At Home In The Woods

[Obed]

Monday evening I attached temporary drain pipes to all the new downspouts around the house in order to route away from the house the rainwater from the roof. This evening I took an inventory of the 4" drain pipe materials that I have and figured out the materials we still need to purchase. We will need 440 feet of drain pipes to run the water from the gutters and foundation drain tiles away from the house.

I'm using the solid piping instead of the black flexible piping. The solid piping is much harder to work with but I figure that the smooth pipes are less likely to clog up with leaf debris than the corrogated black flexible piping.

Tomorrow the wife is going to make a materials run so that I have plenty to do over Labor Day weekend. I live to dig.

 

[Obed]

Here's the range hood duct "chimney" in the garage the wife wanted that I described here. The drywall has been left off of one side in order to enable the H&A guy to finish running the duct to the range hood. The opening will be closed up with drywall after the duct has been installed.

 

[dstig1]

I'm using the solid piping instead of the black flexible piping. The solid piping is much harder to work with but I figure that the smooth pipes are less likely to clog up with leaf debris than the corrogated black flexible piping.

You are right. If you are just moving water along a pipe (especially straight lines), use solid stuff. In case you aren't aware of it, there are thinner/cheaper grade for this as it doesn't hold any pressure. But I suspect you already know this...

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Here you can occupy a house with a working kitchen, bathroom, and one bedroom. It's a matter of what the bank will fund. If you try to get funds for a half finished house, most banks wont touch it, and not everyone has the funds to do it without financing. Once you pull a permit though, you get a year to finish. after that, you pay to extend. Permits is the biggest reason you can't build as you get the funds. They used to not charge for extensions, but since they have the power, now they do. Permits are all about money, not safety, as we all know. Just think of the builder that builds the same design over and over again, but has to pay the permits every time for the exact same thing. And the inspectors don't find the real mistakes, like your wire that got cut and taped. Maybe this was done after inspection, but nevertheless, it's good you found it. Course now you have to have an accessible junction box because of it.

 

[Obed]

Obed, you and I think at least a bit alike.:thumbsup: I was brought up by Depression Era parents and debt was a thing to be avoided. I am not as severe as they were about it as I am now living in a major metro area, and that makes it a very difficult thing to do (houses are pricey..) but we are actually debt free now - totally.
... -Dave

I don't want to mislead people. We have incurred some debt to build this house. We had intended to take about 4 years to build the house and do it with cash. But three things happened that influenced us to change our plans.

1. The county evicted us from the lot where we were last living.
2. We knew we would likely run into trouble with the county where we are building if we lived in our camper while taking 4 years to build.
3. I got my wife pregnant after 20 years of marriage.

So in February of this year we took a 10 year mortgage out on our Cumberland Plateau property so we could finish the house early. Yes, I'm rationalizing. We could have built a less expensive house or done a number of other things to stay debt free. We paid for the majority of the house build with cash but didn't have enough cash to pay for the entire build.

We bought the Plateau property with cash back in 2005 after crimping and saving all our lives. Just look at our cars. Our newest car is 15 years old. Our Honda has more the 300K miles on it. When the Plateau property sells, we can pay off its mortgage and be completely debt free. Yay! But for now, we have a mortgage are are slaves to debt like all the other mortgage takers. We took out the mortgage on the Plateau property instead of on our residence primarilly because of risk. If something bad happened and I couldn't pay the mortgage payments, I'd rather lose the Plateau property than lose our house. Our house and 30 acre lot have no debt on them so I can get a little comfort from that knowledge.

However, it is our goal to become debt free and to stay that way. I really look up to the people who built their houses without debt. We were not that wise. I also greatly respect those who have paid off their mortgages, have been content with what they have, and have stayed debt free afterward. People like that are an inspiration and a great example of what made the U.S. such a prosperous country in years past.

Obed

 

[Obed]

Obed, I don't recall what you plan for floor finishes. If hardwood is in your schedule you will want them right after the drywall. Let me know if you need advice. That is what I have done for the last 25 years.

MarkV

Mark,
Yes we are doing hardwood. We plan to put hardwood floors in the entire house except for baths and laundry room. Any suggestions you have are welcome.

We like to keep the windows in the house open as much of the year as possible. We understand that open windows and the resulting humidity can cause problems with hw floors and require that they are installed with extra gaps between the boards. We won't keep the windows closed when we live in the house so if the hw floors buckle some, so be it.

Thanks,
Obed

 

[nhkabotab7800]

Obed looks great!

hopefully I am not too late...perhaps someone said this before...insist that the corner bead have screws on both sides at bottom, knee level, hip level, and shoulder level...I think the reason is obvious. The crimping tool just doesn't hold it firmly enough.

Rick

 

[MarkV]

Mark,
Yes we are doing hardwood. We plan to put hardwood floors in the entire house except for baths and laundry room. Any suggestions you have are welcome.

We like to keep the windows in the house open as much of the year as possible. We understand that open windows and the resulting humidity can cause problems with hw floors and require that they are installed with extra gaps between the boards. We won't keep the windows closed when we live in the house so if the hw floors buckle some, so be it.

Thanks,
Obed

Obed, have you and the wife decided on what you want in the way of hardwood floors yet? There are many options out there to chose from. Give me an idea of what you want and I'll suggest some things to ask as you are shopping a contractor.

You are correct that a wood floor can buckle when exposed to moisture. Generally it takes more moisture than outside humidity on a properly installed floor to cause that problem though. The most common times you would see that is a water leak, plastic ice maker hoses most often, a roof leak or standing water in a basement are ones we see. I would never recommend that a floor be installed with gaps though. We leave our doors and windows open often and live in Georgia so we have similar conditions to you.

MarkV

 

[bdeboer]

If hardwood is in your schedule you will want them right after the drywall. MarkV

Obed,

It would be a good time to get your paint choices finalized. There is alot less labor in painting without floor covering, and trim in the way. You will have some areas to touch afterward but this is minor to cleaning trim etc.

It is also less labor to install hardwood and tile prior without door jambs and base molding.

 

[shane]

Obed looks great!

.insist that the corner bead have screws on both sides at bottom, knee level, hip level, and shoulder level...I think the reason is obvious. The crimping tool just doesn't hold it firmly enough.

Rick

Amen.