HowellJourney

Green Tagged

Well, we managed to secure a "green tag" on first try for the framing, electrical, HVAC and plumbing.     The framing crew returned to finish areas they had to leave open for inspection.  We are in process of painting those areas.   

The metal roof is in process of being installed by Lee Durham who owns Midlothian Steel.  All the roofing is on site on two trailers which we chained together.  Installation will take about a week.

We have ordered the brick from Acme.  It is scheduled to be delivered any day.   The brick we picked is called Country French.  We evaluated using stone but it was cost prohibitive to use 100% and we didn't like the appearance of mixed stone and brick.   I do not have a masonry contractor but called a couple today in hopes of contracting with one.

Canopy Insulation started today insulating the home with open cell foam.  This process is amazing to watch.   Canopy is the only company in Texas using steel grid to contain the foam in the cavity.  Through the grid, there is less waste and the grid forces the product into every "nook and cranny".

Next on the agenda is drywall.

(Attached are some pictures of the spray foam process.)

Framing Complete - Painting, Plumbing, Electrical, & HVAC Underway

For the hundreds of thousands of loyal readers following this blog, I apologize that I have been a bit tardy in keeping it current.   There is a simple explanation.  I have been working my rear end off.   Typically I have been going from about 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM six days per week. 

The home is completely framed and roofed (felt paper).  By the second week of July, the metal roof will be installed.  During the last few weeks, I have had the plumbing, electrical and HVAC contractors working simultaneously at various times in the house.  The plumbing contractor is about 95% complete with their rough in, the electrical and HVAC contractors are about 75% done with theirs.

Meanwhile, we have been struggling trying to paint the siding and soffits of the house in 95 plus degree heat.  My wife, son-in-law, Mladen, and grandson, Jeremija, have been assisting.  Jeremija blissfully picked up a paint brush while his mother held him near a ladder and before anyone knew he had it, he tried his hand at painting, broad strokes of paint across his mother's face and arm.  Emily Ann was not a happy camper.   I managed to coach Mladen three quarters up a 28 foot ladder before he let me know that, as a worker's compensation professional, he was not going up the other quarter way up.  We do have a fellow who usually works for a friend who has helped us finish painting the porches.

I decided this past week that painting the home, with its 27-foot eves, was just too large a job for our little crew and hired a professional painter who will start on Monday to finish the house in 2 to 3 days.  I desperately need to get the painting done before the metal roof crew shows up on site.

This past Thursday, I hired a clean up crew to haul off the construction debris and level the rough terrain.  The future homestead is starting to look pretty nice and Ginny is beginning to plan where her garden is going to go.

Framing -Continued

The home and garage are really starting to take shape.  Mario along with his two brothers- Frank and Johnny, are doing an outstanding job.   We are gettting an excellent frame job due to their efforts.   After this weekend, the framing will be complete. 

The cornice crew, that works for Mario, is on site and doing their portion of the job including installation of the soffit and roof decking.   The windows are scheduled to be installed this coming Wednesday.   The roof decking along with the roofing felt will need to be installed prior to installing the windows.   Attached are recent photos of the work to date.

Framing

Mario Perez and his company, Framing Concepts, started framing the house on May 27th.   They were only able to work a couple of hours that day before a thunderstorm that dropped almost three inches of rain hit.  They pulled off the job and went to another to finish a "punch out list" on a house the had already framed.

The crew returned on Thursday, May 29th and have worked "feverishly" since.  It is amazing how fast they work and how much the can get done in a short period of time.  They have a process and work extremely had.  Overall, we are very happy with their work to date.

We Have Lift Off - Foundation Built

 

On Wednesday, Cate Concrete, Keller, TX completed the foundation.    With Cowboy Concrete Pumping's help (I could not get any more redneck), Cate pumped 164 yards of concrete into the beams and slab of the foundation.   Virginia and I spent from about 7:00 to 10:30 PM keeping the foundations wet.    I am hoping it rains in order to help the task of slowing down the curing of the concrete.  Theoretically, the slower the concrete cures, the stronger and less cracks you will have 

Our next door neighbor told me this morning that they saw headlights on our property last night and became concerned until they realized it was us.    Dale was loading his hunting rifle when the discovered it was us.  We appreicate their help in keeping our property secure.

On Tuesday, Mario Perez and crew will start the framing process.  This will take about three weeks.   I thought all of the thousand of people that veiw this blog might appreicate the attached photo taken yesterday.

  

and more steel

Since the May 14th posting, the crew that was digging the beams and laying the steel for the beams and slab finished.  Another crew came in that made sure the foundation was level and square for the pending concrete pour.  The crew also set the brick ledges for the home, built the frame work around the drop in shower and set up the porches.   

Our plumbing contractor, Costlow Plumbing, is scheduled for Monday to double check the plumbing to make sure it has not been knocked out of it location. Also on Monday,  ABC Pest Control technician is scheduled to install Termimesh.   A Nortex Foundation Design engineer will inspect the foundation before the pour along with the city's building inspector.  If everything goes to plan, we will have a foundation on Tuesday.

Foundation - A Whole Lot of Steel

On Tuesday, the concrete contractor started the process of digging the beams.  Afterward, they laid 6 mil poly on the pads of the foundation.   The crew assembled a "jig" and started to assemble the steel that will be dropped in the beam cavity.  Virginia and I drove by after she closed her office and was surprised by the amount of steel they are putting in the foundation.  Unfortunately, it rained Wednesday morning which shut us down.  Hopefully the crew will return on Thursday to finish this facet of the construction.   I have attached some random photos taken during this process.

Building the Foundation

Since the last posting, we accomplished quite a bit.  The foundation form boards were installed and surveyed. Per the survey, everything was well within the property lines and located where we wanted the structures.

The Construction Begins

Our property is starting to look like a construction site.  This past week, we had a pota potty delivered, my son-in-law, Mladen and I and built the "world best trash bin" out of 4 x 8 sheets of treated plywood and we had a temporary power pole installed by the electrical contractor. 

I called in for my first inspection by the building inspector for the power pole which is a requirement by the power company before they will connect to it.   Hopefully, CoServe Electric will run electrical service to the pole this coming week.

I met the owner of our concrete contractor at the site to discuss some last minute details and executed the contract at the site.   The owner of the company indicated they will install the form boards for the foundation on Monday or Tuesday of this coming week.  The foundation, with the required 15 foot piers, will represent 11 to 12% of my budget for the home.  Despite what they say about the housing market, concrete and steel are not cheap.

I have arranged for our surveyor from Denton,TX to survey the form boards so that I can deliver documentation detailing the location of the proposed structures to the city. 

Pad Finished

The foundation pad for the home would have been finished last Friday but rain delayed completion until Monday.  We had planned on 600 yards of select fill but as it turned out, the site required 920 yards or 46 semi truck load of soil plus 1 truck load of gravel for the entry way to the property.  I am positive that the neighbors are glad we are completed since the crawler dozier sounded like a tank on maneuvers.

The next step is to schedule the surveyors to mark where the home and detached garage should be built and to schedule an appointment with the concrete sub-contractor since we will need to modify the contract in place since we had to raise the pad in front higher than we had planned. 

Overall, Lone Star Excavating did a good job.   Luis and Carlo were very dilegent about their work to insure proper drainage.   

Ground Breaking Day

Well, the day finally came after two years of planning.

Construction financing is in place, building permits have been approved and contracts are being signed for the construction of our home. Virginia and I arrived early so we could pray and ask for guidance and protection as we built the home. We stood on where our future front porch will be and asked for God’s blessing.

The first subcontractor on site was Asplin Corporation dba Lone Star Excavation. The first good sign was when Bob Asplin and crew showed up twenty minutes early. We were scheduled to meet at 7:30 AM. Bob, Luis and Carlos showed up at 7:10 AM with a 24 wheeled truck carrying a Cat 953 crawler. Most trucks have 18 wheels but this one had 24 wheels due to the weight of the equipment they have to carry to job sites. This morning was spent stripping the top six inches of vegetation from the pad site for the home and detached garage. The top soil and vegetation were piled at the back of the property in order to build a berm on the west of the property. After watching Carlos operate the crawler for about two hours, I had to concur what Bob Asplin said about Carlos’ skills: “He can part your hair with this crawler”.  It was obvious Carlos knew what he was doing.

Tomorrow, we will watch 30 trucks bring 600 yards of select fill to build the pad site up from 1 to 3 feet.

Major Factors That Affect The Value of Property

North Texas Population Growth
The Fort Worth Star Telegram reported on January 7. 2008 that the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area is now the fourth-largest metro area in the U.S.. Seven years ago, the metroplex was rated as the seventh largest. The North Central Texas of Governments reflects the metroplex is adding about 1 million residents very seven years.

Aerial Photograph of Property

The previous owner of the property provided us with this aerial showing the four acres we purchased. There are two separate lots with each lot being 2 acres.

The two acres we will be building on is Lot 3 which has been recently mowed as shown in the photo to the left (click on picture). This two acre track extends a little further north past the gravel road. The remainder of the property, Lot 4, extends to the payment shown at the top of the photo.

The home and detached garage we are planning are shown on the aerial. This is the highest part of the lot and we are locating the buildings to minimize damage to the trees. We plan to use an old gravel driveway as the entrance to the home.

Since the photo was taken, a new brick home has been built to the south (bottom of photo) and a historic home was moved to the lot behind us (to the left of the photo).

Our goal is to hold Lot 4 for sale some day or to build another home.

Home Design

The plans for our new home were drawn by Virginia and me using software developed by Chief Architect based in Coeur d’Alene, ID. The software version being used is Home Designer Pro. 7. We elected not to use an architect or home designer as we knew what we wanted in the home. The software is sophisticated such that it will not let you make errors. Bad design- perhaps yes, but not errors. We have spent untold hours designing and redesigning the home. This has provided some stress but a lot of satisfaction for the both of us.

Blog Transition

During 2004 and 2005, the Howell Journey Blog chronicled our RV travels after I took early retirement. We thoroughly enjoyed that part of our life but elected in late 2005 to find some rural property north of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. We sold our Monaco Motorhome in June 2006. After we sold the bus, we let the Blog go dormant for a while.

In March of 2006, we purchased four (4) acres of land in a rural town in Denton County, Texas which is approximately 30 miles north of downtown Dallas and 30 miles north of Fort Worth. The property is near the merger of I-35E, which goes through Dallas, and I35W, which goes through Fort Worth. Virginia elected early this year to reopen her law practice in the area and is participating as an oil and gas attorney in the wild ride that is the "Barnett Shale" gas play. In between this effort, we have planned our “retirement” home which we designed. Within the next month, we will be breaking ground.

We reactivated the Blog in March 2008 in preparation of starting to build the home. This post serves to delineate the old Blog, concerning our RV experiences, and the new Blog, which will record the activities as we will act as the General Contractor on the home. As Terrell Owens of the Cowboys said, “get your pop corn ready” and enjoy the ride with us.