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?