Friday, July 20, 2007

Estimates and Construction Loans

It was during this phase that I realized just how much building I was going to have to do. Allen, a friend who was a builder, gave me estimates for three different house plans and it became clear pretty quickly that I couldn't afford to pay contractors for everything.

Terry looked over the plans for the house I designed just to make sure everything would work and that it was structurally sound. Since this plan was the least expensive of the houses Allen quoted, these were the plans I took to various lumber yards to get cost estimates for lumber packages.

Allen also gave me names of contractors to do various jobs. Some of these I used, some I didn't. One thing I found out early on was that most contractors are so tied to big builders that they can't work in small jobs for individuals. In the end I contracted only the excavating, concrete work, plumbing and heating/cooling. Friends helped with other things and I asked a million questions before I began each phase.

Finally I had everything together for the loan officer, I could afford payments on the building estimates, credit checks were done, and the loan was approved.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

#7 Flickr

This is really fun. I like the Explore feature and especially the maps section of that. It was cool to find photos from the Berea Craft Fair last weekend by searching for Berea, Kentucky. I added a couple of my photos to the map also, so if you do a search for Brassfield, Kentucky you'll find a photo of my house on the map. I added a couple more to Soldatna, Alaska also.

#6 Flickr - Midnight - Kenai Lake, Alaska

It was harder to find a photo to blog than it was to take one, I think. There are so many wonderful photos to chose from. I chose this one because I was able to visit the Kenai Peninsula several years ago and loved the majestic beauty of the place.

The colors of the sunset on the mountains in this photo are beautiful. During the summer it never really gets dark. We hiked at midnight looking for wildlife. Our motto was "we can sleep when we get back to Richmond."

Thursday, July 12, 2007

#5 Facebook

Facebook is more professional looking than the MySpace I'm used to with my kids. I'm still not sure I would continue to use Facebook after this class. I just don't see myself having time to keep up with it. I've already been able to apply the blog to work, but so far I don't really see Facebook applications for my job since I work mostly with employees rather than students.

As far as library applications, an EKU Library Group which could be used to post news and info could be useful to students.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

#4 Social Networking

I thought it was interesting how libraries were using MySpace. It seems to be a web page in a "hipper" form. The information is the same, but the layout is in a style that kids can relate to more easily, since many of them have a MySpace.

I never thought about using these sites to network the way the video suggested. We talked about privacy at the brown bag and this seems to be such an invasion of privacy to grab friends from friends of friends. I guess I just see my kids using the site to play and never gave it any serious consideration.

Monday, July 9, 2007

Finding a House Plan

One of the hardest things to do was to find a house plan that fit the picture I had in my head. I knew that I wanted 4 bedrooms, lots of storage, no hallways, and a dormer window with a window seat. I had to have that to curl up with a book, of course. I wanted a finished, walk-out basement and 2x6 walls for energy efficiency, but I didn't want (couldn't afford) a huge house.

I bought house plan books, borrowed books and looked online, but couldn't find what I had in mind. Years ago, when I bought the land, I had cut a house plan from Progressive Farmer that I liked. Unfortunately, that was before I had children and the floor plan didn't work now. Since I really liked the exterior of this house, I started with that and designed my own floor plan.

What I ended up with was a house that looks tiny on the outside and huge when you walk in, with about 1900 sq.ft. of living space. There is a large storage area under the eaves in the attic and under both staircases. The basement stays cool all summer and the back deck is our favorite room in the house during the summer.


Friday, July 6, 2007

Where to start?

The first thing to do was get organized. I got a large notebook and dividers and started putting in brochures and ideas I had been collecting for years.

With that done I needed to know how to build from the ground up. At this point I didn't realize how much building I would be doing myself. I just wanted to know the process, so that I would be familiar enough to talk to contractors without sounding like a complete dummy. Needless to say, I did this fairly often even with all the research and studying.

I started with a Google search for building houses and found a great page that went step by step through the building process.

http://home.howstuffworks.com/house.htm

The author discusses each step of the building process, showing different options for floor and roof systems and more. He also includes lots of pictures of all steps of the construction process. This page was printed and added to the notebook.

The author of this web page recommended George Nash's book Do-it-Yourself Housebuilding : The Complete Handbook, which became my bedside reading for almost two years.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Building on a Dream

Since I really don't know what to post in this blog, I thought I would start out by pulling together the photos of the process of building my house. For those of you who don't know me, I have owned a 16 acre piece of land for about 20 years. My plan has always been to build a house on it, but it took about 18 years to be in a position to begin this dream. Even then I knew that to get the house I wanted I would have to do a lot of the work myself. I just didn't realize what I was getting into.

To learn the process of building, I started volunteering for Habitat for Humanity. At the same time I started looking at house plan books and talking to a friend about the costs of building.

This photo was taken during my first hour on a Habitat job site in September 2004, so it is truly the beginning of my homebuilding experiences. It isn't the greatest, because it was scanned from the newspaper, but it's all I have.

The man in the photo is Terry. He works for Habitat and without his help and friendship, I could never have finished this project. Of course he won't admit just how insane he thought I was when I started, and now he'll never let me forget just how stubborn he thinks (knows) I am.