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I thought the idea about the concert stage was funny too. Do you think hearing the rain fall on metal will be anoying or soothing? Im asking that because we are RVers and she likes the rain falling on the roof. It's not a tinny sound but she says she sleeps better. Well she can sleep on a bed of nails. Maybe we missed it. Are there thick insulating foam boards under the metal roof?
One last question. I notice you put the T-111 boards end grain to end grain without using S flashing. How are you going to seal that? And you said you were using silicone caulk to seal the slider door brick molding. Silicone is non paintable if any of it squeezed out.
Im curious what color your going to do the exterior to blend in with the landscape.
I am really enjoying your story and the pictures you are posting. You've got a beautiful view from where your house sits. My wife and I will be building on our lot in Cumberland Cove in about 6 years. I've often contemplated on whether or not we should incorporate some of the "off the grid" techniques you are using. I'm looking into photovoltaic panels to produce electricity, but I'm finding that it is very expensive. My best wishes to you and Mike. I hope you are able to complete your home on time and that all goes well.
I thought the idea about the concert stage was funny too. Do you think hearing the rain fall on metal will be anoying or soothing? Im asking that because we are RVers and she likes the rain falling on the roof. It's not a tinny sound but she says she sleeps better. Well she can sleep on a bed of nails. Maybe we missed it. Are there thick insulating foam boards under the metal roof?
One last question. I notice you put the T-111 boards end grain to end grain without using S flashing. How are you going to seal that? And you said you were using silicone caulk to seal the slider door brick molding. Silicone is non paintable if any of it squeezed out.
Im curious what color your going to do the exterior to blend in with the landscape.
I like the sound of rain as long as it is "softly falling". If it is pouring it drives me crazy. We are also living in a motorhome and it gets way too loud. I don't think it will be too loud in the house. We are having someone come in and do spray foam insulation(the thickest we can get).
The T1-11 that is end to end we put 1x4 trim on the seam and caulked the entire piece of trim. We just didn't get to that in the pictures yet. We are only 2 people, we will get to it all.
We siliconed the patio door to the T1-11 and then we siliconed around the door. Then we put trim around the door's brick mold. Then we caulked that with paintable caulk.
As stated in a prior post we wanted to do a mountain theme, green roof and exterior, and white trim. Because we are being practical we can't go with those colors. Our roof is white so that we stay cooler in the summer and so far it is working. We haven't decided on the exterior color but we are thinking something in the coffee family with white trim. We can't go dark.
We will also being some type of stone work on the 2 front ends of the house.
And we will also have a deck.
jguillot-
If we were connected to the grid we probably wouldn't go solar. We would just conserve our energy useage. TN doesn't offer any rebates or incentives to go solar so it can be very expensive. So if you already have electric it doesn't make "much" sense to go solar. Those TV shows where the people have these enormous systems usually got some good incentives and they are selling back to their electric company. Average people could "never" afford to do that.
I hope you enjoy our story and continue watching. Mike is very excited to start working on our solar set up. It should be soon.
Just wonderful .!!! So glad i found your first post lisa .. I've been siting here for over an hr reading all 6 installments .
I wish you all the best .. Tho it sounds to me you already have that . .esp with that magnificent view ..
Hi everyone. It's time for Chapter 7. The week of July 7, 2008.
We just wanted to give you a quick update for the reasons why we are constructing this home the way we are.
1. The main purpose for the 10" thick concrete walls, the 4" concrete slab, and backfilling dirt on the sides and back of the house is to cool the house without the need for air conditioning. The earth stays at approximately 50 degrees year round.
2. The white metal roof is also an aid in cooling. The white reflects the sun and will keep the house cooler. Unfortunately this was not our first choice but a necessary one.
3. Also during the winter, the earth around the home makes the best insulation.
4. The house is 1140 sq. ft. We made this house small because it wll be easier to maintain. Remember this house will be wind and solar powered.
Monday-
This morning we loaded up our trailer with trash and went to the County Dump. Usually we are in and out of there in a heartbeat. This time there was a line and it seemed to take forever. After the dump we went to the local building supply to pick up 3 more sheets of T1-11 and 84 feet of 1x4 trim for the siding and around the patio doors.
Finally, we got to the property. Ahh, peace and tranquility. The first thing we had to do was unload the trailer and bring all the lumber and our equipment down to the house. It used to be much easier when the house was open and we could just slide everything down the back of the house. Just getting everything ready to "start" work can make you tired.
Mike started by finishing the siding from yesterday. We were short 3 pieces. Then he started to measure and cut our pieces of trim to fit around the patio doors.
Mike made angle cuts on the trim so it looks nice and clean. When Mike finished testing and fitting the trim pieces I painted them with a primer coat. After I finished painting the trim I started to paint the front of the house using a roller and a brush to fill in the lines on the siding. The painting was easy but I was a mess. I had paint splattered all over me and I probably looked 10 years older with the white paint in my hair. I don't get it, whenever Mike paints he always stays clean and it drives me crazy. I don't know why but I am the world's sloppiest painter but I get the job done.
We got all of the trim up around the doors
And also on the siding
Mike was going to start caulking but it started to rain. At least we got the trim up and the house painted.
And
I know it's a lot of white but this is just a protective coat. We will be adding a color when we are up to the finishing touches. Any suggestions? We have to keep the color light and we like neutral colors. Also as you can see we have about 2 feet of concrete wall on the sides of our walls. We will eventually cover that with some kind of stone work. We will also have a deck along the front of the house- but that is for later, much later.
Today wasn't a hard day just a lot of up and down on the ladders and a lot of measuring and angle cuts for Mike.
Tuesday
When we woke up it was raining. This was not a good thing. We decided to pick up the trailer from the property and go to the local Farm Supply. We saw David, the man who helped us with our metal roof delivery, and his family. Hi guys. We bought some supplies and went back to the property. It stopped raining but now it was hot and humid. Mike got on the tractor and started working on our road. He was grading out some of the ruts since our last big rainfall.
I started working on another hill along side our driveway. This is how it looks before I did anything.
I used a rock rake first and then a finish rake to smooth it.
We will be mowing this area eventually and we don't want to hit any rocks. After I raked the hill then I seeded it, unrolled the curlex over it and started stapling it all down.
I usually love doing this but it was way too humid out.
Mike came up to the top and we took a break. After our break Mike went down to the house and started caulking. I went back to my hill. Just as I was finishing and taking pictures the cows showed up. I tried to tell them to go away and keep them off the area I just finished. Cows don't listen. Just as the cows started walking on my "new hill" and I am yelling at them Mike shows up. He thought it was pretty funny because I was surrounded by cows.
Mike shooed them away and I was able to put in some posts and string to protect my hill.
This is my hill with a view
I need to get more curlex to finish my hill. We started to put everything away and then it started to rain. That really stinks because Mike was caulking. I hope the caulking is ok. If not Mike will have to re-do it.
Wednesday-
We got to the property and found a mess. The cows finally figured out that our white string around the house and around my hill from yesterday is not electric. I think the cows must have had a party. They knocked over all of our string, walked all over the curlex, left some marks on the front of the house(I'm glad we only have the primer coat of paint on), and left us some personal presents.
The first thing Mike did was get out the T-posts. We will be fencing off the entire top of the house site. Now maybe sooner than later. We will be using corner posts, T-posts, and wire for our fencing.
This is Mike banging in a T-post
We will put in a few each day. This way it never seems hard. For those who don't know what I am talking about this is a T-post
We put in 5 today.
We went down to the house and started working on the siding for the front of the trusses. We measured and cut the boards and I painted them.
While the paint was drying Mike went to clean his building and I went back to my hill and did another section.
After the paint dried on the boards Mike and I went back down to the house. We got up 2 boards and the sky started to change. We put everything away and waited inside the house for the rain to pass. Well it didn't pass and it started to pour. Unfortunately, we had to stop working for the day. Of course now that we are back in the motorhome it is beautiful out.
Every time I see your view, my breath catches. Boy, that sure is pretty. And I feel ya, I've built enough fence in my time to know that putting in posts is not fun. Smart of you to do a few a day! But your cow adventures are great. Where's phyll when you need her?
Hi everyone. I'm sorry to say this was not an overly productive week. It's been raining off and on most of the week. Just enough to interfere with work. Even now we stopped working early because it started to rain.
On Thursday we got ready to go to the property to work even though it was drizzling out. This is what our dog, Niki, does all day while we work our tails off.
The Princess
I want to come back as a spoiled dog next time around. What a life!
When we got to there the cows got through the string again. Mike and I started working on putting up more T-posts and an end post for our fence.
This is me using a post hole digger to get the pole in the ground.
I am so thankful the land isn't very rocky at least nothing big. Shh! Don't say anything I don't want to jinx us. While we were working on that Howard showed up with his grandaughter to check on the cows. He offered to help us with the fencing which was a really nice thing for him to do. We told him we were fine but really appreciated the offer. I told him he could help when we re-fence the 40 acres ha,ha. One of the calf's was missing so they were going to check the woods. Two things happened while we were talking 1.The calf showed up and joined the rest of the cows and 2.It started to pour(again). We pretty much got nothing on the property done today. We decided to drive over to Mike's daughter's house. She lives about 4 miles away. She is remodeling her bathroom and she needed a piece of wood from us. She got a great deal on a vanity because the back was broken. We helped her fix the back of it and got to spend time with her and her 2 children. It was nice to visit.
Friday-
We really need to get some work done. We still have to finish putting siding in front of the trusses and do the eaves. Mike started cutting boards for the front of the trusses. I painted them all and we let them dry. Mike had to spend some extra time putting up some 2x4's so he had something to screw the siding into. While he was doing that I went up to finish my hill(I always have a hill).
Mike called me down to help and we realized that the lines in the boards didn't match up.
Mike had to take all the boards down and re-install them. He was not happy about that. I felt so bad for him. I know he is really tired and has a ton on his mind. I went back up and "finished" my hill.
This is the "back hill" we have to work on next.
And our back yard area
Finally after a lot of climbing up and down the ladder and screwing boards in Mike finished the siding on the front of the trusses.
This is Mike putting up the last board
This is what Mike got done today. Yeah!
I did some touch up painting on the top of the house and that was all for today. We didn't bother with the string tonight because the cows just knock it down.
Saturday-
Mike told me he wants to bring the motorhome to the new property next week so we can start living there. I'm really excited about that but I told Mike " cool, Niki and I will watch you go up the hill". He thinks he can make it without a problem as long as it is dry. I hope so. At least it is supposed to be dry next week. So that means we have to get our current property in really good shape and start getting the motorhome ready for moving. We spent the day with both of us mowing. Mike on the rider and me with the push mower. We got all the mowing done and sprayed some of the creeks. We still have to spray the back creek and use the weedeater around the pond. And then we will be caught up(until next week).
Sunday-
We got to the property and Mike started caulking. I started working on another hill, the big one in the back, and also on our back yard area. We have to rake it all and then seed everything. Mike came up with the tractor to help pick up the small rocks. We shoveled the excess into the bucket of the tractor and Mike used it around the house.
It doesn't seem like much but it will take awhile to finish. Mike and I both love doing the outside work. Mike put in another end post for our gate. Then he seeded the area that I finished raking. And then it rained. The story of our life lately. At least Mike got the seed down.
That's the week for you. Not too exciting but we are moving foward. Starting tomorrow we have to concentrate on getting the property ready for the motorhome.
We need to trim trees, work on the roads a little more, and fence off the top area to keep the cows out. It will be a busy week for us.
I hope you all had a good weekend and I will post again mid-week.
Trying to find a link for you. A new company in Southern California has a new improved solar "FILM" they are currently selling the product for $1.00 a watt. It has a 25 year warranty and is a "film" instead of a panel. When I find the link I will post it for you. The place is looking great. Any problems with any water coming in where it's not wanted?
This is the name of the company. Nanosolar, California
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Where's phyll when you need her?
