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.