The new house is FINALLY started......

[Shooter McKevin]

Originally Posted by JimN

What, no gun range?

His back yard is his gun range.

[jkski]

Man that would have been a cool idea, maybe I will have to build a room under the pole barn instead!!! Oh wait, that would take money something I will no longer have when this is done....not that I had any to begin with but one can always dream!

[jkski]

Here are a few pics I took last night. The basement should be completed today and the remainder of the garage block is set to arrive sometime this morning so that they can get that underway. The waterproofers are scheduled for Friday and then it is time to move some more dirt around.
As of yesterday the framers are now set to start on either the 27th or January 2nd, depending on when lumbar can arrive on site.
The weather here is nice for the next few days so that should not stand in the way of the block getting done and should help to momentarily dry things out a bit.

[JulioX2]

I've never seen a cinder block foundation before used for a basement. Is that normal for your area?

[ski_king]

Originally Posted by JulioX2

I've never seen a cinder block foundation before used for a basement. Is that normal for your area?

Cinderblock basements account for about 75% of the houses being built in my area (western PA), not too far from where jkski is building his house.

jkski, you mentioned you are going with log/timberframe construction, do you have any further details on this. I built a my log house a few years ago.

[jkski]

The actual construction of the home will resemble long/timberframe but will be traditional stick framed. I would like to have gone the true postand beam route but the cost was way more than I could take on and looking to the future I wanted to minimize my maintenance. The exterior of the home will be a vinyl siding that resembles the 1/4 log look (if you google Timbermill vinyl siding and look at the American Cedar you will see what I am using). We really liked the product and while it is less expensive than traditional 1/4 log wood siding and obviously little maintenance. The downside is that it costs considerably more than traditional vinyl siding.

[thatsmrmastercraft]

Originally Posted by jkski

The actual construction of the home will resemble long/timberframe but will be traditional stick framed. I would like to have gone the true postand beam route but the cost was way more than I could take on and looking to the future I wanted to minimize my maintenance. The exterior of the home will be a vinyl siding that resembles the 1/4 log look (if you google Timbermill vinyl siding and look at the American Cedar you will see what I am using). We really liked the product and while it is less expensive than traditional 1/4 log wood siding and obviously little maintenance. The downside is that it costs considerably more than traditional vinyl siding.

Interesting stuff. Looking forward to how that turns out.

[jkski]

Well, the house block is now completed and they are moving along quickly on the garage. The waterproofers did not make it out yesterday (Friday) and with the weather not looking the greatest I am not sure when they will be there. As of the time I left the site last night the plan was to cover the all of the block to keep it dry. They may go out today to try and finish the garage area, so we will be working on some grading and backfill next week as well as trenching in the gasline, electric and trenching out the footer drain.

When I got to the site the mason had a flat, so I spent a little time fixing that for him, figured it couldn't hurt to have a little good Karma working for me and besides, he probably got the hole from the recycled material I brought in for the driveway fill....so it was pretty much my fault the way I see it. I can't wait to bury that junk material in the garage area as fill. If anyone is considering using recylced for their drive, I suggest you really look into the cost difference and just how "clean" your supplier can get the stuff, mine is riddled with everything from concrete wire to angle iron. I will take a pic of the junk I picked-up so far next time I am at the site.

[JohnnyB]

Originally Posted by ski_king

Cinderblock basements account for about 75% of the houses being built in my area (western PA), not too far from where jkski is building his house.

jkski, you mentioned you are going with log/timberframe construction, do you have any further details on this. I built a my log house a few years ago.

Looks like an area that could use more poured wall contractors....... That seems like a lot of time and labor cost for block v. Poured walls

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[jkski]

Originally Posted by JohnnyB

Looks like an area that could use more poured wall contractors....... That seems like a lot of time and labor cost for block v. Poured walls

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I thought the same thing and while there are a lot of contractors in our area who do the poured walls as a "standard" it was actually cheaper for me to go block. I guess that the added material cost of concrete vs block and labor just made it cost prohibitive. In our area, the poured walls are mostly done by the big, high volume home builders who already own the forms, etc.. and it is part of their package. They come in, pour the walls and are framing in a couple of days.