Posts

Footing Work 5 min read

Wed, May 15, 2019 — Now that I’ve got four square corners, we just need to “connect the dots” with form boards (2x10’s) and make sure they’re level as we go. I’ve also got a family friend, Scott, coming up for the day today. He is in the construction business and between the two of us, I am hoping we can be placing rebar by the end of the day. While I waited for him to commute over from the west side, I started moving material. Keep reading →

Trying to Find Square by Myself 6 min read

Tue, May 14, 2019 — On Saturday, my brother and I failed to find square for our foundation layout. We faced a number of challenges, but mostly this is because we cannot easily pull a diagonal, given that we’re dealing with varying grades. Since we left on Saturday, I’ve been considering what went wrong that day, and how it could be fixed. Now I have the added challenge that I am here by myself. There were two mistakes that I saw we were making (and a third that I will not realize until tomorrow). Keep reading →

Trying to Find Square 4 min read

Sat, May 11, 2019 — This is the first time we’ve left the property without anything to show for our efforts. The only goal we had for today was to get four corners square. Trying to get things square is a 2-man job and I am headed up by myself next week for a few days to start setting up form boards for the footings. If we aren’t able to get things square today, I won’t be productive next week. Keep reading →

Finishing Excavation 5 min read

Sat, May 4, 2019 — We’re back up this weekend to finish the daylight basement excavation. Last time we were up here, we thought we finished, or at least came really close. Since then, our geotech has inspected the excavation and says everything looks good except the northwest corner should go down another foot. That is not surprising. They originally thought we would need to go down 10 feet or more in this area, and we’ve only gone down 4 feet (we started to hit rock, which is the real goal). Keep reading →

Breaking Ground... Again 5 min read

Sun, Apr 21, 2019 — This was the first weekend of work on site for the year. We had a really heavy snowfall late in the season. Just two weeks ago, we still had about a foot and a half of snow. This weekend its hot, dry, and no snow remains. The season came late but it changed fast! If you recall, we have considerable earth-work remaining. This past winter, our geotech engineer confirmed the north half of our basement needed a deepened footing (to get to more solid ground), which means digging down about another 10’ in this area. Keep reading →

Deciding to DIY the Foundation 4 min read

Fri, Apr 19, 2019 — I think we’re going to build the foundation ourselves. Actually, I have little doubt that we will. Last year, we decided we shouldn’t build the foundation ourselves, but a lot has changed. The biggest part here is that the foundation is now much more complicated. That may sound like we shouldn’t do it ourselves, but hear me out. The reason the foundation is much more complicated is because half of it will sit about 10’ lower than the rest. Keep reading →

Defining the Budget 4 min read

Wed, Apr 17, 2019 — I’ve struggled putting together a realistic budget for this build. There is still so much that is variable, it’s hard to lock things down and know where we stand. Given what we’ve learned over the last few weeks, we are probably back to doing the foundation ourselves, which means going with ICF (material costs going up, but labor costs going way down). I will explain those details in another article, but that’s just one example of how much is changing with the budget. Keep reading →

Deciding Not to Design the Fire Sprinkler System Ourselves 4 min read

Fri, Feb 22, 2019 —

As you know, we need a residential fire sprinkler system at our place. We are planning to design and install it ourselves. A basic system, that can run off the main water supply, is fairly easy to design and implement.

Designing a Residential Fire Sprinkler System 7 min read

Wed, Feb 20, 2019 — We are in a Wildland IR1 fire zone. In addition to using fire-retardant materials and setting up a 100’ defensible zone (trees and shrubs need to be cleaned or cleared within this radius), we are required to have a fire sprinkler system inside the home. Actually, all of Kitittas County is considered an IR1 zone (requiring sprinklers). You can apply (and pay) for mitigation to have this requirement removed, but with the burnt remains of the Jolly Mountain fire visible from our lot, we doubt the fire marshal will grant such a request. Keep reading →

Build Permit Received, Finally 3 min read

Fri, Feb 15, 2019 — We received the access permit on Tuesday, and I requested the county to mail out the build permit on Wednesday. Well, we received the build permit in the mail today! I had no idea what the build permit would look like. I would have guessed it was a sheet of paper with fields for inspectors to sign off. It was in an extremely thick envelope. View this post on Instagram Received our build permit! Keep reading →

Plumbing (Vent) Penetrations 3 min read

Wed, Feb 13, 2019 — If you’re looking to build a house, you’ve probably spent a lot of time thinking about where your drain-waste-vent (DWV) will exit your house. Maybe not, but it’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about, and it may sound silly, but it’s a very important part of your plumbing system. The DWV allows your waste pipes to maintain a neutral air pressure as waste moves through the pipes. Without proper venting, gases cannot be expelled, and you may get unwanted suction in your pipes (leading to p-traps not able to do their job, and gases backflowing into your house). Keep reading →

False Summit 2 min read

Thu, Jan 31, 2019 — A false summit is when you think you’ve made it to the top, but once you’re there, you realize you still have a ways to go. I was introduced to the phrase on a bike-packing trip with my brother-in-law (like hiking, but with a bicycle). He talked me into a week long trip through the Boise National Forest a few summers ago. It was a lot of fun, but it was on this trip that I learned another phrase: Type II Fun, or something that is fun only after the fact. Keep reading →

Build Permit 3 min read

Tue, Jan 29, 2019 — We’ve resolved the truss issue. The guys came up with some clever way to attach the truss to the wall of the master bedrooms, so the truss will now float over the 4x10 above the garage door opening and that beam won’t carry any roof load. Chris was able to email in a redline sheet with this update and the county confirmed that met their needs. That all happened yesterday. Keep reading →

Additional County Revisions 3 min read

Tue, Jan 15, 2019 —

We’re getting real close (to a build permit). Last week, the county requested 4 more revisions. These were all structural requests. There is uncertainty that a couple of beams will actually hold the load they need to, and there may have been a miscommunication between the truss engineers and our structural engineer.

Resubmitting the Plans 2 min read

Wed, Dec 26, 2018 — I am printing and mailing our revised plans today. Chris, our structural engineer, is able to mail a wet-stamped letter to the county, certifying the plans. This way, I do not have to go to his office and have him stamp and sign each page. Getting here has been tough. It’s taken almost four months to complete all the requested revisions. Most of that was working with the geotech, and revising the plans with that new information. Keep reading →

Foundation Issue Resolution 2 min read

Fri, Dec 14, 2018 — My brother is not interested in canceling the project. I’ve talked a lot about my dream for this place, and how its more about the build than the cabin. For him, it’s more about the cabin than the build. Given all the issues we’re facing with this foundation, I’ve been worried that he would want to cut losses and go find a place that was already built. Fortunately, he really likes the lot. Keep reading →

Foundation Issues 3 min read

Tue, Dec 11, 2018 — Last week, our structural engineers pushed back on the numbers provided by the geotech. The geotech agreed to re-review the numbers and see if there was a way to increase them. Well, we heard back today, and we can basically double the capacities! Yay! It’s actually not very good news. With the original numbers, the pilings would have to be placed at 3’ on center. Since the pilings are 2’ in diameter, that meant they would be spaced just a foot apart from each other. Keep reading →

Geotech Report Results 2 min read

Tue, Nov 13, 2018 — We received our geotechnical report today. There isn’t much here that we hadn’t already discussed either on site or over the phone. The main update is we now have some specific numbers the structural engineers can design against. The numbers aren’t looking so good. If we use pilings, each piling can hold up to 10 kips (A kip is 1,000 pounds of force). If we use a traditional footing, the earth below the footing can withstand 2,500 psf. Keep reading →

Generating a Topographical Map 2 min read

Mon, Oct 8, 2018 — Today we are going to generate a topographical map from hundreds of 2D images captured by my brother’s drone. He took the photos about a week ago and imported them into a software called DroneDeploy. This software will stitch them together using a technique called Stereophotogrammetry. This is roughly what we get from DroneDeploy. DroneDeploy will export an OBJ file. SketchUp cannot read this directly (at least my 2018 PRO version cannot), so we used MeshLab to convert it to a DAE file. Keep reading →

Finishing Backfilling the Septic System 7 min read

Fri, Sep 28, 2018 — Continuing our experimentation with heavy machinery, we are attempting to operate an excavator today. The geotechnical engineer is visiting and needs to see a test pit dug so that he may analyze the underlying soil. While we waited for him, I practiced digging. We didn’t want to seem too much like amateurs (I don’t think this part of the plan worked). We want to install a yard hydrant near where the PEX terminated that we laid earlier this month. Keep reading →

County Requests Revisions 7 min read

Wed, Sep 12, 2018 — The county got back to us on our build permit application today, and has requested 11 corrections. Let’s go through them! It appears not all the truss sheets may have been submitted for this project, and they do not appear to have the proper snow loads. Please provide the complete set of truss sheets for this project, reflecting a roof snow load of 174 for a heated roof, and 190 for an unheated roof. Keep reading →

Backfilling the Septic System 5 min read

Sat, Sep 8, 2018 — Today should be exciting. We are conducting an experiment to see how well we can operate a skid steer. It’s not cheap to have, Pete, our professional excavator come out. He does a great job, but since all we need to do is move some material, it doesn’t make a lot of financial sense. So let’s see how well my brother can drive a skid steer with just some YouTube video training! Keep reading →

Missing Truss Sheets 2 min read

Tue, Sep 4, 2018 — The county contacted us today and said they were missing the structural plans for our roof. Huh? This was a major focus in all of our conversations with our structural engineer, so seems like a big thing to have forgotten to include in the plans! I remember seeing a number of construction details regarding the trusses too… This was actually a misunderstanding of responsibilities on my part. Our structural engineer does not design the actual trusses. Keep reading →

Installing a Drainage Grate 3 min read

Mon, Sep 3, 2018 — This is going to sound strange, but the lake is gone! View this post on Instagram A post shared by Brad Seefeld (@freerangehomesteading) on Jan 23, 2019 at 8:24pm PST Actually, remember it’s a reservoir? Whomever manages the dam is preparing to do maintenance on it, and is aggressively draining the lake as quickly as possible. So for at least the remainder of this year, we got a nice view of a sand pit. Keep reading →

Septic System Inspection 2 min read

Fri, Aug 17, 2018 — The inspector for the septic system came out today. I didn’t have to be there, but I wanted to be in case he had any feedback. I believe we’ve done everything as professionally as possible, but no way of knowing what I don’t know. That said, the inspection went really well. Actually, until near the end of the conversation, he thought we had had it professionally installed, and was surprised we did so well with our first one. Keep reading →

Resubmitting Drawings to the County 1 min read

Fri, Aug 10, 2018 — The county’s website for build permit applications clearly states that the plans must be printed on sizable paper, of at least 11x17. 11x17 is the largest the local print shop can print, so that is what I used. All the text is clearly legible, so I didn’t think anything of it. The county called this week and wants prints of 24x30 instead. Originally they wanted these to be wet stamped too, but our engineer talked them out of it since they have the same plans already wet stamped. Keep reading →

Finishing the Septic Plumbing 2 min read

Sat, Aug 4, 2018 — Today, we’re laying the rest of the drain pipe. We’ve only got about 40’ to go, but it bends and slopes downhill, which will make forming the run a bit harder. Working with PVC is pretty easy. We had a sawzall to cut the 4” pipe. The hardest part was keeping the fittings clean. It’s so dusty, and I’ve only got one clean rag. We forgot a roll of paper towels. Keep reading →

Permit Submission 1 min read

Fri, Aug 3, 2018 — We submitted our build permit application today! This was a bit of a process. The county requires the structural drawings to be wet-stamped, which means I have to get them printed (I don’t have a big printer), then drive them to the engineer to have him stamp and sign each page. It’s all done and mailed now! The county still says they are 6-8 weeks turn around. Our engineer says they are likely to come back with one request for revisions too. Keep reading →

SDR35 (PVC 3034) 2 min read

Thu, Aug 2, 2018 — I was at Lowes today to pick up fittings for the running the remainder of the pipe that will connect the septic tank to the drain field. This should have taken about 15 minutes, but I got myself all kinds of confused and was there for a good hour. Not all PVC is the same. I was already aware of the differences between Schedule 40 vs 80, and when to use ABS or CPVC, etc, but I was getting thrown off by a PVC classification Lowe’s had simply branched ‘Drain and Waste Pipe’. Keep reading →

Installing the Septic Tank 5 min read

Sat, Jul 14, 2018 — Pete, our excavator, is back up here with us. We need to square up our footings in a couple spots, and unfortunately, we need to get a big rock out of the path of our footing. After talking with the engineer about it, he said we’d have to have a geotech take a look at it if we wanted to include it as part of the footing structure. I think it’d be easier to remove. Keep reading →

Laying Drain Rock for the Septic Drain Field 6 min read

Tue, Jul 3, 2018 — Pete, our excavator, returned while we were not present and finished digging the trenches for the drain field. He also cleaned up the north side of the build pad. When we bulldozed the hill there, he had pushed a bunch of the fill over two large logs from the trees we had taken down. I was worried that as these decomposed, the ground would settle. Those have been removed now. Keep reading →

Breaking Ground! (continued) 8 min read

Fri, Jun 15, 2018 — This story continues from yesterday. I called Pete on my way over to the site Friday morning. We’re staying at my dad’s cabin while we do our build. Pete had good news! He was able to buy a new excavator last night, and his buddy agreed to loan him his excavator for the weekend. The new one wouldn’t be ready until early afternoon though, but after that, we’d have two on site and may be able to make up some lost time. Keep reading →

Breaking Ground! 7 min read

Thu, Jun 14, 2018 — OK, look. I’ve only got a short window here. My second son was born two weeks ago, and so my wife is at home with a newborn and a 2 year old. I’ve negotiated a three day hall pass to come up here and get the basement footings excavated. Since cutting the trees, we’ve come up a few times to stake and square batter boards to help speed the excavation. Keep reading →

Bigger Footings Needed 2 min read

Wed, Jun 13, 2018 — Bad news! I just learned that our footings need to be much much bigger than expected. The footings in the original plans that the previous owner had done were spec’d to be 30” wide and 10” thick. That is a fairly common size for a typical house footing. Due to the high snow load required, and because of the height of the back basement wall (its retaining a lot of earth), our footings need to be 6’ wide and 14” thick! Keep reading →

Removing Some Trees 8 min read

Thu, Apr 26, 2018 — This has been the most physically demanding few days I’ve had in a very long time. We had eight pine trees cut down. We briefly considered cutting these down ourselves, but tree cutting is dangerous, and we thought best left up to the professionals. We paid a local company $500 to take them down, and de-limb them. We got a great deal since he was just starting his business and was looking for someone to leave a good review (we did, and he did great work). Keep reading →

Architecting a Cabin 8 min read

Tue, Apr 17, 2018 — Now that we’ve decided to architect the cabin ourselves, I am starting to feel the weight of that decision. Our focus with modeling it in Sketchup so far has been making sure walls connect at the right spot, doors do not open into other doors, and rooms are sized appropriately. In other words, we’ve been focused on the most basic parts of building a good home. But our expectations for this cabin are so much greater. Keep reading →

Choosing Not to Use ICF 5 min read

Mon, Apr 2, 2018 — If you are considering building your own cabin, chances are you’ve heard about ICF, or Insulated Concrete Forms. These are stacking foam blocks that are hollow in the middle. They snap together like legos. Plastic pieces tie the two sides together, and double as templates for laying rebar (and later, backers for drywall screws). The claim to fame here is they are easy to work with (cut them with a hand saw or sawzall), and create an extremely efficient wall. Keep reading →

Searching for a Structural Engineer 5 min read

Wed, Mar 21, 2018 — Now that we have decided to draft our own architectural plans, we need to find a structural engineer who will do all the structural analysis, and provide structural plans for us. Finding a structural engineer for an Owner/Builder residential project is hard. I started out with a google search and calling various firms, but what I was finding is that only the bigger firms had websites that were coming up on Google, and they weren’t interested in doing a residential project. Keep reading →

What Goes Into a Building Permit Application? 11 min read

Thu, Mar 15, 2018 — Let’s talk about what goes into a building permit application. Prior to this project, I would have said it was an application form and the architectural plans. In reality, it’s much more detailed (and the exact requirements will vary by county). Architectural Plans Architectural plans specify what the building will look like. How rooms connect, etc. When you’re designing these plans, you get to be creative and incorporate all the various ideas you’ve been dreaming about. Keep reading →

Learning SketchUp 4 min read

Sat, Mar 10, 2018 — I’ve mentioned SketchUp a few times. This is a free CAD software (Computer Assisted Drawing) that has become very popular in the DIY space for lots of things from building parts (that can be 3D printed) to furniture design to professionals using it develop construction documents. I’ve found it to be extremely user friendly and there are a lot of really good resources out there for getting started. But I was running into a major challenge. Keep reading →

Home Designer Meeting 3 min read

Wed, Mar 7, 2018 — Today we met with the original designer to talk about our revisions. I must not have communicated very well the scope of our changes because he said we’re no longer talking about revisions, but a full new set of plans. This is a huge bump in cost. We’re going from a few thousand dollars, to a new estimate of $13,500! I was already aware that the size of cabin we were looking to build would require professional structural engineering. Keep reading →

Closing 2 min read

Fri, Feb 16, 2018 — We closed on the lot today! It’s ours!! Now that we closed, I am going to send the seller an email and see if he would be willing to meet for lunch/coffee/a beer. We want to pick his brain and see if we can build on any of his experiences. Also, we need to figure out where some of these utilities are buried. I don’t want to put an excavator arm through a high voltage line! Keep reading →

Septic Systems 7 min read

Mon, Jan 15, 2018 — If you’re looking to build a cabin, chances are you’ll have to research a septic system. Waste has got to go somewhere and sewer is almost certainly not an option. It isn’t for us. In fact, most of the area is on septic; not just the remote outskirts. A common misnomer is to call a septic system a septic tank. A septic system will have a tank as part of its components, but it’s just one part of the overall system. Keep reading →

Offer Acceptance 2 min read

Wed, Dec 20, 2017 — Well, he countered quickly. He came back at full price, but with a caveat. According to the seller, the HOA recently increased HOA dues by $50/mo for a 10 year period. This is to pay for repaving some older original roads in the community that are deteriorating (they are ‘hardpack’ now). He offered to discount the sale price by the amount of this special assessment. There was some feedback passed along that he was firm on price, and was willing to hold out for spring to get it. Keep reading →

Offer 3 min read

Tue, Dec 19, 2017 — We’re putting an offer in on the Lincoln Lot. We’re offering about 10% below asking, but are prepared to pay full price if it comes to that. We’ve been back to the other lots and the view at the Lincoln Lot is much better (wider), and it has some views of the mountains to the north too, which the others do not. There are a number of level areas that will become useful later, which are just not available at these other lots. Keep reading →

One More Look at the Lincoln Lot 4 min read

Sat, Dec 9, 2017 — We are strongly favoring the Lincoln Lot. It has really great views, and it’s the only lot that feels isolated from the neighbors. I’ve also been thinking a lot about the road conditions and having something better maintained, at least for winter conditions, is a huge plus. Morgan Creek also has its own private beach access, and as the lake becomes more crowded, this could be advantageous. Our primary hesitation is how much of the excavation is really done. Keep reading →

Redesigning the Floor Plan 5 min read

Thu, Dec 7, 2017 — I started learning SketchUp. If we’re going to have to build a much bigger house (because of the 1,500 sq ft minimum required by the HOA) than we originally planned, and invest more money in the construction, then I want it to be just right. We are still planning to work with a designer too, but I want to minimize those costs by handing him a floorplan that we like, and is pretty much done. Keep reading →

Cabin Wish List 2 min read

Wed, Dec 6, 2017 — My brother and I had a brainstorming session the other night to come up with a list of ‘must-haves’ and ‘wants’ for this cabin. Must-Haves Two equal master bedrooms with a view of the lake from the room. If we’re doing a single cabin, we want to be able to both enjoy it at the same time. A mix of private and public areas. If we are hosting a large group, we want to allow people to be able to break off and regroup as needed. Keep reading →

Financing 7 min read

Tue, Dec 5, 2017 — Financing a vacant piece of land is not easy. If you are trying to get a loan for such a purchase, they are called lot loans. Many banks, at least at the time, were not offering such loans. For the ones that were, they were often adjustable rate, high interest, and required large down payments. Given that we had increased the budget on the land so much, having this higher than expected interest rate was causing some anxiety. Keep reading →

Lot Visits 6 min read

Sun, Dec 3, 2017 — We stayed the weekend at my Dad’s cabin. He has a couple feet of snow already. My brother and I have been helping rebuild his place for the last year and a half. His lot is in a floodplain, and the last flood had done some pretty bad damage. The new build is on higher stilts and should be pretty well protected. A lot of the interior isn’t finished out yet (no carpet or wall finishes), but it’s insulated and the bathroom works. Keep reading →

Working with a Real-Estate Agent 4 min read

Fri, Oct 27, 2017 — On referral, we contacted a local Windermere agent named Jon. After some discussion around what we were looking for, and our plans, he began selecting a number of properties for us. HOA Much of the communities in Cle Elum are in some kind of HOA. I originally wanted to avoid an HOA because I don’t want to be told what color my front door should be painted. Jon informed us that years ago, many communities formed HOAs because people were buying up lots and erecting shoddy buildings or letting cars waste away in the front yard. Keep reading →

The Plan 2 min read

Sat, Jul 1, 2017 — The vision for this project was set in motion in the summer of 2017. We wanted to create a place where our growing family could still get together on the weekends and holidays. Enough space where people could spread out when they needed to, and come back together for dinners and such without feeling squished. We would accomplish this by building a couple small cabins (400-800 sq ft each), and a larger shared lodge that had a game room, large dining room for Thanksgivings, etc, and maybe a kitchen. Keep reading →