Moving Day

Hi All,
We've had electricity at the building site for several weeks. In my last post you saw the septic tank go in and the water well being drilled.  On Friday of last week the well was completed and it started producing water.  Yippee!

Over the weekend we finished adding a mezzanine to the barn.

Now that we have water, electricity and a septic tank at the building site it seemed like a good time to move our travel trailer back there so we can cut our commute time (to 2 seconds from 2 minutes) and enjoy our view of the pond. So we did. This morning. Did we get any pictures of the trailer in its new place? No. But that's because we had too much other excitement going on!

Still working with Hitachi- Hitachi Power Tools

Standing up the first wall!

Scott and Grady working on the wall that faces the pond

We have two walls up! Like the rain proofing of the electrical outlet in the foreground? It's called a bucket.

That's all for now. We're looking forward to tomorrow and a couple more walls going up.

Brian

Things are happening!

Hi All!
Finally things are starrting to happen here. Some expected, some not so much.

Our next door neighbors to the west came to visit one day.

Our neighbor to the west is a Texas A&M Research Center. Some of the inmates came to see if the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence.

Then something from much farther North came calling. Snow and a record low temperature for Kilgore, Texas.

Officially it was 10 degrees in Kilgore

This was day II after some of the snow melted. We got between 2" and 3".

This past weekend we had several expected visitors. Susan's niece Honey came by on her way to Tennessee. Somehow we managed to not get any pictures. Our friends Richey and Ankie came over from LA (lower Alabama) to deliver our 'new' tractor! What a beauty she is!

1955 Ford Model 600

It's only Wednesday but it's already been a busy week. Monday the lumber for framing the house was delivered.

The guys drilling our new water well drilled 414' and got water on Tuesday.

Wednesday (today) the well guys got the well casing put in, the guys putting the septic tank in dug the hole, dropped the tank in and covered it up and the guys Susan and I are going to "help" frame the house started drawing on the slab so we'd know where the walls are going. This process is a lot more difficult than I expected. We also found some errors where pipes were put in the concrete. Some rooms are going to be a bit bigger than originally drawn while others are going to be a bit smaller. But it is all working out fine.

Our septic tank. Hate to bury it when it says God Bless America

Going to it's final resting place

Scott and Grady studying the house plans

One last thought during flu season...

That's it for now but things are moving pretty fast now. And the grins on our faces are growing.

Take care.
Brian

Happy New Year!

Hi all,
It's time to let you now what we've been doing for the last month or so. To be honest, I'm not sure. We've been very busy but not much has happened at the home site since the foundation was poured. We finally have electricity, which was no small feat. Since the last post we've celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years so that accounts for a bit of time. We've also gotten a quote on the lumber required to frame the house. The water well is scheduled to go in next week. Not sure about the septic tank just yet, probably not long after the house is framed, which should start the week after next. We've lined up a stonemason to lay up the fireplace.

Windows. What do you want to know about windows? That's what has taken up a bunch of our time, learning about, researching brands and looking at windows. I think we're close to placing the order. I hope.

There have been a few improvements around here. Shelton Backhoe and Dozer built a bridge across a narrow spot of the lake. The driveway will cross the bridge.

Susan and I did the rail so we could say we did a part of it

We had a pole barn built by professionals...

The only tool we used on the barn was a checkbook. 

We built the well house from scrap lumber left over from the rotten roof on the crack house....

What craftsmanship!

And we think we're going to build a house? Oh boy. I should point out this well is the one we're on now which supplied the old house. We're just trying to keep it from freezing. Today was the first time in a couple of days the temperature has been above freezing.

Framing will start in about 10 days.  We have some professionals coming but Susan and I want to "help" as much as we can. Hopefully we won't slow down the process too much.

That's it for now. Take care.

Brian

Dirt Work is done and we have a foundation!

Hi All,
The rumble of heavy machinery is gone, which is bittersweet, but now we're on to the next stage; build the house. Susan and I have decided to act as the general contractors (and in some cases the sub-contractors) to build our house. There are a couple of things we absolutely won't do; concrete and sheetrock. This past Saturday the forms and trenching started for the foundation.

The rough-in plumbing and forms in for the house foundation

The pad for the garage / shop

By Tuesday afternoon all we needed was concrete.

The garage is in the foreground, the house is closer to the pond

A better look at the house pad

Wednesday, today, was concrete day. We were both really nervous. Everything else can be fixed relatively easy but if this is wrong, we'll have a mess. Past the point of no return now...

By the end of the day, here's the foundation for the house.

Sure hope we got this right

Not much more to happen on the house until after the first of the year when we frame it. We are going to help professionals with the framing. At least that's our plan!

That's all for now, take care.
Brian

Five weeks in

Hi All,
Heavy equipment has been working around here for five weeks now. We're getting close to moving on to the next phase. I hope!

Lots has happened. Both dams have been repaired, four culverts have been installed, a right of way for power poles is cleared (we considered solar power but got less than stellar response from the company we contacted), the power line we had to provide has been buried, the bridge is coming along and the driveway is starting to be cleared and covered in gravel. That's just what David Shelton and his crew has done. I'm not sure what Susan and I have been doing but I know we're busy every day and exhausted every night. Well, we have had multiple meetings with the electric company to figure out how to get power to the home site, have also met with an electrician, a water well drilling company, a guy to install the septic tank, worked with a designer on the house plan (picked up a set of construction blue prints today!), met with a guy for a bid on pouring the concrete foundation, placed 30 railroad ties (man those puppies are heavy! Thanks to our neighbor Kirby and his son Michael for their help) for the raised bed vegetable garden and moved one round bale of moldy hay and 13 tractor bucket loads of horse manure from the horse farm three doors down. Whew! No wonder we're tired. And throw in three days tearing the roof off the crack house and then putting a new one on (thanks for all the help from my son Cody!).

Removing old shingles

What we found under the shingles

Maybe we could just call it a skylight and leave it at that

Finished product

Susan and I agree, we don't want to make a living roofing houses. And this little house shouldn't have been a great feat.

But lest you think our life is all work, work, work, we took a week off to volunteer at the US Grand Prix (Formula 1 race at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas). After the race we spent a couple of days in Junction and Mason seeing friends there. We were already practically in the neighborhood. Our long weekend (Thursday through Monday) at the race track was really cool. Our jobs were anything but glamorous but it was cool being that close to the inner workings of putting on an international event. Saturday night we escaped from the track to have dinner and country dance lessons with my son Shaun and his family. I actually think I might try dancing again!

If you're interested, our  jobs at the race were to check in the volunteer track marshals (somewhere between 200 and 300 people from around the world), check out radios and headsets to them, and then check them back in at the end of every day. The marshals went out to the track about 7:30 every morning and didn't leave their post until around 5:00 every evening. Our other job was to deliver water, powerade, ice and lunches to them throughout the day which also meant we were sometimes on the track and most of the time right over the wall from the track- a view most people don't get. For a racing fan like me, it was great! We enjoyed it so much we're going back this weekend to volunteer for a 24 hour race.

When wearing a tabbard like this, security just waves you through

Supporting the marshals, we were able to go on the "Marshals Pit Walk" Friday night. Lewis Hamilton's crew working on his car. The ultimate winner of the race and now world champion (fourth).

Vettel's pit. Second in the race and second in the championship.

Pit Lane

We just happend to take a break to check out the track at the same time the F1 cars were making their first lap.

I'll leave you with a picture of our pond from last week.

That's it for now. Take care.
Brian

Two weeks of heavy equipment

Hi All,
After two full weeks of heavy equipment working around here there has been a lot accomplished. The entire area where the house and garage will go has been cleared and the dirt pad where the house will go is in place.

Access from the house to the dam and a small bit of the driveway has been cleared making it possible to repair the lake's dam and also connect the small lake with the bigger lake.

Susan and I have continued to work on getting the wood floors out of the old house. A much bigger and more difficult task than we thought.

Down to wood floors

Wood floor removed, now down to floor joists

DIY tip #2 - For a pier and beam foundation some cement blocks and car jacks can be used to hold up a wall that otherwise would fall down due to dry rot or termites. This allows for occasional adjustments.

Susan is cutting out the floor joists so we can reuse them someplace. They are real 2 x 8 boards. Really 2 inches thick and 8 inches wide.

Friday morning the electric company disconnected the service from the house and took their meter. About 10 minutes later David was on his track hoe and going to work.

Getting the last things out of the house

David is in the track hoe, just eating up the house. Ricky is driving the dump truck over to a 20 feet deep hole dug for the house's last resting place. Jeff is on the ground salvaging anything salvageable and using the bulldozer to push the debris into the hole.

By the end of the day, there is no more house

Friday night our neighbors joined us for the bonfire. 

By this morning (Saturday) about all that is left is a smoldering pit.

That's it for now. Take care.
Brian

Progress Report After Four Days

Hi All,
Four days in and there has been a lot of work done. Behind the house that will be demolished there is a three room structure we affectionately call the crack house. A lot of work was done around the crack house to clean up all the trash and brush.

You have seen pictures of the lake but there is actually a small pond much closer to the existing house- currently a mosquito hatchery. The water from the spring runs into the pond and then overflows to a creek that runs to the lake at the back of the property. Both dams,( the one for the pond and the one for the lake) need to be repaired. Yesterday (Wednesday) and a little bit of today David and his crew fixed the pond dam.

Here's pretty much how the pond and dam looked when they started

 Here's David in his track hoe repairing the dam....

Here's the new dam, just waiting for a good rain or the spring to slowly fill the pond

Here's Jeff on the bulldozer clearing what was once a trail back to the home site

I left out that besides getting all the trash and brush cleared up the first couple of days they made a pad for the pole barn that will be going in a few weeks from now. By the end of the day today they had started clearing the area where the house and garage will go. It is amazing how much three guys on heavy equipment can get done in a day. Susan and I are still working on getting the wood floors out of the old house or otherwise we'd just sit and watch them all day.

That's it for now. Take care.
Brian