So about 3yrs ago I had another thread on here showing the little basement shop set up I had. After a neighbor complained I got fed up and 2days later bought a bit over 3acres outside the city and started clearing the trees as soon as the $ cleared and it was mine for sure, that was in the fall of 2008. Got very lucky finding this land as in my area there are few, very few, places with nice mostly healthy trees. Started building early spring, had to hire a few specific people for the few things I wasn't allowed to do myself because of codes or whatever other bs, but overall did the large majority of it ourselves, including all the finishing exterior and interior.
Business was slow so timing worked out great I was here usually 7 days a week building and squeezed in a few hours of machining at night when needed. I must say drywall and plastering the joints was the worse part of all, thanks to a slight case of carpel tunnel. Overall it took a few more months than I expected, in large part because of how far overboard I went on everything, some of it is things I wanted to try that haven't been done before. Unfortunately because of the unusual design and materials used mostly for the siding, I likely won't post pictures that give much outside details as I don't know who lurks here and its too easy for anyone to point it out, not that many see it from the road, 400' driveway.
So here is a few pictures.
First is once I was done cutting the trees for the driveway which took a while as being in the fall of 2008, I was still very busy making chips and only had a bit of time on weekends to come work on this.
Once the machines came in to prep the driveway and spot for the house. One major thing I would do different when I build another one, DON'T let them dig down to put the driveway in whenever possible, bring in soil/rock and build it up a bit so as not to damage the roots of the trees on either side of it. I've got a big birch, 1 maple and a few spruce trees that will likely die soon and one that has started to tip over last storm because its missing roots on one side. I'd have gladly paid a few thousand more to bring soil in to save those few trees had I known then. Now that the power lines are in and they are close to it, It'll likely cost me more to have them removed professionally to be sure they don't fall on the lines and cause more damage, I'll figure that one out next year.
Raising the 1st level, its a 2level house with vaulted ceiling in front. about 1600sq/ft living area, shop inside is 18x34, 9x9 garage door and 10' ceilings. I have room for a 25x30 garage already cleared on the front left of the house but still needs to get leveled with the excavator, we're right on bedrock. House is much smaller than the initial 4000sq/ft design we had, it didn't quite fit the spot where I wanted the house to be so I could see the lake on the back side, and the cost was also nuts because I wanted it built way above code, time was also a bit of an issue. I only wish I'd kept another 4' wider on the shop side.
Btw, it took 111yrds of concrete to fill the walls and do the slabs, and maybe 5-6000lbs of rebar.
The little lake, kinda nice to look at when taking a break. not very wide but about 1000ft long, there's only 5 or 6 of us on it.
Meat delivery
More on next post.
Business was slow so timing worked out great I was here usually 7 days a week building and squeezed in a few hours of machining at night when needed. I must say drywall and plastering the joints was the worse part of all, thanks to a slight case of carpel tunnel. Overall it took a few more months than I expected, in large part because of how far overboard I went on everything, some of it is things I wanted to try that haven't been done before. Unfortunately because of the unusual design and materials used mostly for the siding, I likely won't post pictures that give much outside details as I don't know who lurks here and its too easy for anyone to point it out, not that many see it from the road, 400' driveway.
So here is a few pictures.
First is once I was done cutting the trees for the driveway which took a while as being in the fall of 2008, I was still very busy making chips and only had a bit of time on weekends to come work on this.
Once the machines came in to prep the driveway and spot for the house. One major thing I would do different when I build another one, DON'T let them dig down to put the driveway in whenever possible, bring in soil/rock and build it up a bit so as not to damage the roots of the trees on either side of it. I've got a big birch, 1 maple and a few spruce trees that will likely die soon and one that has started to tip over last storm because its missing roots on one side. I'd have gladly paid a few thousand more to bring soil in to save those few trees had I known then. Now that the power lines are in and they are close to it, It'll likely cost me more to have them removed professionally to be sure they don't fall on the lines and cause more damage, I'll figure that one out next year.
Raising the 1st level, its a 2level house with vaulted ceiling in front. about 1600sq/ft living area, shop inside is 18x34, 9x9 garage door and 10' ceilings. I have room for a 25x30 garage already cleared on the front left of the house but still needs to get leveled with the excavator, we're right on bedrock. House is much smaller than the initial 4000sq/ft design we had, it didn't quite fit the spot where I wanted the house to be so I could see the lake on the back side, and the cost was also nuts because I wanted it built way above code, time was also a bit of an issue. I only wish I'd kept another 4' wider on the shop side.
Btw, it took 111yrds of concrete to fill the walls and do the slabs, and maybe 5-6000lbs of rebar.
The little lake, kinda nice to look at when taking a break. not very wide but about 1000ft long, there's only 5 or 6 of us on it.
Meat delivery
More on next post.
