A Little Stressed

[I luv herfrds]

I should say stressed A LOT!
A while back I asked everyone their thoughts on building a house, whether it should be a log, stick or modular.
Well we are looking at one log home builder for a solid log wall style house,(A little communication trouble with this outfit.)
And a post and beam home. (It has a log along the bottom of the wall with a log post every 8-10 feet and 2 logs on top.) Having pretty good luck with this dealer.

The big stress is cleaning out the double wide trailer that was the in laws. Been trying to get as much stuff out as I could, but got my butt chewed yesterday for cleaning out the master bedroom.
Now I know building a house is stressful I just didn't plan on it being more stressful cleaning one out.
If I leave it up to the hubby it will never get done.

Better get going, gotta clean out my china hutch and display case so we can have the room to move the office into this house.
Lots to do.

 

[bigbull338]

cleaning out the in laws house isnt easy.an that can cause some stress.just hang in there an do what you can do.

 

[I luv herfrds]

Your right bigbull, it is really hard, trying to decide what to keep and what to either give away or throw out. *sigh*

Having a couple of disagreements about the new house. He doesn't want any sheet rock in it. He didn't like my suggestion of getting some hard wood flooring and using that for the ceiling. :lol2:
He wants wood paneling on the walls. No way! Yuck!
So far that is the biggest conflict. :D

Maybe those of you who have built houses can step in with some suggestions.
What about Hoss?

 

[bigbull338]

well it looks like yall need to sitt down an talk about what he wants to put into the house.years ago my uncle built a log house by hisself using very little outside labor.he cut the logs off his own place debarked an stripped them.let them cure good.treated them.an then morted them into the walls long ways.used rough sawn thick sanded an stained boards for the front an side door.

 

[gimpyrancher]

For a lesson on what types of real log homes there are, check out http://www.loghomebuilders.org/ You'd be surprised at what you'll find there. I am a member so I am biased. :welcome:

 

[kerley]

After much thought before building our new retirement home there are things we wish we had done differently. I know its hard for you now but try to get it done. Its just a little thing.
Tom.

 

[Howdyjabo]

We needed to clean out my Mother in laws house after she died-- Hubby just wouldn't get around to it. So I gave him a deadline to go in and do it all or take care of the things he wanted something special done with. After the deadline I got to do it any whay that I wanted short of burning the house down and he wasn't allowed to have any thoughts on the way I did it.

 

[TexasBred]

We needed to clean out my Mother in laws house after she died-- Hubby just wouldn't get around to it. So I gave him a deadline to go in and do it all or take care of the things he wanted something special done with. After the deadline I got to do it any whay that I wanted short of burning the house down and he wasn't allowed to have any thoughts on the way I did it.

Jabo sounds almost like me. When my Mom died everyone had several motnhs to get what they wanted. After the "sweet smells" left teh house it was nothing but jsut another old house full of junk that meant nothing to anyone but her. Letters, cards, flowers, notes, you name it...tons of it...made for a big bonfire and I figure she was cheering us on. She always said she was going to leave us one big mess to go thru.

 

[Lammie]

It took every bit of mental energy I had to clean out my parents' home. I can relate.

Now, I'm shy of selling this place, we have discussed it a couple of times, because of all the stuff we have! It would take forever! I'm sticking here at least until we get William out of high school.

My sister has a lovely log home. It was lovely, anyway. They didn't really maintain it the way they should have. Last time I was over there, they were living in the living room and kitchen. Bed was where the dining room used to be. If it don't bother them, it don't bother me.

 

[hillsdown]

ILH you can have a hard wood ceiling if it is two story and the second story has hard wood floors.. :lol2: Our ceiling on the main floor is hard wood, the worst part is that any little noise made upstairs can be heard through the whole house, thank goodness it is just the two of us , but having company and they go into the kitchen and mess around while I am sometimes still sleeping makes me want to strangle someone..

I though both of your in laws are still alive, did I miss something ?

 

[I luv herfrds]

HD my FIL passed away in '04 and my MIL in '05. Sorry if there was some confusion.
I was teasing the hubby when I suggested putting hardwood flooring up on the ceiling. ;-)

gimpy I have done searches online, contacted dealers/builders, looked at floor plans until I was cross eyed. Lots of disagreements with hubby, finally bought a software program and went to work. Got our ideal floor plan that will work for us both now and later in our lives. A lot of compromising went on concerning this house.
I can just hardly wait til we get the trailer house gone and turn that first shovelful of dirt.
Oh, started this 5 years ago.

Tom we are trying to cover every little thing about the house. I know what he really wants, but he is willing to let it go. A walk in shower with a seat. Trying to convince him that we can build it for him, but he says no. I know later on he will regret not having it.

 

[hillsdown]

I am sorry ILH , I guess your husband has had trouble moving on, I know it is hard to let go . Good luck and I hope it all goes smoothly.

 

[kerley]

HD my FIL passed away in '04 and my MIL in '05. Sorry if there was some confusion.
I was teasing the hubby when I suggested putting hardwood flooring up on the ceiling. ;-)

gimpy I have done searches online, contacted dealers/builders, looked at floor plans until I was cross eyed. Lots of disagreements with hubby, finally bought a software program and went to work. Got our ideal floor plan that will work for us both now and later in our lives. A lot of compromising went on concerning this house.
I can just hardly wait til we get the trailer house gone and turn that first shovelful of dirt.
Oh, started this 5 years ago.

Tom we are trying to cover every little thing about the house. I know what he really wants, but he is willing to let it go. A walk in shower with a seat. Trying to convince him that we can build it for him, but he says no. I know later on he will regret not having it.

The walk in shower with seat is a good thing. If eather of you ever get crippled up like me you will be thankful for it. It really doesnt cost that much more. We saved thousands of dollars by fireing the builders tile man and bringing one in from Texas. Good luck and best wishes for a happy new home.
Tom.

 

[HOSS]

Your right bigbull, it is really hard, trying to decide what to keep and what to either give away or throw out. *sigh*

Having a couple of disagreements about the new house. He doesn't want any sheet rock in it. He didn't like my suggestion of getting some hard wood flooring and using that for the ceiling. :lol2:
He wants wood paneling on the walls. No way! Yuck!
So far that is the biggest conflict. :D

Maybe those of you who have built houses can step in with some suggestions.
What about Hoss?

First......get lots of prozac or other happy pills :mrgreen:

Seriously.....try to plan as many details at the beginning as possible. Agree on it then. As you are in the process of building a million ideas will come up that will side track you....stick with the original plan unless it is highly agreeable to you and your spouse and it doesn't extend the budget.

Don't cut corners....you will be sorry. If you want hardwood over carpet do it at the beginning....if you want tile over hardwood...same thing.

Buy the best that you can afford (note: not the best there is unless you can afford it and it fits into the budget). If you love it to begin with you will love it forever...if you start cutting corners it will always bug you and you will fall out of love with the house.

Build it bigger than you think you will need....there is no such thing as enough space :lol:

Don't scrimp on roofing, electrical, insulation or HVAC products. They are longer term investments and should be chosen with care.

Buy everything (materials) yourself and sub out labor on what you can't do or don't have the time to do. Shop at liquidation warehouses.....if you look around enough great deals can be found on high end products.

Join Direct Buy. It costs about $4500.00 but on kitchen cabinets and granite countertops alone we saved almost 20k over retail. Most everything you can get thru Direct Buy is 50 to 75% of retail. The products are high end brands and quality. For example: we bought 2 Ashley leather sofas from Direct Buy. We picked the models out at Ashley and they were $1,600.00 each at the Ashley store. We paid $650.00 each thru Direct Buy.

Go extra deep and wide if pouring footers. I did and so far we have had no noticeable settling after 1.5 years.

If you will have a crawl space make it tall enough where you can sit on a 5 gallon bucket and work on the plumbing / electrical or HVAC.....trust me on this....you will appreciate this later.

If codes allow and you are going to plumb the house yourself like I did use PECKS (sp) over traditional pvc pipe.

Install 2 200 amp service. It pays off when you need to add things like hot tubs, welders, barn power.

Get any agreements with sub-cons in writing and hold them to it. Include deadlines with rebates to you if they are not met.

Don't buy windows from Home Depot / Lowes. Use Direct Buy.....better quality and better price.

If you can do most of the ground prep work with your own equipment. It saves a ton of money over hiring it out. I did hire out the footer digging because I did not have a back-hoe or the experience to lay it out correctly.

Pay attention to detail when it comes to codes. Get a code book for your county or town and follow it closely. Local governments love it when they can keep coming out and re-inspecting for a fee. Generates revenue so they will nit-pick you to death.

Use screws and glue on sub-flooring. With nails you will get squeaks later.

I'm sure I could type all day.......

 

[peg4x4]

Please build the house handicapped friendly. Do not have the bathroom doors open INTO the bathroom! Don't let anyone talk you into doing anything you don't want to..
Good luck

 

[1982vett]

Your right bigbull, it is really hard, trying to decide what to keep and what to either give away or throw out. *sigh*

Having a couple of disagreements about the new house. He doesn't want any sheet rock in it. He didn't like my suggestion of getting some hard wood flooring and using that for the ceiling. :lol2:
He wants wood paneling on the walls. No way! Yuck!
So far that is the biggest conflict. :D

Maybe those of you who have built houses can step in with some suggestions.
What about Hoss?

First......get lots of prozac or other happy pills :mrgreen:

Seriously.....try to plan as many details at the beginning as possible. Agree on it then. As you are in the process of building a million ideas will come up that will side track you....stick with the original plan unless it is highly agreeable to you and your spouse and it doesn't extend the budget.

Don't cut corners....you will be sorry. If you want hardwood over carpet do it at the beginning....if you want tile over hardwood...same thing.

Buy the best that you can afford (note: not the best there is unless you can afford it and it fits into the budget). If you love it to begin with you will love it forever...if you start cutting corners it will always bug you and you will fall out of love with the house.

Build it bigger than you think you will need....there is no such thing as enough space :lol:

Don't scrimp on roofing, electrical, insulation or HVAC products. They are longer term investments and should be chosen with care.
Buy everything (materials) yourself and sub out labor on what you can't do or don't have the time to do. Shop at liquidation warehouses.....if you look around enough great deals can be found on high end products.

Join Direct Buy. It costs about $4500.00 but on kitchen cabinets and granite countertops alone we saved almost 20k over retail. Most everything you can get thru Direct Buy is 50 to 75% of retail. The products are high end brands and quality. For example: we bought 2 Ashley leather sofas from Direct Buy. We picked the models out at Ashley and they were $1,600.00 each at the Ashley store. We paid $650.00 each thru Direct Buy.

Go extra deep and wide if pouring footers. I did and so far we have had no noticeable settling after 1.5 years.

If you will have a crawl space make it tall enough where you can sit on a 5 gallon bucket and work on the plumbing / electrical or HVAC.....trust me on this....you will appreciate this later.

If codes allow and you are going to plumb the house yourself like I did use PECKS (sp) over traditional pvc pipe.

Install 2 200 amp service. It pays off when you need to add things like hot tubs, welders, barn power.

Get any agreements with sub-cons in writing and hold them to it. Include deadlines with rebates to you if they are not met.

Don't buy windows from Home Depot / Lowes. Use Direct Buy.....better quality and better price.

If you can do most of the ground prep work with your own equipment. It saves a ton of money over hiring it out. I did hire out the footer digging because I did not have a back-hoe or the experience to lay it out correctly.

Pay attention to detail when it comes to codes. Get a code book for your county or town and follow it closely. Local governments love it when they can keep coming out and re-inspecting for a fee. Generates revenue so they will nit-pick you to death.

Use screws and glue on sub-flooring. With nails you will get squeaks later.

I'm sure I could type all day.......

Absolutely do not ever cut corners on the foundation. It may take 20 years before you have problems but it is to late by then to fix them. On top of that, many of the "repairs" cause more damage over time than if it was left alone.

Please build the house handicapped friendly. Do not have the bathroom doors open INTO the bathroom! Don't let anyone talk you into doing anything you don't want to..
Good luck

:D Peg, I understand what you are saying and why. But it isn't really all that simple. Such as you don't open doors out into a hallway. Bathrooms used to be built to take up as little space as possible. Was considered wasted floor space but I believe that thinking is changing. But for mobility challenged folks small bathrooms just don't cut it. It is not a bad idea to have at least one room and bath up to current ADA codes. Really need to keep that in mind for your entrance to the home. I think Peg would agree their too.

 

[peg4x4]

A neighbor had a heart attack in the bathroom-fell against the door-small bathroom-tiny window-big man..He died before they could get in to help him-took rescue over an hour to shove the door open enough to get to him.. One of my phobias now..

 

[john250]

A neighbor had a heart attack in the bathroom-fell against the door-small bathroom-tiny window-big man..He died before they could get in to help him-took rescue over an hour to shove the door open enough to get to him.. One of my phobias now..

Not to be a smart ass, but EMS needed a bigger prybar. That is slooow.
Maybe there were good reasons, I don't want to question decisions when I wasn't there.
Trapped in the bathroom is not the heroic death I see for myself.

 

[I luv herfrds]

Thanks for that insight Peg. I will now change the way the doors swing in the plan.
The bathroom is large enough to get a wheel chair in and out with no trouble. All the door ways are 36". Wonder if I should make them bigger?

Hoss thanks for the info. I have no plan to cut corners in building this house.
We are going to try to do as much of the work ourselves as we can and bring in the experts where they are needed.
Got quite a bit of hard licker under the sink. :mrgreen: ;-)

 

[MO_cows]

I Luv Herefords, I hope you will post your home building project when you begin. We have similar plans in the works for a couple years from now and I'll bet we could learn something.