Non Electric Homestead McMinn County (Knoxville: credit, landlord, cabinet)

[mrs1885]

Please continue to update! Hubby and I, once the kids move out, would like to kind of do what you're doing. We want a larger home as we have a zoo of pets and hubby is a big collector of what I refer to as 'junk', but we want to have solar panels as opposed to electric, etc. And we want to do as much of the building ourselves as we can.

[GreenMama]

Forest Breath,
I have similar plans and dreams. I just finished reading the book, The Hand-Sculpted House, by Ianto Evans, Michael G. Smith and Linda Smiley. Its available from Chelsea Green publishing. The book blew me away! I feel it has been life changing for me. I am so inspired! I plan to build a straw bale/cob hybrid in Iowa. Straw bale is better insulation than cob. I plan to build the north,west and east walls of straw bales with the south being glass and cob with interior walls and floors being cob. For those who don't know, cob is a mixture of clay,sand,straw and water. Can't get any cheaper than that. It sounds crazy at first but the homes are durable and beautiful. You've got to check out the book! Good luck to you.

[Forest Breath]

The outhouse is done, all of the windows are installed in the house, we are squaring today and starting the beams for the roof. While Amanda and Chris do that, I will be working on two 25 foot cedar trees with a draw knife to remove the bark and use them for poles for the roof and also the porch.



A beautiful outhouse...and we are certainly appreciating it every time we use it! We will hook the rain barrel up to it later, right now we have a gallon jug of water by the sink for people to wash their hands. I have a wooden toilet seat and toilet paper, towel holder and such. Earth friendly soap as well.

[txgoddesschild]

I read somewhere a guy building his place took a shovel and sharpened the tip (squared off). He then used it to remove the bark. This might be easier. A drawknife uses upper body muscles. The shovel would let you use your legs and body mass to push against it. I am enjoying your story. Good luck.

[Forest Breath]

Things can certainly change in a day. SO far we have relied on Jimmy’s unbelievable mind, leadership and supervisory skills to get to where we are (with the good eye for mistakes that Harry Chickpea had…whom I miss btw). Hazel called us early Wednesday morning, at 3am. Jimmy was not well. We called an ambulance and after a LOT of tests and allergic reactions to every pain medication he received, we have found out that Jimmy has bone cancer. Since Friday, he has laid in the hospital bed, heavily medicated and often delusional. The few times he has recognized his surroundings and noticed me there, he inquired about the house and wants to see it completed so badly.

So we keep going. We have not a freakin’ clue what we are doing and are now more in the dark than ever before. But we do seem to figure things out pretty easy from researching on the net and just driving around looking for a house with what we are trying to do, stopping to inspect how it is done and going back to do it. I am sure we are making some mistakes, but you know…it seems to be working and is sturdy, so I am pretty sure it is livable and it is OK.

I got two doors this weekend. One was framed, but the frame needed work, which we did. The other was not framed and we spent hours trying to figure out exactly how you go about doing something like that. We got it done though. It is not prefect but they are level, open and shut without getting stuck or having any gaps anywhere. So they work. I used the draw knife to strip the big cedar poles while Amanda and Chris worked on the walls. We dodged rain yesterday, they sat under the house when it rained, I worked through most of it. We got dried off and worked more. When the tornado warnings were issued, we packed up and went home. I went to visit Jimmy, who is completely out of it at this time from medication. I got the cedar poles stripped and they are beautiful. We like 3 small boards on the north wall and those will be done, except for the top near the roof. We will get those done as well. We will have enough money in our budget to go ahead and order the boards for the siding with my tin roof delivery. When I got the doors, I also lucked up on wood flooring. I got about 4 truckloads full of various hardwood flooring for just 400 bucks. There is thousands of bucks of wood flooring there. So I am thinking about putting some up for the walls as well inside. I can also put oak floor in the outhouse! LOL

Today we start the roof. The wood is there, because Jimmy told me what to order last week. I have researched and looked and thought and am now hoping we can figure out that roof. Once on, we start moving in and will finish up everything else after we get moved in. It will be hard without Jimmy there guiding us. I miss him in more ways that words could even begin to describe. I want to get this house done so he can see it. I want to get the ramp done so he can make it to the front porch and sit on it at least once. Life can be so bittersweet…and so very painful. I never had a Father and longed for one so badly. I found one in Jimmy and as fast as it was given to me, it will be taken away.

We are working all day at our jobs and then 5 hours on the home, over 12 hours on the home on weekends. Surely we can get that roof done in the next week or so and get moved in by June. Sometimes I think it is just all too much, too much for 3 people who are so clueless and no nothing about any of this. But each day it seems we just pull closer together, we take a break and discuss each problem at length and figure out a solution and with patience (and a crow bar) it generally seems to work. This journey…. Has certainly been life changing and continues to feed us with memories to last many generations into the future.

[vacation bound]

Forest breath- I am so sorry to hear about Jimmy- from what I have read he has been a great help to you. Bone Cancer is very bad and with him being sedated is a good thing. I will keep him in my prayers.
Your house is going up nice and I'm sure you will be done soon. Once the walls go up it goes very fast. You guys are determined to get it done and you will. If I lived up there I would come help you build. I don't know much, but as a woman I can swing a hammer. keep up the good work.

[rlrm777]

Looks like things are coming along nicely. Ya'll are a great inspiration.

Vacation bound, we are actually in Largo, my son and DIL both work for Baycare.

[younglisa7]

I'm really sorry to hear about Jimmy. My husband was looking at your pics with me and he noticed some things that should be checked. Please don't get nervous or upset, we know this is your dream, we just want to help so you don't have any major problems.

From the pictures, you have no headers over the doors and windows. They will "not" carry the weight of the roof load as is. You have to put in a minimum of 2 2x8's(2x10's would be better) with a piece of 1/2"plywood between them. From the pic you are missing king and jack studs for the headers. This is all about the structure. If not done right it could potentially collapse.

Also,(sorry) again from the pic the concrete block that is on it's side should not be. That is a no no. It is not strong enough on it's side and you should use solid block there.

Is the block below your door recessed in? The block should be even with the outer rim joist.

My husband does a lot of building(only for us) so he can help out a lot. If we were a little closer we would come help for the day. If you have any questions please e-mail us direct. What kind of roof are you putting on? Did you do it yet?

We would rather help you now then let let you have a major problem later.

Lisa and Mike

[Forest Breath]

From the pictures, you have no headers over the doors and windows. They will "not" carry the weight of the roof load as is. You have to put in a minimum of 2 2x8's(2x10's would be better) with a piece of 1/2"plywood between them. From the pic you are missing king and jack studs for the headers. This is all about the structure. If not done right it could potentially collapse.

We took care of this yesterday. I noticed it when we were finishing the walls. Luckily we had the wood there, not sure why Jimmy did not have us do that before we started the walls, but regardless, it is done now.

Also,(sorry) again from the pic the concrete block that is on it's side should not be. That is a no no. It is not strong enough on it's side and you should use solid block there.

None of the other ones are on their side. I left this one because my 2 1/2 year old grandson carried it and placed it there himself. I just can't bear to move it so I decided I would fill it with concrete and leave it on its side. I plan to let him scratch his name in the concrete when I get it in there.

Is the block below your door recessed in? The block should be even with the outer rim joist.

It is even, not sure why it looks recessed, but all of the blocks are even with the joists.

My husband does a lot of building(only for us) so he can help out a lot. If we were a little closer we would come help for the day. If you have any questions please e-mail us direct. What kind of roof are you putting on? Did you do it yet?

We are putting a tin roof on. No we have not dine it yet. It took all yesterday evening to get the walls finsihed and add the extra support to the wall frame for the roof, especially over the windows and doors. I am ordering the roof material today and hopefully we will be able to start on it today as well.

We are very tired but still plan to work every spare minute we have on this house. They found more areas of cancer on Jimmy's bones and lungs and we just need to get this house livable by June....without taking any shortcuts that will cause major problems later. It is very difficult to deal with the news that the only father figure in your life is dying, his dream is the same as mine....getting this house done....and you have to balance your priorities and just hope for the best, a little rest and some peace of mind in hoping you are doing what is right.

Thanks for the well wishes and the advice everyone. Honestly....getting the advice and opinions in this thread has really helped us. Hopefully we will have many years of happiness in the home when it is complete. I ordered a plaque yesterday to go on the house in honor of Jimmy. He is a Freemason, 32nd degree actually. The plaque says "Jimmy's Lodge, Built By Jimmy M**** and 3 Hired Hands, 2008". I can't wait until he sees it by the door!

[younglisa7]

Thought you might also like these sites:

Small Cabin - Plan, Build and Enjoy your Small Cabin

and

Build this Cozy Cabin

Lisa