Only 20 days in and we're on the roof!

Day 20 we finished the roof framing. On to the sheathing, parapet and shear wall plywood in-fill and she’s fully framed.

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New Forest-Rose Project in Washington

#7 Forest Rose Plan 99.00

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Week One Photos from our Point Roberts Project

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Three weeks in - let's build a roof!

Showers are forecast for tomorrow but we’ve had a stellar run of dry weather - in spring no less, almost unheard of in our area of the Pacific Northwest. With walls tied we’re on to the roof framing.

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Up we go!

After two years off we felt it was time to flex some muscle with a new building project. Details and photos soon!

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2019 Tiny House Bundle Sale - 5 Days only!

29 Tiny House Plans & Guides for Just $49!!!

Get 2 tiny house plans from THE SMALL HOUSE CATALOG this year!

For 5 days only you can get 2 cool tiny house plans from THE small HOUSE CATALOG plus a variety of other plans, books and materials all for the price of just ONE plan! Our plans include the Moschata Tiny House (Plan #1) and The Tern Island Tiny House (Plan #48).

Click below to see everything you’ll be getting this year!

THE small HOUSE CATALOG and Friends

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A Gentle Plea for Insulation

A Snowy Day Reveals Our Insulation Weaknesses

We’ve been enjoying (for the most part) some snowy days here in the Maritime Northwest - currently, about ten inches are kind of melting on the ground, and the local streets have been plowed to a nice thick layer of white ice by our crews of well meaning (but not very experienced) snow plows.

Aside from the snow highlighting how unusual it is for us to get snow up here in our corner of the world it also shows off one of the shameful secrets many of us share…and that’s poor insulation.

If you go about neighborhoods after a decent snowfall, no matter where you live in North America, I’ll wager you’ll see the evidence as well. Roofs that should be completely covered with the white stuff if well insulated show instead our incredible failure to properly insulate. Sometimes it just runs along the ridge and eaves, highlighting that it can be hard to adequately stuff good amounts of insulation into those nooks and crannies without extra care. Perhaps a whole roof is looking pretty empty of snow or there are giant icicles hanging from the eave and a lot of snow sliding off the roof. All of these situations are common and point to lame insulation strategies. The snow gives some visual on where the heat being used inside is going: when insulation r-values are poor or insulation is not properly installed, heat will head right out of a building, especially a roof. Unimpeded by insulation, it will be so warm when it hits the cold air outside that it clears the roof of snow.

This wintry visual is also a good way to understand why not insulating and finishing homes properly inside and out can cause mold to grow in walls and ceilings. Condensation forms when the warm interior air hits a cold exterior surface. If moisture cannot escape, it will get moldy in time.

Insulation is SEXY! (How come no one believes me).

We have always been insulation and energy enthusiasts (we actually remind one another that at social gatherings and agree not speak about insulation for more than 5 minutes maximum lest we divest ourselves of all friendships!). We haven’t started out with heads full of knowledge and over the years have really learned a great deal about how to insulate well and where we can continue to improve. We still have improvements to achieve. In our next build we will achieve near passive house insulation, air-sealing & performance levels. But something sad we have noticed over the years is that people are not really interested in insulation. I say that without compunction because in our experience it’s been true no matter where we’ve lived. Certainly people LIKE the idea but simply won’t pay for it. The “most unkindest budget cut” of all, as perhaps even Julius Caesar would agree. I think it is because insulation can’t be seen - it’s just not exciting or showy the way a soaking tub or a shiny range is. Its effects can be felt though, for certain. If you don’t have enough, but that only hurts when the heating and cooling bills arrive. It’s really time to rethink this faux pas.

We lived in Maine and sold a house we built there in 2009. Oil prices the previous years had reached historic highs and fuel oil for homes was over $4.00 per gallon. In Maine (and elsewhere, really), huge drafty homes are the norm rather than an anomaly, and there were plenty of people truly hurt by the high oil costs. Theft from people’s tanks became an issue, and people who were already spending a ton of money every year on heating were paying almost twice as much. And yet, by the time we sold a year or so after the gas crisis had eased, no one really cared that we had used highly efficient spray foam insulation in the house - which kept our heating fuel costs minimal (literally fractions of what neighbors were spending) and also kept the home cool in the summers. People sounded interested, for certain, but weren’t inclined to pay any extra for the value added to the home. Shawn and I were amazed by this oversight…they would mention another home at a “better price point” as if we should be swayed by the argument. Our thought was heavily influenced by our knowledge that a better performing house is more comfortable, saves a ton of money right off the bat and especially over time, and is worth paying for.

The Climate Needs YOU to Pay Attention to your Insulation Strategy!

Here’s another reason to hyper insulate. A recent article I read indicated that use of fossil fuels in the US this past year were up after several years of declines. I anticipated this was from renewed use of coal. Boy, was I wrong. From the article:

“In the United States, emissions of carbon dioxide are projected to increase 2.5 percent in 2018 after a decade of declines. Culprits for the increase include unusual weather -- a cold winter in Eastern states and a warm summer across much of the nation ramped up energy needs for seasonal heating and cooling -- as well as a growing appetite for oil in the face of low gas prices.”

Please don’t underestimate the degree to which our homes can be major carbon emitters, especially as seasonal extremes become more and more “normal.”

A New Attitude Toward Insulation Is Needed Now

The above article is a clarion call regarding insulation standards in North America. I can’t speak for code requirements in other parts of the world as I’m unfamiliar with them, but in North America, we have a huge way to go, despite some recent improvements to energy codes in various parts of the US and Canada. Washington, for example, has upgraded its energy code and even requires blower door tests now to confirm that homes are meeting a reasonable amount of air tightness. But there’s so far to go in terms of making our houses truly tight, high functioning homes that protect us from the elements but don’t contribute to carbon emissions so heavily. We recently watched a video that described current homes as being more akin to “factories” in terms of their emissions, and we might do well to start considering that metaphor. While we’re encouraged (kind of) to be mindful of our carbon footprints, rarely is there much more than lip service being paid. When stricter mandates are put in place we might achieve more, but in the meantime, people should try their best to DO more.

Insulating your home well, beyond well and to the best of your abilities, is an investment that pays in so many ways. You will enjoy much more comfort, save way more money, and add less to the burden of carbon emissions than just sticking with the bare code minimums. Some people might feel great and happy about supporting their local gas and electricity utilities above and beyond their current (no pun intended) contributions, but there are some who might like to rethink this donation strategy. Insulation pays. Retrofitting can and should be accomplished, but if you are in the ideal situation of building from scratch, you can make all the right decisions from day one and never have a mess to clean up down the road.

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New plan release: #66 Casa Canejo

#66 Casa Canejo Plan CAD Options See SketchUp Model Click to see floor plan and elevations

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House plan giveaway winners announced

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The Mallard Sea Cottage #65 new plan release

Mallard Sea Cottage #65 99.99 Learn more about this plan!

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What to Look Forward to in 2019

The Year Ahead!

Another year is winding down and we’re beginning to think a little bit about the year ahead. We’ve got plan updates and price changes, a new super energy efficient house coming under construction this Spring, and seasonal/quarterly house plan giveaways in the works for 2019 so it promises to be a full one at THE small HOUSE CATALOG. Hope you’ll stick with us throughout!

Plan Updates and Pricing Changes

Shawn has begun the process of making extensive updates to all of the plans currently for sale on THE small HOUSE CATALOG website. These changes include fully updating plans to current IRC specifications, cleaning up plans generally for great flow and including electrical plans as a part of all plans (something that previously is an add on service with a price tag of $150.00). Along with those changes will come updated pricing to the plans, with all house plans rising to $99.99. At this time, we are intending to keep tiny house plans at their $29.99 price tag. Look for these changes to unroll throughout the next few months. In addition to the plans being updated and including the electrical plans, we are planning to allow all subscribers to the site to enjoy special pricing for the first full month that a new plan is released (in other words, for the first month, subscribers pay only $49.99 for the current release).

New Energy Efficient House Build Getting Underway

We have spent about a year working on a house plan for a very restricted building envelope on a lot here in our home town of Point Roberts. It’s been challenging to say the least, but at last we have a plan that is functional and ready to be submitted for permitting. We plan to incorporate as many energy efficient processes as possible, aiming for near (or better!) Passive House Standards. Lots of planning and work still to do on this project, but please look for some updates about the build in the year to come. We look forward to sharing.

Seasonal Giveaways!

For fun last year, we hosted a couple of house plan giveaways once a quarter. To enter, we asked interested people to leave a comment on our facebook page or on the blog page and then chose random winners after a few days for comments to accumulate. This was a great experience! For one thing, we loved hearing from followers and learning what people wanted to do and where they wanted to do it. For another, it’s nice to host a giveaway now and again, who doesn’t love winning something?!!? Please look forward to these giveaways throughout 2019 with the first giveaway appearing to ring in the year on January 1, 2019. Thereafter, we’ll host one on April Fool’s Day (no kidding), July 1st and Labor Day.

Thank You!

We’d also like to take a moment to say thank you to all of you who’ve been there along the way - supporting our small business with purchases and increasing our spirits with friendly notes, pictures of homes under construction and other encouraging interactions. It makes our work meaningful, so THANK YOU! We hope your holiday season is warm and wonderful and that 2019 brings good things.

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Don't Forget the Gingerbread House!

2016’s gingerbread house project - with houses!

Building Basics…The Importance of Models

If anyone out there thinks you can’t learn a lot by playing, it’s time to disabuse oneself of the notion! Even engineering firms and architectural firms create full blown models of the buildings they are considering constructing. Why? Partly for the visual, but also to discern potential engineering issues, costs, and material requirements. If you’re thinking of building your own house someday, feeling festive or perhaps have kids and friends who want to learn a bit about basic building techniques and the engineering behind the skills, try building a gingerbread house!

Sugar and Spice and Engineer Nicely!

Here’s what I recommend and why. If you recall building gingerbread houses as a kid, as I have been recently, you might remember that we often pasted our baked dough to the outside of some sort of frame. My memory is a little hazy but I feel like we might have used modified milk cartons or small boxes. The big question is why. It’s a teaching point, actually. If you attempted to just sugar paste your walls in place with nothing inside and then go straight to throwing on the roofing members, no matter how sticky your sugar glue or how tasty your gingerbread, you are probably going to experience some engineering problems as you carry on.

Gluing the roofing timbers right on top of an inappropriately supported frame could cause a host of lateral engineering nightmares, including outward thrust and racking of your building. Your cookie masterpiece will eventually be a pile of crumbles, just as it would if you attempted to build a “real” building this way. Load needs to be transferred in a way that provides structural integrity by carrying weight all the way to the foundation. Either use an interior frame of some sort of get really gucci and consider it solved by using load bearing interior walls, shear wall panels (for the sake of holiday ease, use an appropriate cookie equivalent of well glued 2 foot unbroken panels in the corners…too many windows in your walls might require an engineer’s stamp in your jurisdiction). Don’t forget that a Glu-Lam like potential is always there in the world of cookie construction. If you need a bigger timber but don’t have it on hand, scab it together with more icing and cookie! Suddenly you’ll have so much more support for spanning greater distances appropriately. The IRCC (International Residential Cookie Code) may have helpful tables available if you can get your hands on one.

 

Dinosaurs! Me with my side of the three-sided gingerbread “house” I built with friends for this year’s holiday get together. What theme would you use to build?!

 

Candy Canes - An Overlooked Method of Load Transfer

Times have changed as building sciences have gotten more sophisticated. But not all of the methods of the past are outdated…sometimes it’s just so hard to find good material (really strong dimensional timber at reasonable prices - or at all) and we come up with new ways to solve problems. Nowadays, load bearing walls and other ways of transferring load do the work that standing beams or pillars used to do…When you are supporting your cookie structure…rather than lolly columns or partitioning your home using walls where you might not want them, consider the candy cane (or the Lolly-Pop, ho ho ho!). They have myriad benefits. They’re ubiquitous. They’re inexpensive. They are striped in jolly colors and fit into nearly every gingerbread decorating scheme. You can used the curved ones or the straight ones, and they even come in different circumferences and lengths. Make sure to put a few in the corners of your building and perhaps position a few carefully under the ridge beam, or wherever point loads might be a concern. If any candy can solve a structural problem, the candy cane is your go to!

Don’t Forget about Snow Load!

I don’t know about you or your kids if you have them but when I was a kid, gluing the gingerbread together was merely the preamble to the real fun of loading the roof with tons of sugar frosting and gum drops and other candy decorations. Sounds a lot like snow load to my adult ears. Another great teaching point. How to be able to load that roof with decorations (think Minnesota snow load!) and not end up with an unsightly sagging roof or more lateral troubles. Be sure to include strong structural cookie components when building the roof. I imagine the equivalent of some long rectangular gingerbread pieces here, maybe looking vaguely reminiscent of 2 x 12 lumber. You might be able to size those rafters down a bit if perhaps you are a candy and frosting minimalist (the gingerbread equivalent of a Palm Springs location?). So give this a bit of thought with your building crew. It might be worth some discussion over a hot chocolate or two. Support the roof so it can handle all the weight you might add to it. All that icing sugar and bulk bin candy (I mean snow and ice!!) can really add up in terms of weight.

A Properly Built Home Will Last For Years to Come!

Build for the ages! A properly built home, whether of cookies, candy and sugar or the less tasty materials from lumber yards, should be built to stand the test of time. If you’re feeling like the whole idea of building a huge gingerbread home is overwhelming or too grand, don’t forget that you can start small. The joys you receive from your home will carry on for many many seasons to come, so see what you learn and enjoy the process!

Happy Holidays!!!!

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Book Review: A Carpenter's Life: As Told by Houses by Larry Haun

I just finished a book written by a highly skilled builder (who sadly is no longer with us) named Larry Haun. It’s called, simply, A Carpenter’s Life as Told By Houses. From the perspective of a builder, seasoned or new to the craft, there’s plenty to be gleaned from his commentary on method and various structure. For gardeners, those that love the planet and worry about our use of its resources and small house/sustainable living fans, there’s also much to keep the reader engaged.

Larry Haun was born in 1931 and grew up in rural western Nebraska. He offers many interesting reflections on growing up in an uninsulated wood framed house out on the plains (think COLD and WINDY!) and takes the reader on a journey through recent era architecture that is quite illuminating. While a lot of us are familiar with at least a few building techniques, including styles as far apart as straw bale and regular light frame construction, few of us have hands on experience with “soddy” buildings, pit houses, quonset huts, or genuine adobe. Getting a look into what these building styles offer and how they are created is one great reason to read this book. Larry’s gentle style and rambling story telling fashion will probably keep you hooked. The erudition in this volume is experiential and shared in frank fashion. I enjoyed it and was surprised by how non-dry it was.

I was also impressed by the range of Mr. Haun’s experience. How many people do you know who can claim experience building a pit house with friends of the family on the Nebraska plains, quonset huts on Greenland during the Korean War, adobe houses with friends in New Mexico, and was also a part of the huge transition during the Southern California building boom that commenced in the middle of the 20th century. Larry speaks with precision about all the little changes that were involved in the move from customized building that took a crew about a year to accomplish (the kind of building I’ve had some experience with) and the streamlined, subcontractor-centric version that has come to be the norm. Larry details little time saving tool developments in layout, marking and structure that people of a certain age (like me and many others) wouldn’t even think about, having never known the “old way.” A single case in point was his mention of the folding rule. I’ve come to know the folding rule because Shawn uses one at times, especially in areas where he needs to get measurements in between spaces where a tape might not offer enough precision. Imagine my surprise when Mr. Haun mentioned, casually, that the amount of time saved by a builder using the newly introduced retractable tapes vs. the old folding rules added up not just to a minute or two of saved time, but hours over the course of a job. I’d never thought of it in those terms. And there are other interesting insights made by this person of much experience, one more surprise being his emphasis of how much better even basic buildings are today than they were when he grew up on the Plains. His love of insulation, air sealing and concurrent use of least toxic materials in buildings evidences his understanding of houses as a whole, rather than bits and pieces, and reminds the reader that a house is meant to be built for humans and not just for profit.

Along the way, there are numerous rambles and diversions that I suppose might drive you nuts if you were expecting a cut and dry treatise on particular building methods. But this book is as much a ramble as an introduction to styles; while Haun has written much more precisely about technique and method in other books and DVD’s this book is ruminative, sometimes a little sad, always thoughtfully engaged and evidently grateful in perspective. You get a great feel for the author and I ended the book feeling like if I’d lived in the same town as he, we might have been friends. At least, I like to think so! I also had the sense of a younger person listening to an older person speak and garnering the gifts of perspective that come with that. The book is full of casual insights that are of great interest to the reader but were just a part of growing up for Mr. Haun. For example, he shares an incredible story of his mother standing up to the “local chapter” of the KKK in his tiny town in Nebraska (the family was Catholic and hence incurred the wrath of this backwards group). But the other aspect of interest in this related story was the firmness with which Haun could at once note the horrible aspects of the group’s behavior while also noting that their town was so small that it was easy to tell the klansmen by their shoes, though they saw fit to hide their faces. I suppose he learned this skill of a firm opinion bolstered by wide perspective from his mother, who arrived next day at the local cafe where the perpetrators were dining and hit them with a newspaper and issue a stern warning not to mess with her family again. Thankfully, not many people have this experience nowadays, but it’s worth noting how an this impressed itself upon the author as a child and led him to grow up into a proper human, knowing right from wrong.

I should not give the impression, either, that the book is all about diversions. While there’s social commentary in varying forms (especially concerning our depressingly casual disregard for the planet and all of us living things upon it) throughout, the book really does illuminate the basics of myriad building styles and some of the associated drawbacks and benefits to them. For example, the table of contents includes the soddy, the straw bale, the dugout, quonset, pre-cut and tract house. There are a few others in there as well and builders of even the most basic knowledge level will appreciate the comments about building technique included that indicate a full understanding of the process from foundation work to flooring choices.

Mr. Haun has had first hand experience with all of it. His meditative commentary reveals a truly well experienced person…who grew up in hardscrabble times on the unforgiving Nebraska Plains (pre-electrification and grocery store!), and traveled, in his days, to Mexico, the Philippines, Greenland and Canada (during his war time service) ending up in Southern California before making his way up the coast to Coos Bay, OR where he retired into work for Habitat for Humanity and the pursuit of good gardening with his grandchildren. Does he have interesting insights? You bet!

I loved this book. There’s something, truly, to appeal to everyone. I enjoyed the non pedantic presentation of building facts, history and just general observation of human behavior. I enjoyed feeling a harmony with the author as he talked about why he admired small houses and simplicity rather than the giant mega mansions that we unfortunately see too many of (and at great cost). I enjoyed his memories of family, tales of life on the range (really!) and his first hand accounts of the incredible changes that were already mostly accomplished by the time I was born. There’s a lot to learn about much more than building in this book, and I’m glad the author chose to share.

If you get a chance to read this one, I highly recommend it. It should leave you with a smile. And an appreciation for insulated houses!

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How About that Old Time Architecture?! Thoughts on Ancestral Puebloan Architecture in Mesa Verde, CO

Time’s Tide…The Spectrum of Architecture at Mesa Verde

We are recently returned from a wonderful fall trip that took us to several National Parks in Utah, California and Colorado. A highlight of the trip was a long anticipated visit to Southern Colorado to see Mesa Verde National Park, a site showcasing not only the breathtaking geology of the Colorado Plateau, but the incredible preserved architecture of the Ancestral Puebloans, descendants of whom today still live throughout the Southwest and are represented by Hopi, Zuni, Acoma and others.

Anyone who has been to archaeological sites in the Four Corners region know how breathtaking and humbling it can be to see so much evidence of advanced culture spread out before them. It was my first time, and I came as a visitor with a strong interest in building and architecture and with no especial background in archaeology (except for a well developed sense of curiosity and wonder). I spent quite a bit of time at the sites imagining (and marveling over) the construction and development of the clearly advanced building skills that housed people in a generally harsh climate. I noted changes in technology that allowed for more functional heating (the introduction of a draft chamber to help the fires heat more effectively, for example), for the construction of watering systems (reservoirs and catchment systems) that allowing more controlled agriculture. Even the incorporation of window and door headers allowing for stacked construction could be seen very clearly, as though on a timeline of progress writ large. Seeing architecture go from the invisible history of nomadic life to tangible archaeological history represented by stone ruins proving settled life was simply incredible.

Using Local Materials in Architecture - The Oldest Rule

Mesa Verde is probably best known for the many examples of cliff dwellings that are well preserved there. The buildings are in difficult to reach areas and thanks to that, at least in part, were well preserved over the years as they escaped the eyes of would be vandals and do not appear to have been consistently re-inhabited after the last of the Ancestral Puebloans left (for reasons still not fully understood but at least partly relating to population and climatic changes). The cliff dwellings are absolutely breathtaking to behold (bring binoculars, they will afford you wonderful viewing whether or not you are able to get in on the Ranger led tours which fill quickly and are only available seasonally). There are numerous other examples of earlier architecture in the area, ranging from pit houses to partially above ground dwellings as well as evidence of advanced water collection systems and a well developed society with religious and community dwellings (again, some of the significance and meaning behind these structures remains obscure) evident in abundance. How exciting it was to walk in the early morning quiet among all of this. We traveled during the off season and the cold clear mornings were wonderful for exploring without the push and shove of crowds. A walk through the Far View Sites and other points of interest (the self guided Petroglyph Point interpretive trail is my highest recommendation!) exemplified to us all sorts of architecture from various eras of habitation. Everything from pit houses to multi-storey square towers built into cliff walls with hand and footholds carved in to the rock for access and egress could be witnessed first hand in a relatively small park area. Not only this, guided walking and driving tours made it possible to learn a bit about all the subtle changes in architecture that came in between “covered pits” and three storey buildings with kitchens, storage areas and areas perhaps exclusively meant for communal gatherings.

What all of this evidence pointed to, from a building perspective alone, was the required sensitivity to locally available materials (limited use of wood, lots of stone) and awareness of seasonal changes (south facing structures to pick up heat and light as well as borrow heat from cliffside and earthen thermal mass, cliff overhangs also provided shelter from rainfall). Elevation, even, was obviously and not so obviously taken into consideration. High, hard to access dwellings surely provided safety, but much of the Ancestral Puebloans food was grown directly overhead the cliff dwellings, where rain was more plentiful and temperatures more favorable to dryland agriculture. No grocery stores for a quick fill in, and crop failures would have been catastrophic rather than something to perhaps make our favorite foods more pricey than we’d like. Truly, Mesa Verde National Park is a fascinating, humbling and gratitude inducing place to visit!

Lessons from the Past with Pressing Implications

It seems to me that the lesson I most took away from the visit, in terms of architecture (as opposed to archaeology or cultural history, about which I know just the interesting bits I learned at the park) is that all of us humans build what we need with what we have, at least to start. As those two basic ingredients are met, we add new things…perhaps we add in safety (sounds better than defense), proximity to other members of our family, group, clan, tribe etc. Then might come things that reflect our commitment to things beyond the basics…pursuit of artistic crafts, development of technology, and spirituality become evidenced in the record. First, basic needs are met and then the layering begins as we augment and make our housing more homelike. We do have the option to go bananas (and some might say that we have, with our in house movie theaters, climbing walls, etc.) but it may not be our best choice of material usage.

It’s interesting to note, as well, as you almost instantly will if you visit any site that has clearly been abandoned and not taken over by new folks, that our housing depends on our landscape from start to finish, once to get us off the ground by providing raw material for construction and throughout the life process to keep us in food, beauty, accessibility, and other provisions. It’s not clear what combination of factors forced the abandonment of Mesa Verde by the Ancestral Puebloans, but in our current era of changing climate and the things that may or may not come along with that in terms of agricultural viability, water availability and the safety that comes from just implicitly understanding what to expect in terms of weather, it’s an interesting point of comparison.

What would cause you to leave your home? I gave this a lot of thought at Mesa Verde looking at the beautiful and durable architecture that wasn’t enough to stave off abandonment when more pressing issues came a knocking…I have given this further thought reading of the horrible wildfires that have caused such displacement and destruction in California, especially the most recent Camp Fire still claiming lives and livelihoods in Northern California. In seeing archaeology in person, evidence of our long history on this planet, I found it humbling to be reminded that change can occur (suddenly or otherwise) and our well laid plans, despite forethought, artistry and consummate skill, cannot protect us from every event. It made me wonder what steps I could take to keep sustainability in mind during all of our building processes. I know I can’t foresee every event, but surely the lessons left by ancestral humans from every background have teaching power still. It’s good and proper to be inspired!

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So You Want to Build Your Own House But...

Do You Have What it Takes to Build Your Own House?

At this point in our lives, almost incredibly, Shawn and I have built four houses together, plus a tiny house on wheels and a pretty gucci garage that we lump together and call a “house” worth of work. It had to start somewhere, and people sometimes ask us about our beginnings, since we aren’t contractors but love to build.

We started our “building career” by building a tiny chicken house in our backyard. BTW, that chicken house failed “inspection” by the young girl we were buying our chickens from. She took a look at it and with the worldly wisdom of an eight year old with lots of chicken raising experience pronounced it too small for comfortable chicken habitation. It’s the only building inspection we’ve ever flunked! We re-built it. True story. We also built a couple of small and mid sized outbuildings before thinking that we could absolutely build a house. A carpenter gave us a tutorial on one of the outbuildings and we’d learned plenty about remodeling, framing and basic structure while bringing our first house up to standards.

If anyone were to ask what I think made us succeed in our building endeavors, I’d list the following. We are self motivated and autodidactic, not afraid to ask lots of questions, largely humble, fairly patient, will go back and fix our mistakes even when it’s irritating to do so, and are willing to read plenty from the library or online to increase our knowledge. This particular cocktail of traits, I think, have been valuable assets in becoming successful at building. Add into that the mix our love of hard work, being outside and being self directed and it’s a good recipe.

A small collection of decent tools will also help whether purchased, borrowed or rented. It’s easy to get caught up in the marketing, but attention to detail makes you a good builder, not owning every tool under the sun. Our first two and a half homes were hand spiked…we didn’t get a pneumatic nailer till the Island House build. That isn’t to suggest that some tools won’t make your life easier, only to say, don’t feel you need a house sized budget for tool purchases in order to build.

What Does “I’m Building My Own House” Mean to You?

What else should you consider before undertaking a build? Well, consider how you define the process to start. To elucidate…after we built for the first time, we met lots of people who had done the same, to varying degrees. By this I mean that we met some people for whom “building their own home” meant hiring a GC and paying all the bills…no more and no less. This approach doesn’t eliminate the stresses or thrills of the build, so if that’s your definition, don’t be shy about it. Hiring a construction firm, a GC or even undertaking to be your own GC are all viable approaches to building and might be your best bet, especially if you aren’t technical, confident or flush with time. This approach also works well if you’ve got more money than time. A crew will work efficiently and effectively and will sometimes also make allowances for people who want, for example, a home framed and closed in for them and to take over the finishing work. There’s a rainbow of options out there. So if you are a skilled tile worker or want to do your own painting, flooring, or what have you…you can opt to just take on this part of the job and will still have put some sweat and hard work into building your own home.

I think this is fairly obvious, but I mention it because sometimes people approach home building as though only skilled tradespeople or absolute DIYers can build homes. It was an astonishing insight to me when, halfway through our first ever build, it occurred to me that Shawn and I were just doing the thing that humans have been doing since the beginning of our times…providing ourselves shelter against the elements. A cave or a sod home, a pitched tent or a 5,000 square foot palace…these are all iterations of our need to have shelter from the storms, built with varying degrees of skill. The reason this little thought was so empowering to me, though, is that it enabled me to see that the desire to build, the ability to build, is something all humans have. We can hone our works by learning specialized skills or following the requirements for our areas, but the ability and need to provide ourselves with shelter is already there..

Which leads me to wind up this casually thoughtful blog post…what you need most to build your own house, however hands on about it you choose to be, is the impetus and motivation. It takes some money, but not necessarily a colossal budget. You can (and really should) allow your budget of money, time, materials and skill to help shape your project. Allowing this to happen will go a ways toward ensuring a build without crazy stress on your shoulders (because building also has this aspect to it). If you can conceive of the project from start to finish from there you can get a bead on costs and projected time to completion.

The Answer is Always Yes

There’s no one size fits all answer to whether or not you can build your own house. The answer is always yes in the sense that there’s a way for any project to be done. At one end of the spectrum, money will suffice to do the whole thing without lifting a finger. At the other end of the spectrum, if you can find a place to build, you can take as long as you need with some consideration and do all the work yourself for the least amount of money. It’s a choose your own adventure sort of thing and if the bug stays with you long enough, you’ll probably chart your home building path sooner or later!

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Plan No. 64 - The Loft House

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What If I Can't Build What I Want On My Lot?

Does The Addition Add Up?

My previous blog entry revisited ADU structures that might be desired by a property owner to provide more space for family members, rental income or any other number of reasons. I suggested doing some footwork to make sure that a fully autonomous structure was valid in one’s location. Now I want to examine what steps you might take if you find that the detached structure you wanted to build isn’t allowable for some reason.

Different Goals, Different Solutions

First of all, your response will depend a lot on what your goals are. If you want more space to allow for a craft space, a workshop, room for guests or kids or other family members, perhaps a simple addition would be adequate. Additions have their own set of compliance issues, but they are typically at least somewhat less than building a whole new detached structure and might solve all your needs with less fuss. Tasteful additions that meet your aesthetic and other requirements should be easy enough to obtain.

Can an Addition Increase Your Bottom Line?

What if your real wish in considering an ADU is to achieve potential rental income? I’ll dedicate much more space to this issue since most of what drives people to invest in ADU’s is the desire for additional income. Can you have an addition or remodel fulfill that need? The town just north of us has a lot of homes featuring “suites” that are of the same structure, but separate in terms of having their own kitchen, bath, entrance, etc. Despite there not being a separate dwelling unit on the site, these homes are essentially two units and one is fully rented out.

An addition could potentially meet this demand while also meeting zoning or building department requirements that prohibit a fully detached unit. That’s something to look into and verify, because the opposite could also be true. An addition meant to serve as a rental will have its own set of issues to conform to, but those might be easier to meet.

When doing due diligence, some things to consider would again be fire safety and compliance, parking or driveway issues (provision of parking for a guest or tenant), connection or splitting of utilities should be investigated, and your building department might even have things to say about which way the main entrance to the unit faces (seriously, you should look into that…it could be the case). Rules vary by jurisdiction (some locations don’t even have building codes!) so they should be explored fully prior to beginning a project (ideally before you even start getting your heart set or your finances structured on a particular renovation!). You might also want to check with zoning to be sure a rental is feasible and allowed. If you belong to a neighborhood association that would also be a group to contact to be sure you keep good relations with your neighbors!

A home renovation, build, addition or side yard cottage are all things that people undertake or consider at different times and for differing reasons. Being clear on what you want to accomplish and knowing how flexible you are, personally, for achieving your goals can help you ask the right questions in advance and make your building process more straightforward and less stressful. Do some homework and consider your options. Remaining open to flexible solutions can help you avoid the sense that building departments and others with lots of rules and regulations exist solely (or mostly) to thwart your desires!

Privacy Please

Most of us are pretty creative and imaginative, and you can create an addition or remodel that supports your wishes in terms of outcomes while also satisfying aesthetic considerations. Privacy is an issue that needs a bit more investigation. If you are thinking of using an addition to your home to generate income, that will involve some consideration on your part . Just off the top of my head, if I were to build a rental space into my home, I’d seek to find ways to mimic full autonomy, by creating separate pathways, entrances and outdoor spaces and perhaps use natural or manmade screening devices, etc. that would allow both tenant and homeowner to keep their privacy intact as much as possible. I would also consider ways to more fully soundproof a home or the addition, at the very least, in order to keep noise transfer between units to a minimum. Much can be achieved with extra insulation (acoustic panels could be a great investment) and creative landscape work and while perhaps an additional expense, should pay back in terms of comfort for many years to come.

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Things to Research Before Planning on an ADU

Doing Your Homework Saves Headaches Down the Road

People decide to expand their homes in all sorts of ways and for all sorts of reasons. These reasons can really change over time as trends and current realities influence one another and us with some fluidity. A short time ago I offered some ideas about ADU’s and DADU’s (Accessory Dwelling Units and Detached Accessory Dwelling Units). ADU and DADU projects can offer a number of resource options, from providing extra room for family to providing a potential source of rental income.

Building a whole new house on the same lot as your home comes with certain restrictions and requirements, and you should familiarize yourself with these things as much as possible before undertaking the project. I thought I’d share some potential areas to explore in advance.

This won’t be an exhaustive list of circumstances to be sure - any number of unique situations can (and do) crop up in a given location but here are some issues that we’ve heard people contend with unexpectedly or that have given them pause for thought.

Fire Safety First

If you are living on a small urban lot or other population dense area it is highly likely that your building code will require you to maintain distance between your primary structure and the new ADU that allows for fire codes to be met and discourages the ability of a house fire to spread easily from house to house. If your setbacks only allow a build in a narrow area of your side yard or backyard, you will want to be certain that the ADU you are designing will not cross those setbacks or, if it does, that you can mitigate for proximity by incorporating fireproof materials into your building in a manner that satisfies the code. This might include nixing windows on one side or using rated fire materials on certain exterior walls of the building. This can be straightforward or complex to achieve - but in my opinion, all problems are easier to troubleshoot ahead of time than half way through the design or permitting process. Some research with your local building departments can be very helpful when it comes to design and feasibility.

Your local fire code may also have things to say regarding parking and emergency crew access to your home(s) so it would be worth finding out if your adding a structure to your property will in any way affect parking, driveway or turnaround requirements with them as well.

Mind The Gap…But Not Too Much!

Another big thing to concern yourself with in terms of adding a structure to your lot is that your proposal be mindful of all required setbacks…these setbacks are sometimes obvious, as in maintaining proper distances from property lines. But you might also want to check in with your local building department to verify whether there are specific rules in terms of allowable distance from the existing house on your property. In our county, for example, ADU’s are required to be within a particular distance (10 feet) from the main home, and there are other potentially restrictive requirements must be met as well before permitting. That’s something else to check out with your local jurisdiction.

It would also be advisable to verify with all utility providers that the proposed structure can be fully serviced and will not interfere with existing service provisions. Knowing which side of the house you’d like the utilities to enter and exit would be helpful to have in mind ahead of time - or finding out if connections need to be made at a standardized location (eg: east wall, front wall or same side as existing dwelling, etc) per your utility’s policies. Calling your water, sewer and electric or gas utilities could potentially save you a headache down the road and help you with your design and layout process.

Stay in the Zone

Some building departments are completely separate from their counterparts in zoning. The rules of both must be satisfied. These hands sometimes don’t shake as seamlessly as you’d expect. Be sure to find out ahead of time if you are meeting local zoning requirements when undertaking a design. For example…a building department might find nothing structurally problematic with your 22 foot high ADU submission, but your local zoning department might only allow a 17 foot high structure in a given neighborhood. That could be the case even if the main dwelling is 25 feet high! This is just an example, but what I mean to say is: Assume nothing. Check with everyone and you will be properly educated about the process and can make your experience much less likely to elicit stress.

So there it is in a non exhaustive nutshell. Most of what you want to determine ahead of time for a backyard cottage, mother in law suite, ADU or DADU overlaps with the footwork you’d need to do to obtain a building permit on an empty lot. But if you’ve never built from scratch, that might be new territory. And what is certainly potentially new territory for any addition to a single lot is that the rules are likely at least a bit different than for a brand new build. Rather than being scared off, take the time to ask questions from the right departments. It can be incredibly helpful.

Is There Any Other Way?

Next week I’ll explore another option (building on an addition) for those wanting to expand their footprint even if it seems preferable or if some local requirements can’t be met in your proposed detached unit.

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New plan release: Skyway Redux ADU

Skyway Redux

Skyway Redux is designed to be used as a one-bedroom, one-bathroom ADU but could also satisfy a variety of needs, including guest cottage, cabin or small home.

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Dealing with Burnout on the Building Site

This is how builder’s burnout can feel! But the blue skies are up ahead…

How to Keep Going when the Fire’s Gone Out

I first got the idea for this blog entry three years ago about this time of year. I guess it took me this long to feel ready to put the idea into words and share it with you. The issue I’m thinking about is burnout, and everyone experiences it sometimes. It can be a particular nuisance when you “catch it” on a building site, especially since it often strikes at critical moments. During our San Juan Island build I had a bad case of it as we approached close in, and then it struck again, oddly, toward the finishing stages of our build when you’d think excitement should be the foremost feeling. During the first bout, I was able to get through it because there was no choice. We had to get the roof on, and the rains that return to the Northwest every fall are a significant motivator for physical work, even if the heart isn’t fully in it. The second round of burnout was whisked away almost like magic when a couple of dear friends (also experienced in building their own home and doing building work by trade) came for a visit and reinvigorated us. Like getting over a cold, but faster and with less sniffling!

I don’t know why burnout happens or suddenly lifts. It can feel like a bad mood settling on you. A combination of stress, worry, financial strain, physical and mental exhaustion, the mere reality that you’ve got too much to do…all of those things might play greater or lesser roles in burnout. It can show up at odd times. Why, for example, would you hit a wall when you’re down to the last month or so of work on a project? I recall a couple we met while living in Maine. They were finishing a massive renovation project on their mother’s home and were literally weeks from completion of a long job. We shared being from the west coast and also about to return there. They were a fun couple to meet at what felt like just the right time, and one of this team had hit his limit. He was burned out. He had several pretty important things to do and not too long to do it, and found he was so unmotivated that he’d get dressed and ready to finish the project but would instead sit down and just watch TV. This was causing both he and his fiance some serious concern, but after a week or two he seemed to get over it and finished the work.

How could someone so close to finishing (literally a few weeks worth of work) just be sitting there doing nothing, apparently unable to rouse himself to do something so “simple”? I couldn’t understand that profound burnout at the time, because we’d had such a good time building in Maine, even with the bumps in the road (and there were plenty). In retrospect, however, the project becomes such fun, that now I can’t remember ever feeling burned out there…surely I must have been sometimes, but the mind has smoothed out the wrinkles and we have only fondness for the experience (multi kid moms I’ve talked to say this sounds a lot like what happens in remembering pregnancy/childbirth!). But I think the real issue is that I’d not experienced what he had. I hadn’t gotten burnout till the island project. That building project I still remember much of with inklings of stress and an overall sense that it was just not a fun experience, though it was a successful one in many ways.

How to Process Burnout

So what do you do with burnout if you catch it? First, I think it’s helpful to realize it’s pretty normal. Doing a random search online will reveal the sensation is experienced by just about everyone - regardless of profession. Everyone from social workers to Olympians experiences the sensation. Sometimes work is very hard. Second, I think that fact should be acknowledged. Some of the things we confront are not simple, might be physically or mentally or financially challenging, and concurrently offer no straightforward resolution. The unfortunate reality is that plowing ahead, whether you’re excited or not, is often the only way to solve the problem. Sometimes, the mind isn’t ready to accept that and burnout ensues. Remind yourself that this is going on. You can overcome the sensation by sheer willpower if needed. Burnout, in my opinion, gets worse the longer you stall. Moving ahead in whatever capacity is the way to move beyond it ultimately, as it will provide a sense of relief. Which is my third tip for dealing with burnout. Don’t stop working, not for long, at least. Take a day to physically recuperate if need be. Even if it’s a day of rest that allows you to complete other chores that are different than building related chores. Get caught up on laundry or clean the house up or make some phone calls you’ve needed to. But don’t take too much time off. A little break can reset your clock but too long of one can be like a really deep chair, too hard to get out of. Lastly, be realistic with yourself. Maybe you need some assistance to get yourself through a particular phase of the build. Is the roof work too much for you? Would hiring some assistance for finishing work, framing, drywall or what have you make your job manageable again? Sometimes you’ve got to get out of the weeds, and once you do, the sense of being caught up can, if not rekindle your fire for the project, at least help you feel like you can face it again. Even if this aspect is financially difficult or unplanned for, it could be worth it. Another tip…if you don’t have the financial resources to get assistance, be realistic about that too. You may have to take a long time to get the work done. Acknowledging that can help. In Maine, we ran out of finances right around the time the drywall needed to go in. The recession had just hit and there was no way any additional loan money could be procured. We needed very little to finish the work, but that didn’t matter to any bank. While we initially felt annoyed, we realized in short order that we were just going to have to do the drywall (for three and a half floors) ourselves. It was a job we could handle in small sections. Drywall is cheap…and since it took us forever to do it ourselves the payment could be made out of our income over time. No loan required. But it did take us over a year to complete. Realizing we’d be living in the midst of all that dust took an adjustment period. But there you go. Acceptance. The final aspect of dealing with burnout. Sometimes, you just have to acknowledge that you’re most certainly burned out but that in time, it will resolve. You might feel cruddy for a long time, but eventually it will get better.

Learning From Burnout

Those are my tips. They aren’t exhaustive and perhaps aren’t even particularly helpful. There’s no magic wand. I was surprised by burnout. For the most part, I love everything about the process…the intellect and problem solving involved, the independence of the work, the excitement of learning new things and being in new places, the physical aspects…Recognizing what I was feeling and not being too hard on myself was a useful approach. Being stubborn and knowing that I had to move ahead no matter what kind of mood I was in was also helpful because I never reached the point of no return this way. Friends giving us encouragement and even just visiting gave me oomph when I thought oomph was excised from my existence. Believing that if I just kept at it, it would get better also helped. Having had a case of burnout, I hope that even reading about it will make anyone suffering from it feel a little better.

You’ll make it through!!

PS, Just because you get burnout once, by the way, doesn’t mean you’ll experience it again. We rolled right into another building project and it was actually FUN. We planned it carefully so that it wouldn’t be too expensive or physically demanding, and it was a good experience. So don’t let a bad experience one place make you think you’d never do it again. Just let it make you wiser!

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