When Dad left to go home, even more was complete!

Dad finished the "main drain" line for all the plumbing before he left for home. He said, and Russ agreed, it is the most difficult part of the plumbing!

Here is the back of the house as of now. The big opening on the left side of the photo will be double doors to go out onto the (nonexistant) deck. There is another door at the other end of the building to exit onto the deck from the master bathroom.

And here is the front of the house, with all the windows installed.

If we had the front door and the double doors for the back, the house would be "dried in" as Russ calls it. The roof is on the addition; we went with standing seam roofing and will change the rest of the building to the same type of roofing when money permits.

A lot Lot LOT got done while Dad was here and I cannot thank him enough. He provided motivation, some financial resources, and helping hands while he was here. We could not have gotten this far without his assistance.

I would also like to thank Gary. He stayed for a week and helped out every day. He didn't ask for anything in return. He wanted to be able to hunt for hogs and deer. He didn't get either. But I think he was thankful for the work and friendship.

With my Dad's help...

When dad arrived, very little was done on the inside.

This photo and the next show a LOT of work. Here the rafters on in for the addition, ready for the roof!


Here, it shows how much was done on the inside. This photo was taken from about the same spot as the first one on this post.

The roof on the addition is on. More exterior walls complete. And some windows are in!

Walls, frames, and more

My dad came to Texas again to help us put up the framing - for walls, doors, windows, etc.

Russ and Dad (Jim) have been working since Saturday on the house. They have removed all the old windows, the old doors. They have put up more than 150 2x4's in the new walls. And been framing for the new windows and doors.

It certainly is exciting!

The New Beam

Last week, Russ had his business partner and employee over to get the beam up for our living room addition. See the photo! They also got some of the old wall out.

Next, he needs to extend the ceiling joists and put up the roof trusses. Then, we should be ready to enclose the addition and start putting up walls!

Columbus Day Holiday

On Columbus Day, we had a holiday from school. I was able to give Russ some much needed help out at the house. I finished getting the insulation out of the building. I swept a bunch of the floor. Finished pulling out the nails in the walls and ceilings where I couldn't reach due to the large pile of insulation.

Russ worked on putting up the wall for between my craft room and the "jack and jill" bathroom.

We also pulled off the electrical boxes that were on the outside of the building by what will be our front door.

I hope that in the next few weeks, we can get the rest of the "bat" insulation off the trailer. Once that is done, we can get the rest of the wood and trash out of the inside. And in two weeks, (after I return from Notre Dame) I am going to get the metal out to the recycling place. Then, we will have a barren floor and can start getting the old glue-down carpet up and the footer boards down.

Electric Meter

WE HAVE POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We returned from Michigan (our vacation) on August 10th. I (Marsha) went to work the next day. Russ took care of some business stuff too.

My dad finished watching TiJim on the 20th and stayed with us until the 28th. During the time that dad was here, Russ and dad built the steps up to the house, started the deck, and started the interior walls.

Our electrician came out yesterday, and got the power run from the pole to the main fuse box in the house. Our meter is supposed to arrive tomorrow.

The next problem is the septic system. Russ called for our first inspection. The inspector said that there is a problem with the soil and they now want us to change the design of our original system. There is a tremendous increase in price for either of the two options.

I am attaching photos of the inside, the steps, the deck, the electrical fuse box.

Septic Tank Is In!

The septic tank is in! One more step forward.

We hired a couple of teenagers to clean out the loose dirt in the lateral lines for the leach field. They didn't quite finish but Russ was real happy with their work. When we are ready for inspection, we will have them back out to finish.

Russ also hired a guy (Mark) to rip out the rest of the sheetrock on the other side. He didn't want me covered in insulation again. So Mark finished that and helped Russ set the poles for the biginning of our deck. The cool thing about that is that he will be able to start the steps as soon as he gets some decking material on.

This will probably be the last post for a few weeks. We are leaving for Michigan on Friday and won't return until mid-August. My dad will be back at the end of August and we hope to put him to work on the plumbing! (Are you ready for that Dad?)

The Septic System is Dug!

We have gotten a lot done over the last several days.

I have finished gutting one side of the building. I removed the center wall, two closets, paneling, sheetrock (on the ceiling), and all insulation. I also removed all the nails on the outside walls and almost all the nails in the ceiling joists. Then I took all the usable 2x4 wood, and removed all the nails from them. I also removed the siding where we are putting the addition.

Russ rented a backhoe this weekend. And what a weekend it was! On Wednesday, he started a second story deck with a roof underneath . He and his crew were supposed to be done on Friday. But leave it to the lumber company to make sure THAT didn't happen. The first lumber they needed, the 6x6s, didn't arrive on the truck Wednesday morning. Then didn't arrive until around 5 pm. Russ was "fit to be tied." He thought he had a few hours left on Saturday. It ended up taking until 4 pm. Meanwhile, the backhoe sat here with no one to run it.

When Russ arrived from the jobsite on Saturday, he took the backhoe to the back and dug holes He got the hole dug for the 1000 gallon tank and started digging the lateral trenches for the leach field. Russ was concerned that he wouldn't get it all done before Monday when they are scheduled to pick it up.

Sunday, I took his dad's tractor back there and started moving the dirt that Russ was digging out. It was a LONG day. But we finished. I feel like someone has beat me up. Bouncing around all day on that tractor is hard on the body. We finished up around 7 pm. Russ put 10 hours on the backhoe.

The sand and gravel are due to arrive on Tuesday. And the septic tank is schedule for Wednesday. But Russ is going to have to call and push that back to Thursday or Friday.

Good news/Bad news...

The good news we received the last post - that our power had been released - was wrong. Bexar county had released it. But then, the ETJ declined it. Yesterday, Pat (Russ' dad) got a list of things that have to be done for it to be released. Some of this stuff costs money that they don't have. So I don't know what is going to happen next...

But we are pressing forward anyway...

We worked hard on the house this last week. Russ got the floor in on the addition. And he dug the holes for the deck around the addition. Once he gets the poles in for the deck, he can start building the deck and, more important, the steps up to the house. That way, we won't have to use a ladder to get in and out.

I worked Saturday and Monday on tearing up the inside. All the paneling, sheetrock, interior walls, etc. need to come out. And then, all the nails holding that stuff to the outside walls and ceiling need to be removed. I can see a BIG difference, but the photo doesn't do it justice.

Addition Floor and GREAT NEWS!

Russ and I worked all day yesterday to get a frame up for the floor of the addition. He finished up the floor joists today. It is sooo very exciting to see things moving forward. It is 28'x8'. It is designed to make our living room and my craft room larger.

We got GREAT NEWS last week. Russ and his dad went to see the folks at the Bexar County office. They happened to talk to THE guy that makes the decisions. He agreed to allow us to intall our septic even though the septic permit is still on hold. AND he agreed to let us have temporary power. We can use temp. power for up to six months. Once we get the septic inspected and passed, they will release us to get permanent power.

I was beginning to wonder whether we would have to run on solar and wind power...

The House Stands on Its Own

Dodson's House Moving came out and took out their shoring from under the house and it now stands on OUR foundation.

Our next step is to start the addition. We are installing 4x4s instead of telephone poles for logistic reasons. But the structure will be very sound. The telephone poles are way more than the house needs to hold it up. We plan to get the floor joists installed this week. That way, we can start installing the framing for the deck so the stair stringers can be installed. Then we will actually have a way to get into the house without using an extension ladder. We also are planning to put in the center piers before the end of the weekend.

Another flood?!

We are behind where we should be. Dodson's came out and took the stuff they used to hold the building up about a week and a half ago on a Thursday. Then Friday, we got rain... Not a little, a LOT! I couldn't even come home from work! At the airport, they registered 3" - not much really... But in Quihi, which is closer to us than the airport, they got 11". Russ thinks we got beween 12" and 13". Needless to say, it was too much for our dry creek beds to handle. And we had water in our low water crossing - the one to get to our house - had standing water until Thusday this week.

Our piglets are growing. They have probably doubled in size in a month. They are really cute and very playful. Momma is still being very protective. We think they are weened. And have two people that want one. We have to separate them so we can figure out if we have a male. We will keep one male to breed the females with.

As long as the weather holds, Russ plans to start the deck and trusses for the addition tomorrow. Its is an exciting time!

Stilts -r- Us

Russ and some buddies cleaned out the dirt that the storm left in the holes last week. Today, they set the piers and now we are ready for concrete. It is being delivered tomorrow at 8 a.m. How exciting is that!!

Lots of crazy things going on. The electrician is coming out tomorrow to run the underground wires and set the meter.

We are waiting on the septic permit to be approved.

And the storm water engineer is going to come out tomorrow to be sure the excess water is running where it should. Then that dude has to write a report and give it to Bexar County's storm water folks. Once they approve it, we can get our electric...

I guess tomorrow is a busy day! And I won't even be here. Doesn't that just stink.

Also, we have new friends here on the property. Russ insisted on rescuing a dog that was about to be put down. Tuxedo is his name. When you look at his photo, it will be obvious why we named him Tuxedo. He is about a year old. He very pretty, and his coat is shiny and so soft. Tux has caramel colored eyes that draw you in. We have enrolled him in behavior classes at Pets Mart. He is full of energy and loves to catch a tennis ball. We want to see if he can play with a Frisbee too.

Also, the pig named Hagar (who we were sure was a male) had a litter of piglets - four of them - on Sunday. So, I guess we were wrong! He is a she. And we've decided to keep her name Hagar. It is too hard, after eight months, to remember a new name.

More Information

Someone asked how we made the decision to build our house from an old school portable... So I thought I would tell the story.



I drive past Dodson's House Moving on South Loop 410 every time I drive to Tejeda Academy to work. They had a cute little green house for sale and I was interested in it. Russ and I went online to Dodson's website and looked at that house and others that were on the website.



One day, we had some time on our hands so we went to Dodson's to look at what they had available. The little green house was REALLY small (probably not more than 700 sq. ft.), really old, very poorly laid out. They had several houses there, but all were too small or really needed too much work. Russ and I looked at several portables just for fun. Russ's dad, Pat, was wanting to build a catering kitchen for Gina and Russ and I talked to him about buying one for that purpose. While talking about that possibility, Pat said you can't buy the material for what they are selling some of these buildings for. That got Russ and I to talking about it, and finally deciding that it was a great idea.

____________________________________________________



Russ is very excited. The building is at least 6 feet off the ground on one corner and about 8 feet off the ground on the opposite corner. He hopes to be able build a shop under there for his tools etc.



He has to clean out the holes that we drilled in the next few days because he plans to pour concrete on Wednesday. Then we wait for two weeks for it to cure. After that two week wait, Dodson's can come back out and put the building down on the piers Russ has set.



During the two week wait... Russ is going to put in our septic and hopefully our electric (from the pole to the building).



I also wanted to put in a photo of the tub we bought. I mentioned it in an earlier blog, just didn't have a photo of it then.

Home Sweet Portable

The house is on our property... YIPPPPEEE!!!!!!

I was able to take a half day of work off so I could be here for the arrival of our portable. The folks arrived a little earlier than originally expected. So when I arrived, the house was about half way to its destination on this property. I took some video and lots of photos. But I will only attach one because I realize it's not quite as exciting for y'all! =-)

We had to hurt a few more trees, which was unfortunate. But the building would have had some major damage otherwise. We still have a beautiful live oak out of our back door and quite a few persimmon out the front. And bluebonnets and many other wildflowers off the right side. It is a beautiful spot!

This day has taken many months of fretting, thinking, planning, working, and worrying. And I know that the worrying isn't over - but just beginning!

Propane, Holes, and Poles

Last weekend, we found a 250 gallon propane tank for $350. It was quite a drive, all the way to Poteet, to pick it up. Brand new, they run $800 to over a $1000. We found this on Craig's List also. You sure can find great deals on that website if you know what you are looking for.

We borrowed a skidsteer from a neighbor and rented a 18" auger to dig holes for our power pole and our piers. We are going to put our house on pieces of telephone poles. When Russ was almost done, I took this photo. Russ and I both said that it looks like a mole was loose on our property. (Or for those Nascar fans - Digger was loose.)

We got the news on Saturday that our building will be delivered on Tuesday. We are very excited about that. But now there is a long list of things that need to be completed before the building arrives. And since I am working day and night, I cannot be much help. To top things off, Russ's truck decided to break down today. And although it is just the starter, it is going to take some doing to get it fixed tomorrow because it is on the bottom of the engine and some other stuff has to come off just to get to it.

Our Home Site

One thing that I haven't done is put in a photo of our land. So I took a picture about a week ago.

We received our 3000 gallon water tank about two ago.

Russ went on Friday and picked up our telephone poles. We will use one pole for our electric. The rest are to hold up our house, like a pier and beam.

We have a friend that can get electrical stuff below retail. We finally got our bid from him this last week. Russ is planning on picking this stuff up today. Russ is meeting with our electrician today also.

I guess I should be very thankful that Russ is well versed in machinary. He ran the trencher like a pro. And we have to borrow a neighbor's back hoe. And he uses all the implements for his dad's tractor without a problem. Because of this, it has saved us a LOT of money.

Water Line and More

It has been so long since I have written... I am sorry about that.

This past Saturday, we rented a trencher. Russ ran the trencher while my dad and I connected 1700 linear feet of PVC.

The trencher decided to die about 2 pm. Russ tried everything to revive it. He finally called the place where we rented it and they sent out a repair dude. Come to find out, it was just a fuse...

Up to that point, Dad and I had barely stayed ahead of Russ. We managed to finish and I sent Dad to take a nap.

Russ finished trenching for our water line about 5 p.m. Then he had to do the neighbor's.

We are actually going to use Russ's Dad's well. That is why we had to run sooooo much pvc. Eventually, we hope to put in a rain water collection system. But for now it is too expensive. Russ has signed up for a rain water collection class through Northside IS

D community education where he hopes to get the newest scoop on filtering the rainwater, which is

the costly part.

The Utilities

Septic:
We are using our neighbor's engineer, Felix. He came out to talk to Russ about our septic system. He was very forthcoming with information and held nothing back. He told us not to have the property deeded to us until after the septic field was in and that would save us a LOT of money. He also had Russ take soil samples, two holes that were four feet deep. Samples at 1 ft, 2ft, 3ft, and 4ft to see if the soil would accept a standard leech field septic system (not aerobic, not low pressure). Felix got the samples and had them tested. Thankfully, we can put in a standard septic system. And Felix is letting us put the system in that he designed. He will inspect it before the county comes to make sure it will pass inspection.

Russ has found a company that is going to sell us a 1000 gal septic tank for $650, including delivery. That would usually cost us much more.


Water:
We wanted to do rainwater collection only. But we found that the roof washer and filtration system was going to cost about $2500. That cost is without the cost of a water tank. Our neighbor (Antonio) had to order a water tank for himself, his mother, and he had promised to buy one for Pat (Russ's dad). Russ went online and found a company that would charge one shipping fee if they are all sent to the same address. So Antonio put in the order and we paid him for our tank (3000 gal). We are going to use the well here on the property but we have to put in about 1/2 mile in PVC from the front of the property to our acre. We still hope to put in a rainwater collection system, but that will have to be at a later date.


Electric:
We had CPS come out to access the situation and tell us what we needed to do to get electric back to our property. Thankfully, our neighbor on the other side, has his son living pretty far back on his property. His last power pole is about 300 ft from our property. CPS wants us to set a pole 300 ft further back for $1800 and $1000 for guy-wires on our pole and the previous pole. Then we have to set our 20' meter pole. Instead of spending all that money, Russ's dad has agreed to give us right-of-way for our power pole. Then we will bury our line after the meter.


So... That is all about our utilities. We cannot start our septic system until after the building is put in place, because the building will be brought in over the top of the leech field. Russ will rent a Ditch Witch so we can bury the water line and the electric line. The lady down the road has a backhoe that she will let us use for as long as we need it.

The Bathrooms and The Kitchen

I already told you about the tub.

The time we have spent at the local home improvement stores was very informative. We knew we wanted dual flush-high efficiency commodes (similar to Mom's). Both Lowe's and Home Depot told us they we a "special order" item and would cost about $200.

Gina (Russ's mom) and I were walking through Sam's about a month ago and found they had a one-time purchase of them. Russ and I went back about a week later and bought two for $99 each, one for each bathroom.

We have decided on vessel sinks that cost about $99 each for our bathroom. We are hoping to install them on an antique dresser.



Through a contact of Russ's dad Pat, who is a custom home builder, we contacted a custom cabinet maker. Russ took him a floor plan and told him what we were looking for. Southwest Cabinet Shop came through with a VERY reasonable bid.

We will have knotty hickory cabinets. My kitchen will have a lazy susan, an appliance garage, a large panty with drawers. All but one of the lower cabinets will be large drawers. They came through with a bid of $6500. Then Russ and I realized that we forgot about our kitchen island. So we assume that our cabinets will cost about $7000. This, unfortunately will have to wait. :-(

Appliances

We have spent hours at Home Depot and Lowe's. We have looked at kitchen cabinets, bead board, appliances, carpet, tile flooring, hardwood flooring, tubs, shower enclosures, toilets, interior doors, exterior doors, sinks. We have made lists, spread sheets, floor plans, etc.

Russ and I have spent a lot of time on Craigs List. Russ spends a few hours (at least) every weekday on the website.

We have also been to Appliance Smart, a store of scratch and dent appliances.

We found that we were going to spend (for the appliances we really wanted) about:

stainless steel fridge $1500 (retail $2600)

stainless steel gas stove $750

stainless steel microwave with vent-a-hood combo $250

gas dryer $600 (retail $1450)


Russ found a guy, in a seedy part of town (Kirby), that had several of the things we needed. So we went and looked at what he had available. We bought a fridge for $1100. And because we bought the fridge, he gave us a deal on the gas dryer he had - top of the line Whirlpool for $300. We also noticed that he had the microwave/vent-a-hoods and he sold us one of those for $80.

While he was writing up the ticket, Russ asked why he didn't have any stoves. He said they were hard to come by. But he had one gas stove that wasn't working properly and they couldn't firgure out what was wrong with it. Russ called him later in the week and told him that we would be happy to take it off his hands. He told the guy we'd either figure out what was wrong with it or we had a place to dispose of it. The guy called his partner and called us back and said he would give it to us.

So instead of spending about $3100 on appliances, we spent less than $1500. But we have to pay someone to fix the stove. The only thing we still need is a dishwasher. That can wait until we are ready to put in our cabinets (which I'll write about another day).

I wrote about this stuff, somewhat out of order, because we picked up all of this TODAY! We are SUPER excited!! :-)

Survey

Even before we knew we could afford the building, Russ and I spent a lot of time on Craigs List. Back in November, we found a cultured marble bath tub that we really liked. We had several discussions about whether or not we should buy it. These tubs usually run about $600 and it was priced at $250. We decided that we could re-sell it if the house didn't come through. So we made a second trip to Seguin to pick it up. When we returned home with the tub we put it on our one acre lot. I would add a picture, but we've had so much rain, we can't get back there right now.

When Russ's dad gave us the acre, we called a few survey companies to get the cost of the survey. One company wanted $2500. One company said they could do it for $800. Now, Russ was forthcoming with all the information. His dad was giving us an acre of land but we also needed a right of way for our driveway - all the way back to the acre that we chose. The acre is about 1/4 mile back but the driveway meanders its way back there and will be about 1/2 mile long. The less expensive company said they needed the land cleared before they could do the survey.

Russ called several places about renting a bulldozer. He found that we coud rent one for a week for $1400. We decided to put an ad on Craigs List for someone to bulldoze the property. We had a lot of responses. Some were more than $2000, and some came in for about $1000. We had a guy from Austin offer to do it for $800 and said he could do it in one day. Besides clearing part of our acre, they also had to clear a path for the building to come through that was 30' wide. The guy with the dozer and his partner were available on our wedding day. So, on November 28th, Russ helped them in the morning and married me in the afternoon. :-)

When the surveyors came out, they couldn't believe how much work they had to do for $800. The guy in charge here was going to call the office. Russ explained that what they were encountering was exactly what was explained to the gentleman who gave the bid. So they did the survey. Russ realized, after they left, that they did not leave markers for the acre and they had to come BACK out and finish the job. Russ says that the moral of THIS story is to hold people accountable.

Getting started

I really don't know where to start. Some friends and family have told me that this blogging thing would be a good idea. Mostly to keep track of what we are doing on a regular basis. So Russ and I will do just that.

I drive by a place called Dodson's House Moving on my way to work (I substitute teach and tutor math). There was a cute little house for sale there. I thought it would be a good house for Russ and I. Russ and I found a time that we could go look at what they have there. There were several very little houses, less than 900 sq ft. We decided that the small houses were too small for us. This place has about 50 portable classrooms for sale as well and we decided to look at those.

Russ and I found one we liked. There is a long, boring story that goes with that. I am not going into that. We ended up with a different one that cost about $5000 less than the original one that we wanted. Dodson's put in on hold for us in December and told us they would hold it until we could get financing.

We found a way to pay for the building outright and put the downpayment on it the first week of February, 2010. We also have (we hope) just enough money to get the water, electric, and septic hooked up. Our goal is to have enough to also put in our driveway (almost a half mile long) and get an HVAC system. I know, lofty goals!