Building a new House

Yep thin set the base, then thin set the curb, had a gap around it that we filled with mortar. We will come back tomorrow and install the water proofing fabric.

 

I can't wait to see it all finished!

 

me too

 

Nice build. We just signed the paperwork for a house, at least new to us, two days ago. It's in excellent shape. Even the bank's building inspector was impressed. The previous owners took very good care of the house and improved on that by having several renovations done (kitchen, bathrooms, new roof, etc) over the last two or three years. They were planning to sell when he retired, but his recent death forced her to sell early.

We'll take over from there, spending roughly $20-25k over the next few weeks for a few tweaks or additions to make it ours. Much of that will go towards a new deck over the back patio, a utility ramp in the garage (to roll tool carts from my inside workshop to the garage), repainting a few areas (inside closets, etc), repainting the garage interior, cleaning & tiling the garage floor, updating the circuit breaker box, replacing a few light fixtures, adding two light fixtures, tiling the front patio, and similar. Also replacing a bathtub with a shower.

We'll do some of that work ourselves, but will contract out several of the larger jobs (decks, ramps, etc). And, of course, a new house is a virtual money pit, so we'll probably spend much more than that (time & money) over there next year or two.

 

This is the key, I'm doing a lot of the work myself in this. The shower alone would probably cost me $10k, I will probably pay around $2k in materials. We are doing all hardwood floors in the house. The cost to me is around $6k, instead of the $24k that they wanted. I'm willing to spend my time to have things that are much nicer than i would get by just spending the limited funds I have.

 

^^ Yeah, a lot of the incentive behind doing the work ourselves was the cost of having others do it instead. Personally, I'd do the deck and ramp as well, but the wife isn't physically able to help much and I can't do it alone. I've considered hiring help, but not thrilled about the idea. Still looking into our options.

 

Any family or friends that can help? I'm pretty lucky, my dad is able to help me do most of the stuff. In fact he is out at the house right now working while i'm still stuck at work.

 

Nope, no family nearby and friends are rare (have only lived here for a short time). Of course, if you have some extra time...

 

I have a friend that lives in birmingham, but I believe i'm booked through September at least.

 

Just kidding of course. I'll get it done, and will keep an eye on your build as it progresses.

 

They finished up the roof yesterday. Took them a day and a half.

 

Drywall starts Friday.

 

Send one of them to my house....

 

Didn't get your drywalling finished on Saturday?

 

What's the moisture content of the frame ?

 

You guys don't have to check that ?