my house-building process

In 2017, I bought 10 acres of land in rural Oregon.  The building site had been cleared, there was a driveway and well, plus electricity service, a well, and phone/internet service.

In 2018 my partner and I built a 12 foot by 16 foot cabin/shed/studio.  

In 2019 I finished the studio and added a porch with an outdoor sink.  I also submitted plans for a house, applied for a building permit, and hired someone to install a septic system, and prepare a building site.  We built formwork for the footings, poured them ourselves, then hired a crew to pour the foundation walls.  

In 2020 we framed the floor and walls.  By we I mean my friend susanna and my partner scott and I.  I hired my neighbor to frame, sheathe, and install the roof.  We installed doors and windows that winter.

In 2021 we sided the house. We sided it with 8.25 inch wide fiber cement lap siding.  I put trim around the windows and got the siding painted.  We also installed fibercement sheets over the soffits to improve fire safety.

The house has 4 doors that connect it to the outdoors. In 2022 I finished building the porches and decks I had designed for each of these entrances.  

I had help with plumbing and electrical.  Once that was done, we insulated the wall cavities with rockwool, and covered the walls with a plastic-but breathable membrane called Certainteed Membrain.  This membrane is required by code and reduces the amount of moisture that moves into the wall cavity and condenses there in cold weather.

Because insulation is itchy work, I built out the shower room in advance of the other plumbing work.  I tiled the shower area but used a cast iron shower pan for simplicity.  The floor outside the shower is also tiled.

By the summer of 2023 I was ready to cover the walls with drywall.  I hired an outfit that did all this as well as skim-coating the walls with gypsum plaster.  I'd installed wooden sills made from leftover 2x6's that had been sanded and painted.  Once the drywall & plaster was done, the house felt close to done.

A heating system has to be installed before flooring so house can be warm.

I hired a flooring contractor to install marmoleum throughout the house with the exception of the tiled areas (entry and shower).

Later in 2023 I built cabinets for the kitchen, laundry room, and bathroom.  

We fabricated countertops and installed them ourselves.  Then I finished the plumbing to the sinks and toilet.  

I tiled the backsplash areas.  I installed some built-in benches and wall hooks in the entry, shower, and bedroom.  I hung some curtain rods.

I moved into the house in the fall of 2024.  The house is completely done, but now there's maintenance, landscaping, and garden work to keep up with.  I am mostly very happy with the house.

Some other notes:

1. I've been working full time as a teacher this whole time so I used weekends, summers off, and holidays to work on the house project.  Having a steady stream of income took the pressure off financially.

2. I lost track of how much it cost although I recall some of the prices of some of the parts:

Excavator $12k

Drywall & plaster $7k

Floors $12k

3. Since the homebuilding itch started (probably around 2005), I have taken a variety of workshops and classes.  Heartwood in Massachusetts offered a 2 week tiny home building class.  I did a variety of timberframing workshops.  I helped a friend build a cabin one summer, and did some workaway gigs where I learned some electrical.  I slowly assembled a collection of tools and skills. I built 4 sawhorses.  

4. I made friends with builders who advised and loaned tools.  I relied heavily on employees at the county building department (one of whom had built his own house, and who mentored me via emails far beyond what his position required, I'm sure).  I posted long questions on the green building advisor q&a forums.  I read technical building science books and articles and drew up sketches for architectural details.  Employees at lumberyards and home improvement stores shared knowledge.  I found a home designer (not an architect) who took my amateur plans and turned them into "real" plans I could submit for approval.

5. A surprising outcome of the whole process is how it plugs you into a community.  You ask for help over, and over, and over again, and you get to know who has which tools and which knowledge and which materials.  You feel uncomfortable asking for help but you get better at it.  

6. My design process was driven by aesthetics (minimal, somewhat humble) but also ease of construction.  I wanted an ecological home with a smaller footprint, but I built mostly conventionally.  I'd like to write more about my design process and choices.  Each person embarking on such a process will have a very individual approach and style and outcome.  

Do you have questions for me?

walk log late september

walk log

been taking walks in my rural neighborhood.  using the voice dictation feature on my phone to record little logs.  abbreviating names of roads and people for privacy.  (seems like this writing has a different style, an immediacy from being recorded as i walk, not recalled later)

9/18/2025

4:45pm parked on b. road. walked up side road to road below grassy, over to the clearcut. huge trees in the valley. 

light wind. vine maples turning. smoky views to the south, scott said it is from fires on the olympic peninsula. Smells smoky here and it is 71°.  no rain. walked 2 hrs. (picked up) 1 gallon ziplock of trash

9/19/25 Friday 

tried the road after county line but got creeped out by truck, so came back to county line road. 6pm. noticing steep slope with vine maples, sword ferns, moss and salal. possible solution for populating my bare bank. feels warm today 78. i have been sick, but somehow getting exercise makes me feel better. timber harvest markings are all over these woods. Considering the millions of clear cut acres east of here, it's devastating that these last stands of big trees are slated to be aggressively thinned. 

9/21 Sunday

it rained this morning, so the plants are wet. I walked from my house to the end of b. road and back taking about two hours. saw a water dog and some mushrooms peeking out, took some pictures of raindrops on the stem of a Queen Anne's lace. 

marvelled at the iridescent colors on thimbleberry leaves. 

the vine maples at the edges of clearcuts are turning red. some of the princess ferns are brown now as well. my shoes are wet. i'd really like to trim the brush on the trail that connects my place to b. road.

9/25/26

walking towards tom's place and over to b. road. 1230 start time. noticing tiny, five petal pink flowers blooming. warm and dry. 

walked to the top of the b. road second side road. was checking to see if there was any new trash because I saw a truck drive up here earlier.  1350 feet elevation there which means about 500 feet elevation gain, and i'm breaking a sweat

9/26 Friday 5 pm

what I didn't tell you yesterday is that earlier this week I picked up beer cans and there were three or four of the same style in different places, and I arranged them all together in a group, visible from the road. I think that was on Thursday and on Friday when I walked by they were gone. maybe I made a point to someone.  

ultimately, my plan is to walk through this with a scythe, and clear the brush so that when it's wet, I don't get soaked walking through here. but a lot of this is salal, and I don't know if my scythe will be able to cut the tough stems.

so I got to the clear cut at the end of b. road and there's a red truck, and a guy with binoculars scanning the clear cut (for deer, he says). his name is pat s. He lives on h. road. he talked to me for about a half hour all about his childhood near Klamath Falls, growing up on a dairy farm hunting, growing up poor, that they hunted to eat meat and never ate beef. he bemoans the shortage of deer in these parts says it's gone down a lot, but there used to be lots of deer and elk through here. he has some neighbors who hunt at night which is not legal because the deer need to be able to relax at night and he thinks there's poaching. i asked him if when I see bones on blm it's poaching, and he said yes it's likely poaching. deer season starts next week. this guy was a bow hunter.  i saw arrows in the cab of his truck, or do people do both? I'll have to check and see if it's gun deer hunting or bow deer hunting. 

the yellow grasses and the daisy heads are so beautiful. 

there's teasel and there's ocean spray and sword ferns and horse tail and self heal. it's really a wonderful pallet of colors. this is on the side of the road in a clear cut.

a little further down on the left, a tiny stream trickles melodiously down a narrow strip of trees that have been left as a buffer. there's a few vine maples and some big leaf maples, and one scrawny cottonwood. but it's just a beautiful beautiful trickle. i can't wait to see it running strong after the rains.

i need to start wearing gaiters on these walks, i keep having to stop and pull burrs out of my socks.

we're a part

"Life is a project..."

Massimo Pigliucci, Answers for Aristotle

"In order for the path to be fulfilled, it must be shared."

Debra Seido Martin

"What does matter is that we're a part. Like a thread in a cloth or a

grass-blade in a field. It is and we are. What we do is like wind 

blowing on the grass.”

Ursula K. Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven

As spring moves toward summer and the days warm, I have been 

feeling interconnectedness.  Ideas and lives and plants and birds 

and food and wool.  Thank you and thank you.  

on kawara

I just discovered the artist On Kawara.  He is the last artist profiled in the book I posted about last time.  

Last night I stayed up late, inspired by this painting, "100 Year CalendAr".

https://gerrishfineart.com/product/100-year-calender/

Another image of 100 years, with different days represented as different colored dots depending on (for example) whether he made a painting that day.

I stayed up late, creating a spreadsheet that listed all the days I will be alive.  With blank spots starting now and continuing until 100 years after my birth.

I played with a couple of different formattings, one which would generate a 8.5 inch wide banner about 15.5 inches tall.I have a 16 foot tall wall in my house, so...

With a ladder, I could have a sense of perspective of the scope of my days and life.  I could fill in with a pencil the days as I live them.

Here is a screenshot:

This is also spin off from reading 4000 Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman.  Our lives are both long, and also limited.  We can't comprehend or accept the limitations of the time we have, and thus, sometimes think we can do more than we can.  I copied this: "The limit embracing life...you are no longer befogged and bewildered by a false and misleading illusion about your life".

It feels truly elusive to comprehend the scope of one's days.  At 48 years old, I'm exactly halfway to the age I expect to live to, 96.  So a good time to consider this.  

Going back to On Kawara, I located this video where the artist Annette Lawrence speaks about their shared sensibilities.

Here is her list of what she appreciates (and relates to) about him.  (In her words):

• he's a systems guy
• he makes monumental things about everyday occurrences
• focus on process rather than product
• work is introspective, contemplative, meditative and quiet
• ...and generous
• work is a refuge from our culture that clamors for our attention at every second
• repetition sets up expectations and fulfills them
• that rhythm goes on for decades

[I will have to research Annette Lawrence, also.]

Here's what I'm liking about On Kawara, that I would like to learn from or copy:

• a repetition that slowly accumulates to something  
• mundane rituals: some of these rituals acculumlate to nothing visible, except a life (an accumulation of its own.)  

Kawara came up with a system (his date paintings) and then incorporated dots about them, into the 100 year calendar.  

• a big system and then little systems that support or are part of the big system
• everything being connected makes it simpler
• consistency makes it quieter  

He placed each date painting in a box which he made, lined with a local newspaper, as he traveled the world.

• connected to place and time

The fact that his output was repetitive, likely meant he needed only a limited number of supplies and tools in order to work.  I aspire to 

• a minimum of required possessions

• journals! still a focus on when & where (sadly my trusty red journal brand was discontinued, so my shelf won't look like this)

• telegrams 1969-2000

• other lists: I met, I went
• taking photos of the same view over and over again on different days

Which makes me think of how lately my life has been repetitive in a very satisfying way (we do the same trips each year-end, each march break, each summer).  And to embrace that and allow that to structure my life, could be quite perfect, and satisfying.

Daily, weekly, yearly patterns: a life.

what are we doing?

 

When I thought about that question, it came back to Maslow's hierarchy.  Lots of survival, feeding, sleeping, the basics.   Earning money.  Connecting with other humans, and then further along, you get to: making things nice, and expressing yourself.  Creating.  

(Images of a book by Leonard Koren)

Also: self-discovery.  Luxuries, I guess.  Not to be explored when you are hungry, unhoused.  

Which of the items on the list are ones you want to create for?

the time between

between the silence

before birth

and the silence 

after death

...

are the days

we string up

one after another

waking, quickly going

tasking, then returning

...

i really don't understand

why we move so much

why it's hard to be still

what exactly we think we are doing

...

what are we doing?

subtraction

to find who you are

take away

everything 

you are not