things you wish you had known

[BirlyFive]

Hi everyone,

I am excited about building my own house. But that's as far as I've gotten. I'm currently in grad school in Maine, and don't even know where I would buy land if I had any money. So right now I'm just reading books and websites, learning and figuring out what I like.

My question is: what knowledge or skills do you wish you had known before you started buying/designing/building your land/house?

I'm not in a position to actually start doing anything, but I do have a lot of time to learn things. Should I just keep reading and learning as much as possible? Should I take a class at the Shelter Institute ( http://www.shelterinstitute.com/ )? Should I take a class about electricity or plumbing or something else at a community college? Should I start a new hobby such as woodworking? Should I help at a Habitat for Humanity building? Should I get a part-time job at the local lumber yard? ...

What things can I do now (that are good uses of my time and money) that would help me when I finally get to build my own house?

Also, I have a completely unrelated question: What is the name (if there is one.) of this style of house http://www.acadia.ws/reds-garden/ ? A single-story, square house with a pyramidal hipped roof. The roof might have a gable, like in the link, or I think I've seen them where there is a small tower, or miniature "widow's walk" sort of affair at the  peak of the roof. Is it just a bungalow? Or is there a more specific name?

Thanks!

[Amanda_931]

I wish it was a lot handier for me to take one of the class/workshops.  Too many cats and dogs.  (for very good reasons, I'm afraid, people are rarely allowed, never encouraged, to take their dogs to workshops--the dogs would have to sort out their own society, probably noisily possibly with fangs)

And I wish I had known that I was going to be in the trailer for 6 years.

I'd guess that there is (are?) regional names for those houses.  What it (or they) might be I've no idea.

There's a house here that seems to have been built in great numbers in this county--when I moved herethere were about 10 between here and town--and it's not that far.  I tend to blame this on one builder back before WWII doing a lot of work.  But I don't know for sure if that's true.  The neighboring counties have only a few of them.  (gable roof house, gable end towards the road, usually one story, sometimes story and a half.  Front and back porch under shed roofs (often too shallow or not enough support, so that that sags).  Back porch is often enclosed, probably later and turned into a kitchen.

[John_M]

This is a great question!!

I would say, based on the experience of building my cabin, I would say the five things I wish I had done / wish I had known (or what I would recommend) would be:


1.  Save more money in the past (not do those stupid college party, gotta have cool clothes and stuff things) and start earlier.

2.  I love my property, but I wish it was on flatter land.

3.  Gotten involved in Habitat for Humanity or some other building experience.

4.  Read  a lot and thought about the plan a lot (I did do this)

5.  Marry or spend the rest of your life with someone who wants this just as bad as you do (I did this too!!)

...just enjoy every minute of it and if you make it the #1 priority or pretty close to #1, it will happen a lot faster.

[n74tg]

I think it all boils down to how "handy" are you?  Can you "see" how you would fix something that is broken; ie replace a broken tile in a floor, or a broken brick in a wall.   Maybe too, have you already done some little building projects in your life.  Little here could be something as simple as repairing a broken leg on a wooden chair or maybe building a deck on the back of your parents house.  

I remember when I was in high school my mother asking me if I could build a cover for the water well in the back yard.  I was able to just look at the old one that was on the well (and basically falling apart) and say to myself, I can just duplicate that.  

Do you have any experience using power tools (saws, drills, sanders, etc).

When you see a new house under construction, do you walk around it and look at how the carpenter did what he did.

If you can or already do these things, then you probably don't need to take a class, and most everything you don't already know you can learn by reading a book.  I particularly like the For Pros by Pros series of books by Taunton Press.  They are all very good.  Our public library has many of them, so you don't need to buy them.   Your college library probably has some of them.  

[PEG688]

Microsoft stock was going to be a winner

[benevolance]

Peg,

Didn't all your buddies out there in the Washington Wilderness give you the heads up on the stock?

Things I wish I had done differently....Started 5 years earlier towards being debt free and owning my own home...You know how it is when you get tangled up with a beautiful girl and in a relationship that cannot work...

I would have skipped university....I spent a lot of money on that...I said to a friend of mine the other day skipping college would mean the difference between me being a homeowner and debt free now to being a millionaire... He laughed; I was serious!

[desdawg]

When I was growing up I worked for farmers and dairymen in northern Montana. I was always impressed because they seemed to know how to do a little of everything and necessity demanded that. They were the welder, mechanic, weather forecaster, bookeeper, carpenter, concrete finisher, fence builder, plumber, electrician and on and on all in one. This is what they did when they weren't busy with their crops or their cattle. Very self sufficient people. So I adopted this way of being as my role model. As life unfolded I discovered that I had two great passions, construction and real estate. So I learned and am still learning everything I can about both. There is no way you can drop out of the tree knowing it all. I think it is called growth.
My resume includes such things as being a Mountain Bell installer/repairman, construction laborer, Union apprentice and journeyman carpenter, remodeling contractor, project manager for a commercial contractor (I built the Littleton Colorado Center for the Cultural Arts wearing a turtlewax hardhat and a necktie among other projects), construction manager for a pipeline company and at one time I was a Realtor. Today I am an excavating contractor installing septic systems, electrical services and water systems for people building homes on acreages. I own 58 pieces of real estate scattered across AZ. I have the knowledge and ability to improve those properties when the time is right. I have no formal education beyond high school.
If I could go back to some of the first things I did would I do some things differently? Certainly. But I believe the only way to do it wrong is to not do it. I am still reading and learning and hanging out here with some people who have knowledge and perspective that is different from mine, learning more and moving forward. It is just what I do. I couldn't pinpoint any one thing and say this is the answer. It is all part of the answer.  
Be a sponge and absorb all you can. Get your hands on a project no matter how small so all of the book theory has a practical application. Who knows, you might get hooked like me.

[NELSELGNE]

FREE - Building information links:

http://www.countryplans.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

http://www.motherearthnews.com/

http://www.backwoodshome.com/article_index.html

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LittleHouses/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TinyHouses/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/organic_architecture/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ownerbuilderclub/

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/cheap-shelters/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/earthship_strawbale_cordwood/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lowtech/

[glenn kangiser]

Save your money, Birlyfive.  The classes may show you a couple things but not much that isn't available free.  My philosophy was always, "They don't have to beat me over the head with a book to make me read it."  

I'm similar in belief to desdawg.  Worked for the phone co. for 2 years too, in maintenance, field construction and cable splicing.  If you have the desire to learn it you won't have to be force fed.  I also went to 12th grade -graduated but  even skipped graduation.  They had to send me my diploma.  A piece of paper that proved that I could respond to programming by responding properly to bells and whistles like Pavlov's dog ---- without salivating----- most of the time --- OK -- part of the time.    :-/  

Within 1 year I was head mechanic at the Dodge dealership and I learned it all from reading the Dodge maintenance manual and from my co-workers.  Study and do -- hands on and no one even knew.  

[Dimitri]

I'm in the same boat as you, in college now, graduating in April though.

I'm good at making things out of both metal (going to college for this) and wood. If your uncomfortable with making things out of wood (the primary building compoant) then I'd suggest you get yourself a small selection of woodworking tools, some cheap lumber and practice making things. Doesnt have to look good just has to work right and fit right. Making something look good takes practice.  

Dimitri

[Amanda_931]

Unless you're one of those unfortunate people for whom things look great and don't work worth a flip.  

University, grad school, expensive workshops.  You can learn everything you need another way, but...

Old friend of mine who decided he'd rather be a philosopher than a biologist read a paper on why the good Bishop Berkeley was an idealist (only ideas are real). Because he was constantly constipated, and couldn't pass matter!      

He thought for a while, then decided that the author was serious.

Not true.

Both, ones education tends to be skewed in kind of weird ways, (the way my building education has been to some extent) and you don't get the give-and-take, the opportunity to listen to people thinking out loud, that you get at a university.

Or should.  People seem these days to treat it like a technical school (which is probably bad-mouthing technical school) or correspondence course or just giving you a piece of paper to take to a job interview.

(do you think that this discussion hit one of my hobby horses?)

[glenn kangiser]

Wife says most people need the discipline of going to school to learn.  I guess I just don't understand.  I think she likes the spankings.  (Mental spankings?)

I'll bet you've worn out a few universities, eh?, Amanda.

[Sassy]

For the most part, people seem to need the discipline of a formal schooling as well as working for someone, I think... there are a few who are motivated enough to study, research & learn on their own as well as be self-employed...   I do think that the basic requirements for a 4 yr college degree give you a broad base of info that hopefully will awaken your mind to search further... it did for me...  although you may only get the professor's biased opinion oftentimes, it's a stepping stone for young people just getting out from under their parents' wings.

ps:  Glenn & I were writing at the same time - I never got a spanking... Glenn frequently got the ruler over the knuckles & seems to recall that some of the teachers had paddles...   hmmm, he can't quite recall whether he ever got a spanking - probably blocked it out of his memory...  

[benevolance]

sassy I think I misnderstood glenn's post...I thought he was talking about spanking you..

we might need to open up a S&M section to Countryplans...

[glenn kangiser]

Easy Peter-- that would go under CityPlans. :-/

[benevolance]

city plans? I don't understand man? :-/

[glenn kangiser]

That type of activity is most common here in San Francisco.  It is a city.  

[desdawg]

When I was a Project Manager, a position normally held by someone with a college education, I was paid less than if I had kept swinging the hammer. And this is still true today. My stepson is in a similar situation....and scratching his head saying hey, hey....I moved up the foodchain and down the payscale.
I think all this classroom stuff is a bit overated. You get all of this theory but without the "hands on" education it doesn't translate into the real world often times. My personal belief is that people who draw plans and engineer things should have some time in the field learning the things that the educators missed. There needs to be a balance. And I am not saying the way I went about things is the best way, it was just my circumstances. Actually I have a Bachelors degree from the School of Hard Knocks and I am currently working on my Masters   8-)

[benevolance]

Sorry Glenn I did not know that sort of thing was a city activity...

To confess I am out of that loop...



Funny joke...

A car guy who lives near me was arguing with his wife and she said something about him working on cars wasting money..etc... He turned to me so his wife could hear and said:

Peter, this is abuse and made the motion of forehanding his wife... But this is Discipline and made the motion of backhanding her...

not funny because spousal abuse is funny...Funny because of her response to his little joke I guess...With the battle of the sexes there is a lot to be said for jostling and the Parley

[Dimitri]

College in Canada is hands on.  

The biggest chunk of time in college for me is my shop class working on the machines. Pretty much any program "colleges" offer here is hands on, only schools that arnt so hands on are Universaties.  

Dimitri

[glenn kangiser]

My son took machinist work at City College.  Is pretty good.  He had one hand injured at the time and was better than the guys with both hands.

[Dimitri]

My son took machinist work at City College.  Is pretty good.  He had one hand injured at the time and was better than the guys with both hands.

Just need one hand to safely run a machine, normally I keep my left arm behind me because I dont want hot metal chips to burn more of my body then nessisary.  

Dimitri

[Okie_Bob]

B'five, since you are in grad school and asking this type question, I assume you are not in a science ciriculum? The reason I ask is that the main thing I learned getting a BS in Engineering was the knowledge of how to learn. That simple! We have a term out here called 'common sense' that says it all.
I was fortunate enough to be raised by a man that forced me to work from a very early age. He told me to do something and then watched me figure out a way to do it and if I got stuck, he would show me what I had missed. Very good education, in my opinion.
I grew up believing that none of the trades people were that much smarter than me so if I tried, I could do what they do. Not that I could do it as good as they could but, I could get the job done. I think that lack of fear of trying to do something is what has allowed me to learn to do whatever I need done.
Maybe getting too philosophical here.
I'm saying that if I want to learn how to build a house, I watch a lot of people building houses, read everything I can get my hands on about building houses and then go practice somewhere, somehow, the things I've learned, perfecting, if possible, the skills I need. Maybe that helps?
BTW, as an engineer, I don't have to know how to spell.....therefore, I are an engineer!
Okie Bob.....just a poor dumb Okie...and proud of it!

[BirlyFive]

thanks for everyone's replies.

my grad school program is in molecular biology, and i'm getting paid to do it. i went to a math and science high school, and majored in math and biology at a small women's liberal arts college. so i guess Okie_Bob's post was right on. i don't have any experience with building or fixing things, but i'm pretty confident that i'm gonna be able to do it when the time comes. and i seem to be coming from a pretty different background than many people on this forum. i haven't yet figured out what i'm actually going to do with my life, because i get all excited about homesteading sorts of things, but i also think molecular biology is pretty exciting. and i'm not so sure how those two things fit together. but i'm working on it.

my parents have almost completely rebuilt our c. 1833 greek revival cape which was all plaster and lath when they bought it. so when i was growing up, i was around construction... my dad has all sorts of tools, and my parents did the electricity, tiling, drywall, structural things, etc., themselves. however, i was small, and often the contruction was blocked off from the rest of the house and me, because of lead paint fumes or plaster dust or what have you. so i know it happened... but i was never helping.

if my parents could do it, then i can to. i know i'm capeable of learning everything i need to know. since i have this time to learn things (i.e. i'm not in a rush to build), i'm trying to figure out what are the best things to learn. and it sounds like the answers are "as much as possible about everything, with hands-on or at least eyes-on experience" or "carpentry". so i'll work on that!

thanks again!

[glenn kangiser]

Good attitude and about the way I believe/have believed also.  Both of you.

Okie BoB-- the Okie's have come up with some great stuff, I agree.  Charles Machine Works - Home of Ditch Witch.  One of the best digging machines in the world.  That doesn't mean I still don't like to harass engineers.  I think the best ones get at least some hands on or field experience.

I also learned from anyone who would answer or show me.  Watched the neighbor frame a foundation when about 7 - learned a little I'm sure.  Read and did nearly anything I wanted to do.