April 2012 Mississippi house/land update vid and pic

[O.S.O.K.]

Well, here's the latest update - youtube and a pic of the framing started...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOOaEIL7 ... ature=plcp

And here's a pic from 4/2 or 3 - forget, but the framing has started! The Framer says that it will be dried-in by next Wednesday (roof overhead). Notice "Buddy" sitting watch on the hill

The exterior two walls are 2x6" frame. This is very sturdy and will allow for another 2" of insulation over "standard" 2x4 construction.



Things took longer than we expected and wanted to get to this point but now it should go pretty fast. Once dried-in, the other subs can come in and work - electric, plumbing, hvac...

So far, so good :blessed:

Oh - and here's a short vid of the seep spring that's down the draw from the home site:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMIZXLqy ... ure=relmfu

When we have the pond made, the springs will be just in the pond and will feed it. But it shows that the water table is high enough that a shallow well will be easy to dig - I will use a driven point well kit that I have. Given a good enough flow of water from that, I will most likely switch over to the well for our primary water source.

The construction of the home will also make it very efficient - to the point that I might be able to cool it sufficiently with a "swamp cooler" type system... this only requires a small water pump and fan to push the air through -something that a solar power system could handle....

We're starting all conventional accept for a built-in wood burning stove but I want to have the capability to go off-grid if needed... or forced to.

And here's the insulation job that I did to the cabin ceiling - to channel the hot air off of the metal roof and coming in from the side vents - up and out... hopefully.

[Canuck Bob]

Up here 2X6 is a minimum. My shack has 2X4s and when the mercury drops the walls are cold! I suspect outside heat might be even more important in your neck of the woods.

That is some fine framing! You desrve to be proud of that.

[2ndovc]

Cool!

Looks a wee bit humid.
Can't wait to see the finished project.

jb

[O.S.O.K.]

Me too! Thanks.

[Pitchy]

Coming right along, happy for ya.

[kimwcook]

Coming right along, happy for ya.

+1

[O.S.O.K.]

Thanks guys. Kinda hard to do the general contracting from a distance... that's why the cabin - but I still have to get back to Texas often. Really looking forward to seeing it move along and get completed. And then.... we move (argh).

[1894c]

looking good, real good...you'll be done in no time...the dirt still looks like you're actually building on Mars to me...but as a transplanted Yankee what do I know... :)

[gamekeeper]

This a real interesting post, thanks for the updates.

[Borregos]

This a real interesting post, thanks for the updates.

+1

[Gobblerforge]

Looking great. I love rough construction.
Gobbler

[RIHMFIRE]

so far it looks great!
is this going to be a 1 or 2 story house?

As for the waterproofing, we use bituminous ashphalt,
then a protection board...sort of like insulation board, a drain pipe
with holes in it, at the bottom...and gravel infill so the water can be
evacuated fairly quickly...

I have never seen that white product before....
whats it called?

wish I was doing something like that!...looks like fun to me!

[O.S.O.K.]

This is a one-story house - 9' plate height. The back two walls are poured 9" concrete, the other two walls are 2x6" frame. The white waterproofing is the stuff you see at Home Depot and such - UGL Lock Tight. Used to be called Dam Tight but they changed the name lol. This will have a french drain (drain tile with gravel) with the earth compacted over it as it's backfilled. The backfill will be graded down away from the house - when done, the ground all around the house will drain away from the house. We'll put a gutter all along the back and side of the roof to catch rain and channel it away.

The roof will be galvanized steel. The siding will be a combination of cyprus and galvanized steel - with a grayish stain on the cyprus and "clay" colored windows and darker front door. The idea is a rustic, country look.

Talked to the framer and he said all internal framing is now complete and they're waiting on the rafters to arrive - will be dried-in by Tuesday at the latest now Said the other subs can start next week, so we got on the horn and called them all. We also got on the stick to get everything else arranged for pick-up when we get there again at the end of the week next week. Fireplace, plumbing fixtures, etc.

Woohoo! We might finish on time after all!

And 1894c - a lot of folks outside of the area think Mississippi is Mars! May as well be for all they know as they've never been there... but know all about it

[Modoc ED]

A word of caution about "swamp coolers". They depend on wet pads and a motored fan to draw air through them in order to cool the air. They are fine for a dry climate but not so good in a humid climate. They put a lot of moisture in the air and you will feel damp all the time. An airconditioner on the other hand takes moisture out of the air and I think you'd be much happier with one. Just my .02¢

[Hobie]

A word of caution about "swamp coolers". They depend on wet pads and a motored fan to draw air through them in order to cool the air. They are fine for a dry climate but not so good in a humid climate. They put a lot of moisture in the air and you will feel damp all the time. An airconditioner on the other hand takes moisture out of the air and I think you'd be much happier with one. Just my .02¢

+2 and I lived with a "swamp" cooler in Korea (98 at 98 all summer long). We worked hard to trade it out for an ac unit BUT the swamp cooler worked great in CA.

[Blaine]

+4 on "Nix The SwampCooler" Yer gonna be mad when black mold and stuff starts in on ya....

[O.S.O.K.]

I was just thinking of the swamp cooler as a worst case scenario way to cool the air - something that could be powered by a solar generator/battery bank. A normal AC sure can't... Hmmm, may have to look into some other way of cooling the air that doesn't inject any more humidity - perhaps just a deeply burried conduit with air moving slowly through it...

We are installing a normal AC unit and will have a Generiac 8K LP powered whole-house back up generator for the times when the power goes out - which seems to be pretty often in this area. Lots of lines running along tree-covered lanes and wind storms that like to push them down onto said lines. For the winter time, we're putting in a built-in wood burning stove with blowers and gravity vents - draws cold air in from the outside to vent the fire - very efficient and will easily heat this small home. We're designing the vent system to allow for the warm air to be circulated too = cold air return is near the stove out-vents.

[Blaine]

I was just thinking of the swamp cooler as a worst case scenario way to cool the air - something that could be powered by a solar generator/battery bank. A normal AC sure can't... Hmmm, may have to look into some other way of cooling the air that doesn't inject any more humidity - perhaps just a deeply burried conduit with air moving slowly through it...

We are installing a normal AC unit and will have a Generiac 8K LP powered whole-house back up generator for the times when the power goes out - which seems to be pretty often in this area. Lots of lines running along tree-covered lanes and wind storms that like to push them down onto said lines. For the winter time, we're putting in a built-in wood burning stove with blowers and gravity vents - draws cold air in from the outside to vent the fire - very efficient and will easily heat this small home. We're designing the vent system to allow for the warm air to be circulated too = cold air return is near the stove out-vents.

I've no idea if this would work, but I often wondered if running cold well water thru an exchanger of some sort could extract enough cold air to do any good

[O.S.O.K.]

I was just thinking of the swamp cooler as a worst case scenario way to cool the air - something that could be powered by a solar generator/battery bank. A normal AC sure can't... Hmmm, may have to look into some other way of cooling the air that doesn't inject any more humidity - perhaps just a deeply burried conduit with air moving slowly through it...

We are installing a normal AC unit and will have a Generiac 8K LP powered whole-house back up generator for the times when the power goes out - which seems to be pretty often in this area. Lots of lines running along tree-covered lanes and wind storms that like to push them down onto said lines. For the winter time, we're putting in a built-in wood burning stove with blowers and gravity vents - draws cold air in from the outside to vent the fire - very efficient and will easily heat this small home. We're designing the vent system to allow for the warm air to be circulated too = cold air return is near the stove out-vents.

I've no idea if this would work, but I often wondered if running cold well water thru an exchanger of some sort could extract enough cold air to do any good

Yeah, that's the kind of thing I was thinking about. Probably something out there in the interverse on this...

[RIHMFIRE]

I just noticed the top of your framed wall only has 1 continuous top plate....
Down here we need two...

We also have to use additional anchors on the studs...
sp-1s on the bottom and sp-2s at the top plates....and all sorts of
different truss anchors....pending the uplift due to windloads.....hurricanes ...
We spend a lot of money here in florida on connectors....

gonna be all done and moved in by deer season?

[O.S.O.K.]

Oh yeah. We should be in by July. God willing.