So... I figured that I had WAY too much time between being done with the rebar work and the concrete pour... so I decided to add a concrete stem wall to the project. Reasoning: the rest of the house is going to have concrete exterior walls and river rock masonry wainscoting, so I wanted to match that appearance with the garage, but as I was detailing the faux-rock-cladding detail my soul was dying a little bit with each click of the mouse. I could get it to look right, but it would still be... fake. I'm building the real thing here, so if I want river rock on the bottom three feet of my walls, the wall is going to be made of concrete behind that rock. I get to do it that way, because I'm doing it myself.  Authentic and real... not settling for anything less, and I'm going to stay that course.

Test run of shou-sugi-ban finish on the piece of Diablo that I cut yesterday. I love this finish. The photo almost captures the sparkle that the wood gets in the sunlight; a whole wall of this stuff will be mind-blowing when the sun hits it at dusk. I love the undulations where the burning smooths out the rough chainsaw texture. This is BEAUTIFUL!

Fuel for building! I went to the supermarket with the idea of buying a sandwich... but I just couldn't walk away from these beauties. Sprinkled with kosher-salt, rested half an hour while the coals were warming up, then grilled. Shawna called it: this is like a meat-peach!!! 

I couldn't agree more.

Done tying the wall rebar for the rest of the garage. I initially added the boards at the top of the bars to eliminate the impalement hazard, but they turned out to be very helpful in holding the rest of the bars in place. Win! I am REALLY looking forward to being out of the ground on this project!

...another progress shot from up the hill. I was keenly aware that my path to this spot took me above the retaining wall steel, where a slip down the hill could leave me skewered. Not a fun thought... anyway... look at the progress!!! Yay!

It was a good day for building of forms and tying of rebar today, clear and sunny. Cheerful. Also a good day for barbecuing of hot-links and drinking of ale.  

Setting up for a long, productive day of work... fueled by hot-links!

Tried my hand at free-hand chainsaw milling to make some form stakes. Not too pretty, but they will get the job done, and only cost me about 20 minutes and some chainsaw gas. Inspired by these guys:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C2_TLh_BuU, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02QWRo1W4II ...they make it look so easy!

Finished milling...

Rustic, but still functional. I felt like I was getting ready to fortify the defensive perimeter to keep the savages and wild animals at bay... 

Did I mention that it was a beautiful day?

I took a break from working on the slab and cut a test piece out of Diablo. This is going to be beautiful when I turn it into lumber! I was supposed to be milling today, but the mill-guy was stuck on another job and had to postpone for a few days.

The stakes did a great job of stiffening the forms. Also, all of the rebar is tied in place and supported by dobie-blocks. Now, I just have to set two screed boards, and I'm ready to pour concrete! Tentatively scheduled for next Saturday.

Swedish torch keeping the chill off as evening rolls in. I'm loving these things. They burn for a surprisingly long time, keep the mosquitoes away, put off an impressive amount of heat, and radiate good cheer wherever you put them. It's like a campfire that you can pick up and move wherever you want it; easy to pick up by the base where it's not burning. Like a cave-man space heater.

More progress on the garage. Went out to receive another load of materials at lunchtime on Tuesday, then went out this afternoon to work on the retaining wall steel. Things are coming along nicely, but I still need to do a lot of form bracing and adjusting and get all of the steel and anchor bolts secured in place. I think with another full day of work I could get the rest of it wrapped up and ready to pour concrete.

The footing excavations were completely filled with water from the rains on Monday night. While I was waiting for the delivery truck to show up, I got out the pump out and emptied them, lest someone mistake them for wetland habitat and tell me I need to move the building! (only mostly joking on that one... mostly.)

More materials. This is the form material for the retaining wall. As the truck showed up, I realized he was planning to drop the plywood on the ground, and there was mud everywhere. I took about two minutes to cut up a few of the 2x4's with my chainsaw and build a pallet. 

I got most of the retaining wall vertical bars cut, bent, and installed this afternoon. Cutting and bending #5 bars with a manual bender is a lot of work; significantly more difficult than the #4 bars I used for the slab. 

Now the search is on for people with the time, willingness, and ability to help with the slab pour...

Another day of work at the property. It was raining. A little part of my mind, the one some people refer to as "common sense" said to me: "you should wait for good weather, and have a relaxing Sunday". I immediately suppressed that crap and got to work.

I remembered to add the sewer pipe before I put the concrete in... Yay! I used foam pipe insulation to cushion it where it will be cast in with the concrete, so I don't get a broken sewer pipe if the foundation settles a bit.

We've been Perminated! I'm finding that the difference between mediocre materials and top-of-the-line is actually pretty inconsequential; the real savings come from sweat and boldness. Getting cheap materials is false economy; getting the awesome stuff is... awesome. For example: using 6-mil Visqueen under a slab as a vapor barrier will save about $100 for a slab this size. Then there's the Perminator, a 15-mil indestructible monster of a vapor barrier. Is there really a choice here? Peace of mind... check.

I really got after it today, and completed all of the rebar work for the slab and footings. The tie-wire tool I bought from Amazon (link) was amazing; after about 20 minutes of practice, I was tying rebar like a pro. Using pliers and a roll of wire would have been hellish. Easily a finalist candidate for the Best Twelve Dollars I've Ever Spent award. Now I just have to bend and tie the retaining wall steel, and I'm ready to pour concrete!

End-of-the-day shot from up the hill. It's starting to look like there might be a building lurking in there somewhere.

Background...

"The Forever House" is a concept we've used with our daughters since they were born to communicate the idea that where we are living now is temporary, and that, in the future, we would be building a beautiful house to move into. This blog will track our progress as we build our Forever House.

The Story...

So... where to start... we've had our property, three acres in Elk River, for about five years now. We finally got through all of California's onerous permitting hurdles, and $20k+ later, we have permission to build. Everybody got their cut: planning department, building department, department of fish and game, department of public health, Army Corps Of Engineers, and probably a lot more that I'm forgetting... Thanks, California.

Then, about money... we started down the path of bank financing, but it turns out that they REALLY don't like the idea of a a family building their own home. The only model they would lend on is the one where you hand the entire project over to a contractor and have him build a turn key project in 12 months or less. Also, the loan fees and points added up to over $10k, just for the privilege of borrowing money from them. That's not what we're interested in, so we're taking the plunge and paying out of pocket as we go. This is definitely going to be an exercise in frugality. We've decided to build the garage this year and use it as a temporary living space while we save money to build the main house. Just getting onto the property and out from under our current mortgage will give a HUGE amount of breathing room.

Now... finally! ...it's time to build. We started on March 11. Hired a contractor to cut down some hazardous trees and a huge redwood snag (which we've affectionately dubbed "diablo"). The same contractor also did the digging and installation for our septic system and dug the footings. I took a few days off of work to work with them and help get it done quicker. Sweat equity!

While the contractor was working on the septic system, I found a portable sawmill guy to help me with the redwood snag. It turned out that there was a LOT of very nice wood hidden in there; looks like 4-5000 board feet. Easily enough to provide all of the siding and finish woodwork for our garage and house, and a surplus to sell to help cover the milling costs.

Then, it was my turn. Spread 8 yards of gravel to act as a capillary break under the slab on Wednesday evening after work. Then, on Saturday, I built the forms, leveled and squared them, stretched strings and finish-leveled the gravel, then installed the braces to keep the forms true under the pressure of wet, heavy concrete. That's the work to date... now it's time to start bending and tying rebar. This is an amazing amount of work, and an amazing amount of fun!

One thing that isn't obvious when you're reading about this kind of project is the amount of time it takes to shop for materials and tools. There's probably more time going into comparison shopping and finding the materials and tools than goes into the actual building. It may go quicker in the future, now that I have some competitively-priced suppliers lined up and accounts created, but I was completely unprepared for how much time it takes to procure supplies.

Starting work on tree removal. The redwoods at the edge of the cut-bank were completely undermined; best to remove before we build a house where they want to fall!

Progress shot!

Felling the giant! diablo - a huge redwood snag at the very edge of an old road cut.

First piece cut out of diablo... beautiful wood!

 Back-cutting diablo... this guy was huge!

diablo stump... not nearly as threatening now!

 Leach Field!!

Progress shot from the top of the cut-bank, after spreading the gravel.

End of the day. Ready to do the plumbing.

 Swedish torches keeping things cozy while I'm plumbing the septic system.

Forms and gravel - ready to start tying rebar!