Landscaping!

A family friend is remodeling his backyard to make way for a swimming pool and getting rid of a TON of bushing and flowering plants.  So we took that as an opportunity to get all that we could and transplant them to the house.  We planted most around the exterior of the house and then used the rest around existing trees in the front yard.  We're not sure that they will survive and flourish but we don't have anything to lose!  They are various sizes right now but once they are established we will go back and do some heavy pruning to even things out.  There is an assortment of boxwoods, gardenias, oleander, and yaupon.  This is the only picture I have that actually show the plants...way too tired after digging all those holes to take a picture!

 



Where Things Are Situated

I took this picture the other day to show the view of the house from the highway.

 

You can barely make out the front porch posts in the very center of the picture.  The pond looks quite pretty in this photo but don't let it fool you!  It can be very green and gross looking sometimes!  Hopefully as we work more on this piece of land we can work on cleaning out the ponds (there is a smaller pond to the right of the driveway that is not visible in this picture).

We Have Walls! (Sort of...)

This summer has been BUSY but we have gotten a lot done even in this crazy heat.  Of course we can only work from daylight until 9 or 10 but that is plenty for me!

Since we have to work when we can and can't devote all day every day to construction, we have built all the exterior walls and stacked them on the foundation to be "raised" on a future date.  I know this isn't how most people build houses, but this two-man construction crew works very differently.

We stayed fairly true to the original plans for the house with just a few minor adjustments of doors and windows.  We have 6 foot windows in the living room/dining room area and the bedroom along with 3 foot windows in the kitchen, utility room, and bathroom. 

The original plans also had a door from the bathroom leading outside but we chose to move that to the utility room so that it would be accessible from the carport (yet to be designed).

Most days we built the walls on the foundation and then added them to the large stack that we had already completed and covered with a tarp.  However today we just built the last two walls on top of our stack.  Not 100% sure why, but it sure was easier in my opinion!  A fully constructed 10 foot tall wall is kinda heavy and awkward!

 

 

I wish that we were raising the walls next week but I think Dad wants to wait until we have taken our vacation in a couple of weeks so we're going to start on the interior walls next.  There are only five of those so I'm hoping that will be finished next week.

After that is putting it together and adding ceiling joists and beams and stuff that I don't really understand yet!  You'll learn all about it when I do!

A Post About Posts

My dad retired in March and I naturally assumed that this meant he would spend every waking hour finishing my house.  Right.  We really haven't accomplished much over the past few months that can be seen with the naked eye.  But work is being done!

We have ordered and received about half of the boards needed to frame the house.  We have ordered the plywood needed for the walls and hope to receive that order in the next week or so.  Dad has sketched out the exterior wall plans to measure out where the windows and doors will be so that when we start putting them together we'll have our ducks in a row.

The one thing that has changed at the house site is the addition of the porch columns.  Dad took 10 ft tall pieces of square pipe and created the columns from those.  He painted them white so that they look nicer but they will not be seen in the final product.  We're not sure if we're going to cover them with HardiePlank (the rest of the house will be done in this) or a faux stone that we've seen.

There are still two posts missing in this picture, but they have since been added to make a total of 11 porch columns.

It wasn't until the columns went up that I realized how tall 10 ft ceilings will be!  But I'm excited about the tall ceilings because it will, hopefully, make the house seem larger that its tiny square footage.

Hopefully this summer sees lots of wall construction going on (even though it will be 100 degrees every single day).

Building It Up To Take It Back Down

So Dad decided the best way to tackle the large roof was to basically build parts of it, cut the wood for the remaining parts, and take it all down until we need it again.  Which is a good plan when your workforce consists of 2-3 people.

He started by using some online program to determine the correct angles of all the boards.  Then we were able to set up this center frame and build outward from there.

The house has a hip roof (as opposed to a gabled roof) so that requires a lot of intermediate boards.  We worked on setting up one portion of the roof and made sure that all of the angles and lengths were correct before cutting the remaining boards.  We then could cut corresponding angle boards for the remainder of the roof but those were just cut and stored for later.

We took it all apart and placed it in our storage container for when we are ready to put the roof on.  Then all we will have to do is pull out each section (which are clearly labeled) and screw them back in place.  Hopefully that will make our job slightly easier!

Now we are moving on to the walls!  We took the Easter weekend off BUT my dad just retired from his job (after 39 years) so I just know that he will devote all his new free time to finishing the house!

Laying The Foundation...Of The Foundation

So we've accomplished a lot in the past few months!  It won't look like it from the pictures, but all of the work that goes into a foundation is overwhelming. 

Once all of the forms were redone after the rain incident we were able to begin laying the rebar.  Pieces had to be bent and cut to make the rectangular shaped pieces that would sit down in the 4 ft. "ditch" around the edge. 

Then all of the long pieces that stretched across the foundation had to be arranged and wired together.  That work is back-breaking and I did not enjoy it at all!

Luckily it only took a couple of weekends to get that all finished and then it was go time on the concrete!  I have so much appreciation of what goes into foundation work and I know that this foundation will last a LONG time!

Oops!!!

So I haven't even shown you what the house will look like!  Sheesh!!!

Here is the exterior:

 

And the floor plan:

 

 

Only 848 sq ft!  Very compact, but that is exactly what I need.  One person and a few animals does not need a ginormous house.

There are a few changes that we have made to the plan:

• no exterior door coming into the bathroom (weird)
• moved that door to the end of the walk in closet  (which is more of a storage / laundry room) on the left
• switched the bathroom and the bedroom closet in order to have all the plumbing closer to the exterior of the house
• moved the sink to the left side of the kitchen and centered the window above it
• lowered the pitch and height of the roof because it was absurdly tall

Hope you like it as much as I do!

Days 1 - 14

We began this house-building project back in May, however we're only on day 14 of the project.  How?  Since my dad works full time and I am no good working alone (even on summer break) we only work every other Friday and every Saturday.  So while it seems to me that we have been working for months, we've only been working a couple of weeks!

The house is being built on land that my parents own.  They are putting up the money to build the house and I will pay rent.  Eventually it will become a guest house when they build their own close by.

This is what the spot looked like when we began:

(try to remember that pretty green grass...you won't see it for awhile!)

The first order of business was to remove several stumps from pine trees that we had recently cut down and a few older ones that had been there for years.  We rented an excavator for a week and my dad spent days digging up those stumps. It is amazing how deep and wide tree roots go!!!

After the stumps were gone and the holes filled in, we had to smooth the ground back out as much as we could.  We already knew we were going to have dirt brought in to raise the house up slightly, but we wanted a level base for everything to sit on.

Later in the week we had 3 or 4 truckloads of dirt brought in and Dad used the excavator to dig a trench around the foundation and to pack down the dirt and even it out.

Next we began setting up the forms for the foundation.  Whoever says that you don't use algebra and such after high school has obviously never built a house.  Trying to make sure that everything was square required LOTS of formulas and measuring!  We built the braces (the pink things) back at my dad's house as well as made stakes from rebar to help anchor them to the ground.  We used 2 x 12s first to attach to the braces then went back with 2 x 6s and filled in the gap at the ground level.  We also had to account for the front and  side porches of the house.  The porch will be slightly lower that the rest of the foundation and we had to lower the level of the top board to reflect this.

Once the form was finished we had to go back and level the dirt on top and in the trench.  I do not have any pictures of this step because I was convinced I would die soon after and the pictures would not be needed.

Seriously.  We start working as soon as the sun rises, but it doesn't take long for the temps to reach the 90s. Hydration and breaks are key!

So we were moving right along!  We then lined the entire thing (trenches and all) with heavy duty plastic and began working on the rebar.  No more shoveling dirt!  I was super excited!

And then it rained.  And rained.  And rained.

As in deluge.  For a couple of weeks.  With no stopping.

And the dirt surrounding the trench just couldn't handle it.

So the wonderful plastic that we lined the foundation with is now hiding mounds of dirt that have collapsed due to the rain.

(it's kinda hard to see, but the plastic should be going straight down on the left side...not pushed toward the middle due to the dirt)

So we're at a standstill.  We lost 2 days of working due to the rain (which is a LOT) and now we have to go back and repair the damage before moving forward.

I know this isn't the last setback that we'll have, but it really just SUCKS to have things out of your control.

Anyway...hopefully we'll get moving again soon!

Back It Up

Since I started this blog after beginning the house project, I need to go back in time and tell about what we have done so far.  The next post will tell how many days we have worked and what we have accomplished so far.  Plus the setback we've already encountered :(

Hi!  Just wanted to give a quick introduction about my new blog...

I am currently in the early stages of building a new house.  Mind you, when I say that I am building, that is EXACTLY what I mean!  My dad and I are doing most of the work ourselves.  There will be a few things (like pouring the foundation) that we will contract out, but for the most part we are doing all of the work.

I could not be happier about this adventure!  I will give a little background about my current living situation in the future.  Thanks for following along on my journey! 

Test Post

Just testing to see if everything is working correctly.