Still alive - just tackling a HUGE DIY

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Jester369

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Building my own house! My own two hands, plus a handful of hours of friend labor paid in beer. I've been toying with the notion of doing a 'build' thread but it's not really a beer related topic, unless you consider that it's really just a big container for the Keezer v2.0!!
 
I wish I had the know-how to do something like this! I plan to have a home built sometime in the next 5ish years and would love to be able to do it myself.

Good luck and post pictures!
 
HE'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good luck on the new home build, that's awesome. I built/contracted my house 7 years ago and it was a hell of a lot of fun. I didn't do everything myself, but a lot of it.....with the help of friends and family of course. Keep us posted on your progress and I'll anxiously be awaiting keezer vol. 2 when the time comes. :mug:

Hoppo
 
Building my own house! My own two hands, plus a handful of hours of friend labor paid in beer. I've been toying with the notion of doing a 'build' thread but it's not really a beer related topic, unless you consider that it's really just a big container for the Keezer v2.0!!

I design and build houses for a living and I still want to see pictures. I always like to see how other people do things.
 
Ok, so I'll start it out like I did the keezer build - with a sketchup file!

Front:
exteriorfront-57928.jpg


Back:
exteriorback-57929.jpg


The design is one that I came up with, and that Red and I have been tweaking for the last few years. When our house finally, after three years, sold last January, we found ourselves in the position to actually build it!

We found a great piece of land in the town we wanted, and away we went. We broke ground 3 days after we closed on the property. I have many photos that I will post of the build from then to now, and as the project moves forward.

Ultimately, there will be a new keezer in the basement, which was designed to specifically be a man cave - bar, pool table, home theater - you get the idea!
 
Looks good, easy roof to do, only thing I would do is maybe add about 10 more feet to the lanai. Thinking someday you might want to frame that in and make in into a extra room.
 
Ok, here we go!

The land:
Taped.JPG


The tape lines are not in the final location, but it's roughly there.

A few days before we closed on the land, this was delivered:

BOTA.JPG


Moved around a little dirt, then a couple days later called in the heavy artillery:

BoomBox.JPG


They drilled a bunch of holes and set a bunch of charges:

BoomPrep.JPG


They let me touch off the blast, which was pretty freakin' sweet. I have a video of it somewhere.

Aftermath:

BigPile.JPG


Put her right to work!

HotOp.JPG
 
Looks awesome, dude! It's looking good. Looks like a nice piece of property. I'm sure you guys will do a great job, I can't wait to see what it looks like.
 
Looks great! Love the property too. Looking forward to following along! Thanks for sharing.
 
A couple days later, the real digging began:

DigStart.JPG


BasementStart.JPG



Doesn't look deep, but it was:

BasementHole.JPG


And all those little orange marks in the bottom were put there by me - I got to run the grade stake and save myself paying a laborer. It was kinda fun!

Up next, footings:


FootingForms.JPG



FootingPour.JPG


After that it was getting the under slab plumbing ready:


Underslab.JPG


That long run to the lower right corner is for the bar sink next to the Keezer!
 
Continuing on...

Here it is, ready for the walls to start. I am using ICF construction, as you will see:

ReadyForWalls.JPG


Metal track set, and the first couple of courses of foam forms set:

StackStart.JPG


As some of you know, I like curves ;)

CurveDetail.JPG


First two courses set, ready for the concrete guys to come back:

WallPerim.JPG


Next, underslab insulation:

USInsul.JPG


And the PEX tubing for basement heat:

HeatPipe.JPG
 
D'oh!

The lack of white stuff on the ground is probably another clue.

So what, you're just going to give us a taste every day? Just keep giving us a little bit more each time? Make us wait and beg to see a little more?

That kind of is your guys' MO, isn't it?
 
We broke ground in June, it's just so frikken cold right now that I am actually at the office instead of on site, so I'm posting. And yes, that's our MO for sure ;) Speaking of, there are talks of resurrecting that thread...
 
The crew comes back to pour the slab:

SlabPour.JPG


SlabDone.JPG


Time to move more material into place:

LoadIn.JPG


And stack it:

Progress.JPG


Bracing/scaffolding starting to go up:

Scaffold2.JPG


Red The Builder cutting some conduit:

RedTheBuilder.JPG
 
This is pretty sweet so far, but I think by the time the pictures catch up with current day, you'll have sold the house already and moved somewhere else. :)
 
So, almost ready to fill the first 11' with 8" thick concrete!

AlmostReady.JPG


Pouring the basement walls. Let me tell you, there was stress involved! Doing the work myself, there was no one to blame if it got ****ed up!


FirstWallPour.JPG


(and, yes, that is my buddy flipping off the camera!)

After that, it was stripping the scaffolding, and getting the ledgers installed for the floor truss:


BasementStrip.JPG
 
In multiple places on the tractor it has stickers stating operator only. Oh well, 4 is close to 1, right?! Had to get those 35' trusses up the 2 tenths mile driveway somehow - the delivery truck certainly couldn't make it! That's me in the Kubota hat, taking the photo.

TrussMove.JPG


First few trusses set - damn they are awkward!


FirstTruss.JPG



FFTrussHalf.JPG



FFTruss2.JPG


Fun times figuring this bit of framing out:


StairOpening.JPG



StairOpening2.JPG
 
Great post! ICF is the best way to build a home. My father in law builds ICF homes and he is always talking about it. When we are ready to build we are going to use ICF as well. a little spendy upfront but you will recover your costs over time.
 
Subfloor/Heating panels starting to go in. At 110lbs a sheet, these are a great workout...


1stSubfloor.JPG


Sub2.JPG


Sub3.JPG


First floor done. Note the two sheets of safety plywood over the stairway opening - there will be additional reference to them shortly.

SubDone.JPG


On to the 1st floor!


Stack2nd.JPG



Stack2nd2.JPG
 
A man's gotta eat, right? The few times I've had friends helping, payment has been beer and burgers.

Grill.JPG


Back to stacking! I have always been kind of a LEGO geek, and of course everyone gives me a hard time for building a house out of LEGO.

Stack2nd3.JPG


Stack2nd4.JPG


Stack2nd5.JPG


Ready for the second wall pour:

ReadyFor2ndPour.JPG
 
Next up - Garage footings. They were poured the same day I did the 2nd wall pour:

GarageFootings.JPG


Then the garage foundation walls:

GarageWallsPoured.JPG


While that was going on, I was starting in on the 2nd floor truss:

SecondTruss.JPG


Backfill FINALLY underway:

BackfillStart.JPG


BackfillDone.JPG


This almost completely ruined my day when this fell out from under me:

BustedTruss.JPG


Both the lumber yard and the truss supplier completely freaked out when I called to tell them that happened. Apparently I was the first failed unit in the supplier's experience. Lucky me.
 
How does that happen? Those things are engineered with a factor of safety in them right? You were just walking on it? Interesting... Glad you were ok.
 
How does that happen? Those things are engineered with a factor of safety in them right? You were just walking on it? Interesting... Glad you were ok.

When they were delivered, the crane was broken on the truck apparently. The driver was pissed off, and just dragged the truss off the trailer. I wasn't there, but saw the aftermath. I was less than pleased, and I immediately called my supplier and insisted that the truss be inspected, as there was some visible damage to several of them. They agreed and sent one of their reps right over, and after going through them and consulting with his engineer, they decided that there were two pieces that needed repair. This was one that they had cleared for use, not requiring repair, but after the failure you could clearly see where the problem had been, and should have been spotted beforehand.
 
Wow.
I hope the driver of that truck had his A$$ handed to him! This is serious stuff here. It's not like he was delivering floor tile or siding. This is an issue of life and limb!
 
There have been a few jobs that were hired out - I didn't explicitly point them out with the photos, but it was:

Blasting (duh!)
Excavation
Footings
Garage Foundation
Slabs
Roof Truss installation
Roof Deck installation
Power from pole to panel

Pretty much the rest of it to date has been me, myself and I.

Here is one of the jobs I was glad not to do:

GarageSand.JPG


All told, including the sand used for backfill next to the walls, 400 yards of sand were brought in, most of which ended up compacted under the garage slab.

Now, remember where I said to note the two pieces of plywood covering the stairway hole to the basement? Well, when you go to move one, and your foot slips and you step out into empty air, things like this happen:

Oops.JPG


I ended up not falling the 10' to the concrete, but I did manage to mess up my neck and shoulder pretty well, as well as scare the sh*t out of myself.

This is what was left after the excavator left. I was pretty pleased with the work they did, if somewhat expensive.

SiteSmoothed.JPG


Made more progress on the second floor truss, after getting the replacement for the one that gave way:

SecondTruss2.JPG


And then the garage slab got finished:

GarageSlabPour.JPG


GarageSlabDone.JPG
 
So that one was already on the house when it failed? Did they go back and do a second inspection of the other ones that had been installed?
 
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