of a time when I was finishing some sheetrock in a house I was subcontracting on. The owner came by and watched me for a while and asked me how come he was paying me so much for what I was doing. I asked him if he would like to try it? He said sure. After about 30 minutes of slinging sheetrock mud everywhere he handed my tools back and said he'd clean up the mess he made and pay me what I was charging gladly!!
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Dry wall mud? Yes, I have hurt myself doing that as well! For me, anything that requires reaching over my head and in front of me, messes me up.
My house is an old Victorian. It had plaster walls that were then wallpapered with several layers, then a thick texturing over that, and then painted several coats. The first floor of my house has all been stripped down to the plaster, and in some instances, dry walled where it used to be plastered. I worked every day one summer scraping the lower level of my stair case ~ entry way. I would work a little bit every day, scraping, spraying with vinegar water, scraping. When I was done, someone repaired the plaster exterior walls, and repaired the dry-walled interior walls. The upper level requires more scraping work on a ladder, and I have done much of it, but am not quite done.
 
You were lucky it wasn't lath and plaster. I really don't like dealing with sheetrock, especially ceilings and tape and mudding joints, it's certainly not my idea of a fun job, I think I'd rather pour concrete.
 
viking said:
You were lucky it wasn't lath and plaster. I really don't like dealing with sheetrock, especially ceilings and tape and mudding joints, it's certainly not my idea of a fun job, I think I'd rather pour concrete.
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Viking, it was lath and plaster. I have ripped some of that out and re-did the walls with dry wall. Ceilings? Been there, and hurt for a long time while working on that. When I was doing a lot of painting a few years ago, I hired someone to repair some dry-wall. It was well worth every penny I paid for it.
 
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SheepDog said:
Gumpy, are you going to put rebar and concrete to fill and connect the blocks?
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I put reinforcement wire between 2 runs. Seeing as how the whole house is on top of a boulder I don't think it would go anywhere. I just like to be sure.
 
I was just interested because I tend to build everything to exceed local earthquake standards. When I built my garage and shop each of them exceeded the standard by at least 50%. the walls were all tied to the foundation at 32 inch spacing instead of the 48 inch code and glued to the foundation. The walls are sheathed inside and out with structural OSB panels and then for fire protection I used structural Hardi-board (concrete) siding on the outside and a layer of dry wall inside. Hurricane straps hold the trusses to the walls and the trusses are braced diagonally in four places.
I was raised in Seattle and learned to earthquake proof everything. My bookcases are bolted to the walls. The china hutch is bolted together and to the wall. My computer is fastened to my desk and heavy items are on the bottom shelves or in the bottom drawers. All the cabinets have latches to keep stuff from falling out and the pantry shelves have a safety bar to keep the jars and cans from falling off.
Mind you, I checked out the earthquake history here before I moved and the odds of an earthquake of M6 or higher are very low and the largest earthquake in the last 200 years was an M6 that caused very little damage because it was a deep quake. My preps are for M7 and above.
 
gumpy said:
Y'all have quite an experience awaiting you. Do you know someone with experience that you can get tips from?
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Fortunately our new neighbor across the street was in the construction trade in the military, and he's very helpful with information. :)
We were hoping to be able to fix up the home that's on the property already - both for $ reasons and for its historical value. But it's looking more and more like we'll need to take it down and start from scratch. Too many years with too little care, and it sits directly on the ground (no foundation). At this point I'm thinking that whatever materials we can salvage from it will be helpful in making outbuildings. And the septic can still be used with a new structure (and in our area that's a big deal, as we're pretty much right on top of bedrock).
 
goshengirl said:
Fortunately our new neighbor across the street was in the construction trade in the military, and he's very helpful with information. :)
We were hoping to be able to fix up the home that's on the property already - both for $ reasons and for its historical value. But it's looking more and more like we'll need to take it down and start from scratch. Too many years with too little care, and it sits directly on the ground (no foundation). At this point I'm thinking that whatever materials we can salvage from it will be helpful in making outbuildings. And the septic can still be used with a new structure (and in our area that's a big deal, as we're pretty much right on top of bedrock).
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Our house is directly on bedrock. They used a low-boy septic tank and it still stuck out of the ground 4"! The field line starts 200' from the tank. Septic systems like that are expensive! So yeah, use what ya got!
 
gumpy said:
What kind of land is it? Is it builder friendly?
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It was my parents home. They moved . It's only an acre but it's surrounded by cattle pasture and the lady who owns that has already offered to sell us some adjacent property. We are on a corner. The home is just a double wide. Our big plan is to hopefully buy 3-4 acrea more and build a bit further back of the road. This will be paid off in 10 years. We would love to build with the intent of aging in place, with everything easily accessible and wheel chair friendly, no stairs wide doors , good willing we will never need that but it's best to plan For the worst right?
 
Weeelllllll! 3 walls complete. 1 more left to go. Dr. Appt tomorrow so no work. Have the granddaughters this weekend so no work. Monday is work as usual!
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Sunshine said:
It was my parents home. They moved . It's only an acre but it's surrounded by cattle pasture and the lady who owns that has already offered to sell us some adjacent property. We are on a corner. The home is just a double wide. Our big plan is to hopefully buy 3-4 acrea more and build a bit further back of the road. This will be paid off in 10 years. We would love to build with the intent of aging in place, with everything easily accessible and wheel chair friendly, no stairs wide doors , good willing we will never need that but it's best to plan For the worst right?
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Plan for the worst and look for the best. We are building wheel chair friendly also. Don't know how much longer I can go. Lord just let me finish this house!
 
gumpy said:
Weeelllllll! 3 walls complete. 1 more left to go. Dr. Appt tomorrow so no work. Have the granddaughters this weekend so no work. Monday is work as usual!
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Looking good brother.

We didnt build our place but we bought with the idea that this would be our final move. It’s a two story (most of which we use for our B&B) we live in a small suite on the main floor. Lots of space for the two of us and mobility friendly
 
I love it that you are building your own, it's a great feeling to see things come together and that you were able to do it the way you want it. I consulted my wife on every move to make sure she would be happy and could live with the end product and even then I sometimes get, "We should have built this larger," but I have to remind her that in order to work within the monetary boundries I use the sizing of lumber and plywood that's available.
 
Haven't posted in a while, so we've got quite a bit done.
The block work is finished!
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The lumber is supposed to be delivered next week. We've had so much rain and snow this winter that my yard is a quagmire! I've had to hire a track hoe to set the lumber off the flat bed on the road and set it in the yard. Supposed to get like 4"-6" of rain next 7 days! It was 6" of snow.

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On a side job related to the house build, we've started tearing down an old building made of weathered oak. The right side leanto is dismantled and part of the right side leanto roof has been removed. I'm going to use the metal roofing on some of the walls in the new house and will also wainscote some walls with it. The weathered lumber will be used as accents and cut into trim for the house.

Getting the blocks laid has been holding up progress for over a month so now we it should start looking like a house!
We also got the water filter thru Amazon on Thursday! It will take Sulfur, Iron, and Manganese out of the well water. It came dissasembled so I put it all together in my living room to make sure all the parts were there. I didn't start the air compressor on it for fear of damaging something. Then I took it back apart and reboxed everything. Now I have to build a temporary small building for it so it won't freeze and some crackhead doesn't steal it. I can't afford another $1300 to replace it!
That's about got everything caught up to date.
 
phideaux said:
I want a big front porch....:USA:

Ifin I visit , I need a rockin cheer on the porch.
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Jim
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The front porch is 28'x10'. The back porch is 28'x4'. I think we could both fit on the front porch!
I just wanted a 4' overhang on the back center of the house.
 
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