Building a house in the middle of nowhere- ton of pics

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Building a house in the middle of nowhere- ton of pics (Page 1 of 3)

Posted: 5/24/2008 1:26:49 PM EDT

Hello everyone. My wife and I are building our first house and I thought I'd track the progress with pictures. It's a 2900 sq ft Spanish/Med. situated on my ranch in South Texas. My father in law is helping me GC the job, since he's built two houses already and has a lot of contacts in the area. House construction is a bit different than commercial, so I'm trying to get used to it.

Select fill pad. I had it raised up 24" from the ground.

Steel. I didn't manage to get pics of the slab alone, but it's 4 1/2" on 24" footings space 15 ft on center. Came out to 108 yards of concrete. Gotta love south Texas clay. I forgot the tonnage of #7 steel we used, but it's built like a tank.

While I had the concrete guy out there, I had him pour 180' of driveway curb and a footing for a walled courtyard. Both the courtyard and driveway will get cobblestone pavers. Here's my artist rendering of the wall. One of the bank jobs we're doing has loads of ornamental wrought iron, so maybe I can strike a deal for a gate.

Pic taken at the end of the first day framing this past Wednesday. It's going to look kickass once the tower goes up.

Oh yeah. I took roads for granted when I moved to the country. A small bridge is the only way onto my property, and the bobtail trucks were having problems making the turn off of it. So I needed a road.through my pasture. My father in law didn't like the price the road guy gave us, so we had 120 15yd truckloads hauled in from one of our construction sites in the next town. We gave road building a shot with a bobcat and an old Massey Ferguson tractor. He'd pile the dirt on with the skidstear, and I'd spread it with the box blade. Came out good and is elevated 2 foot off the lowest part of the propert. We'll caliche it once it settles a bit.

Here you can see the original turn and the ditch I had to fill in. That lefty used to be hairy with a 30' trailer.

Once the house gets dried in, I'll post some pics.

Anyone have any opinions about Stucco vs. EIFS?

Posted: 5/24/2008 3:11:47 PM EDT

[#1]

The framing crew just wrapped it up for the day, so here's the progress since Wed. They should be done by next week.

My man cave. The third-car area will be a small workshop drywalled in with a/c.

Here's where the tower will be. It's got an 18 ft diameter and the peak of the dome will be around 20'. If I've got enough at the shop, it'll be covered with a 1.5" tappered standing seam copper roof. It's going to be an experiment with our new roll former. If I don't have enough, it'll just get clay tile like the rest of the house.

Posted: 5/24/2008 5:44:58 PM EDT

[#2]

That's a gorgeous piece of land, hoss. I'm jealous, to say the least.

What's this tower? Does it serve a purpose or just decorative? I've been toying with the idea of building a keep and using the elevated windows to help cool the house in the summer. I think it would super cool to have a 40' castle-esque tower with a flat roof you could use as an observatory. Heck, with that much land, you could use the roof for a hunting stand!

Posted: 5/24/2008 6:36:58 PM EDT

[#3]

Thanks Vaughn. Here's the front elevation showing the turret. It's just decorative, but it would be neat to plink from. A lot of ground squirrels around here.

Posted: 5/25/2008 7:30:59 AM EDT

[#4]

This thread rocks! From the ground up construction, awesome. Keep us posted with the pics.

Posted: 5/25/2008 6:08:06 PM EDT

[#5]

Thanks. I wasn't sure anyone would be interested, but I'll keep updating pics.

Not much happened today, but I did cut me some ratfer tips our of cedar.

Also got my custom cabinets...5 weeks before schedule. Turds. At least I can store them in my metal shop. I had to meet the 18 wheeler at my office and transfer the boxes there. There's no way a 54' trailer can get across my bridge.

Posted: 5/25/2008 6:47:18 PM EDT

[#6]

cool house. i deliver to guys like you all the time. i hope my cube van wouldn't get stuck.

ps. i case you weren't sure, you're rich.

Posted: 5/25/2008 7:31:54 PM EDT

[#7]

That looks great. I for one LOVE the pictures. Oh, and congrats.

Posted: 5/25/2008 7:33:55 PM EDT

[#8]

Believe me; I'm not rich. I've been out of college for 4 years now. We're just lucky that we've gotten good prices. Our roof is free(left over from a college campus we did) and our HVAC is free(HVAC company owes us for some a/c curbs we put in for them), so that's saved us about 70k right there. It also doesn't hurt to build in one of Texas' cheapest place to live. I think I paid $1/sq ft for the concrete and $3/sq ft for the framing. That's without material though.

I just wish I had such connections with guns.

Posted: 5/25/2008 7:41:56 PM EDT

[#9]

That is one heck of a house you're building there! I can't wait to see more pics!

-James

Posted: 5/25/2008 8:18:09 PM EDT

[#10]

i take back my rich comment. you're a lucky guy to be able to wrangle those deals. good stuff.

is the tower big enough for you to get in? will there be a ladder on the inside?

Posted: 5/25/2008 8:28:19 PM EDT

[#11]

Congratulations! Great pics and great planning. "Luck" has nothing to do with the good life you are building for yourself. You have clearly shown hard work, dedication and character. You also married a good woman you can trust and you have good family members, apparently.

That turret is definitely not just gonna be "ornamental." Sweet!

P.S. What are some of your CePTED plans? No moats in that part of Texas. Maybe the dogs with bees in their mouths so that when they bark they shoot bees at you?

Posted: 5/25/2008 8:50:01 PM EDT

[#12]

Great pics. I love threads like this. Keep us posted as you make progress.

Posted: 5/26/2008 6:04:32 AM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
Congratulations! Great pics and great planning. "Luck" has nothing to do with the good life you are building for yourself. You have clearly shown hard work, dedication and character. You also married a good woman you can trust and you have good family members, apparently.

That turret is definitely not just gonna be "ornamental." Sweet!

P.S. What are some of your CePTED plans? No moats in that part of Texas. Maybe the dogs with bees in their mouths so that when they bark they shoot bees at you?

Had to Google CePTED first.

Sure, we don't have a moat, but I've got a good size irrigation canal on all four sides of our property. The east and west canals are big 20' wide supplies, and the north and sout are about 15' wide. They also have 20' wide, 15' deep ditches on either side of their banks.

Here you can make out the ditch on our side of the property. It has another on the other side. The rasied canal bank makes a perfect backstop.

Posted: 5/26/2008 6:13:30 AM EDT

[#14]

I am happy for you and the wife, looks like it should turn out well!

Tag for later.

Posted: 5/26/2008 9:14:54 AM EDT

[#15]

Wow, those ditches / castle moats are awesome!! Natural protection is the very best kind. That's an excellent way to keep random stray humans and zombies out of your immediate line of defense and offense. Kudos!

Posted: 5/26/2008 3:18:13 PM EDT

[#16]

Nice! I am building myself and am still in the process. I have snapped a few hundred photo's of the entire process of doing everything. Great documentation to pass onto my kids some day. Pics have also helped with some plumbing and wiring needs.

Posted: 5/26/2008 4:07:05 PM EDT

[#17]

Very nice.

Posted: 5/26/2008 6:06:09 PM EDT

[#18]

Today's progress was kind of cut short since the lumber yard was closed. I had to run to the depot for some sheathing to keep the guys going. Here she is after today. It looks a little plain since I deleted a window form the gargage. I just never like the idea of windows in shops.

Posted: 5/26/2008 6:20:50 PM EDT

[#19]

That's going to be a really nice house! I like.

Posted: 5/26/2008 6:25:22 PM EDT

[#20]

sweet, ost

Posted: 5/26/2008 6:50:06 PM EDT

[#21]

Cool thread, and it looks like it is going to be a beautiful house.

Posted: 5/27/2008 10:46:56 AM EDT

[#22]

ost

Posted: 5/27/2008 5:18:04 PM EDT

[#23]

Without violating any OPSEC concerns, what are the dimensions of the tower? How big on the inside? Access to the top? Did I miss that?

That would certainly make a cool 'hang out' spot for the youngin's when the time comes. Until then, a great observation post for studying the stars or watching deer and such. I couldn't imagine having a tower on my house and not have a really powerful telescope!

You're a lucky guy!

Posted: 5/27/2008 6:19:44 PM EDT

[#24]

The outside diameter is 18 feet and the inside is 10. The inside ceiling height is 18-8". The exterior wall in the fron is 12" thick to give the arched opening a stout look. You can see in this pic that only a small area between the two is used for the front entry way. It does make for a neat attic space. I haven't figured out how to use it in any other way though. The wifey said no to a rope ladder.

Here you can see the exterior ring and the inner radius. The exterior will have the 10' arched opening and the inner circle will have an 8' round top door. The door will have clavos if I have any say in the matter.

Got the rafter tips on today and framed up some more of the turret. The framing is definately getting more tedious now.

Posted: 5/27/2008 7:21:12 PM EDT

[#25]

Very cool, tag!

Posted: 5/28/2008 12:52:19 AM EDT

[#26]

Nice house! I can't wait to the see the finished product!

Posted: 5/28/2008 1:00:56 AM EDT

[#27]

Posted: 5/28/2008 1:35:00 AM EDT

[#28]

hurry up and finish already

can't wait to see more

Posted: 5/28/2008 5:29:34 AM EDT

[#29]

Here's my roof. Our estimator went a bit overboard on his take-off, so we have a few hundred squares of left over tile at tthe shop.

Posted: 5/29/2008 5:51:52 PM EDT

[#30]

Almost ready for framing inspection. I just had to adjust a few of the header heights and spacing, but not much. There's still a good amount of detail work to do:
-Widen fireplace from 36" to 45 1/2"
-Fur-outs for the four interior colums
-Frame the five exterior columns
-Frame the two barrel ceilings for the loggia's. That's going to suck too. They're planning on using 1/2" plywood cut for radius, spaced 8" on center. That's about 40-50 5' pieces that need to be cut.
-Set header for third car garage door.
-Finish soffit work
-Set cedar posts for bedroom patio
-Finish drying in

After inspection, I can start laying on the peel n' stick, flashings, and drip edge. I found 3 sheets of copper stashed in the shop today, so guess what I'm using for flashings while the boss is away?

If I have enough, I'd like to use copper for all my sheet metal work. That would be sick.

Man, that's a lot of geometry.

And had the welder fab me up some 3" pipe with 3"x6" saddles for the columns. Their bolted to the beam and welded to weld plates embedded in the concrete. I'm going to frame and stucco over them since the 8' limestone columns I want are about $2000. I can afford the $300 price for cantera, but it's too gaudy looking. I'll stick with stucco for now.

In the background you can see the bedroom patio resting on temporary supports. It'll have a 4x6 cedar beam on 4x4 columns. It was a spontanious addition to the house and I think it's going to look good.

Posted: 5/29/2008 6:22:56 PM EDT

[#31]

That's freakin awesome. i'm jealous.

thanks for sharing.

ost
(oh so tagged!)

Posted: 5/29/2008 7:46:09 PM EDT

[#32]

Great looking house Hueto..

Quoted:
This thread rocks! From the ground up construction, awesome. Keep us posted with the pics.

Not to hijack, but if you would like, I can start another thread and post some pics of mine. I have to warn the impatient, mine is not moving along as fast as Hueto's.

I did however just order over 200 tons of rock for my driveway today.

Posted: 5/30/2008 8:48:14 AM EDT

[#33]

Wow, lookin good!

Posted: 5/30/2008 8:57:25 AM EDT

[#34]

Nice.

Keep us updated

Posted: 5/30/2008 9:12:13 AM EDT

[#35]

nice!

tag

Posted: 5/30/2008 12:17:48 PM EDT

[#36]

Wide party porches are AWESOME!

Sometimes, our ancestors really did know what they were doing when they built houses.

My parents are building a new house and they did the same thing.

Posted: 5/30/2008 3:31:34 PM EDT

[#37]

Quoted:
Great looking house Hueto..

Quoted:
This thread rocks! From the ground up construction, awesome. Keep us posted with the pics.

Not to hijack, but if you would like, I can start another thread and post some pics of mine. I have to warn the impatient, mine is not moving along as fast as Hueto's.

I did however just order over 200 tons of rock for my driveway today.

Yeah, well, I just ordered all my appliances, doors and windows. Nanners.

I wish we had pretty rock substrates for cheap down here. My drive's getting the caliche treatment until I can afford cobblestone pavers. At $4 a sq. ft, I'm looking at about $10k.

Posted: 5/30/2008 4:00:22 PM EDT

[#38]

ost

Posted: 5/30/2008 4:03:26 PM EDT

[#39]

Wow! Awesome thread! Love it when people post construction pics and keep them updated

Posted: 5/30/2008 5:41:13 PM EDT

[#40]

Wow. I miss the various landscapes of Austin and never thought this part of Texas was particularly that pretty...until I sat up on the tower. Neat views. And as much as I tried with my new 75-300mm lens, I wasn't able to see the beach.

(We built that barn a year ago when we moved out here. The horses are more important than me says the wife.)

When's cow season? I was trying to see how far out my new lense would take me. That's about 3/4 of a mile away. The cows are dots in the above pic.

And today's progress report. The framers aren't comming back until mid next week, so there isn't going to be much to report until then.

Posted: 5/31/2008 5:44:13 PM EDT

[#41]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Great looking house Hueto..

Quoted:
This thread rocks! From the ground up construction, awesome. Keep us posted with the pics.

Not to hijack, but if you would like, I can start another thread and post some pics of mine. I have to warn the impatient, mine is not moving along as fast as Hueto's.

I did however just order over 200 tons of rock for my driveway today.

Yeah, well, I just ordered all my appliances, doors and windows. Nanners.

I wish we had pretty rock substrates for cheap down here. My drive's getting the caliche treatment until I can afford cobblestone pavers. At $4 a sq. ft, I'm looking at about $10k.

As far as the driveway goes, I understand your pain. We had to weigh the pros and cons of longer drives and we decided being further from the highway was worth it.

Our drive is going to come in somewhere around 13,000 sq. ft. I've already put $6k in it and it isn't even entirely graveled yet.

Posted: 5/31/2008 6:11:38 PM EDT

[#42]

Come see me for your tile,carpet, Granite I am in Corpus.

Posted: 6/1/2008 8:12:02 AM EDT

[#43]

Jcncc-
I can tell you right now that I'm going to need about 3000 sq ft of 12" super saltillo. I'm working on the rest of the numbers, but I need granite for two kitchen counters12'), one island(4'), two bathroom counters(13'), and a wet bar(6') and travertine in various sizes (12x12, 4x4, and mosaic) for two bathrooms.

Do you deel in stone columns and fireplace surrounds too?

Posted: 6/1/2008 2:57:13 PM EDT

[#44]

I hate you.
j/k

Nice looking house!

Posted: 6/3/2008 9:36:10 AM EDT

[#45]

So when is the next ARFCOM SHOOT?

Posted: 6/3/2008 12:10:35 PM EDT

[#46]

looks great

Posted: 6/3/2008 12:18:00 PM EDT

[#47]

thats damn nice! Tag for updates

Posted: 6/4/2008 7:43:45 PM EDT

[#48]

I hope to have such a nest some day. Good work.

Posted: 6/12/2008 5:33:32 PM EDT

[#49]

Work and other projects have kept me from posting updates, but here we are as of today. Back patio and chimney are framed up, roof is dried in(had to use what I had at the shop since we had T storms last week), and work is starting on the barrel ceilings. The electrician has most of the house wired and the HVAC guy has started work. Still waiting on doors and windows.

Before I start putting tile on, I'll most likely re-wrap the roof. I've never liked the Tamko underlayments.