House build thread

[Onkel Neal]

Lately this has become my new obsession: building a country house. I am still several years away from doing it but I am very interested in the process. In my time, I have helped build a couple homes/garages and a barn, so I know a little (very little) about construction. The nail gun sure makes it easier, I know that :sunny:

I found several threads here (http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/157965-home-woods.html)and here (http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/156451-log-house-project-begins.html)in this tractor forum that are super interesting. I thought I would share them with you.

Anyone here built their own place? Or are planning to/in the process of?

http://www.tranquilacrescabins.com/images/cabins/tulip_poplar_log_cabin1.jpg

[Sailor Steve]

Be lazy like me. Just hire Jeff. :D

Those are pretty cool threads.

[Betonov]

If finances allow I'll start making my mountain retreat, called a ''weekend'' in my parts, next spring. Using only material that grows on site. But it's going to be more of a shack and temporary. But the chimney and fireplace will be stone. I'll post pictures and do's and dont's as they occur :DL
It'll be interesting I tell ya, I'm clueless :doh:

[kraznyi_oktjabr]

Nailgun is good tool as long as it works properly. When it fails its good to not have kids/grandkids around. :03:



Signed by: Kid in hearing range... :D

[kiwi_2005]

I built my own decking with roof out the front of the house still standing or hasn't blown away in a storm so I did something right that was 6yrs ago, no plans just pictured it in my head what it would look like & hammered away. Use to put down foundations & floors for brotherinlaw he builds log houses for a living which has taken off over here. 20yrs ago he was lucky to build two per year. But no haven't built a house on my own.

[geetrue]

Don't forget underground bunker for paint gun battles yet to be played in the future wink* wink*

include water purifier for swiming pool
alternate energy plan for off grid living
double lined plastic storage barrels for
dry goods (stored off concrete floor)

varmit rifle for dinner

candles

one of those wind up am/fm/weather radios

zero degree sleeping bag

folding utensils kept in pocket at all times

led flashlight

scent spray to cover your tracks back to bunker after hunting

Here's a link to another country retreat being built in Russia: http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/yamantau.htm (http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/yamantau.htm)

[Madox58]

Oh Boy!! Now here's a thread I can get into.
:yep:

Built or remodeled quite a few Homes for others but never my own home.
Favorite NailGun is a Paslod Cordless Frameing Nailer.
For a regular hammer nothing but an EstWing will do as far as I'm concerned.
Been useing the same one for over 10 years now and a new one has been sitting on a shelf in the basement for nearly 5 years.

We're big users of cordless Tools and have built several homes with nearly nothing but cordless Tools. The only thing with a plug was the Compound Radial Arm Saw and the chargers for the batteries.

I probably have alot of pictures from past projects if you'd care to see them.
:D

[Jimbuna]

Put decking down in the rear garden about 6 years back and have just completed a wooden frame to stand my model aircraft display cabinets on if they count :DL

[tater]

I want to build an adobe or rammed earth house someplace here in the SW some day (I already live in an adobe built in 1973, so you'd think I'd have enough). I want a sort of north african-new mexican hybrid. Little casbah on the mesa :)

[TarJak]

I've always paid someone else to do my house modifcations. That way if they get screwed up I can sue someone.:)

Added two bedrooms, a WC, a family room and a patio with an awning a few years back. Glad I got someone else to do it for me as I'd have no clue how to use a nailgun.

[Hakahura]

DIY a huge passion of mine.
And if finances ever permit, building our own home is top my list.
Hence I find this TV series highly informative and entertaining.

http://www.channel4.com/search/?q=grand+designs

Don't know if you've ever heard of it in the US, but it has some amazing builds.
Plus it really does open your eyes to the common mistakes, errors and pitfalls that can be-fall the self builder.

[Syxx_Killer]

Lately this has become my new obsession: building a country house. I am still several years away from doing it but I am very interested in the process. In my time, I have helped build a couple homes/garages and a barn, so I know a little (very little) about construction. The nail gun sure makes it easier, I know that :sunny:

I found several threads here (http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/157965-home-woods.html)and here (http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/156451-log-house-project-begins.html)in this tractor forum that are super interesting. I thought I would share them with you.

Anyone here built their own place? Or are planning to/in the process of?

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/projects/146478d1258929993-home-woods-img_0076-small-.jpg

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/projects/149009d1261104449-home-woods-img_2862.jpg

I can't be of much help with the construction aspect of things, but I could help with picking a tractor if you ever need it. :D TractorByNet has a lot of very knowledgeable people. I've been a member on that forum longer than I have been a member here. I check that site every day, like I do this one. You can't go wrong with TBN.

[AVGWarhawk]

If I were inclined to build a house it would be a log house. The land would have plenty of acreage. Probably on a mountainside.

This particular model is prefabricated. Just simply assemble the logs until it looks like a house. :DL In all seriousness, this is what I would look into if I had building my own home in mind.


http://www.prefab-homes.us/log-home-648.jpg

[Herr-Berbunch]

Hence I find this TV series highly informative and entertaining.

http://www.channel4.com/search/?q=grand+designs

Don't know if you've ever heard of it in the US, but it has some amazing builds.
Plus it really does open your eyes to the common mistakes, errors and pitfalls that can be-fall the self builder.

The top errors surely have to be - take your maximum budget, add 30% - and don't have sex until it's finished, the women ALWAYS get pregnant during the cold winter nights in a caravan on the site. The exception was the old couple with the wonderful Huff House. :yep:

[Onkel Neal]

Oh Boy!! Now here's a thread I can get into.
:yep:

I probably have alot of pictures from past projects if you'd care to see them.
:D

Please do!

I can't be of much help with the construction aspect of things, but I could help with picking a tractor if you ever need it. :D TractorByNet has a lot of very knowledgeable people. I've been a member on that forum longer than I have been a member here. I check that site every day, like I do this one. You can't go wrong with TBN.

Small world, ain't it? :) I doubt I will ever own a tractor, though I will probably need one quite often. My father has several, I wonder if he keeps inventory... :hmmm:

If I were inclined to build a house it would be a log house. The land would have plenty of acreage. Probably on a mountainside.

This particular model is prefabricated. Just simply assemble the logs until it looks like a house. :DL In all seriousness, this is what I would look into if I had building my own home in mind.



Very nice, it has a great look. These days I am thinking a small cabin-style house, say, 2 bedrooms (one in the loft), about 1200 sf. Barring any future merciless acts of God, I will be living alone, so I don't want/need a really big house. Got any more suggestions like that one? That website doesn't (http://www.prefab-homes.us/)appear to have any actual plans or models, just a blurb about prefabs.

[AVGWarhawk]

Old missile base/silo make very serviceable homes!

http://www.missilebases.com/properties


Plunk down a small log cabin right on top of silo! Best of both worlds!

http://www.missilebases.com/files/1484438/uploaded/Worlds-End-Final-2.jpg

[Herr-Berbunch]

These days I am thinking a small cabin-style house, say, 2 bedrooms (one in the loft), about 1200 sf. Barring any future merciless acts of God, I will be living alone, so I don't want/need a really big house.


But what about bbq/crashing at yours for the (Insert year) subsim meet!

I mean, Jason and Jim will happily share, as will others, but then there's the toilets to consider! No volunteers to go in after them! :o

[Ducimus]

What to build the house out of, i think depends on the envirmonment and climate. In some places, building a house out of cinderblock would have it's advantages.

[Jimbuna]

But what about bbq/crashing at yours for the (Insert year) subsim meet!

I mean, Jason and Jim will happily share, as will others, but then there's the toilets to consider! No volunteers to go in after them! :o

You missed out the real health hazard....TarJak :DL

[Herr-Berbunch]

You missed out the real health hazard....TarJak :DL

I can't smell him from here! :yeah:

[Madox58]

Please do!
I'll try to go easy.
:D

Some of the pictures were taken in the 'Dark Ages' before digitals were affordable. And the handy use once cheapies were the thing.

This is a Spec House We built around around 2000.
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n12/privateer_2006/Construction/House_01.jpg

3 bedroom. Built by 3 of us over a 6 month period. It was sold at about the 75% complete mark and we earned extra by adjusting things to the new owners requests.

Back of the House
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n12/privateer_2006/Construction/House_02.jpg
Built into slopeing ground we brought in the John Deer Backhoe. The footer was poured by us and laser leveled of course.
The Walls of the basement were subcontracted but everything else was done by us.

A closer look at the deck area
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n12/privateer_2006/Construction/House_03.jpg
Nice back deck with stairs to the backyard. Its a full basement with 4 rooms and a small closet. All walls are finished.

A deck we built while working on the Spec House.
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n12/privateer_2006/Construction/Deck-1.jpg

I've got more pictures of this deck I just have to find them.
It's got an octagonal screened in Gazebo at one end and the Hot tub at the other.
Built for a lady that hit the Ohio Lottery back then.

[nikimcbee]

I can't smell him from here! :yeah:


Just wait, the wind direction will change.

@ Neal, why don't you build next to the Cavalla. The commute will be a lot shorter.:hmmm:

[Onkel Neal]

That's a nice build, Jeff. You obviously have a lot of experience in this. Looking forward to more pics. :salute:

[Onkel Neal]

. :DL In all seriousness, this is what I would look into if I had building my own home in mind.




I'm liking this size and style:
http://www.tranquilacrescabins.com/tulip-poplar-log-cabin.php

http://www.tranquilacrescabins.com/images/cabins/tulip_poplar_log_cabin1.jpg

Only, I don't neccesarily need actual "logs" for walls, simply stud wall construction would be fine. But I like the size and layout :shucks:

[Catfish]

Hello, nice thread !

we live at the edge of a forest, almost at the end of the street. The last house next to "no man's land" is a wooden house built of logs just like that on your picture. It looks very nice, and the interior is beautiful, but it's a house to live in and big enough, not a weekend one.

The heating and water system is very modern, a wood stove with a water cassette inlet and heat exchangers for a second water circle to heat water and the central heating system. Certainly, you need electric pumps for the circulation of the heated water in the radiators, but it's not needed, the stove can heat the house without it with some of the surrounded rooms being a bit (!) cooler then.
Maybe a stirling engine could drive a pump, this would be my favourite solution, no electric current needed then altogether, maybe a backup generator somewhere.

In the first floor there is a "passive stove"; where the funnel from the base stove goes up through the floor there's a flap wher you can divert the heat into an "oven" which is not fed by wood, but just by the hot gases coming from the stove downstairs, so the first floor gets as warm as you want as well.


Our own house is a strange mixture, a frame (half timbered ?) house, where the skeleton is made of oak, and the fields between the timbers look like bricks - but they are not. Instead they are very thin and fastend on styrodur insulation plates, with three layers of wood criss-crossing behind that. On the inner walls there is an additioanl 30-centimeter-thick insulation, finished with wooden boards towards the inside. The whole outer walls are thus almost 50 centimeters thick, and insulate very well.

You do not need the heating installation if a few lamps and the computer are on, unless it gets real cold and windy.

We also have a sun collector water heating system on the roof for supporting hot water and heating, and plan a wood stove with this water cassette. Not cheap unfortunately ..
The first floor is not yet finished, but i also plan this passive stove up there.

I have built the whole house almost myself, including heater, water system and all, certainly with the help of 1 friend permanantly for the inner wall insulation, and another being a carpenter which certainly helped a lot !

Greetings,
Catfish

[AVGWarhawk]

I'm liking this size and style:
http://www.tranquilacrescabins.com/tulip-poplar-log-cabin.php

http://www.tranquilacrescabins.com/images/cabins/tulip_poplar_log_cabin1.jpg

Only, I don't neccesarily need actual "logs" for walls, simply stud wall construction would be fine. But I like the size and layout :shucks:

For me, if I'm in the middle of the woods or on a mountain top the log cabin is the house to have. The inside should also be the bare logs. Some have used stucco for the inside of the walls. Looks like plaster board. But, yes, the size pictured should suit.

[AVGWarhawk]

What to build the house out of, i think depends on the envirmonment and climate. In some places, building a house out of cinderblock would have it's advantages.

True

[Onkel Neal]

I have built the whole house almost myself, including heater, water system and all, certainly with the help of 1 friend permanantly for the inner wall insulation, and another being a carpenter which certainly helped a lot !

Greetings,
Catfish

This sounds worthy of some pictures :)

[Madox58]

My most favorite thing to do is remodeling or repairing.
When you build a new home?
It's all pretty much cut and dried as to how and what you need to do.

When you go into a house that's around a hundred years or more older to do remodeling work?
That gets the mind working!
:yep:

Plus you sometimes find really Cool stuff.
:o

I removed an Oak Stairway from a remodel job a few years ago.
Once I had it down, I found a box hidden inside that gave me the date it was built along with a NewsPaper and other information.
The date was April, 1893!

I turned everything I found over to the owners.
I may be looney in someways?
But I'm not a thief!
:D

[geetrue]

Depending on area selected ...

http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/21299/images/mount_tamalpais_fire_lookout_tower_at_east_peak_19 34.jpg

http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/21299/images/mount_tamalpais_fire_lookout_tower_at_east_peak_19 34.jpg

a fire tower home would be a nice selection for where I live :yep: