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It’s March 31st. I’ll admit being mildly frustrated that we still have not begun digging trenches to pour foundation footers. Not surprising: my infrequent bouts of subdued frustration, oddly coincide whenever we have been teased with a day or two of warm and sunny weather. The various reasons we are delayed, are legitimate and not caused by grievous mistakes or lousy decisions. The (crummy) weather continues to be problematic, and the continued high demand in the construction industry has also been a factor. So I’m being patient and it hasn’t been difficult, because; I didn’t make it to retirement, so I could work outside…during cold winter weather…in muddy conditions. I am happy to sip coffee, while searching the internet for home construction strategies, choosing building materials and discovering ideas to make this home exactly what we want it to be.

The good news:

I believe we will be able to get started in the next couple weeks. The local company that rents/leases the type of excavation equipment we need, called yesterday to say a couple machines were returning from leases and would be available to us very soon. As a backup plan, I met with three different excavation contractors a couple weeks ago, seeking quotes and timing for when they could begin. Two of the three are available in a couple weeks. Their bids are reasonable and not much more than the cost of renting an excavator and doing the trenching ourselves. Of course, the weather is unpredictable so will just have to wait and see.

Once we get underway, and have real progress to share – will post to this blog more frequently.

Hello ! It is the last day of February, and I have nothing new to report with regards to construction.

From my previous post, recall I drove my convertible on February 1st, enjoying an unusually warm and sunny day. The rest of the month was typical: dreary and cold with snow. To celebrate the last day of February, I intend to drive the ‘vert’ this afternoon, which is forecast to be sunny and mild. Since the theme of this post is weather related, I found an appropriate image to share.

Looking forward, we are eagerly awaiting the return of daylight savings time in 2 weeks and the first day of Spring on March 20th. I can’t say exactly when, but once we are underway with this project; you can expect more frequent posts with progress reports.

With nothing of substance to report since my previous post on January 1st, will digress on February weather in southern Indiana. On Tuesday (Feb. 1) the weather was sunny & 64 degrees, so I celebrated with a fun drive in my vintage BMW convertible. 48 hours later, we were witnessing a significant winter storm, with blowing snow and 20 degree temperatures. Ended up with 7″ of snow and single digits overnight.

From earlier posts, you will recall we were hoping to get footers and foundation work completed by now. We failed that goal miserably, and I’m comfortable with that. I’m retired and get no joy from working outside when it’s below freezing, even though I have clothes and other gear for it. I am perfectly content to be inside, spending every day doing something directly related to this project. While I occasionally discover small, minor floorplan improvements, or talking to sub-contractors for bids, most of my time each day is analyzing what materials we will purchase for the myriad of options when each exterior and interior detail is considered.

For a small random sample of topics: exterior siding, concrete slab insulation, faucets, heating systems, kitchen cabinets, appliances, insulation strategy, plumbing fixtures, pocket door hardware, vented or unvented attic, flooring, light fixtures, thermal bridging, roofing, storm water drainage details, making hot water, routing HVAC ducting, critical path planning, central vacuum installation…. feel free to contact me if you want the complete list.

This a true labor of love for us; building our dream home – on a budget.

Enjoy the picture, it always makes me laugh.

It is Saturday, January 1st, 2022. Frequent rain is keeping the build site muddy, preventing us from starting foundation work. I’m using the weather-caused delay to continue efforts into the myriad of construction details I described in the previous post.

The bank called yesterday to schedule the closing for our construction loan. The lender (Rural 1) was recommended by a friend. They get high marks for overall service, low costs and customer care. Once the home is complete and we pass the final inspection, allowing us to move in; the construction loan will roll over to a 15 year fixed rate mortgage, without any additional paperwork or cost. Of particular interest to us: this lender does not sell their mortgages to other banks.

The picture adorning this post was taken on December 21st – the winter solstice.

This should be an interesting (understated) year…

Not much to report from the build site, other than having a dumptruck load (20 tons) of stone delivered. The soft and wet ground resulted in the tri-axle dump truck getting mildly stuck before he was able to unload the stone. With the truck’s gross weight at 68,000 pounds, a tow strap and my 2 wheel drive pickup didn’t have a prayer, although it would have made an interesting photograph. I’m happy and relieved to report, the driver and I were able to get the truck unstuck fairly quickly by dumping a small amount of stone, then shoveling it around the tires.

We need a week of dry sunny weather, which will allow us to bring in several more loads of crushed stone to support a concrete truck when we pour the footers. Batter boards are up, showing us precisely where the building corners need to be; so we are ready to trench when it’s not so muddy. Obviously, I can’t control the weather so I’m being patient. This delay was not unexpected and there is PLENTY to do on this project from the comfort of home. I’m talking to contractors, working on detailed plans for the kitchen and other rooms, systems to include (but not limited to) HVAC, fresh air ventilation, plumbing and electrical rough-in drawings, insulation, siding and roofing material selection, creating excel files for a critical path plan, another file to track actual costs vs our budget, payments for materials and services and a plethora of other things to consider for this build.

Stay tuned, I hope to have something more substantial to post in a couple weeks.

Merry Christmas & Happy New year !

When Kenny was scraping the topsoil from the building footprint a few weeks ago, he found our water meter. No damage done, but Kenny didn’t see it until he felt his excavator bucket strike the meter box lid, because it was hidden under a thin layer of topsoil & sod. The water meter location ? Smack dab in the middle of where I plan to construct a 40′ by 60′ shop ! Not good… not good at all. The discovery effectively put a halt to our plans of digging footer trenches.

I have always thought our water meter was on our property, near the south property line and the state highway, but in August – I learned it is actually the water meter for our neighbor to the south. I had arrived at our property and noticed someone had dug up the meter box and replaced the water meter. I called and asked them why they were digging up my meter base and they said – nope, not your water meter, it belongs to your neighbor. Over the next couple months, I walked our property several times and never found it.

So… after Kenny’s discovery, I called the rural water utility to explain that I found my water meter, but it’s location was problematic. The guy they dispatched was very familiar with the area and offered this thanks. He told me they have been looking for our meter (as part of an audit) without success.

Problem is – we can’t start digging trenches for footers until the meter is relocated outside the building footprint, and figuring out if any other utility water mains are under the building site.

That activity was completed today. Meter relocated, with no additional piping under the construction site.

December 1st and we have a building permit. The permit is valid for a year (they can be extended if necessary) Hoping to see dry weather over the next few weeks so trenches can be dug, footers poured with concrete, and a concrete block stem wall can be completed before the brunt of winter arrives. Stay tuned for developments…

Rural electric turned the power back on last week. A couple days later, Joe wired up 110V receptacles in a weatherproof box, providing us electric service. The pole and meter box were on the property when we puchased the place, serving the decrepit mobile home. When construction is nearing completion, we will remove the pole and bury the service entrance wire from the transformer to the house.

Kermit met me at the property on the the day before Thanksgiving to establish accurate building corner stakes and batter boards. We had a little rain over a week ago, and with no grass or topsoil or warm temperatures and long sunny days; locating and driving the wood stakes, was a muddy, slip sliding affair. There was a 90% chance of rain on Thanksgiving, so knew it would be near impossible to accomplish this task for at least a week (or more). The long range weather forecast has us dry through the middle of December. Hoping the ground dries sufficently, allowing us to dig trenches for the concrete footers. With Wednesday’s effort – we are set up and ready to dig.

We are underway, and sooner than anticipated. In a planning discussion with Kermit last week – he expressed frustration that the places he has rented a backhoe in the recent past; did not have any machines available, putting us on hold. I offered to ask Kenny, the excavater we used in April (to remove trees and start the driveway) and Ron (the septic system installer) if they could squeeze us into their busy schedules between larger jobs. The very first task is removing all of the top soil from the building site: a quick & straightforward job for an experienced excavator. I called Kenny on Wednesday evening, and he liked the idea. Although he was busy, thought he might have an opportunity in a week or two. Imagine my surprise when Kenny called on Friday morning – saying he could meet me at the property in an hour to get started ! He arrived around noon ready to work. I showed him the wood stakes, defining the area to be excavated, and where to place the eventual mountain of topsoil he would be creating. Just after sunset, and six hours of work – job completed. Next up: digging narrow trenches to pour the concrete footers.

I have spent more time than I want to admit; placing the home and shop building on the property. We had to meet county setback requirements, avoid the septic tank & leach field, a desire to preserve large mature trees, asthetics/appearance, passive solar, etc. I finally had to admit; the very best location for home and shop buildings, meant having to remove a huge Black Oak and a very large Hickory tree. Both trees were within 5 feet of where the west wall of the shop would be. If we had tried to simply cut the tree roots in the way to enable trenching the footer and building the stem wall, there was a good chance the trees would have died in a few years. Hired a local tree service to remove about a dozen trees in all. There were also dead trees near the building site and out along highway 45.