Just wondering when this thread started. The first post says Dec 19 but doesn't give a year and I know it was running before last Dec 19.

Dec 19, 2011

Coming up on 4 years, and I thought I'd be done in 6-8 months....

That's what work, getting married and changing jobs can do to you

Everything about this makes me feel inferior.

FML, as the kids say these days.

Nothing to feel inferior about, just kind of luck of the draw I guess.

Yes I do have some skills/abilities but if it wasn't for a lot of factors there is no way I could have pulled this off.

Sure there are some technical aspects but I fully believe most people could build a house. The problem everything is stacked against most people. Banks won't loan you money without a plan, having to pay rent on the tools would be insane, the time required is monumental.

Not to get to off course but our society as a hole isn't to keen on this type of thing, sure there is all kinds of DIY tv shows that show you how to lay tile or build a deck but doing the hole house cuts out to many people. Everyone has to get paid these days the bank, general contractor, builder, electrician, plumber, concrete guys, architect, flooring installers, painters, drywall subs.

Everyone has to make a living, but the end result is that housing cost are plain ridiculous. My 1500 sq/ft house and 500 sq/ft studio were built for about $35 a sq/ft. when I'm completely don't with landscaping, carports and retaining walls it should be about $40-42 a sq/ft. That won't buy you a mobile home in most places, let alone a house. How people afford 3000 sq/ft homes is beyond me, I fully plan on building more houses but the next one will be under 1200 sq/ft maybe under 1000.

I'd love to see this through to the end! Keep it up.

Bump to keep it alive, with any luck I'll be able to start working on the house again in a couple of weeks.

Hope all is well. Any updates? Great story and pictures.

I haven't had the chance to take any pictures but over the last couple of weeks I've dug out about 50 yards of dirt from underneath the house in preparation to pour concrete and close it in for my future shop ( should be about 1k sq/ft) and also started on finishing the porch for my wife's studio.

I will get a few pictures this weekend.

We're moving soon and I want to address the floor in my new place. I'd love to do a rustic floor like that so that I don't have to live <i>"on eggshells"</i> that my dog or kids might scratch the new hardwood floors etc.

It's got a new floor in most of the first floor, but it is that easy install floating floor. I'm thinking about pulling that new floor up to use in the bedrooms, because I want whatever floor I have on the first floor to match and flow into the dining room and sunroom (bigger than where the floating floor is).

Though I hear the new floating floors with their industrial applied finishes are pretty durable..

I've helped do quite a bit of flooring (friend has a business installing and selling) and my thoughts on wood flooring are something like this.

The engineered hardwood floors (glue down) are pretty nice and seem tough enough. Most of them come with a warranty anywhere from 10-25 years I think but it seems to me most flooring will not be installed for that long. I don't see modern flooring as a life of the house item, it is just to easy to rip it up and go with something else when you want something new.

The floating laminate floors don't seem to bad, we put them in my parents office 10 years ago. They were cheap at around 1.50 sq/ft and the only noticeable wear is where the chairs are and the door ways so to me they have served their purpose well.

I have never installed a "solid" wood floor, my flooring while in 12" wide planks are made up of lots of smaller pieces glued together to make a board. I head lot about how solid wood floors aren't stable, and how if they get wet they are ruined. True moisture is bad for wood flooring, but in most instances if a house gets water damage the flooring is getting replaced.

That said, last year my waterline to the clawfoot tub came loose inside the house. Water ran for who knows how long and soaked the master bedroom. Over the next couple of weeks the floor began to bow and pull loose raising up to 1.5" in places. Back in the summer I pulled all affected flooring out and stacked it outside and covered with a tarp. 2 months later I moved it back inside and stacked it for a few weeks with a dehumidifier running in the room and then reinstalled all the floor with all the boards being as flat as they were before the water damage. But in my case that was 18 boards to take up and put back down not something that can be easily done with "regular" wood floors.

The way I see it, you can get a nice engineered wood floor for $5-7 a sq/ft installed (that's Arkansas prices mind you) that will last you at least 10-15 years. Or you can get a nice solid wood floor (by nice I mean a decent hardood, something at least 1250 on the Janka hardness scale. Pine/cedar/cherry/teak/some bamboo are to soft in my opinion) that will be $12-15 sq/ft installed.

The difference I see is that sure you can refinish a solid wood floor, but I don't begin to know what someone would charge for that, I know it would involve removing all the furniture, sanding the floors and 3-4 coats of polyurethane plus time to let it harden before moving furniture back in so I would call it a week minimum. Going with an engineered floor, if in 10-15 years it is worn out you just have new ones put in for the roughly the same cost at the first time and in 2-3 days your back to normal.

Myself personally, I like solid/large planked floors with boards that are at least 8' long but the only reason that I could afford to have them is the diy factor. I think I said it before but I have less than $1000 in screws, stain, polyurethane and sander rentals for my 1400 sq/ft floors.

Sorry if I rambled or provided completely useless information

As of late I have moved all of this dirt

20160124_153159 by michicks, on Flickr

From under here, in preparation for closing in the bottom of the house.
20160124_153143 by michicks, on Flickr

And also started building the porch on the studio.
20160124_153121 by michicks, on Flickr

Sureshot...meant to check in and see if you got around to taking your PE yet?

I have been stamping more drawings in the past year than I believe I have in the 5 years prior. Didnt know if you have had the chance to exercise that privilege yet.
bordeth out

quote:

Originally posted by bordeth:
Sureshot...meant to check in and see if you got around to taking your PE yet?

I have been stamping more drawings in the past year than I believe I have in the 5 years prior. Didnt know if you have had the chance to exercise that privilege yet.
bordeth out

No I haven't, I'm still waiting on my FE... I took it this year but didn't pass. If I'd take my FE right out of college I would be about a year away from taking my PE. Hope to get my FE taken care of in the next few months.

Any plans for under the house besides storage/parking?

quote:

Originally posted by dar185:
Any plans for under the house besides storage/parking?

Yes, going to pour a slab and close in an addition 1200 sq/ft or so of conditioned shop and storage. Enough room to get all my tools at one place and have the space to use them.

No new updates but I guess I'll keep it alive for a little while longer

quote:

Originally posted by sureshot45:
Nothing to feel inferior about, just kind of luck of the draw I guess.

Yes I do have some skills/abilities but if it wasn't for a lot of factors there is no way I could have pulled this off.

Sure there are some technical aspects but I fully believe most people could build a house. The problem everything is stacked against most people. Banks won't loan you money without a plan, having to pay rent on the tools would be insane, the time required is monumental.

Not to get to off course but our society as a hole isn't to keen on this type of thing, sure there is all kinds of DIY tv shows that show you how to lay tile or build a deck but doing the hole house cuts out to many people. Everyone has to get paid these days the bank, general contractor, builder, electrician, plumber, concrete guys, architect, flooring installers, painters, drywall subs.

Everyone has to make a living, but the end result is that housing cost are plain ridiculous. My 1500 sq/ft house and 500 sq/ft studio were built for about $35 a sq/ft. when I'm completely don't with landscaping, carports and retaining walls it should be about $40-42 a sq/ft. That won't buy you a mobile home in most places, let alone a house. How people afford 3000 sq/ft homes is beyond me, I fully plan on building more houses but the next one will be under 1200 sq/ft maybe under 1000.

What you mentioned about having the tools is really paramount, imo. I have the knowledge to at least feel my way through a bunch of projects, but having the tools to do all of them is a whole other thing. And that's what drives construction costs...

A carpenter has thousands of dollars in tools. An site contractor/grader might have hundreds of thousands worth.

Love the house, btw. Great concepts, wise choices in materials, and nice modern aesthetics.

Any new projects?

quote:

Originally posted by dar185:
Any new projects?

Almost to many, my brother and I bought 13 year old Range Rovers last year which have all kinds of little nuances, my dad has a '72 vette I'm helping get the interior back in, making a few Leather products, and trying to study for an Engineering exam plus work.

Some days it feel like I'll be lucky to finish the house in 10 years, or if I'll have time to cut the grass in the next 2 weeks.

I think at this point, they'd be happy with pics of a Range Rover glove box restoration. Hell, you've become our Kardashian. We don't give a shit what your doing as long as we can watch it. In short, if you are doing it, it probably stands a better than average chance of being more interesting than what we're doing.