It Doesn't Feel Like Much Has Been Accomplished Lately

I was talking to Rachel lastnight about the house and feeling a bit down about it.  I told her that we just haven't done much with the house in the last month.  Really, ever since I ended my sabbatical (sp?) and took that job in June, I haven't done much with the house at all.  At least that's how it feels.

Rachel reminded me of the utility work that I've done.  I still need an electrician to pull the wire for the supply lines, and I need a plumber to weld the propane line segments together; as well as splicing the additional pex line for water.

I also ran a phone/data line between the new house and the current building we're living in.  This will allow for digital phone service between the houses, as well as a network line to hook up a couple of IP cameras out in the house.  I currently have 3 of them that aren't being used (they were once used but the old network line was cut multiple times because of carelessness in mowing and weed eating; I gave up after splicing a second time).

This new line is buried and inside conduit, so it wont have problems that the old one had.

That work was done.  The network line isn't quite to the old house yet, but it's waiting inside the well house (shed) and I'll finish hooking that line up in a week or so)(for now, it's protected from the weather).

Yesterday, Rachel helped me a lot.  I work so much better when she's working with me.  It's not so much that I need the extra physical labor (although there are jobs where I wish I had an extra man to pawn it off on).  It's more that I like bouncing ideas off her and getting her input on the best option to take on certain things.  In building this house, we figure it out sometimes as we go.  It's not just building from a plan.  We're doing some engineering from time to time; figuring out routes to take utilities, sometimes through the floor (sub-slab), which means I need her ideas.

Anyway, yesterday she decided to help.  I used the tractor and dug out a 48 inch wide trench about 16 inches deep, across the great room module, and then we used shovels to get the trench the rest of the way into the hvac room.  This trench is for earth tubes (see http://www.thenaturalhome.com/earthtube.htm and http://www.tech-faq.com/earth-cooling-tubes.shtml).  We will have four coming in from beneath the pasture, and four coming back into the house.  It'll be a closed-loop system for circulating air through; warm air will be send into the pipes beneath the pasture, cooling below 60° and then returning into the house to be circulated through, much like an HVAC system.  In our case, instead of a central HVAC system, we will have a central air filter/purifier and circulation system.

Anyway, those pipes are 4inches in diameter each.  We actually will have a fifth pipe, but that's for the garage.  We have one going into the garage and a return that leaves the garage going back beneath the pasture.

Rachel helped me figure out where the four coming into the house will travel benearh the floor, and then how to get the return air from the rooms of the house and get them back out of the house.  We know the one from the great room will leave from the west side of the great room, so planning that tube was easy.  3 more had to be figured out, and if it hadn't been for Rachel's motivation, I probably would've waited longer to get this task done.

We went to the store and spent a couple of hundred dollars on materials, and then when I get the chance, I'll finish setting up the pipe in the floor.  We have the trenches deep enough that crossing them with electrical and phone lines (in order to get into conduit/outlet boxes that are already in the concrete walls) in the floor.  

Anyway, after all that progress, it ground to a halt because we spent the bulk of today working on things other than the house.  At least I got that work done though.

Nothing Got Done This Weekend

Absolutely nothing got done on the house this weekend.  The weather was bad; the remnants of Hurricane Ike made it's way through our area.  We got 4 and a half inches of rain and a little bit of wind, but nothing like what they received east of us.  We got the easy part.

Sunday was mostly clear, but I was tired.  Rachel was tired.  Nothing got done on the house.

I'm feeling like I'll try to do some supply hunting this week and be prepared for the next weekend, with hopefully better weather.

Worked On the Utility Trenches. Worn Out.

I took the day off to work on the utility trenches. I rented a jackhammer to make the job easier, but I'm worn out more than I have been in a very long time.

The jackhammer made the work go faster, but I worked hard having to pick the machine up and move it around. The boulders had to be cut through though, and this area of the property probably has the biggest boulders we have. They were thick and wide.

At the end of the day, Rachel asked me if this was the right tool for the job. I said that "for this job" it was, because of having to be careful and not damage existing utility lines and the well. However, if it hadn't been for those, the right tool for the job was a backhoe.

August Was a Slow Month

August was a slow month. Actually, there was lots of things going on in August, but few of them had to do with the house. We were just so busy. It's a shame too, because this was an unusually cool August for this area. It was probably 10 degrees lower than we usually get for this time of year.

Anyway, there was the grand opening of the BOK Center in Tulsa. I took a few photos. (Click here to see). That was last Saturday.

I'm back on the utilities chore and feeling the need to get this done so that we can berm some more (and that area will be buried, so it's important to get the utilities done first), so we can finish the waterproofing and get the roof covered before winter.

And nothing has been done about the slab or any utilities within the house. I do have all the utilities done in the garage though.

We did some trim work in the current house. After living in the house for almost 4 years, Rachel felt like we should finish some of the trim. So we've done that work and it was easier (and cooler) than working outdoors.

With August behind us, I'm feeling the urgency to get back to work on our new house.

Why Is It Difficult To Get Contractors?

Someone asked me, and we've often asked ourselves this as well, why is it so hard to find contractors to help get work done on the house?  We've experienced difficulty with the trenching services, the plumbers, the electricians, as well as others.  So why is this?

As it turns out, we pay or are willing to pay, the same as amount as what these guys are getting through their commercial building customers.  The difference is that their commercial building customers are a source for repeat business, whereas we are not.  Therefore, if they aren't busy, they'll do work for us, but otherwise, we're going to keep getting pushed to the back of the queue as far as when they can work.

So it stands to reason that we've had trouble.  In comparing notes with other people I know in the area, who are also building (or have built) their own homes, it has been the same experience for them.  The best luck they've had is to pay for day labor and supervise closely.

Still Rushed but Not Stressed

After further consideration, and talking it over with Rachel, we decided that the money we were going to be paying for waterproofing help, and slab prep, was going to be a whole lot of money for not a lot.  It was going to be a lot in terms of progress that I have not been able to make on my own, but it was going to use up the rest of our money and wasn't a lot of value added.

So Rachel decided that she'll help me.  We're getting a list of things to do and products to buy, and looking to hire some local help.  Our plan is to get the waterproofing done in a weekend in August (before the rains come in the Fall), and get the roof covered as soon as possible.  This will be some dirt work.  I'll have to buy dirt as well as get someone to help move the dirt we have up against the house and get the berming completed.

Likewise, some local help can get us the slab prep work we need, and with Rachel's help, I can get the phonecalls made, the workers lined out and all the things done that I couldn't do and hold down a job at the same time.

This will save us a lot of money, which I feel a lot better being able to save and spend somewhere else (on the house, of course).  Rachel is happier about it.  I don't think Ralph Smoot (the guy in the Austin area that was going to help us) is happy about it.  He's not returning my e-mails right now and there've been no phone conversations since our decision either.

I had literally planned to get him to do the work up until dinner lastnight after work.  I had the contract printed out.  I had already given Ralph our address and instructions on how to find the place, so that they could have materials delivered.  All that remained was me provide a check and the signed contract, which I was going to Fedex for a Monday delivery.
At dinner, Rachel said she didn't feel comfortable with that decision and felt that it was an awful amount of money for what we'd be getting.

I can definitely say that this was nothing against Ralph or his son Conrad.  It was a money issue.  I wanted to get the work done, but I didn't like the idea of being out of money afterwards.  This way, it'll probably take us longer to get this stuff done, but we'll have the money left to go further on construction than we would have been able to otherwise.

I still haven't gotten a return call from Jay Scafe (@ Terra-Dome) because I had wanted to check and see if he had anyone to help us with the waterproofing, and what they might charge.  If it was a better price, we would entertain that solution for certain.  The thing is, Jay hasn't returned our calls.  He's either out of town, or just not checking his voice-mail yet.

Feeling Rushed & Stressed

I'm feeling rushed.  I'm under a lot of pressure.  It feels overwhelming, but I have to do this.

I have a unique opportunity to make some great progress in a short amount of time on the house.  However, this comes with a cost.  Money.  And we're almost out of it.  So I've had to ponder this to decide what to do, and I don't have a lot of time to make the decision.

Ralph Smoot and his son Conrad (see http://www.earthshelteredhome.com) have proposed to come and help us get our waterproofing done, as well as helping me finish the slab prep work so that I can pour the floor concrete.  The thing is, they have a tight schedule and I feel rushed.

Ralph is proposing that they come out in a couple of weeks.   I think this is good for their schedule, but he also says that it'll get in before the rain returns in the fall, and it'll give the waterproofing time to cure a bit before winter.

I have some factors that stress me out on this.
   1.  It's a lot of money, but the good thing is that it's a great amount of progress in a small amount of time.
   2.  Once the waterproofing is down, we've got to protect it, so it has to be buried within a few weeks.  We have to get the place bermed and the roof covered.  (but we can't do that until the floors are poured).
   3.  Ralph recommends no berming until the floor concrete is in (for wall stability).  So once the waterproofing is done, we're committed.
   4.  We are running low on money.
   5.  There is an enormous amount of floor prep that I don't think Ralph realizes, although I've documented it for him extensively.  It may be that he doesn't consider it to be as big an obstacle as I do, although his price for helping me on this aspect is minimal.  It's worth the money.
   6.  I work during the day and haven't had time to devote to calling slab contractors to see what their labor will run.
   7.  I'll have to purchase rebar and get that delivered to the site, and I'm not sure what 3800 feet of #3 rebar is going to run (yet).
   8.  We're running low on money.

There's a great opportunity here.  By the end of August, we could be months and months ahead of where we'd otherwise be.  It's just that we'll also be out of money so work will slow down after this temporary surge in progress.

Garage Sub-Floor is Virtual Done

We did it.  With Rachel's help this weekend, we were able to finish the work in the sub-floor of the garage.  I barely have 30 minutes of work (maybe less) left, but it was just too hot (over 100F in the shade) to finish the work today.  It was 17:00 and time to quit.

We got a lot done.  We have a supply line for running electricity from a backup generator, if we ever get one.  It wont have to be retrofitted later.  The conduit is already there.

We put in an earth tube and have a much shorter one to install, which will only take me a few minutes on another day.  The earth tube (sometimes called a cooling tube) is for virtually free airconditioning.  In our case, it wont be completely passive due to the fact that we wont really have a chimney effect, so for the system to work, we will be installing a small fan in the system (so it wont really be completely free, but it'll be low cost).

See http://mb-soft.com/solar/saving.html  This site tells about an earth tube system that we really like.  We've read about earth tubes for years but never quite found a solution that would prevent mold and/or mildrew from growing inside the tubes.  This system does that, due to sloped pipe and a place to draw off moisture at the lowest point, and sumped from a drywell nearby.

As stated, we installed the tube in the floor.  This will be for bringing in cold air to the garage (it could later be converted to living quarters, so having A/C felt like a good measure to add to the garage before the garage floor gets poured.

A second tube (closer to the exterior) will be installed as a "return" air duct.  These are 4 inch pipes that are a part of a closed-loop system for air circulation and cooling.  The pipes will be connected to a series of pipe run out into our pasture, approximately 4 or 5 feet deep, and then looped back to the house.  A complete loop, where warm air enters the 'return' pipe, goes through the earth and is cooled and brought back into the house through the other pipe, being drawn through with a small fan.

The system works in other homes and it'll work for us too.

The garage will have its own fan for circulation, but when we install these same type of pipes for the rest of the house, they'll be run via a whole house ventilation system that will also have a filter and possibly a dehumidifier if we feel necessary.

Anyway, we got the work done.  Only the return pipe is left to do.  I can do that one evening this week.

I'm very pleased at where we've gotten progress, but frustrated that it has taken so long to get here.  I am looking to get some help.  Help is hard to get, because you want someone that knows what they need to do in one of these types of houses, and not just anyone can do that.  I think I might be able to get some expertise though and it might not be cost prohibitive.  I'll know for sure in a few days (I hope).

Bogged and Blogged

I was making progress on the house, but have been bogged down again (lately). It has gotten to the point where it's just too hot to work after I get home from my regular job. I've worked all day already, and then to get home and work in 100 degree weather is just not something I can keep up.

Last weekend, I had to work on a busted water line, and so I didn't really work much on the house. This water line was out in our pasture. I'm not sure how it got broken, but I had to dig and dig until I could find the broken part in the pipe and fix it. What a mess that was.

And digging takes a lot out of a person, and in this heat, it's doubly so. I spent most of Sunday recovering from the hard work in the heat on Saturday, and so very little work got done on the house. I think the electrical work is done on the house, with the exception of a feeder line (a 2 inch conduit) from a backup generator that we hope to get. I don't know if we ever actually will, but I want to provide the conduit just in case.

This weekend, because of the heat, we're hoping to get up real early (maybe around 4:00 or 4:30) and get started early, so that we can get our outdoor work done before it gets really hot. In addition, because Rachel and I tend to work better together, we're both going to work in the garden first. I'll help her there and we'll get that work done, and then she'll help me in the house. I hope to get that generator line put in. After that, I just need to get some ventilation lines in that we will eventually hook up to a closed loop earth tube system, which we will install after the house is built. We want to ventilation system in the floor beforehand, obviously.

As I side note, I've started "blogging". If interested, see my blogger site at http://les-stockton.blogspot.com

Garage Electrical

I've almost got all the sub-slab work in the garage done. Yeah, I know I'm slow. I didn't get into anything big this weekend, because I was afraid I'd get into something and then get a call that I needed to go to the office to work this weekend. I didn't want to have to stop in the middle of something big, so I piddled. As it turns out, I didn't have to work this weekend, but it's likely I'll be putting in a lot of overtime this coming week. I'm not happy about probably missing a baseball all-star party Tuesday night though.

I have almost all of the electrical done, and I only have some ventilation ducts in the floor. Then after that, I put a thin layer of sheet insulation on top of the compacted sand, and then some rebar and steel mesh over that, with pex tubing snaked in every few inches (for radiant floor heat). We'll call a concrete contractor in and his crew will pour concrete and smooth it out into a nice floor for us.

Finally, we'll have one of the modules set up so that we can close it in. We'll put a walk through door in back (at the patio), one in front, two garage doors, and then the door to the kitchen. It'll be a secure place for us to put building materials and tools. It's a hassle to have to lock things away every time you work. Having it all in secured in the garage will be so much better. Plus, we'll have a bathroom out there too.

Visited By a News Reporter

A local news anchor (known as @newsjen on Twitter.com) visited our construction site with a camera man. We were interviewed as we gave a tour of the site, answered questions and tried to explain the virtures of building an earth home and why we would do such a thing.

I plan on posting a few photographs that were taken during the visit, but if you're interested in how the finished interview aired, you can visit http://www.newson6.com/global/story.asp?s=8618948 to see the text from the interview. There is also streaming video of the story as it aired on television. Jennifer and her cameraman did a great job condensing the visit into the key points.

June In Review

I had high hopes for June. I did get some work done, but not enough (in my opinion). I wanted to get utilities to the house. That didn't happen. I also had planned on having the garage utilities done so that a slab could be poured. That's about 3/4ths done. I'd probably be finished now, but I've had a few snags to occupy my time. I feel confident that this will be done soon.

I hope that in July, I can finish the things I had slated for June. It's a month behind, but so what. I've been behind schedule for a long, long time. It's not like I really have a schedule, other than my own. We don't have a bank pressuring us to get the construction done so that a construction loan can be converted to a mortgage. We're paying as we go, so we don't have that worry. The downside is that we aren't getting to live in our new house, because it's taking longer to get built.

With one person working on it, and not full-time, it's just going to take a long time to get the house done. It'll happen. I've just got to not get discouraged (as I have in the past) and just be persistent. And, we still have to remember to stop and smell the roses. We have to live life. We can't push ourselves so hard that we don't enjoy life. We have to live.

I have figured out that in order to get our utility work done, I'd like to find someone with a backhoe, and let them do the work. I will have to pay more to get it done, but they'll be faster than I will be if I rent the equipment and do it myself. It's a choice between saving the money and taking longer, or just getting the work done, and having to pay for it. So we'll get the trenching done. This will include some drainage work to the north of the house, to improve that from how it is today.

When I get a chance (probably this weekend), I'll write up a plan for July. I'd like to set goals, hoping that by doing so, maybe more progress will be made. Setting goals tends to motivate and keep us focused on objectives. There's so much to be done. I need to focus. (Plus, I have a real job as well).

June Is Almost Over

I'm now posting short updates on Twitter. (http://twitter.com/les_stockton) If you care to keep that close of track of my daily activities, you can get on. It's free.

I didn't get as much completed in June as I had originally set out. Things got in the way. A job, for one thing. Other things too. It's just the nature of things. Progress is made though and I'm happy. When I get the chance, I'll establish goals for July, which will probably be to complete the goals I set for June. It's do-able.

We'll have visitors soon.

Recently, a local television news anchor (who I track via Twitter) expressed interest in our earth home construction project. She wants to come out and see the place and ask questions, and possibly do a news story. I'm hoping that she wont mind that the place is not closed in yet, and that we don't have dirt on the roof yet, and that it's a work in progress, but with some considereable progress to-date. I'm also hoping that we can provide some good information on earth homes since the general public will be viewing the story. I'd hope that this would share an alternative on how to save energy, and since we live in a tornado prone area, that it might also be an alternative that people around where we live might be interested in.

Being interviewed for a story like this is quite an honor, but I'm careful not to make it a vanity thing. I want the information to get out. I have to temper my enthusiasm with being realistic, realizing that I can't get too technical when the questions are asked, although I'm not really sure what questions will be asked. So I'm hoping I can anticipate the questions, and have answers that will be reasonably understandable by the average joe that will be watching on television.

One thing that is a bit of a pain, is that Rachel wants the place cleaned up before they do the story. That means I wont get much actual electrical work done this weekend, because I'll be mowing, trimming, cleaning up and organizing not only the construction site, but also around the current living quarters (inside and out). Since our son is completely absent when it comes to doing any work around the place, this leaves it all to us (and the majority of the work outdoors to me, in the 90+ degree heat). And I've got to get all of this done this weekend, because the visit will be on Thursday (as currently scheduled). So I have to get all of this done.

The good news is that I am healthy, and all of this work will get done. The place will look good. Rachel wont be ashamed when it's seen on television. I just hope the story turns out good and that the place photographs well for the average public, and that we can impart good useful information.

What I've Been Working On

I thought I'd tell what I've been working on, but before doing so, I want to say that I'm very annoyed with Terra-Dome right now. I called to get some dimensions (not clearly identified on our drawings, although they should be) and Jacki said she'd send them, but she never did. I also called Jay and left a message, because I had what I felt at the time was a very serious issue that I needed to resolve and I needed his expertise. I never got a call back, even a week later. I know he had family in from out of town, so I allowed him that week, but over a week has passed. His answering machine seemed to work fine when I was leaving him messages before, so I think he just didn't want to bother with me now. This is poor customer service, and I want to make note of that.

Now, as to what I've been working on, I went through the master suite, guest suite and the great room, marking where interior walls will be located. I did this with utility flags that utility companies normally use for marking utilities in the ground. I marked both sides of the interior walls. This was quite intensive (since I was missing some of the dimensions I needed and Jacki never got back to me with them). I took measurements, to both sides of the interior walls. I took measurements twice, three times, and even a fourth from a different direction, just to make sure I had the positions correct. I also used my laser level as a pointer in some cases.

Anyway, marking the wall locations will be necessary so that when I want to start putting in the electrical conduit, I'll be able to locate it all of the circuits in the wall locations where they will be. Then when the concrete is finally poured, the conduit will be in the location it is supposed to be. These things aren't done by themselves, and they're not automatic, and it all takes time. Doing it by yourself takes a lot of time.

This week, I'm working on the garage, putting in sand, compacting it and then leveling it so that I can have a half to an inch of insulation, and then a 4 to 5 inch slab on top of that. And I don't want this floor to be higher than the floors in the rest of the house, and since they will be 4 inches above the footings, it is important to make sure that I start out at the right level in the garage. I also have the plumbing that is already in the floor, to make sure that I adjust levels as necessary so that the drain in the bathroom and garage floor still work.

Anyway, leveling the floor is not easy by yourself. I managed to get a couple of photos of myself doing this week, and I'll eventually get around to posting them. I used a laser level that I have for sighting across the room, and then a pole that I've marked at 5 inches and 6 inches. These are so that I can have an inch of insulation and at least a 4 inch slab, but probably a 5 inch slab on top of that.

I move around in the room every foot or so, and let the laser hit the pole, and then check to see if I'm within the 5 and 6 inch marks. If not, then I scrape out sand in that area until the level is correct. Then I move on. It's a lot of work because of doing two functions, but only one person doing the work. Plus, I have to calibrate the laser level each time. It's really just a laser sight, and if I had it to do over, I'd buy a self-leveling laser rotary level, which would make things a lot easier. Mine does not self level, so every time I move it, I have to re-calibrate it (and I sometimes think I don't get it accurate enough, and so I have to recalibrate).

Anyway, once I get the floor leveled, I will make the bathroom wall locations in the garage, and then I'll be able to start running conduit. Once all that is done, I can put in the insulation and then get a slab contractor to put in the mesh, rebar and a concrete floor. I've got to keep moving.

We didn't get much done this last weekend, because we went to an estate auction near Miami, Oklahoma. This was because of the death of a family friend, and their surviving family members needing to eliminate a few things and get some money in the process. We ended up going there for support, but came home with a rake tool to pull behind the mower (or our tractor). We also got a band saw, which I'm not sure if it works, but we also got a router table (without the router, but I have one).

Lately, things have come up on the weekends, so I'm not getting as much work done as I'd like, but I'm trying to make up for it during the week (and then we've had bad weather). So I just get the work done when I can.

Goals for the Month

I wanted to mention that progress is still slow. That's the nature of things. It's the time of the year when we get a lot of storms, so I've been limited on when I could work on the house. In addition, there are times when you need to live life. We're not only building a house. We're building a marriage. Our anniversary was in May, and we took a little bit of time off to spend with each other. If we don't build our marriage, there's no sense in building the house.

Now, about June, I have some goals. They're aggressive and I doubt that I'll achieve them, but if you don't set goals, you'll meet none of them.

• Utilities to the house. Trench work. I hope to rent a mini-trackhoe or backhoe for a week.
• An electrical line from the new pole to the house, and into the garage where the main breaker box will be located.
• A propane line from the tank (near the location where the electrical pole is) over to the house. We'd like 2 lines. One goes out back where the porch will be (for a propane grill, and possibly a backup generator for the house)
  Another line will go up over the roof to the vent above the hvac room, where the propane line can enter the house. (Propane lines (by code) do not go under slabs).
• Extend the water line from the house to the shed where our well pump control and pressure tank are located.
• We might want an additional electrical line from the new house to the shed (for a supply to the well pump. Currently, this is from the current house, but we might want this switched so that power comes from the new house since this is where we hope to eventually have some solar power).
• I'm seriously considering (since when I do the trenches, I might as well do another) a network line (and intercom line) between houses. This will allow me to set up IP cams out in the new house. This is optional though.
• I would like to refine the drainage system at the north of the house so that area doesn't get swamped anymore.
• I want to get the sewer line from the house to the water treatment system (fancy septic system).
• I'd like to get the electrical work (below slab done in the garage so that we can poor the slab in there.

We had hopes of hiring an electrician to get the electrical work done. We asked for bids from two electricians, who agreed to do the work (or at least provide bids). Both took floor plans, but I never heard back from either. They evidently are doing so well that they don't need our business. So, I'll do the work myself. It's slower, but I'll get it done. It'll be to code, and we'll save money.

Underground America Day

May 14th was Underground America Day but it came and went without me realizing it. Besides Underground America Day, it was also National Dance Like A Chicken Day and Root Canal Appreciation Day.

Our Water System Had To Be Repaired

We have water again (sort of). I got a well service to come out to work on the problem. I dug up half the trench to find the leak, but it turned out to be in three different locations along the pipe. We ended up having to dig almost the entire trench in order to find the last location where the water line had been pulled loose. It was loose at the pvc connections.

This ordeal costed me $120 to get it fixed, and now I have all this dirt to have to back fill into the trench. I'm leaving the trench open for a while because at least I know where that line is now, and before we run the propane, water and electric lines to the house, I want to make sure we can avoid damaging them again.

The day was a bad day, but at least now we have a new electrical pole and I can now dig a trench for those utility lines to the new house.

The well needs to be shocked now. The system was open and so it's not sanitized. Rachel and I will shock the well with bleach and wait a day and then flush the system. So, we'll be without usable water until after the system is shocked and then flushed.

One Step Forward / One Step Backward

It feels like every time we make a little bit of progress, something happens and we step backwards and there's no progress at all. It was like that today, and as of right now, it is a step backwards, not forwards.

First of all, we needed a power pole added for the new house. I marked a place for it to go so that it would be conveniently located, yet clear the water pipe from the well head to the shed where the pressure tank and other water-related stuff is. Well, the auger that the power company used was huge and powerful, but it wasn't powerful enough to not be moved by the rocks we have in our ground. It moved too far to the south and got into our water line. It broke the water line, but somehow didn't seem to hurt the power to the well. So we had to shut the circuit off because the well was just pumping water like crazy and it went all over the inside of the shed and out on the ground.

Now we have the new pole for electricity to the new house, but we don't have water. Now I have to fix that.

So I had to start digging a trench from where the damaged pipe is, over to to where it enters the shed. I had a tough time even finding someone that could come out and work on it, and finally got a guy that is located 40 miles west of Tulsa, and so he's going to have to drive this long distance (at an additional charge) to get out to our location and fix this mess.

And when this is all fixed, we'll have to shock the well again because now the water system has been compromised. So we'll be without drinking water for a couple of days until we can get that cleaned up.

The Cap Blew Off Again

The cap blew off again and we still haven't gotten any callbacks or follow up from Burnett, Inc. I was supposed to call the salesman today but I was busy with other things and he wasn't in the office when I called. I'll have to escalate things.

Even with the rocks I had weighing that section of cap down, the wind gusts were enough to blow the cap off. I put it back on, but weighed it down with additional rocks.

I believe that the cap is an issue because it was a rushed job. I thought it was odd that they could do the entire thing in about an hour and a half, and one guy was doing it while the other guy was picking up their tools and getting ready to leave. I was amazed when they finished and left.

I was hoping that they would've been out last week and replaced the cap and done it correctly, but they didn't. I'm disappointed that I paid. Every time we do this we pay before the job is done and we always end up regretting it.

Shouldn't have paid balance on the siding

I now regret paying 90% of the balance on the siding job until it was properly finished. The salesman showed up that day and pressured us and so we agreed to pay 90%. That was a mistake. The work still hasn't been done and this weekend, we had strong winds that blew the cap off. These winds weren't the 70mph winds we sometimes get. These were merely 30mph gusts and the cap should've been able to hand that.

Click here to see.

I'm a bit frustrated. The company, Burnett Inc, has called us a couple of times, indicating that they want the balance paid, as if the work has already been done. It hasn't. They acted as if it had been.

I even received a call last Thursday from one of the guys that had done the installation, and he asked if he could show up after 17:00 to finish the job. So it appeared that they do intend to finish the job, but the thing is, he was wanting to do it after 17:00, as if to say that it's a lower priority than their day jobs. And the guy never showed up, so it's definitely not a priority for them.

I don't like to have these confrontations, but I'm going to have to call the people at Burnett on Monday and remind them that we're waiting for them to finish the job. I also plan to tell them that we're never going to pay a balance again until the work is complete. This was a mistake to do it this time. We were trying to be nice. We were trying to do the right thing, and unfortunately, they have not done the same.

No Callbacks, No Progress, Frustrated

I'm a bit frustrated this last few days. We were told by the siding salesman that we'd be contacted with regards to the issues we raised the past weekend. We expected this call on Monday. We expected it on Tuesday. It didn't happen yesterday. I'm frustrated. It seems to me that their lack of followup is a sign that they do not intend to make things right. I'm glad we didn't pay them the last little bit.

I'm frustrated that we haven't gotten a callback from the concrete contractor that I spoke with late last week. He was supposed to call and come out on Tuesday. That never happened.

I'm frustrated that the first electrical contractor we gave a plan to hasn't called us. He was supposed to get back with us this week, but never called. He wouldn't even come to our site, and we had to take the plan to him. And of course, we don't see how he can get a clear picture of what we need when he wouldn't come on site to look things over.

I did get a second electrician out to look over the site and I gave him a copy of the electrical plan so he'd be able to make notes on it while walking through the site. He said he'd get back to us, so I'm hopeful that maybe he will in a week or so.

I have determined that we'll need to get another storage container rented and brought out to the site. We had one a year ago, but finished using it in August or so and saved money by not renting it any longer. We need it for a while now, to clear out the house and let whichever electrician room to do his work in the section of the master suite where some of our building materials are currently stored. We'll need to put them in the storage container.

I don't know of a good spot to put that container, but I suspect it'll be between the house and the road, and I can live with that, although it means covering up the spot that I was hoping we could put some of the excess concrete when getting the slab poured.

I haven't done as much in this last few days as I had hoped. I haven't been feeling as well, and now that I might feel better, the weather is going to turn bad for a couple of days.

I'm frustrated.

It has almost been a year since we broke ground, and we still don't even have the sub poured. We don't have the electrical work in the slab done. I'm frustrated. My hopes are that the frustration will force me to make things happen. It's motivation, I guess.

On a lighter note, if there is one, I've also been frustrated with this hosting site. I've been trying to upload pictures for a few days, and they aren't there yet. I'm going to have to put in a technical support issue report and hope that it'll be resolved soon.

Salesman's Visit

The siding salesman visited this morning. Before he arrived though, Rachel and I started a number of chores. The biggest was burning debris that we had piled up from the ice storm in December. The stuff was ten feet high and in the past, it was always too wet or too dry or too windy. It was just right this morning, so we got the fire going.

The salesman wanted full payment, but Rachel stuck to her guns (I was manning the fire) and said that the cap needed to be addressed first. They inspected the siding job and she took him up on the roof so that he could see how the cap was done. He agreed that it didn't look like a good job.

He made a bigger deal out of the fact that the guys left scrap, trash, etc. He went around and picked up a bunch of it. We agreed that we would pay about 90% of the balance, but that the last amount was held back until they do something about the cap. The salesman took pictures so that he could return to the office and discuss the matter with the company vp.

After he left, Rachel and I made a quick trip to get 6 40lb bags of manure for the gardens. We worked in the gardens most of the afternoon, although I did get some mowing done, and I also worked a tiny bit on the house. I put some plastic on the end of the pex we have out in the patio, to protect it from the UV rays. I need to protect the water supply line as well, but I'm hoping to do that with some pipe insulation (which we need anyway).

I'll be interested to hear back on what the vp of the siding company will agree to do. We feel that it is only right that the cap be done as we had been told it would be done from the beginning. That only seems fair.

I feel badly that the guys that installed the siding might have to return to finish the job. This will not make them happy workers, and because of the trash that the salesman picked up, they'll probably get some scolding over that. And we have no complaints with their work, other than the cap isn't what we'd originally agreed upon.
I just hope that if the same guys have to return to redo the cap, that they're not the type that will vandalize. We just want to have the job done the way we agreed on having it done, and paid to have it done. (and we didn't want to get anyone in trouble over it).

The Parapet Siding Is Done (but it's not as good as it should be)

The parapet siding is done, but not like we had understood it would be. For pictures, click here.

The guys finished, but after they left, I walked up on the roof to see it closer. The first thing I noticed (and Rachel agreed) is that the cap is wrong. It's in two pieces, not one. That cap is supposed to be a single piece that starts in front, goes over the top, and then down the back side of the parapet for a couple of inches.

At first, they incorrectly put a white cap up (but only for about 20 feet). They ran out of material and then figured out that it was the wrong color. The white cap was one piece. It looked good. We liked how it sloped down the retaining wall a couple of inches. When they replaced the cap with the right color, for some reason, the material is the right color, but it appears to be slightly different and they had to cap in two pieces.

Rachel was even more disappointed when she saw the cap. We also didn't like how they did it at the end where it's supposed to lap over the top of the retaining wall a couple of inches. This second time around, they didn't do that. It looks unfinished from the end. You can see the wood underneath the front of the cap. I'm not pleased.

The salesman called and he wants to come by on Saturday and get final payment. Rachel told him that she doesn't feel comfortable paying until the job is "finished". I guess we'll talk about it Saturday morning when the guy visits. Clearly, what we originally discussed with him, is not what we got.

I can tell you that as parapets, and from what people will see, the siding is fine, but now, with what we know, I wouldn't have this siding on the house walls. I don't think it looks good enough. It looks cheap. However, on the parapets, it is fine.

Parapets

The guys returned bright and early to get more siding done on the parapets. They've gotten most of the south side of the house done, and I figure they'll finish that side up tomorrow (they plan to work half a day on Saturday).

The siding looks good. Rachel is happy with it. We've noticed that from down the road, the house blends with the trees now, rather than being very obvious when the white parapets could be clearly distinguished through the trees.

We posted pictures (click here).

I took a lot of pictures today. I also went to a tour through the new BOK Center, which is still under construction. It's of interest to me because my hockey team will be playing there next season. Completion date is set for September 1st, but they've got a long way to go, and the schedule looks tight to me. I hope they can do it.

If you're interested, I posted pictures of that tour too. The link is in the navigation bar to the left. It's "Photos @ Google".

Parapet Siding

The siding guys returned this morning at 7:00. I opened up the gates and got them started. It was an overcast day, with thunderstorms in the forecast. The storms ended up coming after they left, so we got a day's work in from them (sort of). They left at 15:00. They did take off for over an hour for lunch, so it didn't feel like an 8 hour day to me, but on the other hand, I'm paying for the job, not by the hour, so it doesn't matter to me. The quality of work seems to be good, so I can't complain.

I took a few pictures (click here to see) and hope to get a few throughout the job until they finish in a week or so.

On another note, I called an electrician over a week ago. It's almost been two weeks, actually. The guy never called me back and he hasn't come by. I'm frustrated. I guess business is so good that he can afford to throw work away. I'll call someone else next week so that I can get the electrical work that's needed beneath the slab. I want to pour the slabs in a couple of months.

After the electrician gets his work done, I need to do the duct work for the ventilation system. I also need to install the central vacuum system, the stereo wiring, computer network cable, telephone cable, and security cabling. After that, we can pour concrete and get this house project moving again.

Parapets

The siding company had a schedule change and so we got in much earlier than expected (although I was hoping for this all along). Two guys showed up around noon today and started assessing the job. I think what we have scared them a bit. They left for a while and returned with some light lumber for applying to the parapets prior to putting on the siding.

Click here for initial photos.

The biggest problem the guys ran into is that they started putting up some 1x4s and found out that they need longer fasteners. The ones they had weren't getting into the concrete enough to hold. They made it through the insulation, but not enough into the concrete to do the job. So they quit early today, but we figure they'll make up for lost time tomorrow.

From what I understand, it's going to take a week of prep work before they can really start applying the siding. This siding is what we picked for the parapets. We're not ready for work on the walls yet, and Rachel and I still haven't determined if we'll brick the walls or if we want some other type of fascade. We still have time to decide that, but we wanted to go ahead and get siding up for the parapets, because that much we do know. Plus, we were in dire need of protecting the insulation that is on the parapets. They need to be covered.

Plumbing (Continued)

The plumbers finished the rough-in work. Block Outs were built for places (such as the showers or tubs, where we will have to make fine adjustments for proper location of the drains later. So the block outs will leave a void space in the slab when it's poured, so that the final placement of the drains can be made when it's time to install the showers or tubs.

For pictures, click here.

I paid 50%, plus an additional $600 for the renting of the boring equipment (the giant hole saw). I figure that if we'd ended up not boring a hole through the footing, and went with the sump pump, that by the time it was installed and an electrician hooked it up, the cost would've been pretty close to that same price. I think this is a better solution as we wont need electricity for draining from that garage bathroom.

I wanted to note (and I have a photo of it) that when the original concrete work was done, the concrete guy dumped excess concrete next to the house. They often dump waste concrete wherever they can, and they rarely ask where they will dump it. And for some reason, no matter where they choose to dump it, it'll likely be in an inconvenient spot. It's better if you can be on site to choose. In my case, they dumped concrete right in the path of where I need the sewer line to go. So I'll have to remove that giant globe of concrete. I'm not happy about it, but it has to be done.

Plumbing (Continued)

The plumbers were back today. The hole chewed and chiseled out of the footing was a disappointment. The hole saw never quite did the job and so it was taken back and they continued the job with a drill and a chisel. And then after all that trouble, it didn't look like we could get the slope we needed for the proper flow and we were in danger of needing the sump pump after all.

Well, Mike (the boss) returned with the giant hole saw. He said that he was about to return it when the Hilti guy arrived and had a new "bit" (I don't think of it as a bit. It's a hole saw to me).
Anyway, this saw was different. Not only were the teeth meatier, but they were pronounced from the outer surface of the saw (the cylinder) and so as they cut into the concrete, they leave enough clearance on the sides of the hole not to cause so much friction. This time, they were able to completely saw through the hole and clean it up, in less than half an hour.

Click here to see pictures.

They got a lot of work done today, but will have to return to finish tomorrow morning. There's still some final work to do and they have to pack up their things too, so they quit a little early today knowing they probably have an hour or two left tomorrow.

One thing I wanted to mention is that I like how these guys tie everything done nicely at the base of their stakes, to make sure that when the floor is poured, that the lines remain exactly where they are to be (inside a wall).

I particularly like the pex product. It's much easier to work with than pvc or copper. It's a continuous product, so there's not a lot of glueing, and when fittings do need to be done, they are very tight and secure. There isn't a high rate of failure in these fittings. It's a good system and I like how fast they are at using the material.

When they're finished, one thing they are going to do is plug every line and then test for leaks with air pressure. I have confidence that when they leave, the job will be 100% complete and reliable.

Plumbing

The plumbers arrived this morning and I worked with them all day. It was past 19:00 when they finally left. I was beat. They made fast work, plumbing everything except for the kitchen and for the garage bathroom. We would've gotten that done, but it was taking so long to cut a hole through the footing for the sewer line.

The original sewer line hole that Terra-Dome provided us was in the wrong location from where I had specified, and it was way too low to allow for proper flow from the toilet. So rather than dig through the rock for a sump pump, we chose to bore a hole through the footing to provide for the proper drainage without the need of a sump pump.

Even with the giant hole saw machine that they rented, they were only able to cut about halfway through the footing and then there was just too much friction on the sides to allow it to cut further. We drilled through several times from both sides with drill bits, and hope to finish tomorrow morning.

One change order (already) is that Rachel wants a sink out on the patio, so we need to get hot and cold water back there, and plus she wants hot and cold water for a hot tub (some day). I mentioned it to the lead plumber late in the day and suggested that if we could just branch off the hot and cold in the garage, that there's a place in the footing that I provided to allow them out to the patio. He didn't seem to think this would be a problem.

Click here for pictures.

I was a bit embarassed that we had so much trouble with the garage sewer drain issues. It seems like everything we do isn't just off the shelf. We seem to be "out of the box" and it always seems to take extra time or extra money or both.

Working With Sand

After all this discussion with the plumber, he finally told me yesterday that he needs sand, not gravel, as a base to work in. I kinda figured that before, but Jay Scafe (Terra-Dome) told me they always use gravel below their slabs. I think that's for their convenience, not for the convenience of the home owner. It makes sense that copper or pex are more vulnerable to gravel than with sand.

So I had 4 loads of sand delivered today and raced to get it into the house and approximately to the height of the footings, in preparation for the plumber, who arrives to work tomorrow. On top of that, I was also racing the weather today, as there was a chance of rain and it looked like it could rain at any time. I took no time for breaks. We really can't work with wet sand, and so it was important to get it inside before any rain.

I beat the rain and I beat the clock, but now I'm beat. I am sore.

After Rachel got off work, she helped me smooth out the surface of the sand and pack it down in areas. I did most of the packing with the tractor, but there were areas that I couldn't get with the tractor. We used a hoe and a rake, and went over the entire surface, getting it pretty well.
The four loads of sand allowed me to get the basic areas where plumbing will be. I omitted an area in the master suite because I have stuff stored there that I need to keep out of the weather (paraseal is one item that I'm protecting until ready to use).There's also about half of the great room that I didn't cover (yet). I figure I need another couple of loads to finish out the house, with the exception of the garage. Only the southeast corner of the garage is being plumbed, so that's the only area that I scraped out gravel and put sand in. Hopefully, any pex in there that might be in gravel, will be protected with insulation (which we ought to have with the hot water pex anyway).

One item to note is that the plumber (Mike) suggested that instead of the sump pump in the garage (to account for the grade problem with the sewer line), that instead, for approximately the same price (and less labor on my part), we might get a contractor to bore a 4 inch hole in a more convenient place for the sewer line. I like that idea and Rachel did too when we discussed it this evening.

Anyway, the plumber and his crew arrive tomorrow. He said it would be between 8:00 and 9:00, and he says that it'll take 2 days for the sub-slab work. I'll pay half and then 35% when he comes back to do the top-out work (that wont be until we have framing in). and then 15% upon completion.

I took a few photos (click here) of the work I did today. It's not the most glamorous photographs I've taken, but I figured I wanted to document that I put in a 10 hour job today with only enough break time to use the restroom. I huffed to get it all done in case there is rain.

Working with an agenda

I've made a new effort to get moving on the house. Every day, I call and try to talk to various people to get things done. After almost two weeks, I've finally got the siding people (almost) ready to work on the parapets. The thing is, it was almost a week or more of phone tag before finally pressing the issue. I had to tell the assist (yesterday) that I was getting tired and that maybe it would be better for me to double my chances for success by calling a second siding company and seeing which company could get out to do the work first. I received a callback within an hour.

I'm going over to the siding company tomorrow morning to get the contract started, but the sad news is that I was told it could be 10 weeks before they can start. This isn't what I was originally told. However, this is their busiest time of the year; but it's their busiest sales time. This is a sure-thing installation and I've been waiting long enough. I expect to not have to wait that 10 weeks. I better not have to wait even half that time.

I finally got a bid from the plumber. I'd waited over a month with no response from that guy, so I pressed the issue with him and got a $12,800 bid from him yesterday. I've mulled it over with Rachel and intend to go over it with him in person later today (I haven't verified that with him yet, but it's my intension). It seems like a lot of money, but it's for the sub-slab work, plus topping off after the slab is poured. I'm hoping that we can get him on this work real soon.
I think I'll be moving more gravel inside the house to get the sub-slab area to the right depth. With the plumber's help, we've pretty much determined that the sub-slab depth needs to be pretty close to where Terra-Dome recommends, which is the 4 inch slab sitting ontop of the footings. I was hoping to be below that a little bit so that we'd have more head room above the slab. In the end, it's no big deal. It's only 4 inches.

I hope to arrange for more gravel to be delivered, as well as getting a delivery of the cheapest fill dirt (it's a bit rocky). This is great for starting a new berm, which is what we need on the north side of the master suite.

This is what I'm hoping to get going. Once the plumber is doing his thing, I'll probably start my own sub-slab work. I just didn't want to interfere with the plumbing (since it has a set flow that must be maintained)(wiring and central vac do not). I will be running the central vac piping, plus conduit for phones, computer network, stereo, security sensors, etc. There are also the fresh air lines that I want available for the wood stoves and the water heater. (The house is very tight, so we need these fresh air intake lines).

Once I have all that, I'll determine if I want to do the electrical lines or if I'll call in an electrician. Considering that the last time we paid an electrician, he didn't do what we wrote out for him to do, I figure I'll probably run these conduits too. At least then I'll know that I'll get the lines where I want them to be and I wont be paying $50 (or is it $70, I can't remember) an hour to get it done.

Worked a Little

I worked a little bit this weekend. Basically, it was great weather, but I got in about an hour yesterday and an hour today. It was spent doing waterproofing behind the master suite. We have to do that before we can insulate, and we have to insulate before we can berm back there.

I plan on calling tomorrow and getting the plumber back out to get his work done, and to hopefully get an electrician out to see what we'll need. Ralph Smoot recommends getting all that stuff done and the slabs in before doing any backfilling. I asked Jay Scafe about it and he didn't feel this was necessary and they haven't had it as an issue in any of their homes. Ralph might be just taking a precaution, as it make sense that there are greater lateral forces after berming, than if we get the slab in first so that the walls can't move. However, because Jay doesn't see this as an issue, I'm not sure it matters, but I am taking it under advisement.

Anyway, I need to get the utilities into the sub-floor so that we can get the slabs poured. Getting that work started doesn't mean I have to stop with the work I'm doing on the outside. It sure would be nice to have the house buried before the hottest part of the summer. The house will be cooler if we can do this, although the first summer might not be the test. After all, the thermal mass will soak up the heat we're starting to get now (as well as up until the house is buried), and so by the time all that is done, the house might not be all that cool inside (for the first summer). I'm hoping it will be though.

I would've gotten more done this weekend, except that apart from one hour yesterday, I didn't get any help. (Same old song). Rachel came out and helped me yesterday, because our son thinks he's too good for manual labor. Tough love is coming to him really soon.

Rachel was sick today, and couldn't help me, but she still came out to check a few things.
We have a lawn mower that we need to get to the shop asap, and so we loaded that onto a trailer so that I'll hopefully be able to take it in early this week. We already are starting to have weeds growing in the pasture and so we'll be needing to mow in a week or two. It would be nice to have the small riding mower available, as well as the tractor.

I need to see if I can find a handyman or someone like that to move one of our fences over a bit because as we're berming at the southeast corner of the house, it has become clear that the berm is going to engulf the area where the fence now runs, and so the fence needs to be moved south a few feet. It isn't really that big of a deal, but I'd like to get it done by someone else so that I can concentrate on other duties. It sure would be nice to have multiple projects going at once. That's expensive, but at this point, I just feel overwhelmed and can't do it all. So I'm going to hire someone to get some of these things done.

Fighting a Vendor

After months, the port-a-john folks sent me a bill for another months rent of their port-a-john unit. I was infuriated and so first thing this morning, I called to speak to them about it. No one answered so I left an irrate message on their answering machine.

I basically told them that they've got their nerve to send me a bill for another month's rent, and that if any money is still outstanding, they're the ones that should be paying me a refund.
I said that they only came out and serviced the unit one time during my entire rental, and I had to complain twice (or maybe three times) to get them to come out. As far as I'm concerned, I paid for a service that I didn't get.

I told them this and that they should be prepared not to get paid for this extra month's rental, and that if they really have a question about it, to call me. I left them my work phone number.
Needless to say, I didn't receive any calls from them, and I was in the office most of the day.
Hopefully, they'll just write this thing off, but if they pursue it, I'm going to pursue a counter action and get written statements from the workers about how the unit wasn't serviced. There's no way I'm going to allow this company to rip me off.

This should be a warning to anyone building a house, that little things like this need to be documented, because what seems logical at the time, isn't so logical months later. I had no reason to believe months ago that I could possibly be billed for anything more, so to get that bill a couple of days ago was such a surprise.

I'm Going To Quit For a While

We had high winds come through lastnight and about $70 worth of insulation was blown down and torn up. It's going to take a lot of work to dig out the wall (behind the garage) so that I can put new insulation up. That's more work than one person can do. I've been doing it alone for a while and I'm sick of it. I'm going to take a break and not work on the house for a month or so and maybe I wont be so depressed and I can start again.

I was sick today and didn't go to work, but I'll probably go this evening. I didn't sleep much lastnight. We lost a kitty cat yesterday. She was 13 years old. I miss her. I buried her in a good spot on the property so that I can look out and see the spot and have fond memories of how wonderful she was.
It hurt to have to bury her. Even if some people think she was only a cat, the thing is, she was a little partner. She laid on my feet in the evenings. She was close by most of the time. That's the way she wanted it. She sometimes drove me crazy by purposely walking right in front of me. She just wanted to go where I went. I'll miss her.

When and if I resume work on the house, I'm going to have to see if I can get some adult help. Josh can't work unless he's micromanaged. We have a 28 year old that wont work unless it's convenient for him. I need someone I can depend on and that I can give tasks to, and can work on their own; a responsible person. I'm not sure if this type of person exists and I'm not sure what this type of person would have to be paid. I just know that I can't do the work myself and the thought of having to dig out and start again behind the garage depresses me beyond description.

Nothing Done On My Day Off

Today is Presidents Day. I had the day off work. I had planned to work on the house, but I haven't been feeling well for the past few days and felt worse today, so I didn't do much today. I did unload the truck. There was some conduit that I bought yesterday and I unloaded it, but that was just a five minute job.

I also planned to go in to the office and work a little bit on a project that I've got a deadline on. I didn't do that either. My head hurt. I ache all over. I probably have what's been going around in our area that the locals call "the flu". I'm not sure if it's an influenza or what it is, but I feel badly enough that I stayed indoors most of the day.

It really was depressing to have a three-day weekend and get nothing done on the house. And we've got more rain coming during the week, so it's doubtful that I'll get much done before the weekend. It's really not a happy time for me, although I do have something fun scheduled for March 1st. The downside is that it's a Saturday, which means I'll give up working on the house that day, and then the Sunday will be spent driving back, so I'm likely not to get much done that weekend either. It will be a good break for me though.

PS. When Rachel got home, I was reminded that in addition to not doing anything on the house, I also did not wash dishes. She gets frustrated that she gets stuck washing the dishes most of the time. Honestly, I was sick today and just didn't think of it. I didn't think to eat either, so it's not like I was watching tv all day and eating bon bons (I'm not even sure what bon bons are, but I'm pretty sure they're not good for me).

Weather: Not Much Done This Weekend

Is this a recurring theme or what? We got very little done this weekend. This time, it was the rain. We got several inches of rain. It was cold and windy and we just weren't set up for working in it. I'm still trying to recover from being ill this last few days, and so I stayed inside.

I am doing some planning for the garage. I'm feeling an urgency to get that closed in so we can buy building materials and store them some place secure. So we need to get the utilities in and then the slab poured, and then we can get the garage framed in where necessary and the doors put in to secure it.

We met with a plumber over a week ago, but haven't heard back from him. I'll call him tomorrow to see what's up with that.

As far as electrical, I'm trying to plan for the future and thinking that if we (or some future owner) ever want to convert the garage into a bedroom or two, that we want the ability to add an additional circuit (or two). So I'm going to put a sub-panel in the garage. I'll have a feeder line from the main breaker box. Originally, I was thinking that 8/3 would work. This would support a 40 amp sub panel. Two 20 amp circuits could come off that, but now I'm thinking it might be better to plan for a little bit of overkill, so we'll go with a 60amp sub-panel, which I think will require a 6/3 feeder. I think that'll go inside a 1 1/2 inch conduit from box to box. From there, it'll be 12/2 for the individual circuits in the garage. That's pretty standard.

Bear in mind that I'm not an electrician, but I can read and I'm going through the NEC standards as well as coming up with initial plans. Talking them over with experienced electricians, I'll refine as necessary. I see no reason to hire an electrician for this kind of work, as we're on a budget and I feel reasonably comfortable with it. And I'm not too proud to ask questions.

I bought some schedule 40 conduit and hope to run some of it tomorrow. I have the day off, but most people have to work. I'm hoping that maybe I can get some of the errands done tomorrow that I normally can't do on days that I'm stuck at the office. Because of these errands, I'm probably not going to get a whole lot done with the house, but the planning is progress. We might be slow, but this gives us time to mull things over.

Worked In the Dark This Evening

In anticipation of lots of rain and bad weather this weekend, I put in a tiny bit of work this evening in the dark. It wasn't a lot, but it was better than letting the weekend be a bust. The tractor has headlights and I had a flashlight, so I went out to the house a little bit after dinner and got some work done.

One of the garbage bags that I had covering a vent on the roof had blown off, so I went on the roof and re-covered that to keep the rain out. I really don't have to cover those chimneys and vents, but I prefer to keep as much weather out of the house as possible, so I covered them.
I got on the tractor, turned the headlights on and started moving dirt behind the garage. Some of the insulation I had put up last weekend had been moved around in the wind, so I had to dig out gravel and/or dirt and get the insulation back into position like I wanted, and then I rebraced them.

I moved dirt from the excavation hill (the one from the original excavation in May) to the back of the garage. If I'd had more insulation up on the wall, I would've put a lot more dirt in place, but without the insulation, there's a limit to how much dirt I can get up there so I quit.I might've put more insulation up this evening, but it was dark and knowing that bad weather is in store and that I'll likely be working by myself, I didn't feel I wanted to work on fixing an insulation job in bad weather by myself if there were any problems with it (caused by wind). Working with the insulation is bad enough on your own, but I don't even want to think about trying to work with it in bad weather. And the stuff is expensive so I don't want to risk having it damaged in the wind. If it were up, I'd have to go rebrace and refit if there were wind.

Anyway, long story short is that I limited myself to moving a little bit of dirt, and doing some bracing of insulation to hold it tightly against the wall until I can berm some more. Once the dirt is up at least 4 feet, the insulation is usually fine as long as the upper portion is braced so the wind wont tear it in half.

Last weekend, I bought some cheap 2x4 lumber to use as bracing. I've got a couple of old t-posts, some tree limbs and other scrap lumber that I've been using as bracing. It seems to work.
If I had a couple more people to work with, I'd have the entire wall insulated and probably bermed halfway up. If I had 2 more people working with me, they could be putting the insulation in place and holding it there while I get dirt up on it.

I sure wish I had a couple more helpers. Josh called a couple of nights ago and wants to work again. Unfortunately, the weather will likely prohibit that this weekend. The last forecast I saw was for rain and/or snow both Saturday and Sunday. There is a chance that we might get a break on Sunday. Josh is a decent worker, but if I only had a second Josh to work with him, that would be great.

Not As Much Done This Weekend

I didn't get as much done this weekend as I wanted. I got about half of what I wanted done. This is so frustrating. I would've gotten more done today if it hadn't been for losing a valve stem on the tractor and a subsequent flat tire. No spare valve stems on-site, and by the time we drive to town to get one and back, it would've been colder and starting to get dark, so I did some dirt moving by shovel, but not really much.

Rachel & I did buy some more sheets of insulation because I was almost out. I had started insulating the back walls of the garage and have a small portion of that area finally bermed. I want to get that area covered so that we can protect that waterproofing layer before we have to redo it (all over again).

One bit of progress, if you can call it that, is that we met with a plumber. He came recommended by one of Rachel's co-workers and we called the guy. He came out. This house is different from anything he's ever done, but he was excited about the project.We walked the site and went over the plumbing plan. He took a copy with him and said that everything we talked about doing should be no problem. Even the issue of the garage bathroom having a staging reservoir and sump pump was all things he felt comfortable with. I'm going to have to dig a pit for the thing to sit in though. That's going to be digging into sold rock. I'll do it, rather than having him do it though.

He also recommended that I use a material called DST for the propane line. He said that I can get it from a local plumbing supply company. I recognized the name of the place and have bought from them many times in the past. I need to get that line this week as well as also getting the conduit for the electrical supply line. If I can get some of these things done this week, maybe it'll make up for not getting as much work done today.

It was frustrating having a flat tire on the tractor. It was only on the 2nd bucket load of dirt when it snagged a dead tree limb or something and tore the valve stem off. I heard it and knew what it was immediately. The thing was flat and leaning to one side before I could park the thing. I didn't even take time to dump the load of dirt in the bucket until after it was parked in a place that I could work on the tractor (later). At the time, I didn't know it was the valve stem, but after seeing that, it sure explained how the tire could lose that much air that fast. It was gone in less than 20 seconds.

The good news is that it wasn't the tire. I'll replace the valve stem and air the thing back up. What it costed me is time. I didn't get productive use of the tractor today and I can't do much work during the week (because I have one of those job-like things that occupy my time during the day when it's light outside). I hope to get that tire fixed tomorrow and be back on the thing moving dirt (however, there's a chance of rain tomorrow so that would prevent me from working).

Learned a Costly Lesson

I learned a costly lesson. There've been some in the past and I'm sure there will be some in the future. One thing I'm going to add to my Notes section, is to make sure you learn all of the environmental and shelf life information of the products you'll be using. I only learned yesterday that we have a problem with our waterproofing material.

When we'd opened our most recent bucket of the material, I noticed that a considerable amount of the material (approximately 25%) was in a clump. I e-mailed the manufacturer about it, and asked 2 questions. I asked if there was a way to mix the material and get it "unclumped" and I also asked if using the non-clumped material made it any less effective.

The good news is the answer to the second question is no. The bad news is that the answer to the first question is "probably no".

They told me that the shelf life of the material is about 6 months. They are about to release a newer version of the product that doesn't have this issue, but for now, we're losing approximately 25% (or more) of what we have left to do the job. So it'll probably cost me more money to get more of the material to finish the job.

I wish that Jay had told us that the product had a limited shelf life. If he had, we probably wouldn't have bought it until we needed it. We bought it ahead of time, figuring that we'd have it on hand and that we'd get to the job when we could. Now we're taking an expensive loss. It'll probably cost us around $400, but I'm not sure if that estimate is high or low.

I'm hunting for a plumber

I'm frustrated at the lack of progress, and wanting to get a construction plumber in to take care of the stuff that will be under the floor. I had a lead on a construction plumber, but the guy never got back to me with a name.

I'm hoping to find someone that will come out and do the job (at least in the garage) so that I can do the electrical work and get a slab contractor in to get the pour done.

Needing Utilities To Be Done

I'm getting frustrated with our inability to get utilities to the house. This is hampering our ability to continue with other work in the back of the house. For instance, until we've got the water line and propane lines completed, we can do no more berming on the east side of the house, and none around the corner in the back of the house. That's why I was working behind the garage today.

Getting the utility lines run isn't so simple. If it weren't for existing other structures and irrigation on the property, it would be simple. As it is, we have a water line, an electric line, and a phone line running to the garden shed. To run a propane line or water line to the house, we have to cross over (or under) those lines.

To run an electric line to the house, if we do it from the pole we're currently getting power from to the building we're living in, we will essentially be cutting roots to a wonderful old oak tree (the best on our property)(essentially killing it) in order to trench to the new house.
We've entertained the idea of getting an additional pole installed so that we can avoid the tree and trench from a different location. However, that location has issues.
If we trench from a pole at the southwest corner of one of our sheds, we will have to trench through a slab we have next to it, in order to get a line to the house. We could do that, but then we have an issue of never being able to put a bigger shed in that location.
I'm now entertaining the idea of locating a pole in yet a different spot which might avoid either issue. However, it will then mean that we will cross a phone line to the building we're living in. That's not the end of the world, but it's just another hassle.
We would also be crossing an irrigation line too. I think though, that if I manually dig up the area where it will cross it, then the backhoe could just avoid the line in that location.

This would greatly be avoided if we could get someone out that has the trenchless system (directional drilling (boring) equipment). They can run these lines, drilling horizontally, not having to trench. We wouldn't have to worry about any existing lines. It's a much more elegant solution. However, I'm sure it costs more. The contractor I spoke with a week ago hasn't gotten back to me on costs, so I'm still waiting.

One thing the guy told me is that his equipment will handle the sand stone that we have on our property, but it might pop out of the ground. He said there's a limit to how much control they will have, depending upon the conditions on our property. He indicated that he was willing to try, but I haven't heard from him in a week or more.

I hope to call the guy tomorrow, although I'm going to be very busy at work and might not be able to call him until later in the week (and then he might be too busy to call me back). That's how it goes.

I do know that I can't allow this to hold us up much longer. If I can't get them out here, I'll have no choice but to get someone out with a backhoe and get the lines done once and for all. This will mean having to dig up existing lines so the backhoe can avoid them, and it might require getting someone from the phone company out to repair a phone line unless I can locate that line with a shovel and we can avoid it as well.

What a mess. It seems like nothing we do is easy. Nothing is "off the shelf". Everything we do is off the aisle. It takes a long time, but in the end, we will have a real nice house.

Got a little bit done this weekend

We've been busy. I didn't get as much done this weekend, but I got a little bit done. We went to a home and remodeling show yesterday. It was free (the best kind). We took the opportunity to meet with the siding company since they were there at the show. We have a bid for getting them to cover the parapets. We need that soon because of the foam insulation. We want to protect it from the sun, and it's overdue for being covered.

The cost to cover the parapets is more than that I figured. In fact, it's about double the amount. It has to be done though, and so we'll probably be scheduling the work soon.

Today, I spent half a day working on the house. I actually got a little bit of help from our son (he's broke and way in debt to us, and car insurance is coming up that he needs to pay). I put him to work with a paint brush applying the Ecoline-R in spots that were missed due to imperfections in the concrete. I took a roller and applied and additional overall coating.

I then spent an hour moving some of the limbs from trees that had been damaged during the ice storm. That was more of an ordeal that I thought it would be, but it's done now.

I spent an hour or so finishing the french drain in front of the southeast retaining wall. Besides the corregated pipe that has a filter sock over it, I also placed filter fabric over it and dumbed gravel around the pipe, and then folded the fabric over and overlapped it, and then dumped some dirt on top of it all to secure it. If we're going to have people working to put up siding on the parapets, I don't want them messing up the work I've done already. It was hard enough the first time.

My 3-Day Weekend Wasn't Productive

I'm in the 3rd day of a 3-day weekend. I'm working at a place that is the first place I've worked at that lets employees off for Martin Luther King Day. So this was a 3 day weekend for me, and I hate letting 3 day weekends go without working on the house. This one wasn't very productive, in my opinion. It was cold and windy, so the windchill gave us temperatures well below freezing. The actual temperature never got above freezing on Satuday, and it only got up to 34 on Sunday. It was about that today, but there was swifter wind and we had freezing rain off and on.

I had dirt delivered on Saturday, but never moved any of it. I did retrofit a couple of Y connectors into the french drain at the southeast corner of the house. We needed the Y connnectors for a perforated hose from in front of the house, and then one from the upper portion of the east berm.

Today, I worked ont the french drain a little bit and then moved behind the garage and finished the french drain next to the garage. I moved dirt from the hill back there (from the original excavation that was pushed up back there). Then it began to rain hard so I put the tractor away and quit for the day.

Turnkey Systems

I've had a number of people ask about turnkey systems for earth homes, as opposed to doing the work yourself, which we chose (and sometimes reconsider).

• Earthlog Equity Group (http://www.earthshelteredhousing.com/)
• Ralph Smoot at Earth Sheltered Homes (http://www.earthshelteredhome.com)
• Earth Sheltered Technology (http://www.earthshelteredtech.com/)
• Davis Caves (http://www.daviscaves.com)

There are probably more turnkey systems, but these are the ones that we're more familiar with.

Siding and Electricity Plans

We've been feeling an urgency to get the insulation on the parapets covered. We'd talked with a siding supplier months ago and finally called them out for an estimate. The guy will give us two bids; one for the parapet, and another for the exterior walls, which we're not ready to do anything with because there's work to be done first.

The salesman liked the house. He and his trainee asked lots of questions and they were impressed. Because we're just a little different from the type of house they usually work with, he couldn't give us a complete estimate yet, but he took plenty of measurements and even took some pictures so he could take it all back to the boss and talk about it. We're expecting the quotes within days.

I also met with an engineer from the electric company this afternoon. He said that they can run a "secondary line" from the pole 200ft (not 100ft like we'd originally been told) to the breaker box. There are options from here and that's what I will need to talk with the trenchless drilling company before we will know what we want to do.

Because of the 200ft limit, they can run the line from the pole we currently have a meter on. They can also run the line underground for us, but if they do, it'll be with a backhoe and that would drastically tear up tree roots from one of our prize oaks (in fact, it's the best oak on the property). We don't want to do that.So if we want them to run the line underground for us, we'd want another pole added that would get the line away from the roots of the large tree.

If the trenchless guys can run the line for us, we might want the new pole anyway, just to avoid having to deal with the electric line to the building we're living in now; and we have a septic tank over there too. A new pole gets it all away from that. However, if the electric company brings in a backhoe, we'd be tearing up part of a concrete slab in the new location. From either pole, there's a phone line and a water line that we'll be crossing.

All around, I'm hoping we can go trenchless. I'm also hoping it's not too expensive.

So our next thing to do is to get one of the guys from the horizontal drilling company out here. They both live in our little community, but so far, we haven't gotten them on-site yet. I'm feeling the urgency to get this done so that we can get the work done and move on. It's time to move on.

Terra-Dome Updated Their Website

Normally, I wouldn't say anything about it, but I noticed this morning that Terra-Dome updated their website. They've done a great job and there are a lot of pictures of finished earth homes that they've built, as well as pictures of various stages of construction.
Probably the only reason I discovered their changes, is that I didn't go to work today. I'm sick. Rather than go down the list of ailments, I'll just say that I don't feel good and that it might not be good for me to be around other people at work. I'm frustrated at being home and not feeling well enough to work on the house. It's like this is a full day I could be working, except that I can't.
Maybe I can make a few phonecalls and make some house-related appointsments though. At this point, I'm not even sure if I feel like doing that.

http://www.terra-dome.com

There was a question in the guestbook, about why we chose Terra-Dome as opposed to another company that does earth homes. Simply, we liked the domed roofs, which provide much greater strength. We like the ability of having the wide open floorplans, as opposed to having support posts and beams across a room. Open floorplans allow flexibility for quality living space.
The downside, is that there are areas on the roof that don't slope, so water doesn't run off. You have to engineer ways of getting water off the roof. Companies like Davis Caves have the sloped roofs, but their roofs are flat and so they require a support beam across the middle of a module, and you are more apt to require some kind of post in a living space. However, apart from that, the two systems are similar. You just have to do the research and decide which you prefer. Terra-Dome was our choice.

The people at Terra-Dome try really hard to provide you a quality product at a low price. I have no experience with the other companies, so I can't comment about them.

And if we had more money and were interested in a full solution rather than a company that would only put up the super structure, we'd have probably gone with Earthlog Equity Group or a company like them. They do the same thing as Terra-Dome, but they also provide other services and seem to be more of a one-stop shop solution, providing finishing services. You get what you pay for though, and so Earthlog costs more per square foot (but you get more).

Do the research for yourself and decide.

I ran out of dirt this weekend

We are in the midst of our annual January thaw. We had a temperature over 70 degrees Fahrenheit this weekend, so working was comfortable, although it was quite windy.

The wind was further tearing up the garden shed that had been damaged months ago by a rented backhoe. Rachel, Jeremy and I made repairs on the shed that should make it stand up to the wind, but it doesn't look good. I think it'll hold up though.

I moved as much dirt to the east berm. So far, it's been 6 loads of fill dirt at $75 a load. These loads are approximately 15 tons. We need more fill dirt, and we'll likely get top soil for the top layer.

A Repeating Theme: Progress Is Slow

I worked all day moving dirt from the piles where the dump truck left them, to the east side of the house, building up the berm. I added insulation, and probably would've finished that side of the house, but it was a windy, windy day and I had to fight the wind and keep the insulation up against the wall, and find things to prop it into position without the wind ripping it apart. It really was a two man job, but I had to do it on my own.

Josh, the kid we had working for us, hasn't been seen or heard from in a month. He might've decided he didn't want to do this kind of work. I'm not sure what the issue is, except that for the last couple of weeks, he was preparing for a school band trip to one of the bowl games. It was a big deal for him and they practiced on weekends, which is when I work on the house. So he wasn't available. I'm not sure why he wasn't available today.

The wind is tearing up our garden shed. After I sideswiped it with a backhoe back in the summer, it no longer had structural integrity. With the winds, the shed is being torn apart. I'm hoping it'll hold today and that maybe I can get some help tomorrow and do some repairs to make the shed stable again. It'll never been weather tight like it was, and it wont look good, but I hope to at least make it hold up to the wind.

The Nature of Home Building (Delays)

I wanted to reiterate something about the nature of home building (or any kind of construction). I've touched on it a few times during the process of building our house, and we experienced these things since before excavation. I'm seeing this now with a friend who is building another earth-home (specifically a Terra-Dome) nearby.

I wont mention names, because I'm not sure he'd like that. I will say that this guy and his family paid a visit to us to look at our house and to ask a load of questions. They've bought property about 45 minutes away from us. They had planned to build and should've gotten started by now, but buying the property and getting easements has taken a lot longer than anticipated. This is the nature of buiding. There are delays that you can't count on.

Evidently, as best I understand it, the people developing the area where my friend is building, haven't created the easements yet, so they really can't get trucks in to do a lot of work yet. They had hoped to have this done so that the could start, but the delays are hampering progress.In addition, they were holding off on buying some equipment until after getting this stuff resolved, but were approaching a deadline of when the price would go up and there'd be finance changes. So they've ended up buying now and will be storing equipment off-site. What a mess! And it's all because of delays.
There will be delays due to inspections. For instance, you might have pipe or electric work in a wall, and you want to due drywalling next. The problem is, you can't until the work inside the wall has been inspected. If the inspector doesn't get to your site for a couple of days, well, you can't drywall for a couple of days and so you have to work on something else.

If you plan on building, plan on delays. There will be delays because of weather. There will be delays due to illness (your's, a family member, or a contractor). There will be delays due to a death in the family (a family member, a friend, or that of a contractor).There will be delays due to bureacratic red tape, depending upon where you intend to build. There are these easement delays.

There are delays due to poor planning. This poor planning could be your poor planning, or it could be poor planning on the part of a contractor. Either way, you're going to have to deal with it.

Most of the delays are things you can't control. Get used to it.

Thanking Ceilon Aspensen

I want to thank Ceilon Aspensen for posting a link to our site on her site.
http://www.ceilon.com/earth_berm_house.php

I went through that site and there are a lot of good resources about bermed and underground type homes building

Rain water collection

In an entry in the guestbook, someone asked about rain water collection. We do plan for it. Basically, water runs downhill and so you just need to provide an easy path for it to go where you want, and away from where you don't want it.

Water from our roof (or any roof for that matter) will have dirt and/or other debris in it. So when we provide runoff of surface water on our roof, we plan for there to be contains that the water can be routed to, and the containers will have filters so that the water runs in, but we want to minimize the dirt and grit that enters. If the containers overflow or if the filter gets clogged, the water should continue running further on down the line to other containers or to the woods. Our woods need water during drought, so we have the ultimiate destination to be places in our woods.

The stored water can be used for the garden or to wash the car. I should point out too that our driveway will have a drain or two, so if we wash cars there, the water will run to the woods.

We have a well, so our water supply is very good and the water is clean and great to drink. It's better than the water in the city. I've never tasted better water.That said, if anything were to ever happen to that water supply, we might dig out part of our berm and put in a cistern for more water collection, and then invest in the right kind of filtering and purification so that this water supply could be potable. For now, collected water will be used for gardening and livestock.

More Berm On the East Side of the House

It was cold and windy today. I'm not sure what the windchill temp was, but I'm pretty sure it was below freezing. The wind was strong and the temperature never got above 37 degrees Fahrenheit. I took frequent breaks to warm up.

I had a couple of loads of dirt delivered yesterday so that I could move them next to the house today. I moved one load today and I have the other to move before the weekend.

This dirt is a little better than the last dirt I had delivered. The last stuff was much rockier, and on top of that, had big rocks in it. I took a photograph of the two piles, so that you can see the difference. Essentially, the rocky stuff is good for building the berm, but I want less rocky stuff next to the house itself, as I want to protect the waterproofing layer. The insulation helps with that.

I haven't been able to post the photographs yet, but I will. These were taken with a film camera. I was given one as a door prize at a recent hockey game, and I haven't had a chance to get the photos developed yet. When I do, I'll have digital versions posted to this site.
Anyway, around 17:00, I put the tractor away. It was time to either refuel or put it away and since I was cold and the sun was going down. It was nice when I got inside. Rachel had a fresh batch of Hoppin' John that she'd cooked up. We only get this stuff about once a year, and probably should do it more often. This being New Year's Day, tradition states you should have some black-eyed peas. I'm not sure why, but they're good, and as an ingredient of hoppin' john, the dish is great. She put sausage in it too, so that added to the flavor and it warmed me back up.My toes, ears and nose are still frozen though.