Pole home on the cheap .

[Eagleview]

First you need to get your power poles home , any F100 and trailer will do the job as they are only 60' long . Then you need to "aquire" some steel pipe for a box of beer and cut said pipe at 50* through the center . Turn pipes 180*to form 25* roof pitch and re-weld . Then reduce the size of the ends of the poles with a chainsaw and insert into pipes , drive in a single pin and hang off of jib you have made on the back of tractor . Then reverse this contraption up the mountain were a Goat would not go and place over 60' ridge pole to form frame .

 

[Eagleview]

Once you have managed to reverse these oversized coat hangers over the 60' ridge pole that was a real pain to balance on the 5 20' tall vertical uprights , it is then time too stand on the safety aproved Chep pallet bolted too the top of the 25' tall crane jib and tack weld it all together . The ridge pole was a HOOT , as i lifted it over the uprights it would swing around because of the twist in the wire rope trying to unwind it . The solution was to hold it in place on my own with a 25' piece of pine , then with a 30' piece of rope tied to the down lever on the machine pull the rope as i got it close with the piece of pine . It took about 8 goes at it as it kept trying to fall off , once in place i had to walk along the top of it with the Stihl chainsaw and auger and drill through the ridge pole , down into the uprights and drive in 3/4" steel pins 21/2' feet long .

 

[teg]

Once again, awesome work... Did you build it all yourself? What do you do in your spare time (that's just a joke). I have to quit reading TBN and just build something @#?^$* it.

 

[khamill2000]

That is cool!

 

[alchemysa]

I like it a lot. What does the local council think of it?

 

[Wayne County Hose]

Iron Horse, you da' man!

 

[EddieWalker]

Interesting. Kind of reminds me of some of the buildings the Maori people built in New Zealand, or on the Polynesian Islands.

What did you do for the floor?

What is the purpost of the building?

Is it yours, or did you do it for a client?

Thanks for posting the pics, it's always fun to see how things are built!!!

Eddie

 

[JC-jetro]

Great pics and marvelous workmanship. For what climate is this home/structure built? Australia, may be!!

JC,

 

[Eagleview]

Thanks guys , i'll end up with a big head , good thing i'm not riding a motorbike . The building is our house , i built it entirely on my own . After buying the 80 acres in NSW , we were dead broke and living in a caravan and shed that i built . I made a few dollars and bought the new but reject power poles for $495 . I then raked up another $175 to have a guy bore the holes in the ground with a Bobcat . I did'nt intend on starting the project untill all our fees were paid , bushfire contribution , development application , building aplication etc (about $3k). But the wallabies were knocking loose soil down the 10' deep holes , even though i had boards over them . So 1 day i stood all the poles in the holes and back filled them . One thing led to another and all of a sudden i had the ridgepole on and the rafters up . The council then stopped me and wanted an engineers certificate for the work . He came out and said i had to cross brace every pole with 1/2" steel rod and build steel hip braces for all the uprights . I told him to go home as common sense told me 30 poles 10' in the ground , tied together with flooring and roofing was not going anywhere . Another engineer came out and said "this is not the house in question is it ?" i said yes . He then said " when i get back in my car you just carry on , we do'nt build our bridges that strong"

 

[Eagleview]

The photo of me cutting our kitchen table out of a Red Gum tree that had fallen down is out of sequence , sorry . For two years on and off i tried to burn that rotten tree . One day the wife said "why don't you see if you can make some furniture out of it ?". I put my head sideways and i could see our kitchen table laying there . The tree had two trunks comming out of one stump . Over maybe a hundred years the two trunks formed one where they had been rubbing against one another . This left a big natural hole between them . I cut the tree off each side of the hole and dragged it to the mill . I put it on the Canadian and took a flat off each side . Then i took to it with the chainsaw to remove the 2" thick charcoal from where i had been trying to burn it . Then i got out with the sander and finally by hand . The finished product is amazing (the hole is now horizontal , it used to be vertical in the tree). I just need a big slab to go on top now , you can see it hanging from the roof of the house in one shot . It weighs a ton , i had to put another stump under where it sits . The glass in the end of the house was in the basement of a Sydney high rise that was pulled down ,it was spare glass still in crates . i bought it for $1300 , the glass in the roof is the front doors from Seaworld when it was upgraded . The floor is chipboard on 6x2 joists on 12x2 bearers with 1980 Terracotta tiles on top (my aching knees) there are more poles under the floor , making the total 30 . The house owes me under $30k . I hope i have covered your questions . Thanks again .