Keep photos when homebuilding for future reference

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I read the tip about keeping the notebook with paint chips and it reminded me of a tip that I have found useful. While we have been building our house before we close up a wall I take a photo of the studs, plumbing, heat ducts for future reference. You think that after all the time that it took to frame, insulate, drywall that wall you would have it comitted to memory- then you want to hang a shelf and cant hit a stud or dont want to hit a heat duct... and find that memory has slipped. It is nice to be able to look at a photo and see where you put the nailers for the cabinet that didnt get built until 2 years after the drywall covered them. It also gives you a quick reminder that you have made progress, which is hard to believe some days! Of course the set by step photos of kids working on drywall or painting are the real fun photos to have. My 5 year old is saving her money to buy a house so she doesnt have to build one like mom and dad, hopefully she will change her mind! Happy building.

-- Tami Bowser (windridg@chorus.net), May 09, 2000

Answers

It is a good idea, Tami. We also take photos of the locations of buried water, power, and phone lines. Granted some landmarks might change or disappear, but most of the time, the photos are very useful. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), May 10, 2000.

I just bought 18 acres of woods and plan on building my pre/retirement home of my dreams. I'm excited, but as I read your posts, it sounds like really a lot of stress, work, and negatives! Is that really the way it is? I'm getting discouraged already and I haven't even started!!! Come on. There has to be some good things about building. How about sharing some of those along with some things to avoid to save grief and stress. What would you do differently? etc.... Help!! I'm losing my enthusiasm! Did I do the right thing???

-- Jim Roberts (jroberts1@cas.org), May 10, 2000.

Jim, look at it this way. Yes, building is a big job, will probably cost more than you expect it to, and will certainly take a lot longer than you expect it to, BUT it is still much better than trying to fix up an old house!! Plus you will have saved quite a bit of money, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you did it (and could do it again, if you had to), and you will know how to fix things later on, because you built it in the first place. Just plan things out very carefully, make sure you do all your research and get good advice (this forum is excellent for that), and don't get discouraged. Building a house is a long-term project -- it will take months of steady effort, if not years, but if you stick to it you will get it finished, and you will have a home to live in for the rest of your life and enjoy. Some concrete advice -- build a storage shed, barn, or your garage first. It will give you some experience, help avoid mistakes on the house later (use the same building technique you plan to use for the house), and give you a secure place on the property to store tools and building materials so they don't get stolen when you aren't there.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), May 10, 2000.

Jim, Kathleen is right. Sure you've got a lot of work ahead of you. But you're going to have to live somewhere. There are problems with old houses, new houses, and owner-built houses. If you build your own, hopefully you'll have put a lot of thought into what you need and how everything is arranged. You'll have things go terribly wrong and others, many others, go right. I got a kick out of Tami's daughter saving her money to buy a house. But that shouldn't worry you.

We've just spent our morning out in the grove tackling the trash pile that came with the place. Fun? No. Did we enjoy ourselves? Yes. We talked, and listened to the birds, and spotted a nest, and laughed at the bottle lamb playing. There's a lot more good for us in homesteading than bad. And there are some bad things that have happened-animals die, we got hit by a tornado last year. Yet hardly a day goes by on our far from perfect homestead that we don't look at each other and say "I'm so glad we're here." Gerbil

Taking the photos is much like keeping the instruction booklets that come with many products. Some day you might have to contact the company, or even (GASP) read the things. Doesn't mean anything will go wrong, just a good idea. We keep track of where utilities are buried so we don't accidently drive a fence post into a water line. No big deal (unless you actually do it) but it saves us repair work. Calling the utility locators is a bit time-consuming out here.

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), May 10, 2000.


We love our old house. Wormy oak panelling put up piece by piece in widths that I have never seen before on the ceiling, floor and walls! It is worth saving. We have taken pictures from the time we moved in and through each project. That is especially helpful when replacing water and sewage lines. We have added multiple cut off and clean out valves to make any future repairs easier or to cut down on damage that might occur due to frozen pipes. Great idea but not if you can't find them when you need them!!! Super idea to post!

-- Jennifer (KY) (acornfork@hotmail.com), May 10, 2000.


Jim, I certainly didnt want to give you the wrong idea on building your own home. I would do it again in a minute, well maybe I would need a break in between! The best advice is to remember that it will take at least twice as long as you expect and that is on a good day. On the other hand you know just how it was done, we did and are doing everything except the foundation and roof trusses (now I believe we could have done those too), and heating system. What did we have the most problems with- foundation and heating contractors. I think my husband gets burned out sometimes. I am at home and have made it my job-wiring, drywall, flooring, etc. I love it and really enjoy doing that kind of stuff. That is not to say that I also wouldnt love to remodel another house. We did that too and that is my first love, but they arent very easy to find around here. (Our new house looks like a old victorian- many people think it is old) One thing that we did was once we spent the money we had from sale of the first house we started paying cash for what ever we were doing. When we are done we will have a huge amount of equity. I do wish that we would have put up a barn first and lived in it to take the pressure off getting part of the house done. We lived in a playhouse and cooked on the camp fire for awhile (then in a rainy basement). If we had had more time I would have looked for an old house to salvage lumber from. As it is we got wainscot and other trim, bath fixures that are recycled. Hey a new steel tub at lumber yard is $300 + a recycled one is $50! On the other hand it does take commitment to learn to do it right. I see the way some people do things and wonder how they manage. The best source I had was my library card. If you would like the names of some of the best books I would be glad to make recommendations. Some arent worth reading in my opinion. There is also a web site (and magizine) Finehomebuilding (www.finehomebuilding.com) they have a forum with excellent information. Old house or new its just great to say I did it myself, especially when some people cant even fix a faucet on their own. I rambled long enough... if I can give you anymore info let me know. Love to hear your victories-and always have a shoulder to cry on too-we all have some of those stories! Tami Ps my 5 year old daughter also knows a linemans pliers from a needle nose pliers-shes my electrical apprentice.

-- Tami Bowser (windridg@chorus.net), May 12, 2000.

Thanks Tami. I'll surely accept any advice I can get! Yes, we plan on having the foundation, septic, heating, and some of the plumbing contracted out. I don't want to do an "on the job training" on such an important thing as the the foundation. Thanks for the website. I'm going there right now! :-)

-- Jim Roberts (jroberts1@cas.org), May 17, 2000.

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