Advice for first time builder

[Daren]

Hi, i've been reading the forums and the website and it is all very inspiring. Let me explain as simply as I can what led me here. Me and my wife and 2 kids live a typical suburban lifestyle. We have a nice home in a subdivision, an SUV and some other little perks. I am a 29 year old city letter carrier (postman) she is an operations manager at a large investment firm.

We are to the point that we have decided that we want a simpler life. Pretty much we are slaves or indentured servants to the banking machine. We have a mortgage and car loans that we can afford, but after they are paid thats it. The SUV is getting sold, and hopefully soon the house.

I have a mechanical background with cars and such as I have always dabled in classic cars. The only building projects I have pursued are the screen porch I built last year and high school woodshop. I already own a lot of tools.

I have found a piece of land that the owner will finance and I want to build my home, yes I said me with help from wife and friends on weekends and nights.
People around me think i've gone bonkers, but someone on this forum said you can do it you have to want it bad. I've bought several books on framing,plumbing,wiring and such. I am no stranger to hard work and have never had anything given to me. So with that said here are some of my first questions.  I'm interested in the 1 1/2 story cottage, how many footings are on this house for the pier and beam foundation? Can they be dug with a posthole digger or should I rent a power auger, can my wife help me operate an auger?  I hear they require lots of strength. I am in georgia so frost heave is not an issue, how deep should I go? Also the cardboard tube forms from home depot, it would seem that the cardboard would attract termites in the ground , they do eat cardboard, how would you combat this.

One more thing, what is the average price for a well and septic tank? I have a choice between a lot with a well and septic already installed and one without, both 5 acres.

I have to go pick up my wife from work but I will check back later so any advice is welcome beforehand

Thats it for now

[glenn kangiser]

Welcome, Daren.  There is no question that you can do it.  We have had people do it with less experience than you and we are there to help with advice when they get into a spot.

12 footings are shown on the plan.  Size of the footing can depend on soil conditions.  Ability to dig by hand depends on conditions.  Handling the power auger depends on conditions also.  Our favorite reply here - DEPENDS.

The cardboard tubes (Sonotubes) are forms only and can be removed after the concrete is set.

Wells run 5K to 10K here average - Septic systems  6K simple to 25K engineered and can still vary.

[optionguru]

Welcome,

I used a power auger last year extensively with my brother.   We are both 200lb plus and it was very hard.  We were digging in somewhat rocky soil and we're in NH so we had to go deep.

[John Raabe]

Welcome Daren:

Once you have your property and plans you can start connecting with the local folks and finding out what works in your climate and soil. Don't be afraid to ask folks to look at your project and give you advice or suggest people to help. Most will be glad to share their experience and this is one of the great fun things about building your own home.

And please remember, [highlight]you don't have to do everything yourself[/highlight]. Lots of us have farmed out the foundation, plumbing, wiring and roofing (I did!  ) I still learned a lot, saved 1/2 the contracted bid cost and met some great folks I still call friends.

We try to help folks learn to do what they want to do... But not everybody wants or needs to learn all the skills needed to build a house. They certainly don't have to to be an Official Owner-Builder (at least not on this site!)

Almost all of us need a little help from our friends.  

[John_M]

The use of an auger is kind of a strange thing....because if the ground is relatively soft and root and rock free the auger is easy to use...but then so is a post hole digger.  If the ground is rocky and full of roots (especially roots) the auger is more work than it is worth.  You will find yourself digging the roots and rocks out by hand.  This might be best handled by a pro with a small backhoe or bobcat with a posthole attachment.  If you can afford a crawlspace foundation.....the extra storage might be worth the $$$ and effort!

It is tough to ask people opinions sometimes.....you wind up with too many opinions to choose from!  

....lots of great ideas on this site though!!!  Enjoy your journey!  

[Amanda_931]

If you're going to get a tractor anyway, there are auger attachments.  We dug a foundation (not very deep) with one--zig-zagging 12" holes and then smoothing off between them.  In this rock hard soil a whole lot easier than trying to do it by hand.  Where one of those 16 pound six feet long iron jobs are pretty much what you want.

The (one or) two-man augers apparently work pretty nicely in easy to work soil with no stones or serious roots.

But Charlie Daniels (of the Charlie Daniels Band) broke arm or wrist when the big power auger hit a rock and the auger stopped but the handle whipped around.  I don't think he could play the fiddle for a year or so.

I've had drills do that, and an air ratchet (decidedly not a home or even small mechanic's shop quality compressor).  The latter probably broke a fingertip--I was new and too in awe of the company i worked for to complain when the nurses said don't bother getting it x-rayed.  The drill was three or four months ago, and there's still a little sore spot where it hit my forehead.  I'm not going to risk having a six-inch auger get caught on one of our many fist- to head-sized rocks and sling me around.

[glenn kangiser]

If you could rent a digger like this one it should be much safer.

[builderboy]

That's a sweet digger Glenn. I have a cedar post and rail fence in my future and that looks the the machine for the task. Do they apply downward pressure or just the weight of the digger arm combined with the digging motion?

[builderboy]

On further look, it seems like they just dig their way down and you use the winch to pull it out of the hole.

[glenn kangiser]

This was a generic picture I found on a rental site.  I have seen a couple similar models but don't know if they all work the same.  I have seen them for rent and they should keep a person from getting slapped around.

[paul s]

i rent  that kind a lot, they are great, why   the power of hydraulics, the ones i rent have reverse and they back out and go at it again and again
of course having a 240 lb 15 year old son who is 6'3" really helps too.  but he ears like 340 lbs lol

i last time put a 3" auger on one and drilled a series of holes about 6 inches apart to find the leach bed of my septic system.

[paul s]

need to watch my typing, eats like 340 pounds

[glenn kangiser]

Horsing one of those things around he may have to eat like 340 lbs.  

Note that if you want you can hit modify and change the original text, however sometimes it's more fun just to leave it.

[Daren]

Those augers are great I wonder if my local rental outfit has them.  I looked at the price of the kind you put on a tractor and they are very expensive not including the auger. I figure I will eventually purchase a used tractor but i didn't want to right now.  Those you just posted may be the best value.

[Jens]

Make friends with the neighbors, one of them may have a tractor with an auger on it and be willing to help in exchange for tuning up their old truck, or even a pizza/case of beer.  Just make sure that the beer doesn't come out until the end of the day, or nothing will get done

[okie-guy]

Daren- My 100' well with casing and submursible pump was $1800.00. When the time comes I will put a pressure tank etc. on it. Does yours have a well house? Need to add that cost.Mine I built myelf but still was in the $100.00 range. The septic system will be at least $2500. The state has changed the regulations and require a minimum of a 500 gal tank.I would think that a good well already drilled and a septic system already installed and approved would be worth a minimum of $5,000. but probably a lot more than that.Good Luck.