Our house

[Taz Baby]

Well we finally got around to start building our house. It is going to be a 36 x 40 2-story 2 bedroom and 2 bath. That includes a wrap around porch. The back half of the bottom floor will be my bedroom and bath that will have a small porch over our little waterfall. So I can go to sleep listening to that. It makes it easier for a good night sleep. It will have a summer kitchen kinda facing west. That will be where we do all our canning and processing of food. It will also have a area for me to do all my herbs for medicine and such.Attached to that will be the battery house for the solar system. There will be a mud room to go through before you enter the main house. Wood burning stove for heat. Everything will be so it can run off of wood, propane,12v and 110v. Lots of storage everywhere, no wasted space, not even under the house.
Monday they started digging the holes for the poles to be put below the frost line and in cased in concrete. The are going in 3 ft. Well they hit rock and have only 1 hole 3ft so far. They have tried using a jackhammer, air chisels, power drill with concrete bits and much more trying to get it to 3ft. One good thing about this is that all the poles will be sitting on rock and in cased in concrete. So maybe the house will not move, shift or budge in bad weather. Pics are coming soon.

[bacpacker]

I can't wait to see the pics. The summer kitchen will pay huge dividends down the road. That will be a must have if our long term plans work out one day.

[ladyhk13]

I'm so excited for you finally to be getting this done!!!! Yeah, and you are getting our bedroom ready too! We'll bring the dogs so they can see their bestest buddy again and chase her all over the yard and all sleep due to sheer exhaustion! Yahoo!

[Taz Baby]

Yep the guess bedroom will be upstairs with a open loft. And yes your dogs are more than welcome. Hell in my book all animals are inside/outside animals. I have had some really strange animals as pets in my day and they were all allowed in the house and house trained.

[Sniper-T]

sounds awesome. Looking forward to pics as well

[Kodiak]

Thats great Taz, cant wait for pics.

[JustAPrepper]

Awesome, Taz!! Can't wait to see pics!

[izzyscout21]

I can't wait to see the pics.


sounds awesome. Looking forward to pics as well


Thats great Taz, cant wait for pics.


Awesome, Taz!! Can't wait to see pics!


Call me crazy, But I for one would love to see pics.

Congrats, Taz!

[IDTANDY]

Thats great been following you for awhile.I.ll burn some sage for you.

[Grumpy Old Man]

^^^^I'll bring the Sweet Grass braids. That's great Taz! You're hard work is being rewarded!

[IDTANDY]

^^^
Need to smudge the area,sweetgrass,sage and cedar.

[IDTANDY]

Grumpy you Pow Wow?Havn't been in awhile .Like the small ones.Really honor Vets,Warrors.
Back to TAZ ,smudge your place brings good spirits.

[Sniper-T]

lol. I hit page 2 here, and saw the smudge talk, and was going to suggest ragweed. I thought you were having trouble with insects; then I went back to page one.

lol

I don't know if rag weed brings in good spirits, but it sure exorcizes the demon mosquitos nicely

[Grumpy Old Man]

ID I haven't in several years, but I have. Nowadays I mostly fish as my kids and grandkids have drifted away from Rendezvous into other activities. The ones out here are held at casinos, so that keeps me away.

But we need to smudge Taz's new lodge so that only contentment abides there. I will smoke on it.

[IDTANDY]

Broke out my Chanupa,will smoke to a place of Power and Peace for Taz and hers.
First use since sweatlodge.

[Taz Baby]

Thanks every one. The ground has been blessed already. I did the sage and cedar before all the constrution begain. No bad or negitive energy will come on this property. We have found a sacred place close by on the creek that looks like an alter of some sort. Maybe the indians used it? There is a tree that apperantly has a halo formed in the branches. The side of the mountain has been carved out for this. It is facing where my house is going to be. Burning the sage is always good. Not much to show in pics now as there is only one pole in the ground. But I will get pics of progress as soon as there are any. Thanks again everyone.

[izzyscout21]

I have no clue what ya'll are talking about, but it sounds neat.

[RedJohn]

Nobody asked, so I will. What about pictures, I can't wait. :)

[IDTANDY]

I have no clue what ya'll are talking about, but it sounds neat.

This should explain things
http://www.asunam.com/smudge_ceremony.html

[Katrina]

Awesome news Taz, Can't wait to see the pix.

[Taz Baby]

I am about to have a TAZ ATTACK on the contractor. Last week he only worked 10 Hrs. Monday and tuesday. We haven,t seen him yet. Dh called him and he said he is trying to find a jack hammer with a long bit to reach the rock. Dh told him to just open the top of hole 1ft down and that would be fine. We can fill it with concrete to make a top pad. If he doesn,t come Monday and start doing the work, he is fired. Little does he know that Dh is trying to save the man from me going off on him. We will see tomorrow.

[Katrina]

Sounds like you got the guy my dad got to work on his property a few years ago. Repeat after me, Ohm....Ohm....Ohm...Ohm. At least that's what my lil sis tells me when I am about to go bullistic. I hope he shows up and gets cracking on the rest of the job for you so's you don't have to go all Tazzie on him. I pity the guy if that happens

[bacpacker]

I think we used the same guy to replace our siding/roofing after the hail storm last year. Took the damn guy from June to Oct to do a 1400 sqft house. Mostly the roof. The wife did go BALLISTIC on him. Still took him almost a month to finish. We hounded him so much though, we ended up getting $1000 cut on the price.

[Taz Baby]

Well looks like we have to find another guy to finish up what the contractor didn't do. He called today to renig on the contract and Dh went off on him. I didn't have to.Told him he won't be talking to us anymore, he will be talking to our lawyer from now on unless he makes good on the contract. Those were as nice as words I can print on here.
we have a few people already lined up for the job so cross your fingers for us. But at this time looks like the new house is not going to happen any time soon. I have to go to my happy place and stay there until I can come to terms with that. Right now it is not safe to even talk to me, I even bitch at myself. So please pray for my DH to be able to live with me until I can come to terms with not having a house and being stuck in this tin can.

[ladyhk13]

Poor Taz...I'm so sorry.

[Katrina]

Oh Taz What a disappointment. Fingers(and toes) are crossed.

[JustAPrepper]

Oh, Taz. What a bummer. Hopefully you'll find someone soon who can get things moving again.

[Sniper-T]

May the fleas of a thousand camels infest his groin!

[Taz Baby]

Thanks and Sniper, wishing the man that is great. But I prefer wishing him......... Ooommmm go to happy place taz don,t be mean. Well I can,t even wish him evil, have to go to happy place now. But the good Lord above will make it right for me. Just need the will power not to go to his house.

[ladyhk13]

Thanks and Sniper, wishing the man that is great. But I prefer wishing him......... Ooommmm go to happy place taz don,t be mean. Well I can,t even wish him evil, have to go to happy place now. But the good Lord above will make it right for me. Just need the will power not to go to his house.

Stay in your happy place girlfriend....it could become very ugly should you go to his house. Ugly indeed. Yes, happy place for Taz...indeed.

[Evolver]

Sorry to hear this! If I lived closer to you I would defiantly be helping you out. My suggestion is... find a local barbershop and ask them who is the best contractor in town is. I learned fist hand that the saying is true "If you want to know something... just ask a Barber". LOL Dang women don't have a thing over them as far as the gossip goes. :)

One thing you might want to do is to be the Owner/Builder so you can eliminate the General Contractor and then use sub contractor for the build. It will save you allot of money but will cost you some time. Good luck and let me know if I can help.

[Katrina]

Ohm.....ohm....ohm......ohm!!!

[Taz Baby]

Why is it that with so many people out of work, we can,t find 1 person to put our poles in the ground and brace them together? No one wants the job.

[Taz Baby]

Well we have yet another contractor to start building this Monday, weather permit. After all the trouble we have had, it has set us back. The weather is not helping either. We got the holes dug for the posts last week and now they are all full of water and filled some with mud. But it looks like we just might get some progress started this week and with any luck we might have the poles up, concreted in and bans on them by the end of this month. Then it will sit there until we can get enough money to do more. At this point we will not be in the new house by Christmas as we hoped. But maybe by next summer.

[Evolver]

All in all thats good news! At least your making forward progress and as they say... Roam wasn't built in a day! Your castle is underway Wooo Hooo!

[Katrina]

Sounds good so far Knock wood!! Here's hoping things will progress on the home.

[Taz Baby]

I guess our house was not meant to be built this summer. That other contractor that said he wanted the job and would start on Monday never showed up and never answered our calls. So yet again nothing has been done except make my front yard look like a mine field with 14 holes around my front door. Each hole is 3'w x3' deep. Now we have run out of time and have to give up until this winter. You would think with all the unemployment there is around here someone would want to make a honest dollar. So we have concluded that we (just the 2 of us) will do it our self and if it is screwed up and crooked then we will live in it anyway and learn from our mistake.

[Sniper-T]

There are a bunch of building savy people on board here, Ask lots of questions maybe we can help you avoid some mistakes

[Taz Baby]

There are a bunch of building savy people on board here, Ask lots of questions maybe we can help you avoid some mistakes

I was thinking of that but have to wait until I get full internet But yes this ant family is always willing to help out.

[Evolver]

The thing the is of the utmost importance is a plan. With a good plan and the how-to... you can built anything. Like T said there is allot of us here to help out.

[Grumpy Old Man]

<<<<<<< Concrete questions answered, placing advice giving, finishing instructions detailed. And for a few free meals I might come out and do some of it myself. BUT.........I'm not as fast as I used to be. BTW, I have all my own placement and finishing tools as well! (Bull floats, fresnos, vibrator and mag floats).

[Taz Baby]

Well as some of you know, we have had a hell of a time trying to find someone to build our house. It has been 1 year now and from trying to find someone that is truly licensed in our area, people ripping us off by starting it, taking the up-front money and not finishing to lying to us about being licensed to do the work, we have finally ( I hope) found someone that meets all the requirements to do the job. But the house has now changed from last year. It has gone from being just an addition kitchen to a full blown 2-story house, from being a wood frame to a concrete with radiant heat in the floor house. Since we live so far out that there is no fire dept. assigned to our area that is close enough to help if there was a fire and in the middle of the woods where trees fall off the mountains every time a storm comes thru, we decide concrete is the best way to go. So cross your fingers,toes, legs, eyes and anything else you can for us, hopefully we will have a house by Christmas.

[bacpacker]

Best of luck with the build Taz.

[Sniper-T]

I've got so many things crossed for you, I look like a pretzel!

[ladyhk13]

That's what we were looking to do. and radiant heat is the bomb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No better way to go. I've had it before and love the way it feels warming the floor and walls and the fact that you can control each room. Are you going to heat your water through it too? Good luck and make sure you post pics as you go along!!!

[Stormfeather]

A guy I know has radiant heating thru his woodburning stove, does everything with it, home, garage, hot water, apparently is the cats meow as all it takes is wood to do it!

[Evolver]

Good news Taz and I pray for happy barefooted feet at Christmas. :)

[Katrina]

That's good news. May the feets be warm and bare come Christmas morn

[Domeguy]

Even if its not a dome, I congratulate you on the start of your new home. I would offer help and any tools needed, but I'm guessing you live more than a short drive from Lynchburg Tennessee. We wish you the best of luck with your contractor.

[Taz Baby]

Well it seems that it is not meant for us to get a house this year either. We found a very good trustworthy honest contractor but we can not afford it. Just our luck. With waiting all this time the money has went to other things. The contractor worked very hard to get the plans in our budget but within a few thousand, but just not there.

[Stormfeather]

Sorry to hear that Taz, is there no little things that can be cut out to make your house happen?

[Taz Baby]

We went from a 1100 sq ft. concrete 2-story house with radiant heat all the way down to a 1-story stick 600 sq ft house with no radiant heat. We even changed the location of the house to eliminate the extra concrete footers and work that had to be done, but still no go. So it is better to wait to get what we want than to live in something that is to small and not what we want. This state is killing us but there is nothing we can do because we spent most of our money to get this land. And that includes BIL and SIL too.

[Katrina]

Taz I'm so sorry but have upped the prayers for you!!

[4suchatimeasthis]

So very sorry Taz. :(

I would say that when God closes a door He opens a window, but really, sometimes it just feels like something to throw yourself out of. Hang in there, girl.

[Evolver]

Owner builder (permit) is the key to save allot of money if your willing to do all the leg work for the build.
My suggestion is to start out with an architect and draw up a house plan within your dreams and submit it to the county and go from there.

You will be the "General Contractor" for the build and all of your sub contractors (Foundation, Plumbers, Electrical, Framers, Roofers, Sheetrock and Finishers) will work off a set of detailed plains that was drawn up by the architect that was approved by the county.

Yes... It will be tons of leg work on your end but it WILL give you more house for the money. :)

[Taz Baby]

So very sorry Taz. :(

I would say that when God closes a door He opens a window, but really, sometimes it just feels like something to throw yourself out of. Hang in there, girl.


4such at this point throwing myself out the window would only put me still at the apt in town and probably in dog sh$t (since people wont take their dog to the dog park to do their business.)

We went to the court house to find out what all the in's and out's are for being the general contractor and around here the contractors only need a Class C license. Which means we as the home owner would be the general contractor and sub out the work. We just need someone to build a shell and dry it in as we can do the rest our self. Since we want a concrete house with radiant heat we need someone who can do that. As I said before, we found someone to do the work but it is not in our budget at this time. The longer we have to stay at the apt. the more house money we spend. We can live in a shell of a house as we having been living in a 18 ft travel trailer for a little over 2 yrs. If we can just get it dried in we can build the rest in our own time as money permits us to do so. WE have solar (small but will do, a generator (Big) and the brain power, so that is not a problem. We just need to get out of the apt. and back on our land.

[ladyhk13]

Well Taz think of it this way, at least you guys still have your property..............we have to start all over again once the lawsuit is finished sometime within the next year and who knows how long it's going to take us to find another piece as big as we have now with all the goodies. It's been a crappy year, hasn't it????????????????????