Going Off Grid in East Tennessee; The Story and Chat Thread (auction, town)

[cassy1]

I'm still reading waaaay back in the beginning of your adventure, but how amazing that you and Mike are able to do all of this. Do you both have a history of construction?

[ylisa7]

Hello everyone. I have a lot to catch up on. Sorry about the delay. Things have been kind of hectic.

TerriC- Welcome and thank you so much for writing in. Thank you for the suggestions about the paving. Unfortunately we had a hard enough time just getting contractors to call back and show up for estimates so we went with the one who called back and showed up, lol. They are doing the job differently that our past paving job but we have to go with what "they" know.

I also love traveling I-26 from Asheville and then through Elizabethton. It's a nice ride. Our mh is a 2004 Winnebago Vectra and tows 15,000 lbs.

We haven't seen any bears this year but we have heard of some neighbors that have seen some. That would be really cool to see and take pictures of.

Hawk- Thanks for the suggestions about letting air out and adding weight. We and our contractors have done both at one time or another. How's the fishing?

TwoWheelMan- Thank you for writing in. I hope you make it to TN. It is a beautiful state. Yes I think if we hired a builder and a solar company to do it all for us it would have cost about double. Our neighbor at the other property had a new stick built house built 2 years ago, it took them over a year to build, and she paid about $200,000.00 with no grading, no septic, no solar, and no well in that price. Her house is about 1500 square feet. So for what we built we did great.

Sunnydee- I am so glad you continue to enjoy our story.

Cruxan- Welcome. I know all about remodeling. Your sounds like a long term project. Good luck.

jbos333- Glad I could help. Prices vary greatly from one place to another.

ZCatcher- Thank you for the links. As we learned wind won't work for us. The weather patterns are changing so we are better off with more solar panels if we need it.

Sienna- I agree with you about the wind. I think fewer and fewer places have enough consistent wind for power.

ttazzman- This is where our costs came from. The costs included many things that a normal home doesn't include like the extra grading(because we have a berm home), all of the concrete because we didn't build a stick home, spray foam insulation which isn't the norm, and of course the solar costs were in there which most people don't have. I also included the well, grading, and the septic costs which aren't usually part of the square foot price of a home.

All concrete work 35,000
Lumber, sheetrock, material, and trusses 10,000
roof 1,000
kitchen & appliances 5,000
bathroom 2,000
ceiling 1,500
flooring 4,000
plumbing and electrical 750
spray foam insulation 3,500
front doors 2,000
paint and gutters 500
fireplace 1,000

Outside of house-
well 6,000
septic 1,000
grading for home site and roads 10,000

Solar(as we have it now)
12 135 watt panels 7200
2 charge controllers 1300
combiner boxes 650
inverter 2500
14 batteries , 980
wiring for solar completed 1000


Now if Mike and I had built a normal stick built house with no solar it would have cost about $40,000 which is pretty darn cheap for a house. At $35.00 per square foot it doesn't get much cheaper than that and that's with the well and the septic.

The motorhome costs don't come into play because that was our home for the 3 1/2-4 years before we built the house. You still need a place to live while you build.

Mike and I plan on getting a wood burning stove and we are also looking into a solar water pump for the well. If we get those two thing we will be well on our way to being very self sufficient.

Cassy1- Welcome and thank you for writing in.

Gatti- Thank you so much for taking the time to read our story and to write in. Good luck with your plans.

lovesmountains- Glad I could help.


See you all tomorrow.

Lisa

[ylisa7]

Good morning everyone. It's another rainy day in the mountains "today". Time to bring you back to our story.

7-14
It another fun filled day for Mike and I. We both have an appointment with our Doctor for check ups. We meet with her and then run some errands.

After we get back home we start to paint the second and final coat on the back of the house. Mike and I paint it together and we get it done really fast.

Here is Mike painting with the little supervisor.



The back of the house is completely done. I like this color so much better than the old color.


The man from the paving company finally shows up after 2 weeks to give an estimate. I'm sure this estimate will be extremely high. Oh I can't wait for that, lol.

After he leaves I call the Statuary and talk to the owner about our table bench bases. He says they have other bench bases that are 2" higher but they are very plain. I ask him if we can exchange our "too" short legs for the correct ones. He says no problem. So now Mike and I have to travel about 3 hours to fix a mistake that should have never happened in the first place. Just another example of how some businesses and people are today. No pride.


7-15
First thing this morning Mike says we should paint the front of the house. Sounds like a plan! We get out the ladders, the paint supplies and get started. Woo hoo.

Mike gets on the ladder and starts painting the upper part of the house.



I work on painting the lower portion.



This is going to look so much nicer but it will be hotter. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.


The first coat is on the front of the house except for the very top by the gutters. Yay we beat the rain.



The next part will be harder. We have to take the gutters down, paint the house once, let it dry and put the painted gutters back on the house. This will take some time and we will need at least 2-3 days in a row of hot sunny weather. Good luck with that, lol.


After we clean up from painting we load up the table legs into the Jeep and head out. On our way we stop at the Mayor's office in town. We picked up the septic approval for our back property that is for sale. Wonder of wonders the woman running the office wasn't there when she was supposed to be and we had to wait for her to get back from lunch. So much for posted hours. Anyway we got the approval so that's what counts.

Next we made the long and windy drive and exchanged out table bench legs.
On our way home we stopped at our Doctor's office to get our lab results. Oh oh the Doctor wants to see both of us. Thankfully it is nothing bad just a couple of changes we both need to make.


Then we stopped at the other property so Mike could see what parts we need for the motorhome. While we were there I saw the mama goose and her babies. I tried to get a good shot but they were spooked.


and




Ah- finally we get back home. Mike loads all 6 posts into the tractor and brings them down to the patio. From there we carry them over to the table. There are some rough high parts of concrete sticking out from when the statuary formed them. Mike gets the grinder out to fix it.


Now the bench posts are flat on top and we put the bench tops on. Finally our table is in place with the correct bench legs.



The rain held off all day but it looks like a storm is coming in.



7-16
It rained all night and everything is wet. Mike and I drive to Lowe's to see is we can find the parts for the motorhome.


7-17
It rained really hard last night. The lawns and my gardens are loving it. at least for now, but we are at a standstill with all the painting.

Part of the walkway next to the house got washed out from all of the rain. It will be really nice when that is paved and has curbs. Mike had to take the tractor and fix the washout.

We drove down the driveway to check the culverts. They are both clear but we do have a lot of back up mud in front of the small dams we made. Those will eventually have to be dug out. They are doing the job though. The little dams are keeping all of that mud out of the culverts. Soon we will have to call Jimmy so he can dig out the dams and bring us more rock to fill the ditches. Oh how I dread that job. Mike likes working with the rocks me not so much, lol.

Mike did a couple of oddball jobs. He raised the drain at the back of our house.



Here is a picture of the back starting to look neat and clean.



With all of this rain, our clover on the side of the house is starting to come in.



I hope you all enjoyed another quickie update in the Mike and Lisa world. Have a wonderful week and I will write again next Monday.

Lisa

[aiangel_writer]

Lisa, you and Mike have done a fantastic job! The character of your home is shining thru more and more each week. Well done. Enjoy this nice weather change before the snows hit.

Have you thought of a late or winter garden for the square foot garden? It's bout time to plant if you are.

[sassykat&joe]

I love the dark green on the front of the house. Does it face south? I think people have suggested it before, but it would be great to have one of those roll up canopies like on the RV to provide some shade when you need it there.

[Pam& Bill]

Lisa,
Enjoyed the update. Everythings loking super! Love the color on the house- great choice
Pam

[TerriC]

Lisa & Mike, Your home is looking great!!! Love the color, great choice! Thank you so much for the update and most of all the pictures!!!! I love seeing everything you've accomplished and also the view you have. Lisa you have such a talent describing what you accomplished for the week.
I live in Michigan and this week it's been pretty cold at night around 42 degrees. Frost warnings north of us, hard to believe summer is almost over.

I know you'll be so glad when the paving is completed and it will make it so much easier to snow plow in the winter.

Once again thank you for the update and the pictures. Have a great week!!!!

[southernfried]

Looking great love the color! Keep it up!!

[Guntersville Boomer]

Lisa-- The house looks finished, great paint color and grass growing, you and Mike should be so proud of what you built together!!

[cassy1]

I made it to the end, quite the interesting tale I must say. I did not think I was going to like the color of your house until it was finished and it really fits! Good job. Have fun on this adventure and it just goes to show that we can be independent!!