Breaking things loose...

I got this far in the project without a truck. I took full advantage of the lumber yards' delivery services, and carried a ridiculous amount of tools and materials around in my little Honda Civic. But, I had reached the point where it was really slowing me down to a crawl, if not a complete stop. 

In addition to the lack of a truck, the weather this winter killed motivation and progress. But, I finally saw a few sunny days coming up, and they happened to land on a weekend, so I went for it.

I rented some scaffolding first thing on Saturday. I had been messing around with wood platforms, ladders, sawhorses, etc. for so long, I can't believe I didn't do this sooner. Oh yeah... I couldn't because I didn't have any way to haul it! I have an ingrained impression that rentals are prohibitively expensive, but this turned out to be a steal: $140 for a month of scaffold rental vs. $800+ to buy vs. many hours of wasted time trying to get by without the right tools.

Set up and ready to close in the second floor walls.

Wall!

Finished framing and covering the endwall on Sunday, and had some time left over so I kept going and installed some windows. I only partially installed one of them inside out, and was able to pull the nails without damaging the window. Really glad I caught that one in time.

Here's the new wall from inside. It feels much more house-like now. Yay!

Monday was sunny too, so I decided to keep going with the construction. I disassembled the scaffolding and moved it to the other end, and got the endwall framed and ready for sheathing. The next month or so will probably not be as interesting as previous posts, because it will be mostly conventional construction: framing walls, wiring, hanging drywall, etc., but I'll post anyway to keep a complete journal of the project (it will get more interesting at some point). Next steps are to finish closing in the last endwall, and get the temporary power hooked up. It feels great to be moving ahead on this project again!

2016

me

my mom

my friends

my house

2016 turned out to be a very intense year. The construction work on our house hit the back burner while a whole lot of life happened...

In 2016: I left my employer to start my own business, lost my mom to cancer, composed and officiated a wedding ceremony for good friends at Yosemite's Glacier Point, attended my mom's memorial service and overcame my introverted nature enough to share some memories and appreciation, managed a thriving new business, paid off every bit of my non-mortgage debt, continued work on building my house, and grew a handlebar mustache. I'm emotionally exhausted after that year, but ready to find a new balance and move forward.

Somewhere around mid-2015, I realized that I wasn't going to complete the first phase of the forever-house project (a livable garage) within my planned budget, and that I would have to take on a significant amount of debt to get it done. In addition to the satisfaction of knowing that I've built my family's home with my own hands, a goal in this project is to come out of it owning a house without a mortgage. I realized that the financial opportunities that I needed to meet my goals didn't exist with my employer, and, upon further reflection, I realized that the opportunities I needed didn't exist with any employer. So... I spent about half a year planning my new business and my exit from my employer, and in mid-march 2016, I officially became a self-employed civil engineer, and jumped head-first into a market where my services were in ridiculous demand. I have learned more about being an engineer in the last year than I may have learned in the remainder of my career, had I not taken this leap, and I have solved every single one of my financial hurdles (at the expense of time to put into my house project).

One thing I am grateful for in the timing of this leap to self-employment, is that my mom got to see me taking that leap, and succeeding at it. One of the things I greatly admired about my mom was her businesses; she was starting and running businesses for most of my life, and I am glad she got to see me get a successful start at doing the same.

Now, I'm working to find a balance between my career and other things I would like to devote time to... like building my house!

I left this project with the framing mostly complete, but covered in tarps and needing a roof. My intent was to hire a roofer to do the job. I generally enjoy building, but the idea of working on a very-steep roof, and the associated risk of falling off of that roof, was not even remotely appealing. But, the same economy that gave me a very successful start into self-employment has apparently left roofers unavailable to accept new jobs. So... I took a deep breath and consulted the Google for "how to install shingles on a steep roof". Thus I learned about roof jacks and ladders, and step-flashing and valley-flashing, and the concept of building my roof started to seem a little more possible.

I'm about a quarter of the way done with my roof, and picking up speed as I learn how this aspect of construction goes together. I certainly won't impress anyone with the speed of my work, but... I'm getting it done, and getting it done right. The peace of mind that comes from knowing that my house was built with top-quality materials and no shortcuts is priceless.

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ps: I can't help thinking of Donkey Kong when I look at this photo...