[Arky217]

Here's a quick summary of my retirement home build.

I retired at 62 with no pension, just S.S.
Since our current house was paid for, I figured that I could supplement S.S. by selling our current house after building a house on the cheap by myself.
Realizing the truth of the old adage, 'cheap, easy, good, pick any two', I decided to go with cheap and good.
Though I knew that the 'easy' was out, what I didn't know was that it would be 6 years before I was living in it.

The site is 24 acres on a rocky ridge with a valley on one side and a mountain on the other.
The size of the house is 24'x48' with porches front and rear.
It has an open D.R., L.R.,Kit., 2 bedrooms, bath, pantry and utility room.
I managed to do all the work myself except for drilling the well and digging the septic hole and leach trenches.
I started by finding the highest point of ground and clearing out for the house spot.
I didn't have a tractor at that time, just a Yamaha 4 wheeler.
So, I built a log arch to use with the Yahama to get the logs to the mill.
Then I set up my chainsaw mill (Swedish Logosol), and begin milling the lumber.
The saw is a Husky 395XL that I did a muffler mod on.
This pic is a different location where I first tried out the mill.
(more to come...)

 

[Arky217]

I started milling for the house with the posts. They are 6”x6”x(28”to34”long).
They are milled from the red heart of cedar trees.

 

[Arky217]

First cedar cant milled; fresh milled cedar sure smells good.

 

[kwikfishron]

Very nice Arky217, I'm looking forward to fallowing this.

 

[Arky217]

Then I begin milling the 6”x8”x12' beams since they take the longest to dry.
They are milled (as is the rest of the lumber) from yellow pine.
After the beams, I milled the rest of the lumber (joists, plates, studs, braces, truss members, etc).
Here's a pic bringing in an 8' log.
It also shows the milled lumber stacks; they are stickered and covered to air dry.

 

[Arky217]

Here's another pic bringing in a 16' log.
The log arch is extendable to accommodate the longer logs.

 

[Windows on Wash]

I am so stoked about watching this thread develop as well.

 

[BradMM]

What kind of mill???

I'm replying to get the email notification of updates! Awesome!

 

[MTN REMODEL LLC]

What kind of mill???

I'm replying to get the email notification of updates! Awesome!

me too

 

[Arky217]

Here's a log ready to load on the mill.



Same log after I loaded it via home made loading device.



Same log again, ready to mill.

 

[Arky217]

Another view of the lumber stacks.





Here's a cant (that's a log with all the slabs milled off).





Got a lot of truss members from this log.

 

[Arky217]

Some of the logs were right at the capacity of the mill.





And had to be notched a little.

 

[Arky217]

Here's Mr. logger...





And of course, Mrs. logger...

 

[Arky217]

Now for a pic of the finished product.
Wife said outhouse was too far away, so I put the facility just outside the door.
The frying pan is bear protection while on the potty.
And of course, just couldn't do without DISH.

 

[Arky217]

Well, as it turns out, I did a little better job than than the previous pic
as the following posts will show....

Since the ground is really solid, I decided to go with a pier and post foundation.
I dug the pier holes by hand, having to use a rock bar after the first couple of inches.
They are 10” dia. at the top, 16” at the bottom and 18” deep.
Each pier has a 5/8” rebar embedded
with an anchor cross piece welded to the bottom.
The top of the rebar has a plate welded through
which the posts and braces are anchored.
There are 4 rows of piers (8' joist span) spaced 6' apart,
for a total of 36.

Finally finished the piers (what a chore).

 

[Arky217]

Next I began the assembly of the foundation.





Foundation about 1/4 done.





Foundation finished.





Next come the floor joists.

 

[Arky217]

Even though I used Advantech for the floor,
I did not install the floor until I got the roof on,
so next step is framing the walls.
Started with the back wall.





Walls are done.





Inside view.

 

[Arky217]

Then come the trusses; first I had to build them.
This is an old Arkansas agriculture extension design.
The members overlap; no gussets.
Each truss has about (85) 5” spikes peened over
through predrilled holes.
They are very stout; the first 3 are done.





And here's how I managed to install them
(I had gotten a tractor by this time).
I made a bucket mount boom pole and
mounted a hand winch on the rollover frame.

 

[Arky217]

First truss is up.





Trusses about half done.





Inside view after roof is on.

 

[Arky217]

Now the house is roughed in.






The sheathing and roof are ZIP panels made by Avantech.
They are basically OSB with a coating on the outside.
The seams are taped with a special ZIP tape.
The roof was actually on for about a year before
I put on the synthetic felt and the metal.
The metal roof panels have interlocking seams
with hidden fasteners.