Here I Raise My Ebenezer--Whatever That Is

There is, on this rock outcropping, enough space so I can build my house literally on the rock.  Look closely at the second picture and you'll see a small stack of stones--that marks about the middle of where the house will be.

I shall drill holes and put rebar in the rock, seal it, and then pour a concrete foundation in a 2'x4" form around the perimeter with reinforcement in the form.  Once that sets up and the forms are removed, I can place my 2' tall by 8' long by 9" thick slip forms on the foundation and begin building the house.

Also, the local Craigslist(tm) allowed me to get 15 bags of cement that I can use once the stone laying commences.

Meanwhile, look at the view towards the north behind my house site.  On the other side of the trees to the right in that photo is my sister's house--actually you can SEE the house (white house wrap and black roof felt can be seen through the trees).  Her house will be finished in January, 2010.  That's probably when I'll get started.

Sid, my middle brother, is promising to come soon and help me drive stakes into the rock so we can layout the corners and start drilling the rebar.

From his mouth to God's ear.

The OTHER One Where I Get Great Stuff

Again, Bessie Fromm has been generous.  As she was leaving on her cross-country trip to Montana, Ms. Fromm called to say she'd left a Craftsman(tm) tool chest and some cresent wrenches and other tools in the storage shed behind her house--for me!

I flew on gossamer wings (and I don't even know what that means) over to her place to get the tool chest before the evil new landowner could swoop in and take them from my widdle fingers.

Nice, eh?

The One Where I Get Great Stuff

With apologies to all fans of Friends, this is the blog post where I gloat over my most recent freebies.  In fact, next to the free truck I'm driving (at 230,000+ miles and still going), this may be my best haul yet.

Bessie Fromm and her sweet granddaughter, Desiree, are moving from Westmoreland to Montana.  Bessie had been living on 90 acres.  She'd been using a Craftsman LT2000 to mow the front three acres where her house sat.  Bessie has now sold the house and is headed to the Big Sky country.  In leaving, she has bequeathed to me her Craftsman.  Along with it, she also gave me a fiberglass step ladder, a large two-wheeled dolly, and a small wagon for the mower.

Pictures attached.

Now, aren't you jealous?

Also, attached are pictures of some of my scavenged wood and posts, a large aluminum ladder, and a borrowed trailer on which rests my 30+ sliding glass doors, some other doors, and a disassembled garden shed--all free.

The gleaning continues...

The Plan

Clicking here or on the link above will take you to the Country Plans site where you'll see an idea of what type of place I'll be building. The major changes from what this shows to what I'm planning are the south-facing wall (the one on the bottom in the layout or on the left in the drawing) will have several sliding glass door windows and the overhang from the roof will also be longer for shading.

Besides, I'll also tweak the living space a bit (putting the stove in the upper, right-hand corner, for example).

At 24'x14' interior, it's plenty. The porch will add living space, as does the loft for sleeping and/or storage.  Presently, I'm in a 30'x15' place, and it's fine for us.

Now, imagine it having the rock look of the garden shed in the photo above! See? Nice, eh? That's what I'm going for here!

Again, it's all I and my inter-species life partner, Bucky, need.

Less is more, right?

(Photo above from Melissa's Garden Shed Hall of Fame blog)

September Update

Here is the latest update on the building site.

1.) My sister's house is going up (see pic, right). She has the foundation ready for infill so the slab can be poured. The two maples to the right of the truck in the picture (that's my truck!) have to be 'negotiated' and protected with berms, levels, and an odd assortment of beds and plantings. But they'll stay! They are on the south side of the house. This phone pic is taken then looking up the hill towards the north. To the right of the picture is the pasture; my new possible house site is to our left. In the second picture, taken the day of the clearing by my sister's contractor's crew, you can see our friend Jerry standing in what will be the living room; the two maples are directly in front of him and are seen from the north looking towards where the first picture is taken.

2.) This house sits where my March 10th post "Tree Killer" shows. That site, chosen by *moi*, was deemed by all to be the most level and the best for passive solar gain. Ah, well. I'll move, Abraham-like, to greener pastures. Or, in this case, about fifty yards west.

3.) Besides the gravel drive up to the house site(s), electricity and water are up for my sister's house. As for me and my house, I have been working with several people here who currently (no pun intended) use 12v solar power only, and they've been pushing me to stick with my original plan to be off the grid. So I shall.

4.) I think I've got a mentor! Dani Gruber, she of slip-form stone building fame and the arid steppes of Western Colorado, has kindly agreed to be a resource for SFS building methods. More on this soon.

5.) Whilst I plan to actually break ground in October, the 10+ inches of rain the area's received in the past week or so is seriously hampering my ability to get to the site and do any prep work.

6.) Yet, even on drive throughs, various and sundry wildlife is invariably seen. And Bucky loves it (see pic of him at the site, right).

More, and, I promise, soon.

Now Picture This

These photos show the cleared area where a potential house site could be for my sister's place.

This is the same location that we are standing in on photos taken last May where my sister is trying to hear the noises of the woods while her son wipes the allergy tears from his eyes.

Hard to believe it's the same place, but at least now there's some cleared area where one can at least picture a house being (and measure for it/drive stakes in).

The first one shows the view north towards where my house site would be; that orange spot between those two 'flags' on the tree limbs that you can spy between the trees is the site itself, so I'm about 25 yards away.

The second pic is looking east north east towards the top of the field.

Third, you can see the 'greening' of the site in the past two weeks as March comes on with warmer weather; also, you can see the old logging road that has a rock base--this will be the driveway one day, perhaps. The other issue or bad news is we don't know how far under the dirt this rock lies under the house site(s).

Final pic is looking south south east towards the bottom of the field--it can somewhat be seen through the foliage. I'd like to put a stone garden shed down in that little 'peninsular' area to the upper left of the photo.

The Tree Killer

Today, I worked on the house site. Pictures are attached. These show the house site for the slip-form stone place (approx. 20'x14').

These show the area before some clearing of small trees and brush with a chain saw, and one shows the area roughly from the trail area.

Chain saw? Borrowed. Gas? Donated. All it cost was the gas in the truck to drive there (about $5 r/t).