Building the Desmarais House

2009-01-12T16:09:00.003-05:00

We finished the board part of the siding. Working on plumbing now. Very boring part and nothing to show except a few pipes sticking out the ground.

Staircase and Siding

2008-11-22T10:44:00.005-05:00

We finished the staircase this week. Pete built it with local pine. The stingers are stained to match the beams in the rest of the house. We left the stairs natural to match the flooring that we plan to install. We weren't sure if the staircase would need to be supported underneath. But it's solid! Pete and the boys raised the staircase themselves using a simple pulley and chain system.

Pete and the kids also finished putting the board part of our board and batton siding.

The Work Resumes!

2008-08-04T19:46:00.005-04:00

We're back at it! After a long hiatus from house building while we were planning on selling our current house and using the proceeds to build our dream house, reality has finally hit. We realize now that the real estate market is very slow. I know, I know, we were the last on the planet to know. We knew, but were in denial. (Our house won 't take long to sell.) So we tried a realtor who turned out to be a TOTAL DUD! (She was hoping to just put a sign in the ground and get lucky, without doing ANYTHING). So we are back to For Sale By Owner. Which is just fine by me because it means no lock box and no unscheduled visits with dirty diapers and dirty dishes all around (not that we were getting any visits, but still.) Our plan now is to slowly build the house, saving up money for each step. If we happen to sell the house along the way, great. If not, no worries, we'll get it done anyway even if it takes another two years.

Pete started on the staircase for the office loft. He is building it out of heart pine and it's going to be beautiful. He has been busy this week sealing the wood and hand-notching out slots for the steps. He looks happy to be back to work!

2008-06-12T00:23:00.006-04:00

Whew! It's been awhile since I last posted. that's because there just isn't much happening with the house these days. With this slow real estate market, we just can't seem to sell the house we are in. And we need to sell that one in order to finish the new one. So everyday I go outside and I look at the new house--one day, I tell it. But that hasn't stopped the kids from having a good time in the new house. Here is Charlie hanging out in the A/C ducts and the other kids skating around.

We have been working on a house though, just not the new one. We have been trying to get our current house in better shape. We even have the baby helping lay bamboo floors!

Framing Is Almost Finished

2008-02-14T09:20:00.003-05:00

Pete has almost finished framing the interior walls. That's Charlie up in the loft that will be the office and school room.

House For Sale

2008-02-14T08:59:00.005-05:00

Pictures of our current house for sale. It is a 2004 modular home built to withstand hurricane winds better than most site built homes. It has 1700 sq. ft., 3 bedrooms, and 2 baths. It is a lovely home with 9 feet ceilings and a 7/12 roof pitch. But the best part is the property! It is on 4 beautiful acres with gorgeous undeveloped pristine wetlands behind the house. The house is on a canal that leads out to the Ocklawaha River. The Ocklawaha River is part of the Harris Chain of Lakes. You can travel the river to numerous lakes. For more information about this house please visit www.forsalebyowner.com/listing/0B3ZR . If you know someone who may be interested, please pass this info along. We need to sell this house so we can finish our new one!

Framing the Interior Walls

2008-01-30T15:49:00.000-05:00

After a short reprieve in which Pete and I got our current house ready for the market, we have started framing the interior. Pete was able to use wood we had stored years ago for this job and only had to purchase $50 worth from Lowes. It is amazing how much bigger a house looks when the walls are defined. Areas that I was worried about the size (like the living room) now seem huge. That square you see outlined on the floor will be my favorite room in the house--the pantry! I have always wanted a walk-in pantry.

Moving!

2008-01-25T15:59:00.000-05:00

Just kidding. We are not moving in yet. We are only moving out the clutter from our current house to get it ready to sell. (I watch my HGTV.) I really want to keep the beautiful bookcases Pete made, so we are moving them out. (Better if prospective buyers never see them. If they did, they would want them.) Packing up all of those books has been a chore. We moved them all into my office/warehouse. I was surprised they fit. I will miss being surrounded with my books but it's only for a short time. (Hopefully. House anyone?)

The Metal Roof

2008-01-14T10:45:00.000-05:00

This week Pete, Chris, and two roofers (Dave and Kevin from St. Mary, GA) have been installing our metal roof. We purchased our roof from MBCI in Adel, Georgia. Our neighbor, who owns a trucking company, picked it up in Adel and delivered it to us, saving Pete 10 hours of driving (thanks Tommy!). We choose the LokSeam metal roof like the one pictured here.
The roof is costing us about $7500 (3500 sq. ft. of metal, trim pieces, and labor). This is more than I had anticipated, but apparently still a great deal (other estimates were over $10,000).

Waiting For a Roof

2008-01-07T16:45:00.001-05:00

The house is going to sit for awhile. We are waiting for the tin roof we ordered.

Moving the Office

2008-01-07T16:40:00.000-05:00

Pete moved my office from our current property to our new property next door.

We are taking a break from building the house to get our current house ready for sale.

The windows are in!

2007-12-18T20:35:00.000-05:00

Chris helped Pete put in the last of the windows, the ones on the copula. Roofing is next.

Help with the windows

2007-12-18T14:22:00.000-05:00

My father-in-law and mother-in-law come over to help Pete install the windows today. They are turning our to be a bear to fit correctly (lots of shimming and carving). Thanks Paul and Susanne!

Wrapping the house for Christmas

2007-12-17T14:18:00.000-05:00

Pete and the kids "wrapped the house for Christmas" today. Actually they applied house wrap to the plywood. The house wrap protects and weatherproofs the sub wall before the siding goes up. By the way, this house wrap was a freebie, left over from a friend's job.

The Copula Revealed

2007-12-14T12:26:00.000-05:00

Pete took down the scaffolding that was covering the copula. Wow! What a difference that made. The copula is beautiful, and very big. It lets a whole lot of light into the middle of house (which is great when you have a square house). I am so glad we chose to include one.

Failed Inspection!

2007-12-14T12:20:00.000-05:00

Well, we failed our sheathing inspection, not enough dead wood between the wall studs. (Dead wood blocks are attached inside the house between the wall studs. They provide a surface to nail the outside siding.) It's not so bad, it's only the second one we have failed and Pete thinks he can fix it in a day.

The Grand Entrance

2007-12-11T20:25:00.000-05:00

Pete has been busy digging up palm trees from our neighbors pasture and transplanting them to our soon to be new driveway. The boulders came from our Steinhatchee property.

The Windows

2007-12-09T12:01:00.000-05:00

We finally picked out and ordered our windows. Whew! That was a lot of work. There are so many choices. We ended choosing Better Bilt windows available at Lowes. We choose windows that have LoE2 glass. Lo E is a film applied to the window that blocks some of the heat and ultraviolet effects of the sun. It does ever-so slightly tint the window, but the tint is not very noticeable. It is suppose to help you save oddles on your electric bill. The windows, all 34 of them, cost $4000! This was actually the cheapest bid we received and the windows look great. I can't wait to see them in. Pete finished cutting out the holes in the plywood for the windows and finished placing the dead wood pieces in between the studs in the wall. He called in for a sheathing inspection (sheathing is the plywood layer that goes under the siding).

The Littlest Helper

2007-11-25T20:22:00.000-05:00

Even Gracie did her part with Granny's help.

Sarah is a very big help!

2007-11-10T20:17:00.000-05:00

Sarah helped her Dad put screws into the sub floor, all 7,000 of them! The engineer created quite a job for us by requiring a four inch screw every three inches! Then Sarah helped Pete nail all of the hurricane ties. (Notice she doesn't look too happy.)

Framing has begun!

2007-11-01T20:13:00.000-04:00

Foundation complete

2007-10-04T20:08:00.000-04:00

The foundation for the rest of the house is complete. Pete placed a temporary floor in the copula to allow him to work up there (the real floor will be about 2/3 the size and 5 feet lower). Now for the rest of the house!

The cupola is built!

2007-07-23T21:16:00.000-04:00

Pete and the kids finished the cupola structure today. That's Chris - completely unscared of heights.

Raising the Cupola

2007-07-21T20:56:00.001-04:00

Today we raised the cupola! In the center of our house will be a 20'x20' cupola that houses an office and school room on top and the laundry room and pantry below. A balcony will overlook the living room. The cupola will provide light into the center of our house as well as ventilation through 12 working windows. Heat escaping upwards, through the cupola, will help save energy costs. (And it looks very pretty.) Pete sawed the 10"x10"x16' posts and 8"x12"x18' beams for the copula on the sawmill. He varnished them before construction (because can you image doing it afterwards?). Raising the posts and beams was a family affair. Pete pushed them up with his tractor while the kids "steered" them into place with ropes. I covered my eyes!

How to Build a House For a Fraction of the Cost

2007-05-01T19:55:00.000-04:00

Do it yourself, all of it! We used our Woodmizer sawmill to create the lumber from pine trees that were either given to us or that we purchased for a modest cost. All of the trees were cut for other reasons and "rescued"from the burn pile. This saved us about a gazillion dollars (really, over $50,000 for framing, flooring, and trim). What we save in labor costs is also huge. I found a web site that calculates the cost to build a home depending on where you live and materials used. I put in the calculations for our house and it would cost over $250,000 to build the traditional way (all purchased materials and contractor). The house calculator is available at building-cost.net
Although we do not know the exact cost yet, we have estimated it will be less than $50,000. So, basically we are saving about $200,000 (or making that much). Actually, the resale value of our house once complete (including the land) in today's market is half a million! So it is actually better for us financially that Pete is spending a year building full time instead of working a paid job. Another way we are saving money is by looking for opportunities to purchase used supplies. For example we have already purchased many of our appliances from a friend who initially purchased them and then decided not to build (so they were new and still in the box). But they only cost us 1/2 of the retail price. Although I did not get to choose just the models I want, you can't beat a Subzero refrigerator and freezer, a Viking oven, and a Decor stove.