Hi everyone. I thought I'd update on our progress with our little home:
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/houseplans.jpg)
Here's the exterior elevation of the house
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/housef1.jpg)
Here's the first floor. We're running the front door through the sunporch and turning the entrance room into a big pantry(gotta have somewhere to keep all the wine and cheese I make :))
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/housef2.jpg)
Here's the second floor.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0737.jpg)
We rented a backhoe to excavate for the foundation. We've hired out the actual concrete work. Here the forms for the footings are going in.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0739.jpg)
The foundation is done and waiting for backfill. We've started putting on the sill plates. The contractor put the bolts for the plates about 1/2" too low and we're having to chisel out each one to get the nuts on. >:( This is the view out the front door of our trailer house.
Aaaaahhhh getting started!!
What a nice thought.
Congratulations!
Maybe use a router to cut the sill plates instead of a chisel? Super fast... or a forsner bit in a drill. ?
I like that plan, congratulations on getting started. What kind of wine, what kind of cheese??
Judy
Looks great, Sherry.
We got all the first layer of sill plates on. We're doing a double sill plate so we can put the I-beams wherever we want. Fortunately we'll only have to drill holes for where the nuts are. NO Chiseling!!
So far we've put $7000 into the foundation. We've bought $4400 worth of wood, which should deck and frame the first floor, but not sheathe it and no windows and doors. We only had $25000 to start with in a lump sum(we were hoping we could get it closed in with that), so this is going to be cutting it really close.
Judy,
I'm one of those crazy people who likes having a milk cow. I'm pretty good at cheddar, brick, farmers, and cottage cheese. I'm working on mozzerella, but haven't been totally successful with it yet. I'm just learning about wine. I have a peach that will knock you on your butt(15%) and have a lovely apple blossom going. I cracked the apple blossom the other day. It was at 6% alchohol(waaaaaay too low :D), but it's only been going for 2 weeks. I tasted it and it's really too sweet still but with a nice fizz. I'll try it again in a couple of weeks. I may bottle it early in champaign bottles for a sparkling wine. Anyway, the pantry will have a trap door right into the crawlspace so I have a dark, cool place for my wines and cheeses.
Sherry
Party at Melwynnd's! :D
We were in the Star Valley in Wyoming a few years back (Olympic wrestler Rulon Gardner is from that area) and had some good ice cream and cheese at the Star Valley Cheese factory. The coolest thing, and something our boys will never forget was seeing a cattle drive happening all around us. The cowboys and girls on horseback were herding the cattle right on the road in front of us. We could only go as fast as the cattle would allow and it was great, most people were patient but some Californian (not that there's anything wrong with that) in a motor home apparently had places to go and acted like a... well like the south end of a north going cow. Didn't phase the cowboys. At one point a couple in a little truck from Wisconsin got to talking to a cowgirl and you could tell the driver was saying "C'mon, let me try." She got off her horse, he got out of the truck and jumped on the horse, she got in the truck and he got to be a part of the drive for a couple of miles! It was one of those great moments.
Judy
The cattle drive sounds like it was fun. I really like happenings like that.
Cute house! Do you have any other exterior renderings?
Oh my gosh! I just found this site again after a few years....my how it has grown! I can't believe you are actually building this plan. I've watched it for ages dreaming... :)
Did you have problems getting it approved? I'll keep an eye on this page.
Another thing that kept me from ordering these plans is that I live in Michigan. I wondered how expensive the windows would be and what it would do to energy efficiency but gotta love it!
Now that my kids are grown they keep saying they will build me a house...if I don't get started soon, I won't live long enough to enjoy it! Better get the move on I guess!
Good luck to you!
Welcome to the forum MIEDRN--- glad you found us again.
That looks like a design from Drummond. And I think they are in Canada. If it's Eastern, same kind of climate as Michigan.
So it may not be as awful as it could be.
I saw this on eplans.com, when I was looking for plans for our really Big house ::) someday... ::)
I really loved the exterior look of it...but I would have to rearrange the whole inside, I didn't care for the kitchen, it's not big enough by far....
Have you looked at the saltbox house John designed & built that they are living in? Really nice & looks like quite a bit of room. Awhile back, I had to look up where the term "saltbox" came from.
"The Saltbox house plan is named after the Colonial salt container it resembles.
Take a typical Cape Cod style two story home. Now extend the roof slope downward at the back of the home, to a one-story extension of the basic Cape Cod box, and you've got a Saltbox Colonial house -- so named because of its resemblance to an old-fashioned Colonial-era salt container. The Saltbox house plan is an elegant and simple way to expand the interior space in the home -- a feature that makes it popular with those seeking to maximize livability without breaking the bank. The extended space at the rear of the Saltbox home lends itself to the modern desire for an open design for a family room or combination kitchen/dining area, while still presenting a simple, traditional look to the street. The Saltbox house plan is often without ornamentation, with shingle or clapboard siding." (eplans.com)
Miedrn, you could always change/upgrade the windows and upgrade the insulation to keep it snug.
Our big house is by the same designer. (HWEPL10400)
It's taken us a while, but we are back on track. We had to wait to see just how high the water table goes when everyone irrigates around us before we could put the concrete floor in the crawlspace. The water table crawls up to within 1 1/2 foot to the surface. The only thing that saves everyone's bacon around here is the fact that 2 1/2 foot below the surface is a bed of pure sand and gravel. Great for keeping things from shifiting, HORRIBLE to dig water lines in >:(.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0786.jpg)
Our center beam and the three whole joists we got on last night. You can see our cement floor and the sump we put in, just in case.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0785.jpg)
The view out our front door.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0784.jpg)
You can see just how close to the trailer the house is. At least we don't have to go far to build!
Hopefully we can get some more joists up tonight. We've found that if we just consentrate on the next step rather than think about building a whole house, it's less intimidating. :)
Sherry
That's the way Sherry --later add the one things up and you'll have a bunch of them. Good on the progress.
We've made some more progress the last few weeks. Since we both have jobs, the farm, and just plain life keeps happening ;), it seems we only have a few hours to work on it a day. We had a bit of bad luck two days after we put up our first wall. A microburst came out of the south(the wind never blows from that direction here), picked up two sheets of plywood from the ground and flung them at the wall support hard enough to break one completely in two. There was a large BANG and our lovely wall was on the ground, top and bottom plates split beyond repair :'(. What's more, we used ring shank nails, so we can't get the remains apart. We decided that was a practice wall. We may be able to use part of it as a deck.
I took a weeks vacation last week and my 13 year old daughter and I worked on the walls morning and night. My husband has been so busy in his body shop that he hasn't been able to help too much. He helped with the first, nailed the second, and then built us a lever to fit over the 2x6's so we could straighten them to nail them by ourselves(the air nailer is my best friend :)). So we build the third and fourth wall all by ourselves. My daughter is much more excited about the house now that she's actually building it.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0792.jpg)
Three walls up, but not squared yet and the fourth finished on the floor. The mess on the ground is our "practice wall".
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0794.jpg)
A better view of the walls. Hopefully we can get them squared and the fourth up this week.
Sherry
MIEDRN,
I just went through the old posts and found your questions.
We didn't have to get approval on the house plans as there isn't any zoning(yet) out of town here. We had to get a residence certificate, but we did that when we put in the trailer house.
We are not using the windows as per plans. We are going with Jeld-Wen 30x48's($128.00) everywhere except over the kitchen counters where we are using 30x30's($108). We got rid of the north sliding glass door and just put a window in that wall. The east sliding glass door is a 36" nine light door with a window next to it. We put two windows in the living room rather than the full wall window. We figured that if we kept all the windows the same size, we'd eventually be able to build the frames for them without messing up :D. We are glassing in the veranda and put a 72" 10 lite french door between the sunroom and the living room.
There is another dormer you can't see in the provided pictures on the north side in the master bedroom. We are tempted to put two in(I think it looks lopsided with just one) and put doors instead of windows in them and add a balcony going across. I think that would add a lot to the house with not too much extra expense.
Sherry
We got the three standing walls squared and nailed down only to find out my daughter and I built the 4th wall 5 1/2" too long :-[. Carpenters we're not. ;D
Sherry
Quote Carpenters we're not. ;D
Sherry
Ummm... Yes you are carpenters! Look at those walls! 5-1/2" too long is better than 5-1/2" too short..
I think you're doing good just for the fact that you can build it, Sherry. As my sister once said, "Everybody makes misnakes." :-/
Thanks for the encouragement. I'm sure it won't be the only snag. :o
We've decided to put a couple of shallow wells in the crawl space. One will connect to a hand pump at the kitchen sink and the other will connect to an electric pump. We are currently hooked up to a shallow well a couple of hundred feet away and it's hard to get water pressure. We don't use this water for drinking as it's pretty hard(think scummy coffee), but for everything else.
I think we're going to just drive sand points fifteen feet or so down. With the well in the crawlspace, at least we shouldn't have to worry about the pipes freezeing. :)
Sherry
Auto parts people believe that a mistake a day keeps them from being obnoxious--any more obnoxious than the job requires, anyway.
Nice to see progress.
I can remember my mother's "old family home" had both a hand pump and a regular faucet at the kitchen sink.
I haven't heard of doing that in years, Sherry. Great idea. Please let us know more about your kitchen pump well project. You can develop it with air to open it up and clean the water. I don't know what is normal procedure to do in your area. Is this common there now?
Glenn,
I don't think it's too common here, but we're working at going off grid(sort of) eventually so it makes sense to have the water source close.
In the summer, if you dig a post hole here, you just dug a well. There is about two to two and a half feet of soil and then a deep layer of clean sand and river cobbles. This used to be a river bed. The water drops down some in the fall and winter.
I'm assuming we'll just have to sink the point. In fact, our plummer friend told us not to pump out of our crawlspace sump regularly as it will make it a well and we'll always have to pump it.
I have to get the interior kitchen wall up before we can drive the point, so I know exactly where the sink will be. I've found that the plans are nice.......but seeing it there is better.
Sherry
Sounds like a real good plan, Sherry. Knowing your land allows you to use it's resources to your advantage.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0825.jpg)
We have four walls!!!!
:)
My hubby looked around and said, "So this is how big your house is?" I bet he really likes the heat bill though. ;)
Now for the interior walls..............
Sherry
House size "changes" as you build.
Maybe not the same way for everybody.
It's starting to look like a house!! Rachel and I are working on the interior walls now and the stairs(YIKES!! :o).
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0839.jpg)
The west wall. My kitchen sink will be at the small window and the large one is a half-bath. The rest of this wall is pantry.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0840.jpg)
This is the east wall. I like lots of morning sunlight :). The door we chose is a nine lite door, so there's a window there as well. The wood stove goes on this wall between the two windows to the south and the door and window to the north.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0841.jpg)
The south wall. The big french doors are the only opening in this wall as the stairs and the pantry are on this wall. But the sunroom is in front of the doors so we should get lots of light.
We have about half of the interior walls built.
Sherry
Looking nice Sherry, real nice. :)
I had a nice little stroke of luck yesterday.
It may seem a bit early to be thinking about appliances since the house isn't even built yet, but I needed to know the dimensions of my kitchen appliances before we build the counters.
I bought a 1941(about) Chambers gas stove on Ebay. They are amazingly advanced for their day(or even for today), meant for really cooking, and made before the concept of "planned obsolescence" was invented. If you want to find out about them www.chamberstoves.net has lots of info.
Now I needed a sink to go with the stove............ I decided I wanted an old farmers style sink with the drain boards on each side. We spill milk sometimes when we are straining and it runs under our stainless steel sink.
I watched on Ebay and found several, but they were a couple of hundred dollars and most were pickup only(usually back East).
Sunday morning I woke to find someone had hit two deer and left them on the road right in front of our house >:(. So I loaded them in the truck and took them to the neighbor's draw where we throw that sort of thing.
Lo and Behold there was a sink exactly like I was looking for in the draw. The neighbors had redone the kitchen in one of their houses and thrown it away. I loaded it up and took it to find out if they would sell it to me. I explained the sink was worth a couple of hundred dollars on Ebay. They gave it to me and said take anything else I want. So I have my sink!!
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/stove.jpg)
Here's my stove.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/sink.jpg)
And the matching sink. It fits in the area for the sink with just 4 inches to spare. You'd think we planned it that way! ;D
how fun!
Hmmm. One of my aunts had what looked an awful lot like that 1932 Martha Washington stove. This was in the 1960's.
And she probably kept it because she liked it.
Your project is looking good! Keep up the good work ... and with photos.
Here's a little historical inspiration, John (Quincy?) Adams' Saltbox:
.
(http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/4673/saltboxls4.th.jpg) (http://img97.imageshack.us/my.php?image=saltboxls4.jpg),(http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/1493/saltboxfrontte3.th.jpg) (http://img218.imageshack.us/my.php?image=saltboxfrontte3.jpg)
Looks great Sherry and it's an inspiration. Women CAN do this, can't they? The more I see on here, the more inspiring it is.
Thanks for keeping us updated. I wish you well!
Quote
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/stove.jpg)
Here's my stove.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/sink.jpg)
And the matching sink. It fits in the area for the sink with just 4 inches to spare. You'd think we planned it that way! ;D
I'm jealous-great finds! The house is looking great, too.
Judy
I love the old stuff too. Maybe that's why I think so much of my wife. :)
QuoteI love the old stuff too. Maybe that's why I think so much of my wife. :)
Your a dead man ;) Enjoy the couch ;D
Yeah, Glenn, talk about misnakes! Enjoy that home cooking.
( "... Oh Dear, this tofu meringue is delicious ... what is that sweet metallic taste?")
Why Sweetie, you are 2 weeks older than I am :D !
QuoteWhy Sweetie, you are 2 weeks older than I am :D !
Sassy your much to easy on Glenn ::) He looks about 10 years older, at least ;D
You sure he's not your Dad? That's what one would think if you where seen together, I'm sure ;)
Whew-- boy. I'm getting it from all sides now. :-/
Good one PEG! ;D
Sherry, great finds! And I am really impressed with your progress! Lookin good!
We had a very busy house building weekend. My husband managed to get away so he helped all weekend. We also made some changes to the floorplan.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0842.jpg)
All the joists are up for the second floor.....HOORAY!! :)
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0844.jpg)
This is the kitchen. We took out the half bath and the laundry closet. The bathroom upstairs will be enough and there's room for a laundry closet up there too. Besides, that's where all the dirty clothes are. ;)
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0845.jpg)
Here's my pantry with the trap door to the crawlspace. The opening above is where the spiral stair goes.
The next project is getting all those pieces of 3/4 inch decking all the way up there for the floor. Rachel and I will be working on the sunroom walls this week if Brad doesn't have time to help.
Sherry
Wow! I told Glenn that you can tell a woman was building the house... the big pantry! has her priorities right... ;) :) He told me to "go for it, build it!" :-/ You certainly made a lot of progress this weekend.
My husband says I must have some squirrel in my ancestry the way I like to store food ;D. But we produce most of our food here on the farm, so I have to be able to store it. Some people hoard money, I hoard edibles ;). Wine and homemade cheese anyone? The appleblossom is awsome! :D
Now that we've gotten to the second floor, it's decision time. I am in favor of changing the plans totally. We lose a lot of space upstairs the way the plans are now and the dormers are, frankly, a challenge to our (VERY!) limited capentry skills. The plans are almost no help on the roof or gable construction.
I'd like to put 6' walls on the east and west side and a simple gable roof. That way we could have our balcony(maybe out of our bedroom and on the south side, so it could be the roof for the sunroom) and not have a lot of angles to worry about. Basically the house would look like the two story universal plan(which I wanted in the first place but hubby wouldn't go for it, you know we women alway get what we want in the end :)). The good thing is we reinforced everything way more than it needed to be(I-beams 16" OC, 2x6 16" OC walls, double 2X8 beam down the middle) so changing loads won't be a problem.
Sherry
I am still so impressed that you are building this mostly by yourself! I rely on Glenn & although I've watched him do a lot of stuff I am still just the "helper" on most things. I do mostly the finish work - but as you said, sometimes the DH & the wife may have differing opinions as to what is priority ::) ? As a kid I used to build tree forts & such & 3 days before I delivered my youngest son I decided I needed a combination bookshelf/entertainment center so drew up what I wanted & went to the lumber yard, told them what lengths & types of wood I wanted - they cut it for me, I took it home, built it, sanded & stained it & finished it the day before my son was born! So I know I could probably do it, but our place is so, should I say, unusual? :o
Ok, so I am making up excuses for myself :-/ . But you are right, Sherry, it does seem that we usually get what we want - could it be that women just have more of an intuitive sense of what is needed? ;) Don't tell the men our secrets - we just use the gentle are of persuasion & sooner or later... :-* - although there are times you've got to be rather blunt to get it through their heads ;D .
BTW, I probably have a bit of squirrel in me too. My mom always had full cupboards & fridge & I always have it in the back of my mind, what if something happened & we couldn't get the the store... that's why I need a big pantry, too! One of these days we will get a root cellar done, too. With our crazy schedules & never at one place on a permanent basis, it is difficult to have goats or cows etc. Our chickens are somehow getting picked off by a coyote or raccoons, one by one. I think we might have lost our sweet little one eyed vagrant cat, Tobey, this last time we were gone for 2 weeks - the raccoons had gotten into the house & eaten the cat food - we had a neighbor checking on him, but haven't seen him since we've been back :'( .
Amanda always amazes me with her wealth of knowledge on just about anything. Amanda, tell us what all you have done over the years? Inquiring minds want to know!
I sometimes swear I've done one of everything in the way of a job. It comes closer than I'd like, sometimes.
but in the early 70's there were some gov't apprenticeship training programs available for "trades." So I took the carpenter one--sponsored partly by the Natn'l Ass'n of Home Builders. Then had a heck of a time finding a job. Eventually started doing small remodeling jobs. Eventually worked in an auto parts store, did oil changes and changed batteries at Sears, then ended up on the line at Peterbilt--I was actually there long enough to retire.
And those are only some--left out record stores, book stores, cleaning fish, working for a commercial photographer, and a bunch more.
All on top of being an overeducated bum.
And now I've got someone helping me again a couple of days a week. Which I need badly, for motivation as much as anything else (although I'm perceptibly getting older). Getting a bunch of yard work done (I hate yard work) got a tiny greenhouse kit to build up the hill, need to mulch and plant the field up the hill with plants to a) help rebuild the soil, which doesn't look great and b) hold down the blackberries and privet. And an earth oven, and a bigger place to live!
Leaning more and more towards being "really green." But I've got a ways to go.
Lots of practical jobs that are helpful for what you are wanting to do now, plus a lot of good info that helps out others :) . Yard work has its pros & cons - if I've been working for several days in the "dungeon" (our ER is in the basement - unlike our underground cabin - no windows & sometimes I work up to 16 hr shifts if we are really slammed) - then I like to get outside & work in the garden or the yard. Trying to keep blackberries controlled is another thing... when I lived in Washington state we had meadows behind the house full of blackberries - I didn't mind that cuz I used to pick them & make jam, pies & freeze them + they were free :) didn't have much money... :-/ & didn't have to try to clear them out either... I have about 3 more years until I can retire from nursing - then I can work as much or little as necessary - yea!
I know what you mean when you get a helper - sometimes Glenn & I can't get the energy to get off our tushes to get work done on the place - we'd rather sit in our recliners reading CountryPlans! :-/ :) or surfing the net (myself, I also like a good book). Anymore, I have so much arthritis I feel like an old lady (but I guess DH & I ARE getting a bit older as he so kindly alluded to ;) :P )
Its always interesting learning about the people on the forum.
Sassy said,
QuoteI guess DH & I ARE getting a bit older as he so kindly alluded to
I said you were---- I can still climb around like the monkey boy. :-/
Amanda,
Is it just me, or do you find it rather expensive and quite time consuming "going green"?
We are working on consuming less, but it seems to be a slow process and the equipment can be expensive. We have the cow(meat, dairy), the chickens(eggs, meat), the garden(veggies), the orchard(apples plums strawberries, raspberries). Now I'd like to get a flour grinder. I've looked at lots of kinds and the best hand powered(trying to get away from the old electricity :)) is the Country Living mill. It runs about $400 :o)
Sometimes it seems we take two steps forward and one step back, but we are making a little progress.
Still, I think the time is coming in our lifetimes(I'm 35 and my hubby is 33)when we are all going to have to use less, and how much nicer will it be for us if we're used to it.
Sherry
Sherry, that's what I keep telling myself when I think things aren't quite as easy or convenient in our underground cabin as they are in our house in the valley (of course we aren't finished with the cabin yet...) but there is more work keeping up the solar system although we seldom have any problems, you've got to be more careful with how much power you use - but then I've always been pretty frugal having been a single mom for several years - instead of turning on the air conditioner my kids & I would wear wet tee shirts around the house, sometimes even putting them in the freezer for awhile, drape a damp towel over ourselves when sleeping - good evaporative cooler :-/ - open windows at night & use fans. Even years ago, power to run the air conditioner in that house could reach $300+, same with the heater - so just bundled up more, used the woodstove... I even had additional insulation put in but didn't help that much. I've always had a garden, canned, froze stuff etc. In Washington I used to can & freeze lots & lots of salmon (that's why I couldn't even eat the stuff after awhile - cleaning & smelling the fish, etc). Had a friend who grinded her own flour - I never got to that point, the grinders were too expensive, but did make my own bread.
Sherry, having animals you have to milk & care for, making your own cheese, wine, etc, gardening - you end up basically having to make that your full time job - otherwise you are just too busy & I would think stressed to really go all green... but you sound like you are just about there. You have your home business & also building your house - wow, superwoman!
It will be awhile before we can have our own animals - not been too successful so far with all the coyotes, raccoons, bears, bobcats (not Glenn's ;) ), even mountain lions, although I've never seen one around here but Glenn thinks he saw one on our road one day or else it was a huge bobcat.
But back to my original thought before getting sidetracked... things might not be quite so easy or convenient, a lot more work entailed, but we better get used to it - with the economy & political situations going like they are, who knows what the future holds?
Sassy,
Actually, my home business is on the back burner right now :). I'm a librarian in the real world. I work four days a week. It's a great job for me since I have access to all the information I can use(and a lot I don't need :)).
We're constantly looking for ways to streamline the farm. After 4 summers of being tied down with the milk cow I've decided to change my plan of operation. I'm waiting to breed her in December so she'll calve the end of September. Then I'll milk in the winter until mid February when the bum calves are available. I have more time to make cheese and stuff in winter anyway. I'll just put a calf or two(she's nursed up to three at a time)on her and milk when I want after that until July or so when she'll need to be dried off to have her next calf.
By the way, I think I've convinced my husband about changing the roof to a more universal plan. In fact he had a good idea(I hate it when he does that!) and said instead of a balcony, we could just make that six feet over the sunroom and porch part of the house. We spent a little extra on the foundation to put footers and a regular stem wall under the porch anyway as we were putting the foundation up so high.
That adds enough room for a reading nook with a south window and a 6x11 foot sewing room for me which will be great since I sew all my own clothes. In fact, I think the biggest mess in the house now is my sewing stuff that has to be hauled out and never quite gets put away ::). It also makes the bathroom bigger and gives me a laundry in the bathroom.
Thanks for the encouragement. Tomorrow is my day off and Rachel and I will be building the sunroom walls and the porch beam.
Sherry
As soon as the price of transportation sinks in a bit more, I think we're all going to go a lot greener.
I don't know if it really costs more. For me it would probably be quite a bit less--eating at home more, driving less, getting more exercise, etc.
I'm buying more things in the way of food on-line, especially those things that could otherwise come from Nashville.
How did your day of building go, Sherry? I once thought of being a librarian since I love to read so much - figured that would be a perfect situation & now with the internet!
Amanda, we eat out a lot... Glenn being on the road, traveling back & forth from the cabin to the valley, I have a half hour drive to work each way, even from our house in the valley :-/ . Seems we are always in a hurry or just don't feel like cooking... I cook some but not every meal - then I try to serve healthy stuff - make sure we have veggies, fruit (from our garden & fruit trees) am buying more organic foods (especially milk products).
Our initial investment in the solar & wind generator was pretty expensive, but Glenn has it set up where there's very little maintenance anymore & we have plenty of power for most our needs... I can wash clothes & even use the propane dryer (hanging out clothes while weather hot & dry which is 75% of the year it seems) we use the microwave, compact florescent lightbulbs, swamp cooler when needed, freezer, monitor refrigerator & all Glenn's tools, the well pump. Otherwise, we have the instant on hot water heater & stove - both propane, use wood heat... have a WWII diesel generator... the garden is on the roof, we still have 4 chickens left that seem to be laying an egg each everyday. So in those ways, we are pretty independent & green although it takes someone who knows how to set up, work & maintain the stuff, otherwise, not only is the initial purchase super expensive, the upkeep would be terrible if you had to call someone in all the time to check things out & fix them. Since Glenn knows how to do all that, we don't have to worry :) .
With our building, we have used recycled stuff, dirt from our property, a lot of logs that were bug kill but still in good shape to build with, Glenn has milled all the wood.
Well, I better finish this now as the DSL guy is here to check out our system.... in spite of Glenn's working on it, we think the main problem is a faulty modem.
We almost never eat out, but that is less from virtue and more from the fact we have to drive 60 miles to a town with any good resteraunts ;D.
Actually we don't go much at all. My husband's body shop is right at the house and I work 1 1/2 miles from home. We grocery shop once a month in Cody(60 miles) and usually carpool with my parents for that.
I'd have loved to do an underground, or partially underground home, but the water table is just too high here. We are going to berm up the ground around the house 2 1/2 feet and use that for a raised bed. Right now I have a garden in our lawn(translate: weedpatch), but I'm going to pull it out and plant Envirolawn. I'll till a 2' strip next to the fence for hollyhocks, foxglove, and sunflowers(all "weeds" that don't need much care). We've started getting hummingbirds here and they're fun to watch.
I should be able to use our crawlspace for a root cellar. Potatoes and carrots all winter! :) My parents used to use their basement for a root cellar in the winter(it's dry then, they pump it out all summer), but they had their furnace put down there so it's too warm for the veggies to keep well now. It's great for brooding baby chick though 8-).
We have more trouble with the neighbors' dogs than wild critters here with our chickens. But we keep them in a large pen almost all the time and lock them safely up at night. We only have six hens anyhow, so they aren't hard to keep track of.
Well, I'm off to finish the porch wall. If all goes well, we'll have all the second floor decking on and the front porch finished by Sunday evening.
Sherry
Post more pictures! :)
That is "Post more pictures, please", Sassy ---- ;D
Here's what we got done this weekend. It wasn't quite what I'd hoped(somehow it never is ;)), but we're proud of it anyway.
Rachel and I built the walls for the sunporch while my husband screwed down the decking on Saturday. We got it all up and tied together by Saturday night. We were all pretty tired on Sunday, but we went out to put up the I-beams on the porch since they need to be up for Brad to put the decking on properly. We had cut two when we discovered that two of our 24' beams were only 22'. They'll replace them, but they didn't have a delivery driver on Sunday, so we quit until evening. Then Brad screwed on more decking and I tried my hand at cutting risers for steps(the 4' jump up to the house seems to be getting harder. ;D
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0874.jpg)
Here's the sunporch from the west side.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0875.jpg)
This is the south. I've been racking my brain for a way to put some thermal mass into that inside wall. There is a foundation under it, so weight really isn't a problem. I'm thinking of bronze painted tin, with sand inside? I don't think sheetrock would conduct the heat as well, but maybe I'm wrong.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0877.jpg)
Here's the veiw from the second story. As you can see, lawn care really hasn't been a priority. :D We can see everything but who's pulling into the driveway. :-/
Sherry
Nice job, Sherry. I love the lawn -what are you talking about?
Thermal mass -- brick -- adobe brick -- water filled galvanized culvert colunms(best)-- cob. Water holds twice the heat. How about scrap plastic buckets filled with water and plastered into columns? Just a bunch of goofy ideas. :)
Beautiful views, Sherry & great job on the building! Glenn doesn't believe in lawns - he thinks they're too much work & a waste :-/ , so he likes the "un-mowed" look... ::) We have a lawn in the valley - plus all the landscaping - always a lot of work but it is very beautiful when everything is taken care of so I do my best to keep it looking nice when I'm there - occasionally one of my sons will visit & do the yard work :) - last time, I even got one of them to clean all the outside house windows! We are surrounded by almond orchards & vineyards, but the place is kind of an oasis out in the hot valley.
Know what you mean about the 4ft to get up to the foundation! That would be tough... here at the cabin everywhere you go, you are either climbing up or down steps or hills!
Sassy,
I agree with Glen about the lawns. We're putting in Envirolawn when we're done, sort of like a prairie lawn. But here you have to have SOMETHING or you have the seven foot tall kocia weeds that you see in the picture. Since I'm only 5 foot tall, it makes it hard to see where I'm going. ::)
Sherry
Here, it's time for the Giant Ragweed to start blooming. It will go well past 10 feet tall.
But in general I'm with Glenn on the subject of lawns.
Buffalo grass might work, though.
A bit ago John posted a LEED chart for somewhere--Seattle. They really really hate lawns, gave extra points for less than 25% of the landscaped area lawn,
(don't have the URL handy, I copied the .pdf in documents)
QuoteOutdoor Conservation
(2) 6-2. Mulch landscape beds with 2 in. organic mulch
(1) 6-3. Use grass type requiring less irrigation and minimal
maintenance
(3) 6-4. Use compost soil amendments to establish turf and
other vegetation with less irrigation
(3) 6-5. Limit use of turf grass to 25% of landscaped area
(3) 6-6. Landscape with plants appropriate for site
topography and soil types, emphasizing use of plants
with low watering requirements
(4) 6-7. Plumb for greywater irrigation
(5) 6-8. Install rainwater collection system (cistern) for reuse
(10) 6-9. Bonus Points: Install irrigation system using recycled
water
(10) 6-10. Bonus points: No turf grass
Doesn't ragweed give people asthma?
Sherry --sheetrockers have cool little stilts they use to work on ceilings -- they strap right on to your feet -- that way you could see if there were any mowers coming. :-/
Sorry about that Sherry --- couldn't resist picking on you a bit --- I'm so ashamed. :-[
I really think it is great that you are doing such a fine job on your house and are teaching or learning along with your daughter --- the knowledge she gains on this project will help her to be a "can do" girl just like her mom, for the rest of her life.
Here's the stuff we're going to use: :)
http://www.outsidepride.com/store/catalog/Envirolawn-p-17721.html
Most of the lawn is fenced and I plan on planting hollyhocks and wild sunflowers(both grow without being watered and attract birds) along that fence. They can just be cut with a sicklebar mower in the fall and it won't hurt for the tractor to drive on them to pull the ditches.
We're putting a 2 1/2' raised bed all the way around the house for flowers, herbs, and strawberries and I'll use a soaker hose for that. We do have assess to water(someone else's wast water) for flood irrigation of the lawn, but it's a pain so I'd rather not if I don't have to. Besides, the more you water, the more you have to mow :-/.
Sherry
The sources I've seen for the buffalo grass were in Texas--with names for the shortest stuff like "Tex-Oka." So that guy's lawn mixtures might well be better for your area.
Hello everyone :)
We had a busy weekend(what's new) and got a good chunk done. All the decking is on the second floor and the sunporch is sheathed(sorry didn't get pictures this morning before I went to work).
We've decided to go with 8 foot walls upstairs and a 4:12 metal roof. In fact we've chosen very similar colors to the picture of the 20' universal cottage. We're going with vinyl shakes in a very light grey with a darker grey metal roof. We're trying to echo the greys in the hills with our house.
We have also changed the way we're going to do the balcony. Instead of attatching it to the outside of the house and supporting it with posts to the ground(very looong posts as the top floor is 14' off the ground ;)), we're going to slip 20' IBS's in between the floor joists and let them cantilever out the six feet. If we'd planned on having the balcony sooner, we could have just had the floor joists cut 6' longer :-?. But the balcony is a must since we've chosen to have a spiral staircase and the beds won't fit up it.
My husband and I were discussing how much work this all is yesterday and how, if we'd hired someone else, it would already be done, and so much less OUR house. We'd have exactly the houseplan we bought, without those things that fit our lifestyle so well. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything. :)
I'll try to get some pictures in the morning.
Sherry
Finally got pictures :).
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0889.jpg)
The east side of the house. This is where the balcony will go. Hopefully we'll get some of the joists up for it tonight.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0888.jpg)
The south side of the house.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0887.jpg)
The west side of the house. I still need to build one more set of steps. That's a long way to jump and it hurts when you miss :D.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0890.jpg)
The inside of the house from the sunroom. It's interesting how getting the upstairs floor on changed how the size of the downstairs felt. I wonder what sheetrock will do.
Now for the upstairs walls!
Sherry
WOW!!!
That looks so nice!
Yep, everything you do makes it look different, from here, drywall is a biggie, then ceiling, paint, flooring all make a difference, but adding furniture may be the most dramatic.
Ragweed and asthma?
Not directly--it's a very common allergen--I've known people who stayed indoors in air conditioned--and air filtered--splendor for two months in the late summer and fall because of it. Sneezing, streaming nose and eyes if they ventured outdoors.
Sometimes things you are allergic to are asthma triggers--ragweed grass or tree pollen, cats, dogs, horses, cockroaches, fungi, penicillin, dust mites. As are exercise, cold, heat, smell of cedar, added "scents" like detergents or drier sheets, assorted "chemicals." Sometimes they're not.
But years of aggressive desensitzation shots led me to think that even if something wasn't a trigger, becoming un-allergic helped ditch the asthma. Not very aggressive desensitization shots just cost time and money--for me. They've helped a friend beyond belief.
Good progress pics. The house is looking great!
Is that second floor walls lying on the ground?
Jimmy,
Nope, that's the first wall we built that was knocked off the foundation by a microburst :-/. It doesn't look too damaged until you get close. Then you see the split sill plates. I think we'll use what we can for a garden shed.
Sherry
QuoteJimmy,
Nope, that's the first wall we built that was knocked off the foundation by a microburst :-/.
It must not have passed inspection from someone up above!
So they removed it for you.....
A guy that lives down the road from me rebuilt his 2nd floor framing 2 times in 2 weeks due to those darn microbursts.
The 2nd time it happened his truck was parked next to the house and ended up under the debris pile..
Our latest progress. It's funny how flimsy the walls look all the way up there :D.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0906.jpg)
The east side with the balcony and the frame for the french door.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0907.jpg)
Another shot of the balcony.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0908.jpg)
The west side. We're putting up the walls in half sections. They're easier to handle that way since there isn't anyway to prop it from the outside. The top of the wall is 25' in the air.
Great progress, Sherry.
Yes it is!
Great, and great amounts of progress.
Hi everyone :)
My husband Brad went to the drag races this weekend so I decided to surprise him by having all the upsairs walls up when he got back.
We just made it. Funny how just when you get good at something, the job's over. ;)
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0912.jpg)
The west side. We still have studs to fill in and the top sill plate to put on, but that can be done in little blocks of time this week.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0911.jpg)
The east side. I did manage to nail two of my fingers to the wall on Sunday. No major damage done, though, just sore for milking :-?.
Sherry
I'm really impressed, Sherry.
Now, about the nail thing --- not with a nail gun I hope. :-?
I got shot with one about a month ago - it was friendly fire though. :)
Please fill in the gory details so someone else doesn't do it.
Glenn,
Oh yes, it was with a nail gun. Went right through the flesh of my right index finger and into my middle finger. :o. I'm afraid I said a bad word after that, but I did have enough presence of mind to SLIDE my finger off the nail rather than pull on it.
I was nailing studs on the wall by myself and the nail must have hit a knot. It bent outward and went through my fingers where I was holding the stud, frankly, too close to the end.
This was only a flesh wound, no bone broken or anything, but like I said, it makes milking the cow much harder :D
Sherry
Scarey Sherry. :-/ Hey - that rhymes. :) .....stupid .... I know....
I can bet your fingers will be far away from now on. Also look out for whoever is in line ahead of the nailgun - that's how Fred shot me. I was about 15 feet in front of him - nail missed and shot me in the back-- also only a flesh wound --- don't you just love saying that--- just like in the movies.
I can see I still have to work with you a bit, Sherry. You are still a novice. You said "A BAD WORD". When you can say a whole string of bad words without stopping for 30 seconds to a minute and make them into a smoothly rolling musical sentence including chewing yourself out, then possibly you will approach my glory. :-/
Hey melwynnd,
I was looking at your latest pictures, very nice looking house by the way, and I noticed that your end joists on the second floor weren't doubled up. I was under the impression that the end joists have to be doubled up, even if they were on the non-load bearing gable end. :-?
Just curious if this detail was in your plans because it shows up in my 20x32 Universal cottage plans.
Thanks!
Kodakjello
The place is looking great! Sorry to hear about your encounter with the nail gun... I tend to be rather accident prone so Glenn won't let me use the nail gun... I'm kind of afraid to anyway - as far as the bad word goes, when Glenn gets started, he can keep going for several minutes, any of us in hearing distance just ::) & say, there he goes again & then have a big ;D - its actually comical, he has such a way with words ;)
Kodakjello.
We left the second stud out so we could better nail the walls together. We'll fill them in along with the other studs and firebreaks before we sheathe. There's also a second 2x6 that goes on top. I hope to get all that done on my day off(funny term, isn't it :-?) tomorrow so we can start sheathing and building interior walls this weekend.
We're cutting this pretty close to have it done before winter, but I think we'll make it. The other cool thing is it looks like we'll be on budget too. :D
My parents are going to cut out and build the trusses for us, so we need to figure out how to build a jig for that. They're retired and looking for something to do. I'm hoping we'll have it all closed in in a month or so. Then we can take a deep breath and work on the inside at a much more reasonable pace :).
Sherry
Well guys, this last weekend was the first where building the house sucked! :'(
It poured rain all over our OSB, so we scrambled to put it up before bad things started happening. But putting those heavy things up 14 feet with just my husband, my daughter, and I was hard. And, of course, the wind started to blow, the mud was slimey, and that @#$%$ scaffolding was heavy! it was just yukky.
Still, we got all the big pieces of sheathing up. We also discovered tarping over the walls in the Wyoming wind is a very bad idea as it sucked our walls in out of level and we had to cut the tarp off. I thought it would tear before it would do anything like that, but apparently not. Everything's fixed now.
We also whimped out and ordered our trusses built. As it happened, some trusses had been delivered to the lumberyard we're working with by mistake that fit just perfectly(apparently we're ordinary after all ;)), so they're ready to go.
The plan for this weekend.........build the interior walls upstairs, tie them in on the top sillplate, finish the little piece of sheathing on top, cut out the windows, and put on the housewrap. We're getting there!!
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0924.jpg)
The house really stands up there now. As you can see, it's sprinkling today too. I'm sure it'll get really nice out as soon as the roof is on ::)
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0922.jpg)
This is the side with the most distortion from the tarp blowing. The door opening made it weaker, I'm sure. :-[
Sherry
What a brave crew! It's so neat your daughter is working with you... 8-) She'll have some great skills - she'll either want to build her own house one day or never want anything to deal with it again ;D :-/ !
Oh, the things we learn... that was wonderful that lumber yard had the exact trusses you needed :), lookin' great! Hope you get some nice weather.
We've been getting areas around our site cleaned up, Glenn has been doing maintenance on a his machinery. I have to drive to the valley for work & he left early this am for Shaver Lake (a beautiful area in Calif.) to work on a building - I think a home that is being built up there. My son has been here for the past couple days - has a few days off so has been helping around here with the clean up. Glenn got the wood splitter fixed so got a lot of wood split & stacked in the shed (which had to be cleaned out 1st & an extra support put in) There's always a million things to do before you do the thing you set out to do... :-/ Then my son will follow me down to the valley & get all my yard work done for me :) .
Sherry, I think we have all had the same experience.
It's just part of the owner builder initiation process.
Just this past week my place became "dried in" after starting the first floor sub flooring a little over a year ago.
45 minutes after placing the last sheet of metal in place, we got 3 inches of rain in 2 hours!
The storms will make you realize what an amazing thing you have done by creating your own shelter!
Sassy,
I cheated and sicklebar mowed our weeds(aka as the lawn ;)) as soon as the season was late enough they wouldn't grown back. My little garden didn't do great this year, but I'll have enough for seeds for next year and just enough broomcorn for a little hearth broom.
It's supposed to be rainy for the next couple of weeks. We're going to try to push on, though and get our upstairs ready to put the roof on. It poured rain after I took the last pictures today, so I spent my luch hour squeegeeing off the floors. The rain has pretty much stopped, but it's supposed to be like this for the next few days.
Whenever anyone teases me now about children who never leave home, I just say I know she can build her own house so there's no need for her to stay with us forever........... :D
Jimmy,
Well this has certainly been an experience, that's for sure! I'm still having trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that we've almost built a whole house by ourselves. It seemed so scary when we started, but looking back it wasn't that hard. Funny how little support(excepting this site, of course) people get for doing this yourselves. I guess we're just not supporting our consumer economy :).
Sherry
QuoteWell guys, this last weekend was the first where building the house sucked! :'(
and that @#$%$ scaffolding was heavy! it was just yukky.
Much improved, Sherry. Very good for a librarian.
See how much better you feel when you don't hold it all in. :)
Great progress, Sherry.
Whoohoo!! We have a roof!!(sort of).
No tarpaper or steel yet, but at leat most of the water runs off. :)
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0932.jpg)
South east side.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0931.jpg)
South west side.
We won't be able to do much with it for a few days now. It's supposed to rain for the next week. :'( It gets way too slimey outside with no grass to do much.
Sherry
Looks great, Sherry. If you threw out a bunch of ryegrass seed or other kind would it grow or soon be frozen?
Great job! I'm still very impressed! I was gong to get the saw out this past weekend to make me some shelves & Glenn told me I would just cut a finger off or something. I told him, Sherry is building her house & used the electric saw & nailgun etc... he said, "You aren't a country girl"... although, I've lived in the country most of my life. I did get the shelves, tho, ;) - now I need to sand them & put some verathane on them.
Hey Sherry. Sassy mentioned that it might be a good idea to check behind your house wrap after the big rain and make sure that capillary action isn't holding a lot of water against your OSB.
glenn,
It's freezing every night now, so I don't think planting anything will work. I may spread some straw out and that should help for a while.
Sassy,
Glad I could help get your shelves done ;). Men are so silly about things. My husband didn't want me up on the trusses. Never mind that I'm much more agile than he is(he needs his hip replaced) and strong enough to pull myself up, it just made him nervous. Of course, I had to get up there anyway. :)
Checked under the housewrap, but it's as dry as a bone. We got this cold dry wind last night and today and it just sucks any moisture right up.
Sherry
Sherry, I'm glad the OSB was dry! Yes, the shelves are nice - I had to go to an all day recertification on ACLS today (Advanced Cardiac Life Support) so drove down to our place in the valley last night, then drove to the hospital & came back up the the cabin this evening so didn't get them sanded or any verathane on yet, that's my job for tomorrow. :)
Speaking of hips - I'm the one who needs the hip replaced - just got a steroid injection in it about a month ago, then a couple weeks ago, after the rain, when the clay was all nice & slippery, I stepped out on a flat board - one leg went flying out in front of me, the other folded underneath me & I was stuck there in the mud :-[ >:( :'( crying hurt, angry tears. Glenn heard me & started yelling for me & looking for me. He finally found me & said, "I told you not to do anything dangerous" - I said, "I already did the dangerous stuff up on the roof, I was on the flat ground when this happened - now I've probably messed up my knee & hip again - just when I was feeling better!"
He warned me again about doing dangerous stuff & then kinda chuckled while helping me up, "you're all covered with mud!" I said, "Yeh, I know! >:( What fun... (I just had a few scrapes & bruises & some sore muscles, it didn't even bother my knee or hip :) )
I guess that's why he won't let me use the electric saw or the chainsaw... besides, I would have had to put another log on the sawmill & cut some boards & then haul them over to the other side of our mountain...
I know I haven't checked in in a while, but October's weather was really cruddy here, at least on my days off :-?.
We FINALLY got the steel on the roof. We took advantage of the Thanksgiving holiday to get a Z-boom for four days for the price of two. We needed all four days to get the eaves done and the steel on, but it is done!! We only used 6 of the 8 hours we were allowed on the boom. Too bad we couldn't get another day in there!
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0957.jpg)
Here's the east side. We still have one more door to put in, but we're waiting for a warmer day so the adhesive will seal. We don't get much weather from that direction anyway and if we need to we can hang a tarp over it.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/melwynnd/000_0955.jpg)
Here's the west side. This is were the weather comes from, so we put the doors and windows in on this side first.
It's so nice to not HAVE to work on the house. It's also hard to fathom that we've done all this since the first of July. Only five months!! :o
Sherry
P.S. The snow came two days after we got the steel on. Talk about getting in under the wire!! :P
Really impressive, Sherry. Great job. :)
Gee, Sherry, it looks great! Beautiful views, too :)
We haven't dropped off the face of the earth or been abducted by aliens :D.
But the house project sort of got put on the back burner this summer since Brad decided he didn't want to own his own business and closed his shop. That threw both our finances and our schedule into a tailspin. I also decided I needed to get my Bachelor's degree this summer and didn't want to take the three years most people need to finish. LOTS of homework. :o
But we finally have some progress to show. We spent the weekend putting the soffit and facia on so the house will be birdproof this winter. It was over a hunderd degrees every afternoon, which is typical when we rent equipment that has to go back. :P But it's done and looks great. I know that usually goes on after the siding, but we didn't have the money to side it and needed to have it closed in. It's not like it really gets wet here anyway.
I'll post some pictures soon.
Sherry
I hate it when life gets in the way! ;D was wondering how you were doing-everyone gets to be like family & when we don't hear from someone for awhile, we miss them :'(
Anxious to see pix of your progress. We've been having some awful heat here to - today was the 1st day it's been pretty mild - mid 80's. I can't really complain too much - this summer has been better than most.
The other day, I mentioned to Glenn, "we gotta start working on the house again" - he said "not while it's so hot!"
Great to hear from you, Sherry. I was wondering how you were doing the other day.
Looking forward to the pictures. Please update us as you have time. :)