Site Work: Finished Fencing the Site

I finished fencing the site today. I had Josh's help. It was a lot of work. I don't have all of the property fenced, of course. That would've take a lot of money and a lot of effort. We have neither at this time (even with the extra help). However, we now have the job site fenced. We took the dogs out this afternoon and let them run the fences. We're not going to leave them unsupervised yet, because there's still a lot of elevation changes along the fence, where there are gaps at the bottom and the dogs could go under. I plan on putting some rocks in those areas to fill the gaps.

There's a 3 feet opening between the carport and the current house. I plan on putting a walk-through gate there, but for the meantime, that's just closed off to keep the dogs in. I'll buy a gate on the way home from work one day this coming week, and I'll install it.

We also managed to put the "sock" over the french drain flexible pipe. This will allow water into the pipe, but not dirt. Having this pipe prepared, we'll be able to clean out the trenches and install the pipe, then backfill. It'll be good to finally have that stuff done. And keeping the immediate area of the house drained, is a good thing. There's still more french drain to put in all around the house itself, but at least we're closer to finishing those tasks, than we were.

I still need to get someone out to get our utilities run to the house. Just saying it doesn't get it done. The fact is, more trenches have to be dug, and unfortunately, we have to avoid hitting lines we already have in the ground. So it's a bigger job than it sounds like. We've had plenty of free "advise" telling us what we're doing wrong, but the way I see it, we're not on a schedule, and so we can't be doing it wrong. If we rushed and hit one of our existing lines, that would be doing it wrong.

More Site Work

The weather permitted work this weekend. Josh and I ran some more fence. I would've done more, but we ran out of fence.

I should point out that the storage unit is gone. The company I was renting it from finally came and got it late this week, so that got it out of the way and we could continue the fence. I'm pretty sure that another 100ft of fence should finish the job.

I did a little bit of mowing. Unfortunately (and this is the story of my life), I discovered another how down by Rachel's garden. I discovered it with the mower. I mowed between the two gardens and found another hose, but luckily, I was able to drag it out of the tall grass and continue mowing without any problems.

I'd sure like to get beyond this site work and back to working on the house. However, the reality is that this work needs to be done. I need to finish the fence for security (so the dogs have free access to the site). I need to finish the french drains, including backfilling those trenches after the drains are finished. And then, the biggie, is that we need to get utilities up to the house. We can't backfill next to the house until that is done.

Not Much This Weekend

We got rain this weekend. Not having work for Josh to do inside, we called Friday night and left a message for him not to show up. I did do a little bit of work Saturday morning. I was on the roof peeling the cardboard sonotubes off the chimneys. I noticed that even with the sweeping and maticulous cleaning that Rachel has done up there, that after a rain, more debris is washed down to the low points. We'll be doing more cleaning up.

Since we couldn't do much work, we went to the annual Tulsa House Beautiful Show (http://www.freewebs.com/stocktonunderground/homebeautiful2007.htm). It rained on and off all day. The jobs that we need to work on, were outdoor jobs. We wouldn't have been able to work on the house even if we'd stayed home.

I feel compelled to get some work done this weekend, and so if there's a break in the weather on Sunday, I'll be moving gravel into the garage or working on fence or something like that. If there's a big break in the weather, I might work on a couple of things like that.
All this rain is what's left of a hurricane that swept through the gulf coast. We're really getting more rain than we need, although the trees were drying out and could've used an inch or two of rain. We got more than that and I'd like for it to quit now. We've had enough for a week or so.

Cascading Issues

We have a number of tasks to accomplish in getting the house built, and it feels as if most of the next ones are complicated with cascading requirements. For instance, we'd like to get the house waterproofed and bermed. We can waterproof for sure, but to protect the waterproofing, we've got to put down the insulation layer, and then that's vulnerable from the sunlight and from wind, so we'd need to backfill and berm. And of course, we can't backfill and berm until we do something about the french drain. We also can't backfill and berm until we've addressed the issue of getting water, propane and electricity to the house. These utilities need to be buried, but we have issues with digging a trenches. The main trench that is an issue is the one to pole where the electrical supply line will be. Our current driveway is in that path. there's also a water line to the pasture that is in that path. There's also the phone line in that path.

We'd like it if we could use directional (horizontal) drilling equipment to run these utility lines, especially the electrical line. This would allow us to run these lines trenchless. However, I'm told that with our rocky ground, that this might not be possible. However, I've called around and haven't yet found a company that will do the work for us. The equipment exists, but not for rental, and I haven't found someone yet that will do this for us. They do it for big industrial jobs, but so far, not for individuals.

Okay, so until I resolve that, can I get an electrician in to get started? It's preferable to get the plumber in first, because the drain lines that he runs have to take priority over anything else under the slab. These lines require specific slope for the proper flow, and so we can't have anything in first that would require the plumber to detour around (such as an electric conduit that the plumber would have to route a drain line around).

So we need to get the plumber in before an electrician. However, I feel I need to get more gravel in first. If the plumber comes in, he'll tell us that the gravel isn't required and that he can work without it. In fact, he can work more easily without it because he wont have to dig trenches in the gravel for the lines. However, once his lines are in, then we will still have to bring in the gravel, only then, I wont be able to do it with the tractor, because I wont be able to drive over those lines. So the gravel needs to be in first... but, we need to secure the site from sightseers (for their protection and our's), so that has to be first.
What a mess!

See the cascading issues. It's not as simple as it sounds. And bear in mind, we're doing all this as well as keeping full-time jobs.

Our Progress Is Slow

Owner-Builder links:

• http://www.thegormleys.com/index.html
• http://www.build-yourown-home.com/new-home-construction.html
• http://www.build-yourown-home.com/index.html
• http://www.motherearthnews.com/Homesteading-and-Self-Reliance/1973-09-01/The-Owner-Built-Home-Homestead.aspx

I felt a little embarassed when someone recently viewed our website and decided that we're slow. The guy suggested that we don't know what we're doing, and that we should be "much further along than" we are. And of course, this guy has never built a house before, but he knows how better than we do. I also was a bit amused that he gave no consideration to the fact that Rachel & I both have full-time jobs, plus a 28 year old that wont help. We have the current house to maintain, plus we need some down-time every now and then.

To tell the truth, I get a bit depressed that our progress is so slow. However, how much can a person do when they also have a full-time job (that they put in over 40 hours a week)? I'm changing jobs in a few days, and I was hoping that I'd have some time between jobs to work full time on the house. It didn't work out that way though. It's good to be employed.

I can mention that it bummed me out a bit when I first heard of the criticism of our progress. However, I think that overall, most people just don't realize what's involved in build a house, and assume that they have all the answers. So, knowing what I know, I'm not going to let it bother me. Besides, we're building our dream home, and we're not on any particular schedule. We're paying as we go, and so if we dally, it's not the end of the world. (I would like to be working out of the cold wind this winter though).

Labor Day Weekend (We Labored ... a Little)

We worked a little bit on this 3 day weekend. I put up more fence with Josh's help. I stopped at the storage container, because I'm hoping to get the company we're renting it from to come and take it away next week. Because of that, I also had to get all of our stuff out of it. It made sense to have the storage container when the Terra-Dome crew was here, but now that they're gone, this is where we can save some money.

I found out that the guys broke some things on our generator. They didn't bother to tell us, but they had to have known when they did it. Because they didn't bother to tell me, I didn't know until it broke the rest of the way. Had they told me, I could've avoided breaking it the rest of the way. I'm talking about the handle. It borke off from the frame. So I had to essentially drag this monster across our property. The guys had let the tires go flat, and didn't bother to tell me about that either. I did get the tires aired up too, but I had to drag the thing to where I could air it up.

I can tell you that the generator is heavy. I ended up having to lift the thing about 6 inches in order to get it over something (I wont say what) in order to store it away (out of sight, out of mind "from the thieves").

Rachel Rachel & I bought an angle grinder. We had an old one a couple of years ago, but it was used and it died. In fact, we're not sure where it is anymore and so we needed one. Despite the cost, we bought a cordless grinder so that we wont have to fight with an electrical cord when we're using the thing.

We bought the grinder primarily so that we can grind off rough areas of the concrete surfaces that we have to waterproof (so the membrane wont be vulnerable from being punctured). In addition, we want to grind down any of the form straps (what's left of them after the ends are broken off) so they wont stick out from the concrete. We need to waterproof those strap ends and it would be better if they're flush with the surface of the concrete.
I moved more gravel into the subslab area of the garage. We need to get back on a schedule of getting some work done (even just a little bit) each day. We're behind schedule.