Accomplishment!

We're done!  Well, not done with the cottage of course, but done with the "shell", which was our before-the-snow-flies goal.

It is pretty cool to think that we went from an idea for what to do about this.....

...to permits to demolition to surveys to excavation to foundation to frame to sheathing to siding to roof to this..........

......in 7 months. 

The actual time from when we "broke ground" to where we are today was just under 3 months, and that's counting a month delay in the roof materials.  Pretty great for a rag-tag group of folks with no official building skill, very limited budget, lots of conflicting pulls at our time and an abundance of will.

There's still a ton of work to do. This is the current state of the interior:

Formidable frontiers of house building still to conquer: HV/AC, plumbing, electrical, insulation, drywall, paint, flooring...and on and on.  Somewhere in there we need to do a new well and septic system.  But, even though there is lots of work ahead of us, we are allowing ourselves a moments guilty pleasure of being thrilled and really proud of what we have done. 

Reflection
I had the pleasure of doing a 4-min presentation on this project at a work event recently as part of a 3-day conference.  I almost didn't do it...thinking "who could possibly be interested in my little project?".  Well, I was wrong.  For the following 2 days I was inundated with support and questions.  Here are a couple of quotes:

"We are looking at houses to buy right now and I've had dreams of buying a place and finishing the basement.  I didn't think I could do it, but if you guys can build a house then we can definitely do that."

"Your story reminds  me of the place my family has. All the memories, and now our kids' memories.  I loved learning about what you are doing"

"I love hearing about every word of this project...it is so inspiring"

"I know you must realize it...you are building the embodiment of happiness for you and your family."

That last quote has been echoing with me ever since.  It distills -- like I haven't yet been able to -- the purpose of this project. Happiness. Its not about getting out of the bad mortgage, increasing our property value or even the cottage itself.  Its about the memories we are making while we build it, the memories we will have enjoying it when its over.  Its about people who will visit and share it with us and the legacy it will hopefully represent of being able to do something like this, with people we love, even though we didn't know how to at first. 

It also let me try to be okay with happiness as a reason for doing this.....for spending all this money, time, energy, worry.  I don't have to rationalize it in some formulaic way to justify the decision to do it.  I don't have weigh the cost and benefits or determine the ROI.  We are going for optimal happiness and that's reason enough.

Thanks for reading
Sarah

Sealed Up and a Look Back

Truth be told, since I work and travel, my husband is the main builder in our project since he is a teacher with summers off. His biggest source of advice and sweat equity has been his dad and my dad who have spent 6-day weeks of 12-hour days working over the past month.  I come in when critical decisions need to be made, food needs to be planned and prepared (after work), and to take a turn once or twice with the nail gun just because it is fun.  I do however have some vacation time planned and I hope to get my hands dirty.

In one month's time (exactly July 1st through Aug 1st), we went from a hole in the ground to walls, a dried-in roof, interior rooms framed and a 2nd floor. Pretty good for a music teacher, a retired computer programmer and a retired GM employee (with some help along the way -- notably a long weekend of sweaty work from my husband's brother).

After the work whistle sounded tonight,  I asked my husband and his dad for building advice at this point in the project.  Here is what they said:

Framing a house: advice to would-be DIY Home Builders from actual DIY Home Builders

• Buy the full set of plans including studding and floor joist lay outs.  Though it has been fun and satisfying to save $400 AND research and figure things out ourselves.....what you'll lose in engaging post-work-day discussions you'll more than gain in saved time and avoided frustration
• Have the right tools, know when to use them and use them when you should.  Example: much rejoicing in the efficiency of a power planer (and apparently it smells really great)
• There's no substitute for a power nailer.  Napoleon said "I can give you anything but time" .  Power nailers give you days worth of time (and save your forearms and thumbs)
• Tool belt -- you have to wear one....or make sure someone working with you has a well-stocked tool belt so you can drive them crazy by asking them for things.  Tool belt should include:  hammer, fasteners, tape measure, pencil, razor blade knife.
• Do not buy tape measures at garage sales.
• Buy half-inch wall sheathing.  Trying to save a little $ on 7/16th sheathing means you have to calibrate to the order of 16ths of an inch constantly during the framing.  Much more challenging than half-inch.
• Feed your workers well and take water breaks.  This build typically turned out to be 12 hour work days.  Labor of love for sure, but even the most passionate workers need to conserve energy.
• Ask good questions to the right people (and listen to the answers). Some of the best advice we got came from the building inspector and random builders who we came into contact with.  
• Save roof work for days that aren't windy
• Roofs are tough. The steeper the tougher. And scarier.  Our roof is a 9-12 pitch, which I have come to learn is pretty darn steep.
• Handle OSB with gloves
• Learn to use your simple tools effectively.  Everyone gets how to use a hammer, but using it well is a different story. There's something zen-like about hitting a nail once and watching it disappear into the wood. 
• Invest in good tools. You'll have them forever and they won't let you down.
• Don't assume anything on the roof is nailed down. Always check.  My husband learned this the hard way when he stepped on a sheet and it slid off the roof.  He caught himself on the edge of the roof, his body dangling below until we could get a ladder under him.
• Take pictures of your project along the way and take the time to stand back and appreciate the progress you have made. Allow yourself to be proud of what you have done and appreciate it without getting bogged down in what you have left to do. You're building a house.   That's pretty amazing. Enjoy it.

And on that note....




Floor joists



We had lots of help on the sub floor the weekend of the 4th of July
(this picture makes me laugh)

The first wall -- Quite a view!

Wall Sheathing

Starting to figure out the rafters

More rafters (scaffolding in the middle) This is really up there!

This view will never exist again



Starting to look like a house!

Rafters are done and roof sheathing going on. 

.

Interior rooms framing

Finally, a water-tight roof.  No more worry about rain ruining the sub flooring!

We hope to get windows and siding up and the roofing on before the snow flies. In the meantime -- onward to windows, siding and all the interior fun!

I still can't believe this is actually happening. 

Thanks for reading.
Sarah

Counsel and Chorus

Yesterday, I had a great chat with my Grandma who partnered with her husband and 3 young boys (one of whom is my Dad) to build their cabin in 1960 next door to the one we are building in 2013.  I asked her to share some stories about when they built their cabin, which eventually became their home, which eventually became my parent's home, and will eventually be our house next door.

Most of it I had heard before from others...about the tornado that came through just as the shell was up and left the house leaning to the southeast, how she single-handedly cleared the swampy the land with a double-headed axe during the week while my Grandpa worked in the shop, how they had an outhouse for years, how they poured the concrete by hand from an old mixer using water from a hole in the ground, how they trucked in yards and yards of fill dirt to raise the swampy ground above the water table.  Though I know these stories, it was great to hear them again through her eyes.

But there were things I didn't know.  Like, they built their cabin on the weekends one summer because Grandpa worked. During that time they camped in tents, cooked on a fire, bathed in the lake. In my head I pictured a younger version of the Grandpa in my memories, falling into a tent to sleep on the ground after a hot exhausting day of hard physical labor (after an exhausting week of hard labor in the shop).  I pictured a younger version of the Grandma sitting in front of me, singing songs while tending and cooking on a fire, healing sunburns and splinters and minor construction injuries, keeping everyone together and happy and looking on the bright side.  I pictured a very young version of my Dad and his brothers helping where they could and feeling so proud to be so useful. 

Grandma and Grandpa (right).   Their cabin is in the background.  1962.

I couldn't help but think about our project and compare.  My husband is a teacher so he has the whole summer to do this work and the full-time help of his dad and my dad and others.  We live 30 min away and have my parent's house to sleep in, so our nights contain comfortable beds and air conditioning.  The campfire is only needed for marshmallows and conversation, not meals.  I work, so I rely on my mom and grandma (well-practiced) for singing songs and healing boo-boos, sunburns and feelings for the kids during the day. 

But there are similarities too, strong in their 53-year span. My son is loving to help pound nails, dig, sweep the foundation floor, just like my Dad did with his dad all those year ago.  The ground is still wet, and we are bringing in trucks of dirt to get us to high ground.  And, we just rented an outhouse! True, we have a real bathroom in my parents house, but felt we needed this one for construction overflow so we don't overtax the septic system. 

Our conversation ended with some understated advice set to music.  Grandma told me that once they got the shell up, they took down the tent and moved in.  With only a rope to climb to get upstairs, no interior walls, no kitchen, no heater,  and mattress springs set as railings so her boys wouldn't fall off the 2nd floor, they use the cabin as an "up scale tent".  They spent every weekend there the rest of that summer and, I gathered, every weekend for summers afterword.  In her own (paraphrased) words:

"I am embarrassed to say it, but your Grandpa and I always made plans on Thursday about all the work we would do on the cabin that weekend, and once we got here, we played on the lake all weekend and no work got done". She said this with her usual bright smile and eyes tinted with the 50-year-old conspiracy between her and her loving husband. 

At that point she broke into song (as she often does).  I asked her to sing it again so I could record it. Here is a video:

 Lyrics:

The window she is broken and the rain is coming in
If someone doesn't fix it we'll be soaking to our skin
But if we wait a day or two the rain will go away
And we don't need a window on such a sunny day
Manana manana is soon enough for me
Manana manana is soon enough for me

Though she wasn't setting out to give me advice, her advice was clear.  Have fun.  Your house will get built -- look we are are sitting in mine right now and we had lots of fun but still managed to build it. Enjoy the lake while your kids are young.  There's always Manana.  Man, I love her.

Grandpa, taking her advice

Grandma, taking her own advice

PROGRESS

The foundation is done, the excavation is done and the building has begun!  Here is a picture of the first few nails:

My Dad and Father-in-law

Our Son, the helper

At this point, many friends and family have offered to help and this being the week of July 4th, we expect many hand for lightening the work (and lots of fun on the lake!).  It doesn't look like a house yet, but its like we can see it if we squint our eyes and it feels good to get through the permit and contractor phase and have it be exclusively in our hands.  

Thanks for reading.
Sarah

Permits and .... PROGRESS!

I had good intentions to "blog"  more frequently about our project, but I have been very busy and there was a good amount of time with not much to write about.  All that has changed....

After a few frustrating weeks we got the permits, broke ground and the foundation is nearly complete!  

To summarize, here's the progress since the last post:

1. Get the survey done
2. Get Buddy and all his pieces completely off the lot
3. "Stake out" the build
4. Secure a "zoning permit" from the township
5. Take zoning permit, well/septic permit and blueprints to the county inspector to apply for a building permit
6. Cut down any trees and prepare the lot
7. Once the permit is in hand, give the green light to the foundation contractor and the excavator, and the building begins.

Here are a few pictures to chronicle the progress to date:

 Buddy is gone and the three cottonwood trees await their fate. 

 The trees come down

Husband hard at work

Break time... and a big catch!

Son, hard at work

Excavation

Pouring the footings

Foundation walls take shape

What we learned: 

• Surveys can take a long time. 
• In our original project plan the survey was an after thought somewhere between the health department inspection and the zoning inspection.  We thought "how hard could it be to find 4 corners of a lot 50 feet wide?" Turns out it can be hard. The first 2 calls from the surveyor were updates describing how "jacked up" the lot lines are around us (his words).  The third call informed me that they think the lot line runs through the neighbor's cabin (brown one, above). Lucky for us we were able to talk to the neighbors and all agree where the lines at least have been for the past 50 years, and that's where the steaks went up.
• Getting multiple quotes is worth it 
• The difference in survey quotes:  $2,400
• The difference in foundation quotes:  $2,200
• The difference in excavation quotes: $900 

• People are amazing 
• The craigslist couple we contacted to remove old Buddy the single-wide trailer did a fantastic job.  Mike and Jessica worked in freezing conditions and shin-deep water, cutting and removing the metal frame, hauling away the rubbish.  Our agreement was we would pay them $200 plus whatever they could get for the scrap metal.  Toward the end of the project we visited the lake to find most of the metal pretty much gone but a large pile of rubbish remaining. We had  given them their full fee early after they said they needed it to pay for the gas it would take to get the material to the landfill.  My husband and I were sure they wouldn't be back to take the last of the pile, and we weren't upset about it.  Jessie and Mike had worked really hard in terrible conditions and did a job well worth the fee we had given them.  We were literally making plans to order a dumpster when they showed up...to finish the job, even though there was nothing more for them to gain.  I am grateful to them for proving that there are honest, hard working people in the world.

Clearly, the project is gaining momentum.  The foundation is nearly finished and we are days away from taking over from the contractor and doing the actual build.

With the building materials purchased and contractors' fees to pay, we are past the point of no return.  The cabin we've been dreaming about for 6 years is actually going to happen.  But better than that, we are doing it ourselves, with friends and parents and grandparents and cousins all pitching in. in a sort-of 21st century "barn raising", with all the camaraderie, love, satisfaction and pride built into each wall.  

I am already bursting with gratefulness.

Thanks for reading.
Sarah

Progress and Permits

Spring is unfolding at the lake and as the weather gets warmer and the ice gets thinner, the build project is also heating up.

Progress!:
Buddy demolition phase is under way!  After quotes of $1,000 + from local professionals to remove it, we put this ad in craigslist:

Basically we offered Buddy the trailer for free for the scrap metal, so long as it gets completely cleared from the property.

The ad was placed at 9 p.m. and by the next morning we had over 50 responses.  Amazing that over 50 people were willing tear it down and sift through the rubble for scraps of metal to turn in for cash. We picked the first email that emphasized "cleanness" of removal, met them at the lake and told them they could have the scrap, and an extra $200 if the job was done and the site was clean in 2 weeks.  Its been a week and here is what Buddy looked like 2 days ago:

More Progress:

• Foundation contractor -- secured. 
• Surveyor -- secured and survey scheduled ($600 vs the original quote of $3,000)
• Land use evaluation from the Health Department -- complete. 
• Permits for well and septic -- done! (in the mail)

Treasure hunting:

After months of "window shopping" at second-hand locations and heroically resisting untold deals of the century, we broke down and got a whole set of kitchen cabinets at the Habitat for Humanity Restore. Let the hunt begin!

These are for sure not the "cabinets of our dreams," but they are great quality and about a quarter of the cost of new ones, which falls in line with the foundational goal of getting done with the build and in a new mortgage ASAP while going second hand where possible to save cost.  Here they are:

Next steps:

We are still deeply in the land of permits. After lots of phone calls, it appears that these are the most immediate steps we need to take to be ready to break ground by mid-May:

1. Get the survey done
2. Get Buddy and all his pieces completely off the lot
3. "Stake out" the build
4. Secure a "zoning permit" from the township
5. Take zoning permit, well/septic permit and blueprints to the county inspector to apply for a building permit
6. Cut down any trees and prepare the lot
7. Once the permit is in hand, give the green light to the foundation contractor and the excavator, and the building begins. 

All that before one shovel hits the ground.  Funny how my daydreams of building the cabin revolved around sounds of hammers and power tools, the smell of fresh saw dust, and ending long sunny days in jovial debates about aesthetics vs utility over cold beers and hot bowls of chili.  These visions never included the months of tedious paperwork, phone calls, research, and estimates leading up to that point.  We are currently managing 7 relationships before hammer has met nail:  surveyor, foundation contractor, health department evaluator, excavator, township inspector, county inspector, demolition crew.  

Its one thing certainly to "self build" , but we are also "self-financing", so, no loans.  Every expense comes out of pocket and our margin is razor thin. Every penny counts against a hard-fought personal savings,  which makes each decision hyper-critical, requiring loads of research, conversations, multiple quotes and tons of "head space".   This build has already tested my project management skills to the max, especially since we went into this knowing absolutely nothing about building a house!

Finally, before we gave the okay to tear down the trailer, we saved a few mementos from Buddy including this manufactures name plate:

Hopefully we will find just the right spot for it in the cabin to remind us not only of the lemon we will hopefully turn into lemonade (spiked with vodka!), but also the pennies pinched, the help and good fortune received, and the moment almost 6 years ago when we bought the land -- the one with the damp/moldy 1960's trailer and broken well -- because we were in love with the dream of what we might turn it into someday.

Thanks for reading. 

Sarah

Analogy and Analysis

We built a practice house!  A little smaller.  A little colder.  A little more temporary.  A snow fort!

On the surface it might seem that building a snow fort with the help of a 3 and 5 year old doesn't compare much to building a cabin, but that's not entirely true.  Here are some lessons learned from building a snow fort that could serve us well in the "big build":

• Project planning counts. We started too late in the day to finish our snow fort ... we need to make sure we don't run out of summer while building the cabin.
• Stay real. We didn't have the man power for the scale of our fort.  Instead of a 5 snow brick x 5 snow brick fort, we would have been just fine with a 3 x 3, but we got greedy and then we got tired.  For the cabin (and this one's tough), we should choose pragmatism over grandeur.  The goal is to get a better mortgage and not be under water on our investment and have a place to have fun, not build the house of our dreams.   
• Corners matter. Being level matters. Strong foundations matter.  
• Placement is critical. Our snow fort is situated it on the front lawn near the road providing a really "attractive nuisance" to neighborhood kids. Also, though unintentional, it looks like we created it for the sole purpose of pelting cars with snowballs and ducking for cover...not true, but appearances count.   For the cabin, we have to be sure where it is located on the lot is just right because that's a decision we can't re-think.  We want enough front yard for volley ball, and a big fire pit area, enough back yard for parking, enough space for friends to park RVs or pitch tents. We want to be oriented away from the crazy neighbors and toward my parents, making our 2 yards seem like one happy complex.  
• Have the right tools to do the job.  Our fort started out as a mommy-daughter project. We got the first row of bricks laid by scooping snow into the box with gloved hands.  When my husband and son came out with shovels, our output increased dramatically.  For the cabin, we have to balance cost savings with productivity when choosing tools, so while hammers may be cheaper, renting nail guns is probably enough benefit to be worth the extra cost. 
• Understand what motivates the crew.  At some point in the fort build, we went from "lets have fun in the snow" to "we HAVE to finish this fort before it gets dark".  Blinded by new found passion for snow construction, I forgot the law of diminishing returns AND the output potential and attention span of pre-schoolers.  The fort project ended unfinished with crying kids and a cranky mommy.  Good lesson for the cabin build. Workers -- especially ones only paid in good karma and a lake-house to visit for life -- probably don't have the same passion level we do.  Meet them where they are, appreciate their contribution, keep fun a priority. 

Progress:

Though there hasn't been a ton of specific progress lately, my father in law has helped a lot by meticulously doing his own private blueprint scrutiny and surfacing lots of questions and thoughts at a level of detail that illuminates our inexperience with construction.  From that, for those of you hungry for the technical stuff, here is the beginning of a list of items we need to address either with the township building permit supervisor or by seeking out the help of experts:

• The plans call for 4” of granular fill on top of the 6 mil vapor barrier in the crawlspace.  Is this required?
• Will we need to plan for a pressure tank for the water inlet?  Talk to the well driller and building inspector about advantages and disadvantages.
• Does the plan call for an electric water heater?  If we change to a gas hot water heater, we will save money.  However, we will need a vent pipe for it.
• Are we going to use a rafter brace?
• How wide is the overhang?

Some of this stuff might as well be a foreign language to us today, but one side benefit of this project will be newly found skills and knowledge.  To that end, please feel free to ask me about the relative benefits of a pressure tank a year from now. 

Treasure hunting: 

Those of you who know me will not be surprised that I am getting obsessed with craigslist (as if I wasn't before!).  "Treasure Hunting" (2nd hand shopping) is a hobby of mine regardless, but now I have a mission (and a dangerous one).  While I have been thus far able to temper my compulsions, I have been doing lots of "research"on Craigslist, at the local Goodwill and the Habitat for Humanity "restore".  It has been hard to resist treasures like:

• A gorgeous cast iron stove for $300
• A whole kitchen of cabinets for $700
• Brand new windows for $100 or less
• Carpet tile flooring for less than $1 per 18-inch square

But, stayed by the voice in my head (who sounds remarkably like my husband) that says "if you buy an 800 lb cast iron stove now, we have to live around it until we actually have a cabin to put it in" I have resisted.  So far, and I trust my "research" will serve me well when it comes time to pounce on the "deals" of a century. 

Last thing...since my last post, my uncle gave us the painting.  It is 10x more amazing in person.  

Thanks for reading.

Sarah