# Build One's House By One's Self?



## imp (Jun 21, 2015)

Has anyone attempted this? It can be done, not for the weak of heart! My wife and I attempted it, long ago, while still young enough to work hard and still get off the bed the following morning! I'll post a few pics of the results, if I can figure out how. 'Um purty computer illiterate!       imp


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## hollydolly (Jun 22, 2015)

Welcome to the forum imp...no I have never attempted to build a house myself. Are you in the USA or the UK...

To post pictures, first upload your pictures to whever you store them on your PC..then on this reply box above  there's what looks like a tiny picture frame.. hover your cursor over it, (it will say insert image)...click on that, then ''browse'' for your photo, then click upload.. simples..


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## imp (Jun 22, 2015)

hollydolly said:


> Welcome to the forum imp...no I have never attempted to build a house myself. Are you in the USA or the UK...
> 
> To post pictures, first upload your pictures to whever you store them on your PC..then on this reply box above  there's what looks like a tiny picture frame.. hover your cursor over it, (it will say insert image)...click on that, then ''browse'' for your photo, then click upload.. simples..



Thank you! I shall make an attempt later this evening. Meanwhile, I add that, having been remiss in failing to include much in my profile, I am located in Western Arizona, USA; hot as "H" today, soon to be even hotter!    imp


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## RadishRose (Jun 25, 2015)

Yes, many years ago my ex husband built our own home. He was from a family of carpenters and worked in that trade, so he knew how. I tried to help. When nailing down the deck, I counted around 13 to 15 swings of my hammer to nail in the long nail to his 1 or 2!  Too many blisters. My real job was cleaning up scrap and sawdust every night & pitching rocks from the site. 

I would love to see your pics Imp. I don't have any of my old home.


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## imp (Jun 25, 2015)

*
"I would love to see your pics Imp. I don't have any of my old home."

*Sorry to have taken so long!







The garage being brick veneered. The house proper to left, the two structures connected by a 6-foot high brick wall 40 feet long.






The house 10 years old, Palo Verde & Mesquite trees blocking view! My early shot is tiny, will try to enlarge first.






Wall being built, garage to right. More later, if desired.   imp

Edit: Yes, I became a bricklayer, in addition to all that went before. I was 46 in that photo, 1988.






Edit 2. Front of house while wall being completed. Wall was a concrete block structure, veneered in brick. A view of Phoenix South Mt. Preserve visible above roofline. Construction took 3 years. All concrete work, foundation, slab, and brick mortar was mixed by hand loading a Sears electric cement mixer, wheelbarrowing to work site, pouring and finishing, all by hand. About 90,000 lbs. of concrete, mixed from delivered sand, gravel, and Portland Cement. The basic structure was standard 2X4 stud construction, but all outside sheathing plywood. Then red brick veneer. Brick was made in Mexico by Volcano Cement Co., which had a large clay quarry and brick-making facility there. The brick was 5.5 cents per each. 12,500 of them in house, wall, and garage. Very few brick homes in Phoenix area. I am very aware of being most fortunate to have acquired the various skilled-trade abilities over the years previously, mostly while building fast cars, needed to build our house. Finally, an outlet to vent all those pent-up creative ambitions!

Had I considered then, what I know now, I would have built several. Hindsight provides little foresight, for me, now too old and decrepit to duplicate past efforts. Crying in my beer! Sorry! Hope you found the pics legible!    imp


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## Josiah (Jun 26, 2015)

I designed and built the house we lived in during the "back to the land" chapter of my midlife. I will say that my "can do attitude" far out stripped my talents as a craftman. Virtually all the materials were salvaged from some source or other. The lumber was all rough cut with very irregular dimensions.


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## RadishRose (Jun 26, 2015)

You both have built pretty impressive homes! It's a lot of hard work, but look at what you have. Imp, would you call your home a ranch style? Josiah, yours looks like a Dutch colonial. Thanks, guys.


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## SeaBreeze (Jun 26, 2015)

Very nice home Imp, your hard work paid off, glad you got those pictures up!


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## imp (Jun 26, 2015)

Thanks for all your inputs! Building the house was the single most-significant effort of my entire life. Not only for the physical part, but the mental recognition of being able to achieve it. Our total costs for materials was $18,900. The 1-acre lot cost $27,000. I could have finished in a year, but took three. My labor turned out to be worth a bit over $100,000, spread over those three years. Zoning required an owner-builder to actually live in the house at least 12 months after final inspection. We lived in it 10 years, enjoying every minute, knowing that no "corners were cut", no cheap materials employed, although I did endeavor to always buy lumber when on sale. 

The most important part for us was when we paid off the only loan existing, carried by the seller of the lot to us. 100% equity! Selling it enabled realization of a second life-long dream- my wife's this time, that being to buy and inhabit, while refurbishing, an old farmhouse:






That deal took place in the Missouri Ozarks, where we remained for 13 years. Needed a shop building badly, so:






Rock gathered from our creek bed, footing poured for shop building.





Even my wife laid rock! Quite different from bricklaying, but still similar. Walls 12-inches thick, lots of reinforcing steel!





Ready for a roof!





60-year old fool doing a roof!






And, the last big project, backed out of the rock shop building. Thanks for lookin'!      imp


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## Josiah (Jun 26, 2015)

What scale is you locomotive? Looks like you could just about compete with the Eureka Springs & North Arkansas Railway.


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## imp (Jun 26, 2015)

Josiah said:


> What scale is you locomotive? Looks like you could just about compete with the Eureka Springs & North Arkansas Railway.



1/8 scale (1-1/2" per foot), locomotive weight ~ 1000 lbs. A whole 'nuther story of my madness! I'll continue, if it won't be intrusive! Forum has many interests!   imp


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## RadishRose (Jun 27, 2015)

A locomotive! I was not expecting that, what a fun surprise.


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## NancyNGA (Jun 27, 2015)

Imp and Josiah, those are really impressive accomplishments.  You should be so proud that you can do things like that. 

Josiah, I just never pictured you as a carpenter.   Did you dig that basement out by hand?

My parents built the house I grew up in, just the two of them, bottom to top, including digging out the basement with a wheelbarrow and shovels.


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## Josiah (Jun 27, 2015)

NancyNGA said:


> Imp and Josiah, those are really impressive accomplishments.  You should be so proud that you can do things like that.
> 
> Josiah, I just never pictured you as a carpenter.   Did you dig that basement out by hand?
> 
> My parents built the house I grew up in, just the two of them, bottom to top, including digging out the basement with a wheelbarrow and shovels.



I'm not in the same league with your parents, what pioneers they must have been (are). I hired a bulldozer to excavate the basement.


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## NancyNGA (Jun 27, 2015)

Our house was a very simple design, and not as big as yours.  Don't be so modest.


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## SeaBreeze (Jun 27, 2015)

Enjoyed your story and pictures Imp, you have a good wife there too for assistance!   Josiah, nice job on your home too, quite an accomplishment!


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