Month: May 2017

September, 2015

We have now started putting up the framing for the floor. These 20-foot long 2x12s are heavy.

The first part of the process is to install the beams that will support the floor joists. Then we can start installing the subfloor deck.

July and August are supposed to be the hot months, but it is still hot.

In the middle of all of this process, we have decided to rearrange the living space. Originally the living room, dining room and kitchen were to be in the eastern half of the house, and the bedrooms and bath in the western half. Now the living, dining, and kitchen will occupy the southern half, and the baths and master bedroom the north. We will also have a workroom area in the northwest corner, with the back door entering there.

 

August 2015

We are building the foundation walls now. When they are up, I will fill all of the voids with concrete, and we will use a fiber cement plaster on the inside and outside of the walls.

Have started the concrete now. Mixing 2 sacks of cement at a time is a long, hard task.

165 sacks of concrete later (2 at a time), the foundation walls are now ready.

July, 2015

We have started the house. We had a contractor come and pour the footings for the foundation wall. Then about 3 weeks later, I began laying concrete blocks for the foundation. It will enclose the perimeter, and also the solar mass slab. The space inside the slab area will be filled with dirt and rock, then gravel and the concrete blocks for the air channels. Then a slab will be poured over the top of the blocks.

May 2015

We finally have figured out what the house will mostly look like, and some idea of the interior arrangement. It has turned out to be over 1700 square feet.

We have also determined that we are going to set up a passive solar capability for the winter months. We will build a solar mass into about 1/3 of the floor. This mass will be designed so that there will be an air channel running from one end to the other below the slab. This channel will allow air to circulate through the mass, and warm the area. Our hope is that it will minimize the need for supplemental heat in the winter. It could also be possible that this mass will stabilize the temperature in the house in the hot summer months, and reduce the need for air conditioning. We will see how the experiment works.

We also have a rainwater collection system started, with 4000 gallons capacity. We are gathering water from the roof of our storage building at this time.

May 2015

We finally determined where the house will be located. I used a bobcat to dig the foundation. We also moved all the dirt and rock from the foundation and the septic field down to the lower corner of the place, and built a berm across the corner.

When the next rains came, the water all ran down to the space above the berm and left a lake. It took about 3 days for the water to soak in to the ground, or run under the berm, and another week to dry up.

March 2015

The first thing to do is figure out where we can put a septic tank and associated drain field. Since we have so much rock, and so little soil, our choices are limited.

We had a contractor come in and dig some test holes. Then the county inspector came, and told us which location would be the best. Even then, we had to bring in 40 yards of soil to build the drain field. The grass is always greener over the septic tank.

At last we have that decided, so we can figure out where we can build the house.

A couple of weeks later we got a letter from the county with a “permit to operate an individual sewage treatment facility.”