My first woodworking project. Or how I spent my past 2 Summers...

[Keith Foster]

Slow, yes. But it came out pretty good for my first one. Even got people living in the box. Not exactly fine woodworking, but I'll save that for the furniture inside.



Actually, just did the stairs this past weekend. Still need the same for the front, but have to give the 'ole pocket book a rest for now. My wife, mom, dad, and myself built this over the past two years on 18 acres I own in Yoakum. During the construction phase my dad suffered a heart attack that sidelined him for the duration - and he was the brains behind the project. Me? I was "suppose" to be the money guy!

So, the misses and I took over the construction side and swung the hammers all the way to the finish line. While mom and dad did a lot of the early work (with our help), we went into overdrive right after the walls made it up and finished the framing for the roof and porches. We did sub out the shingles and the Hardie Plank. But pretty much everything else was done by one of us. Total size is 1200 sq ft under roof and the covered porches run the width both front and rear (6 wide by 40 long).

My parents now live in the house, which is my "retirement nest egg" for the future. Mom's a clean freak, so I have no doubt it will be in perfect condition for as long as they live there.

[Dan Oliphant]

Well done, that is quite a project in itself.

[Matthew Poeller]

Well I have to say that looks like a very nice place there you and your family have built. NICE JOB!

[Vaughn McMillan]

Real nice job Keith. After two summers of working on it, I'll bet it sure feels good to be done (or so close you can touch it).

- Vaughn

[Ken Fitzgerald]

While it's taken a while, I'm sure you are proud of your labor! Great project!

[John Bailey]

Great project and I hope your dad is doing well.

John

[Rob Russell]

Looks great! You can sort of tell I'm a Northerner though - my first thought was "that roof's too flat for snow load". I sort of doubt that's gonna be a problem in Yoakum.

[John Renzetti]

Hi Keith, Great job. I know that was a lot of work.
All the best to your dad.
take care,
John

[Keith Foster]

Looks great! You can sort of tell I'm a Northerner though - my first thought was "that roof's too flat for snow load". I sort of doubt that's gonna be a problem in Yoakum.

No, I don't think that will be an issue.

Dad did fine after his heart attack and bypass surgery. As the doc said - your hearts fixed, lets work on some of the other issues. At 71 years of age he doesn't get around as well as he use to. Heck, at 49 neither do I! Right now he is recovering from back surgery, hence the need for the stairs. Not that we were not going to put stairs in eventually - just letting the pocket book recover and taking a break from construction.

I'll have to give credit to my dad for the design of the house. He was a carpenter for the last 20 years and it was one of his dreams to build a house for himself. He had the will, I had the land and the cash for the project - so it seemed like a good mix at the time. My mom and dad lived in a small travel trailer on the property and worked on the house during the week. Then Joyce and I would go out every weekend to help with the heavy stuff. Gotta say though, after two years of nearly every weekend spent working on the house I'm awfully glad we can stop the maddness.

Still not done, and don't know if we every will truely be finished. But it did turn out well. Barns next, and the stables, and fences, and tanks, and...

Thanks for the compliments guys!

[Reg Mitchell]

keith
That is a nice home you have made for your family. I maade that almost exact house when i fuilt my home. 30X40 no back porch though and mine is 8 ft deep. I know exactly what you went through. I built mine working graveyard shift and alone. Nice job time to enjoy it now

[Keith Foster]

Thanks Reg. Yes, it seems to be a pretty common size for "home-built" units. Anything larger or with more corners sure gets to be a headache. Would love to see your place as well - and anyone else who's "joined the club". Can't say I'd recommend the job, but the experience was great.

Joyce and I are looking for plans now for a second home out there. But, I'll have to admit, after building one I think I'll have the next one built for me.

We are very interested in finding a set of plans for an energy efficent home. We have plenty of sun in Yoakum, so the next house will have solar panels for power. Add that to the wells for water and we should be able to live off grid - or if we are on grid we should be able to generate enough power to feed back to have a net zero cost when we pull from the electric company.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I plan on cutting expenses as much as possible after I retire. And paying high energy costs just isn't in the cards.