Well, I guess I can stop revising my foundation plan now.
My goal is to finish in less time than Frenchy and with fewer disasters than Boss Hog. Thanks to solid slab rock at about 6 inches, it’s already been a slow start.
Wish me luck…
I’m sure looking forward to seeing this slab with a roof on in. I’ll wait a couple of days before I order the shingles. :-)>
Kevin Halliburton
“One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.” -Elbert Hubbard-
Replies
For you or a spec?
This is going to be the home My DW and I retire in... at least that's how I'm building it.Kevin Halliburton
"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -Elbert Hubbard-
"..and with fewer disasters than Boss Hog."
Don't know if that's just a comment, or some kind of a slam.........(-:
"This is going to be the home My DW and I retire in... "
Can't tell ya how many times I've heard that line.
You gonna have me do your truss layout ??? I'm not very good, but I'm real cheap....................(-:
Thank God for the IRS. Without them I'd be stinking rich
That was just a reference to your spec house from Hell thread.
Funny you brought up the truss layout- I was just thinking about e-mailing you this morning. The garage is the only part of the house using trusses but I would love to talk to you about the layout.
Send me your contact info and I'll give you a call to hash it over.Kevin Halliburton
"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -Elbert Hubbard-
An email should be on it's way to you. I'm generally there at 6am CST until 3pm or God knows when........Budget: A method for going broke methodically.
Got it- I'll give you a call in the morning.
Budget: A method for going broke methodically
LOL - too true.Kevin Halliburton
"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -Elbert Hubbard-
Here is a 360 degree panorama of the site I shot in September of last year. I pieced it together from several photos I took standing on top of a large pile of pushed cedar trees.
The Limestone cliffs to the East can be seen through the picture windows in the Kitchen/Dining room and the Living room. They are unbelievable at sunset.
The slab shown in the first post will be surrounded by a full wrap around flagstone porch if budget allows. Otherwise it will just be stained concrete to match the house floors. Ran into a pretty good deal on red oak flooring that may change that too.
Why make up your mind on anything before you have to right? Gonna be a busy man this year.
Kevin Halliburton
"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -Elbert Hubbard-
My God man, it's already a friggin disaster....some idiot filled our basement up with concrete! Like I always say....you gotta stay on site ALL the time, General Contractor is just another name for babysitter, let em' out of your sight for one second and all hell breaks loose.
I thought the forms for those stem walls were a little short... What do I do now?Kevin Halliburton
"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -Elbert Hubbard-
Hate to break this to you, but your slab doesn't look round. Aren't they supposed to be?
Who do you have to talk to to get those power/phone lones removed from the LR view? Gotta love underground utilities!
Good start--keep it up!
Didn't have a good local source for one of them inverted concrete bowls you're so fond of. I really would love to edit those power lines out of the view. I did manage to work a deal with the phone and power company to bring both lines in underground from the last pole which is a couple hundred feet from the house.
Actually, the phone line is all underground but the power company lines had to be overhead to that close. Nobody likes my slab rock. It's really good soil just off the hill where all those oaks are growing but it's going to take one of those monster sized rock saws to bring it up from there.
The phone company rents a rock saw every few months and knocks out all the jobs they have lined up. Since I just designed their new corporate headquarters I was able to call in a favor to have them cut the trench to bring the power in that last stretch underground as well. I've got a feeling I'm going to be cashing in a lot of those favors pretty soon.
While it's not fully redeeming, I did have the power company set that last pole so it lines up behind a tree from the two windows you see it out of so it's not as obtrusive as it could have been. (it's all in the details) The guys looked at me like, "you're kidding right?"
It's still going to be in view off the upstairs deck though. first compromise- I'm sure it won't be the last.
You had your own marathon project pretty recently didn't you?Kevin Halliburton
"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -Elbert Hubbard-
2 yrs 5 months. Lots of good stories, no permanent injuries, still married. That's the homebuilding trifecta.
Drainage looks good! It's downhill to everywhere. Is that Texas out there?
Is that Texas out there?
Yup- reckon so... I've even got cows roaming around in them thar hills. (not mine) I am able to keep the land under agricultural tax exemption as long as I don't fence the adjoining rancher out.
The blood pressure sure drops in a hurry out there under the stars at night with nairy a light in sight. It's not as pretty as Colorado where I was raised but it beats anything else around here for miles.
As them indians used to say around these parts,"Good Trade."
That "Texan" enough for ya?
Sorry, I refuse to yee-haw for anyone.Kevin Halliburton
"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -Elbert Hubbard-
Wrecked- How'd it work out on the OSB?
Whats the sq. footage of that slab, living space?
I think you may have said so, somewhere I remember where in TX, but cant recall?
Someone else said it, looks like they filled the basement, comming from Iowa cant quite get the idea of slabs but moving to San Marcos I guess I will have to.
Doug
San Marcos hu? Good outlet mall there.
The living area will be a two story, just under 2400 S.F.. It has a 700 S.F. attached garage with a small shop in it and a full wrap around porch with a large second story deck.
I lived in Mason City, Iowa for a year and a half before I moved to Texas in 1990. You've got a few adjustments to make but man oh man are you going to appreciate your decision come November. We had a few 90 below wind chill days while I lived in Northern Iowa- never again...
As I've said before- I cose my freester off!
What brought you to Texas anyway?Kevin Halliburton
"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -Elbert Hubbard-
Kevin
"San Marcos hu? Good outlet mall there."
Thats what brought us to Texas. My wife works in retail.
Mason City Huh, we used to say that the temp there in winter time was always 10 degrees colder than any place in Alaska!
I have a couple leads on some work in higher end homes, not going to do the track home thing.
Hope to see more pictures of the home as it progresses.
Doug
I'm going to be at a funeral in Mason Thursday and plan to head down to Kerrville Friday to drop my panel drawings off at Chapman Building systems.
We talked about making a run over to the outlet mall in San Marcos if we have time. Where does your wife work?
Edit: check that- you may not want that info out there for all the world to see. Send me an e-mail with your contact info and I'll try to touch base with you if we are going to make it to San Marcos.
Kevin Halliburton
"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -Elbert Hubbard-
Edited 4/8/2003 7:39:17 PM ET by wrecked angle
Congrats on your new place. Gotta love the view.
Hope ya' enjoy Abilene, Kevin. There should be a pretty good catfish resturant not far from your location if they are still in business.
You are right about there not being much on further west. ( I grew up in Roscoe.) Small town with some pretty small minded people.
If you get the chance to spend some time down at San Angelo, check out Zentner's or Zentner's Daughters, both are great steakhouses.
Good Luck.TCW Specialists in Custom Remodeling.
Wrecked- How'd it work out on the OSB?
I'm finishing the panel fabrication drawings right now. They were going to charge me $600 to do the fabrication drawings off of my plans. I figured the OSB prices would drop again by the time I finished the shop drawings and it looks like I was right.
It will probably take about five weeks to get the panels after I order them. I plan to work on framing the garage, staining the concrete floors and building the well house in the interim. In reality, I might get one of those items knocked out by then. :-)>
We are not in a particularly big hurry but there is no reason to waste time either. I have a feeling I will be using more and more subs as reality hits me in each stage. All of this making a living stuff sure gets in the way of building a house.Kevin Halliburton
"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -Elbert Hubbard-
I've only taken the trouble to add five or six fellahs here to my friends list. Knowing you are in Texas just sealed the deal.
I've lived in Lubbock and in San Antonio.
You can easily guess which I liked more. .
Excellence is its own reward!
Well if that ain't the height of all honors! Piffin, you just got me more pumped up than the time I made Qtrmeg cry! I may have to write another poem for ya.
When we get the right wind out of the North we pick up several acres of top soil from Lubbock here in Abilene. The only reason I can think of to go to Lubbock is to appreciate the fact that I don't live there. It's not much better West of here and even Abilene is really not as pretty as Elm Valley where we are building.
Elm Valley is South West of Abilene on highway 277 headed toward San Angelo. It's a whole lot like the hill country area in central Texas with much lower humidity. IMHO it would be hard to find a better balance of all the stuff I like about Texas anywhere.Kevin Halliburton
"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -Elbert Hubbard-