A few pics of recent construction activity. We saved for several years to have the foundation and exterior done by pros and we plan to finish the interior.
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The above foundation was completed Thanksgiving 2009 and sat bare for a year while we saved more money.
This November we hired a carpenter to try and get it up and dry by Christmas. He and 3 helpers arrived and were gone and 7.5 days.
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so far so good, mind sharing the cost so far? I would guess at least 60,000$
Rough cost
Septic $2200
Rough plumbing (under foundation) $1600
Concrete Foundation $5400
Carpenter crew labor $9500
Carpenter crew lumber $8000
2nd rough plumbing (inside) labor $1200 (brother in law), material $600
Metal roof material and labor $4000
Still need seamless gutters (for rain water harvest) and electrician
Still lots to do inside but now got down to smaller dollar chunks that we can manage easily and do ourselves. All done debt free and staying that way!
Looking good.
Looks like you have 32,500 into it. How much land are you on? (looks like beautiful country)
How do you go about picking your foundation type? I dont know (yet) the differences etc. of Pier vs slab vs crawl space etc.
thanks!
Is it just me or did you not pour a footing for the slab? How thick was the slab?
It appears to be a very thick slab. I wondered about the lack of perimeter footings and about the porch portion of the slab being at the same level as the interior. I had not seen that done that way before.
We're on a slab here too. It is thinner but has an 18 " deep footing around the perimeter. The builder dropped the front entry and rear patio slabs by about 2 1/2 - 3 inches. Plus the attached garage has a lower floor. Maybe a regional difference.
If my eyes are correct, it appears to have a 12" thick perimeter, and 4"-6" thick everywhere else, in the picture with the rebar shown and some conc poured, you can see fill was brought in to raise the grade, also it appears the porch area is approx 1"-2" lower than the rest of the slab, I can tell that from the pic of them raising the wall
11 acres total. Lots of Red Oak, been cutting Red Cedars our for years.
Nathan is right. Full Perimeter footing, 4" thick center slab per the plans. Porch is 1.5" below house (width of a 2x4) with a shallow slope for watter drain. 6' porch out front and 8' porch on long side (to be screened).
Looks awsome hope you post more pictures or do you have them saved somewhere else where they can be looked at? [cool]
QuoteIf my eyes are correct, it appears to have a 12" thick perimeter, and 4"-6" thick everywhere else, in the picture with the rebar shown and some conc poured, you can see fill was brought in to raise the grade,
Ah, you are right (as the builder also pointed out). I couldn't see the detail on that third picture. I kept looking for a trench dug in the first two photos for the footer so I wasn't even thinking of alternately building a tall form and backfilling in the middle.
When my family built our home back in the 80s in northern Arkansas, we had to dig a half basement (hillside, garage on the downslope side, basement upslope) with backhoe and bulldozer. When it came time to pour the footing and slab we couldn't get the depth on the footing in several spots due to bedrock. Our neighbor pointed out that, if you couldn't bust the bedrock, then you had a footing down to magma. ;)
We stopped worrying after that. :D
Some roofing pics. A light tan color. Hardy plank siding will be painted a darker tan.
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Great looking place! Where abouts are you? Looks like your lumber came out of Whitesboro.
I hope you will continue to post more pics as you finish it out. All of us that are still in the planning phse love to watch others work to come together.
Whitesboro indeed. +1, Foxworth Galbraith supplied all the lumber. Good folks there. Roof was via Mueller out of Sherman also good folks.
Planning advice I would focus on if I had it to do over: Stairs and wood burning stove/chimney. These two items have caused me many sleepless nights.
Looks great nice job.
How come you don't need to put the foundation below the frost line?
Maybe the frost line is only 6 - 7 inches? ??? It's only the footings that need to be and the extra thick around the perimeter could qualify as a footing maybe.
Quote from: MountainDon on January 12, 2011, 03:26:49 PM
Maybe the frost line is only 6 - 7 inches? ??? It's only the footings that need to be and the extra thick around the perimeter could qualify as a footing maybe.
Frost line in the area he is building is about 2". Frozen ground is really not an issue there. Growing up just north of the Red River we had a couple water troughs in our corral that were fed by a water hose. When it would get close to freezing my granddad would literally walk along and kick a couple inches of dirt and manure over them and they hardly ever froze. Of course even if they did it wasn't very solid.
NTxTom, very impressive,very! I finished my place on Cedar Creek Lake (60 miles SE of Dallas) almost 2 years ago and retired last year and moved into it full time. Been too busy fishing and gardening the past year to check back here but, glad I finally have.
You mention Sherman and guess you are up around Lake Texoma somewhere? Hopefully you are in Oklahoma instead of Tx as I sure wish I had built up there. The cost of living is incredibly cheaper than down here just a 100 miles south.
Curious to know where you are located and what you paid for the land in that area. I'm still thinking about selling here and moving back to Okla and building again.
Okie Bob
Located just North of Lake Texoma outside of Kingston. You are spot on with cost of living and land prices. We bought in 1999 and while shopping quickly realized decent 1-3 acre lots in far N Texas were running 3-5000 per acre if you could find any (with lots of restrictions). We found 11 acres in South Oklahoma for 1800 per acre (with minor building restrictions). Yes Oklahoma has income tax where Texas does not but Land prices and cost of living should make that up. So far we are happy with our investment.
Tom, I know the area north of Kingston well and you did good! Yes, Ok has an income tax but their property taxes are a small fraction of what they are in Tx plus all the other lower costs in Ok. I have an uncle just east of you that was complaining to me over the holidays how it upset him to pay his $107 per year property tax bill.....I about croked! My property tax is 30 plus times what his is so give me an income tax anytime!
Do you know if $1800 an acre would still buy anything up there? I'm seriously considering a move.
Okie Bob
Hey BoB, you considering moving to California [noidea' ... I can start looking for a place for you. :)
I would say 2500-3500 per acre is the going rate now for rural lots in the 3-10 acre range. Further in the sticks the cheaper it gets.
Some inside work pics. Rough plumbing and a hot water heater.
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Upstairs bath
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Need some advice on this. No experience with stair treads. How to finish out the top of the stair landing with exposed tongue from 2nd floor T&G flooring. ?
My order of picture post on concrete foundation was confusing so I found my old phone with a better pic of the footing prep.
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Progress slow but steady....
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On the top step, I like to install a bull nose top tread. Maybe 6" in depth. It has a groove on the side towards the landing. This is the starter course for that landing. You've already laid the flooring on the landing so you're kinda screwed unles you can pull out that last course that forms your top tread and have a bull nose piece made.
Summer updates. Progress is slow but (semi) steady.
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Updates. Electrical is done. Tile and kitchen cabinets are in. Carpet is in upstairs.
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Next up is wood stove backing and wood stove by Thanksgiving.
Our local stove dealer said the Vermont Castings Aspen was no longer available so we went with the Jotul 602. Very solid little stove that heats up slow but stays warm.
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Everything is looking great. I like the clean look of the outside. Not too busy at all! Very nice.
Quote from: ntexastom on January 18, 2012, 10:28:50 PM
Our local stove dealer said the Vermont Castings Aspen was no longer available..............
I haven't seen any discontinuation notice from VC themselves, but I do know that this time of year through spring it is not all that uncommon for a dealer to run out of a particular model. The factory also may not have all models available at all times as they make them in batch runs. Plus a dealer who is out of stock will not want to order just one stove at a time as it is much more cost effective for shipping to order a number of stoves at a time. Not to mention the distributor/factory will usually offer a dealer a better price on multiple stoves compared to a single item. In any event the Jotul is a nice stove; just didn't want others to be discouraged about Aspen availability unless you check with the factory and they say it's no longer made.
BTW, some of the castings for the Jotul may have been produced by the VC foundry.