Here's why.

Been working on our property for a while, and after 19 months I finally have my building permits. It essentially took an act of Congress (Tim Sheldon in the State legislature actually) to get things moving.

Last summer we moved a bit of dirt to create some driveways in our 5 acres within the city limits of McCleary. This means city sewer, water, and power!



Take note of that scraggly ass tree in the background.

In the backrground you can see the 'ho I've been riding almost daily.

In the foreground is my 1,800 SF shop in the process of setting the forms for the footings.


Here is our house, just a bit further along...

With my neighbors boat and trailer parked so we can get our utilities in the back way.

...and a few piles of dirt I've been playing with.



Finally, for Marsha, my imitation of Big Stick...


..and my two little twigs.

We pour footings and foundation next week, I hope.

Move over Big Stick... and what's wrong with the old growth tree?

Looking good, way to get the young bucks involved.

Mf

Nice spread ! 1800 sqf shop, I would die for a shop that big. Keep us posted during construction.

Hunt from your window?

Always a good feeling to get your hands dirty developing your own property. The kids will look back and enjoy the experience, too. I bet those dirt mounds are getting some serious bike action.

Several years ago I had a husband & wife team acting as their own general contractors for their new home. Of course they have never even seen a 2x4 or hammer in their lives. A couple of months into the project, the wife says to me "being a contractor is like a full time job!"

I know where they live Dogfish, wanna bring the backhoe down for a quick burial?

PS I've sold a lot of Simpson doors from good old McCleary, WA!

Sweet, it is going to be an awesome spread when you are done!

That reminds me that I should take pictures of the renovation we are doing on our next house.

The new place comes with a shop (2000+ sf), and I am beyond stoked about it.

I'll be doing a good amount of work myself, but clients or friends in the trades will do things like framing, rough plumbing, rough electrical, HVAC, drywall and insulation. Hammered many a nail in my life, and have remodeled a few homes. My brother remodels homes in the Seattle area as well, so I have a good knowledge base. I've probably painted 20 homes in the past few years, so I've got that covered as well.

Plain jane landscaping from the start, then we'll add as time goes along. No waterfall, just a nice ditch.

The cottonwood was dead and infested with termites, so it won't be missed, especially since it could have hit the shop. Did that sucker ever make a wallop, and the neighbors came out to watch it go.

Add in 1100 SF of garage on the house and I have almost 3,000 SF of garage/shop space. Wife is excited to be able to park her car in the garage.

Lots of deer in our neighborhood, and the area beyond the jack firs is county, so a few local deer may end up getting culled over the years.

Oldest boy will be in charge of mowing the field. Youngest's job is nail patrol at 10 cents per nail. They like to help, which is good. We might hav to build a dirt track if there is any excess dirt, then of course by some toys.

The wife is oblivious to the amount of work it takes, but that will change shortly when we get the house dried in and interior work has started. I basically get off work, head out there until dark, go home, eat, sleep, wake up, work for a bit out there, then go to work. Only a mile from our current house.

Yup, we will have a house full of Simspon Mastermark doors. Family and friends work there. Just for fun, the next time you drive through McCleary, check out all the front doors on homes. Even the old run down "mill houses" have great looking doors. The community garage sale every September allows for some awesome deals at the mill on "seconds".

A few things we are doing as added touches are pouring concrete under the house, skinny 2" slab is all, and adding a light switch with lights under there, as we have 4' stem walls. Should make for additional clean and dry storage for about a $2,000 investment.

Any other little touches or suggestions would be great, and appreciated.

I'll try to be a bit less cranky, and post pics of the progress from time to time, especially of the shop, with a dedicated 20x40 boat storage area.

All the cool kids in McCleary and Elma have a huge shop.....

I hope to join the group in the next year or so, in the meantime the wife will just have to keep parking out in the rain because the boat takes up the entire garage.

But Dogfish,

I gotta comment about your Big Stick impersonation.....
Your lacking a bit in the sized department..... Chain saw size that is

Good points KK. Ever fish the Wynoochee?

Does the new house come with a guest room or is it still the sleep on the couch with the cat deal?

"Youngest's job is nail patrol at 10 cents per nail. "

If he's smart he'll hit up sales on nails and do a little spreading after dark. You'll be broke in no time.

And you for got to write "Hot Butt" on the end of the log in black sharpie.

I figured I'd get picked apart by the armchair quarterbacks here on the chainsaw issue. That's my little 250 (replaced the 024), but by the time we took the photo I had already gotten my father-in-law's 036 back to him.

Yes Dave, there will be a guest room, but that cat will probably still find you and wake you up in the middle of the night.

If you look close enough, I wrote "Hot Butt" on my butt.

It's not the size of the tool but the skill with which it is used in the hands of a craftsman.

At least that's what I keep telling the wife.

Nice "layout Stick II" I mean Dogfish.............

Nice woodpile there too
I always enjoyed working with my Dad when I was your kid's age, so good job keeping them involved!

I've been on an air mattress in my basement since July 4th with our upstairs remodel, carpet *should* be installed after Labor Day. Bucket's crew took care of the trim work for us, it would be Christmas if I would have tried that myself

Dogfish,

I can so empathize. I'm at roughly the same point you are, although my goals are more modest. Bought my property 3 years ago next month. Took forever to get my septic permit. Then the archetect's plans went way over my budget. He claims he doesn't keep track of how much things cost, including his services which also went well over budget. Paid another $2K for revisions by a designer, and the county sold me my building permit in a reasonable time frame. Broke ground July 7, basement footing formed up July 14, inspection July 15, hung up with building inspector issues from then until this past Monday Aug. 18. 5 week delay and $750 for a geotechnical engineer consultant and it turns out both issues with inspector were mistakes on the inspector's part, and there should have been no delay nor unnecessary consultant fee. I don't get the 5 weeks or the $750 back. Poured the basement foundation footing yesterday. Hope to pour the walls next week.

At least my garage/shop wasn't held up. Poured that slab about 2 weeks ago, and had wall lumber delivered last Thursday. Got the north wall up Saturday and have the east wall framed and ready to raise. I'll begin framing the west wall this evening if the weather's nice.

We're building an empty-nester house. I've got a sloped site, so a daylight basement makes sense. Gonna' have a couple bedrooms and bath and such down there, so it could be a family home, but it'll be mostly storage for us. I don't have a lot of shop stuff, so I'm making my garage/shop just 24 x 36, basically a 3-car sized garage so I can store my boat and have a place for a workbench and my table saw. I'm using attic trusses, so I'll get a 12 x 36 storage area above the garage. If I fill that and the basement, then for sure I've got way too much stuff.

Good take off on the Big Stick imitation. I don't have a cottonwood tree on my place, but I did have a nice cedar that no matter what, runs right up the middle of the Mt. Rainier view. My 30+ year-old Stihl, and a friend's portable mill turned it into the future paneling for the living room ceiling, and maybe more. It's stacked and air drying now. Then I get to buy a small bench planer and shaper bits.

Few things are more fun than building. Except maybe fishing. Oh, and sex. Save a little time for the latter two, and the building will remain lots of fun.

Sg

Hmmm. I thought bigstick posed with the other half bare.

I've been on the mill tour at Simpson and saw all the houses with nice entry doors. I'll bet your place needs walnut or cherry interior doors from simpson's custom shop - be sure to tell your wife about them.

I still have a problem with cutting down that prestigious old growth cottonwood lets talk about that more!
What a shame that tree would produce so much oxygen all of us could breath for years just from that tree

Nice site there Andy just let me know and I can help out however..
And BTW nice saw

Darn! Now I'm gonna' hafta' take a picture of my Stihl . . . oh, and then re-read again the instructions for posting a photo which I've done all of once or twice.

Andy, what's the deal on Simpson doors? When is that September sale? Is this something I should be looking in to?

Sg