Cool new tool
I know this is out of sequence, as the blog hasn't caught up to the real life project yet, but I just found a cool product which is great for framing. Two things commonly affect the straightness of lumber, even from a good lumber yard. Boards can be "crowned" which means that they curve consistenly along their length, or can be twisted. Crowning is relatively easy to deal with, as long as it isn't too bad. Simply make sure that all of the framing crowns in the same direction, leaving out any boards that crown excessively. Twisting is harder. Normal levers or prybars aren't designed to really grab on to the framing. For most of the project so far, I've secured one end of the board, and used clamps to pull as much of the twist out as possible. this works okay, as long as there is something convenient to clamp to. I just came across this "new to me" tool, a simple pry-bar with a clamp designed to grab 2" dimensional lumber (e.g. 2x4, 2x6, 2x8, etc.) In real time, I'm starting the roof framing now, and this tool will hopefully make a big difference!
What to do?
So, the house seemed to be in too bad of shape for my meager skills. I could remodel and make it look nice, but redoing a foundation on an existing structure was WAY out of my skillset. We called around for bids on putting a solid concrete skirt foundation underneath the existing structure as well as creating a footprint for an addition that would really take advantage of the view. This would run us about $25,000. Our wonderful real estate agent, Sharon Williams, hired an engineer to do an inspection. We had wood rot, powder-post beetles, a foundation (on a hillside, mind you) made up of those concrete blocks used to build decks. Some of the posts running up from these concrete blocks no longer were in contact with the house. The bathroom sink drain was not connected to the plumbing system and just ran out under the house. There were rats, the place smelled, and there was mildew growing on the walls. We decided that this wasn't a matter of remodeling. This was a tear-down.
It seemed like a good idea...
So, my wife and I are both massage therapists here in Seattle. She has an established practice and essentially works full-time. I've been at it for about 2 years now and essentially work 1 day a week. We've dreamed of building a custom home and have read many books such as "Building the Custom Home" by John Folds and Roy Hoops and "The Not So Big House" series by Susan Susanka.
We owned a small 750 square foot house at the time, but with the arrival of our wonderful daughter we quickly ran out of room. We thought about adding on to our house, or converting part of our garage into an office/guest apartment. After drawing up plans for that (which took forever as I had NO idea what I was doing) I had been forced to read exciting books like "The Complete Guide to Home Plumbing" put out by Black and Decker, "Framing Floors, Walls, Ceilings" in the "Best of Fine Homebuilding" series, and "Wiring Simplified" by Richter/Schwan/Hartwell.
I had a college degree (genetics from UC Davis) and had been inspired by a brief job at Bayer Pharmaceuticals working with engineers to believe that people can actually build things and make them work. I tested the waters by running an electrical panel to our garage, installing a gas furnace (including a new gas line and ducting) and some other light carpentry. It all came out okay (in other words the house neither blew up nor burnt down) and I was feeling fairly confident in tackling the garage remodel. Then, a small house around the corner from us went up for sale at a really low price and we thought we could remodel it and move in. It had a larger lot and a great view... and no foundation.
Welcome to Virgin Builder!
It's January here in Seattle and as such it is raining. We're not cursed with the tempestuous downpours of other regions, but we end up with a thick grey drizzle that seems almost constant. Natives are appropriately referred to as "Mossbacks" and thus winter is NOT a good time to be building. So, how did this happen? Why would someone with no construction experience dive into a project like this, especially with a two year old daughter and almost no time to do it? Well, that and more is what this blog is about. I actually started building 7 months ago and purchased the property just over a year ago. I plan to catalog what happened along the way and within a short time have the events on the blog be caught up with what is actually happening on the project. I also want to to catalog the books, materials, and suppliers that have been helpful along the way (as well as ones that weren't.) For the books and relevant tools, I'll post them as link buttons to Amazon.com, both to make them easy to find as well as producing some small revenue stream. I mean, really small. How many people are likely to read this thing anyway?! =) Materials and suppliers will be simply mentions, because I'm not creative enough to find links to pictures for every thing I use. I will try to be specific so that people can find similar materials if they should so choose. And please, e-mail me! I'm always open to questions, comments, and anything besides outright flames. I mean, feel free to write "What the hell were you thinking doing 'X', 'Y', or 'Z'", but please keep the "You're a F'ing retard" comments to a slow dribble please. I mean, I've got a two year-old, a new massage practice, and I'm building a home. I obviously don't need MORE pointless stress.
