I must be nuts, Can I really build a house?

[Splinky245]

Hello everyone, I know that you have all probably heard this sentiment many times here but I need the reassurance anyways. My husband and I have decided to take Skip???s class and eventually build our own log home and I am just scared witless. We don???t have much in the way of money; well really we have none at all. It has been pay check to pay check living since we got married 5 years ago. Currently we are sharing a house with my parents and brother. So thankfully we are in a good position to save some money up. Well, let me just lay out our 5 year plan.

My husband works as an electrician???s assistant right now, though really he is a jack of all trades. He has helped build a few houses, worked as a roofer for a few years for a friends company, has worked doing a little masonry and has hung dry wall. We are getting ready to send him to school to become an electrician. The school is supposed to take four years. Thankfully his job will pay most of the costs of classes.

We expect to be able to save about 5,000 dollars up a year. At the two year mark we would like to take Skip???s class. Just the cost of that seems daunting but that is probably cause I can???t even remember the last time I saw a thousand dollars, let alone what it is going to take for us both to take the class and the cost of flying out there (we live in central Virginia)

After taking the class we are planning on trying to find the cheapest and nicest land we can in the mountains of Virginia. We thought this would be a good time to start looking for some of the things that would be needed, like windows, doors, tools, ect...

At the four year mark we plan on moving on to whatever property we find, probably in a trailer while we begin to build. I am a stay at home Mom and by that time my son will be in school so we figure that I can get some of the work done during the day and my husband can help when he gets home from work in the evening. We hope to have the home complete in a year. We aren???t going to be trying to build anything fancy. Probably not even 2,000 thousand square feet.

So that is the plan. I am lucky in that my family supports this idea even if they think I am a bit of an odd ball for wanting to do it myself. What bugs me is the idea that I am just off my rocker and that we really can???t afford to do this. We have no money and yet we are talking about building a house. It just seems crazy. I want to come out of this with as little debt as possible. Thankfully we have none to start with, but we don???t have any cash either.

Is this plan really feasible?

Thanks so much,
~Emily

[wood bug]

Hi Splinky, sounds like you have a good plan. You might consider sending your husband by himself and let him teach you some of the methods this may save you alot of money, since he has some trade expierance he should have no problems "soaking" it all in, most of the folks I've seen who went to the class did it this way cost me about $1100 after tuition, airfare, car rental, hotel and food from Dallas /Ft. Worth, and was well worth the effort, It sounds like you guys are younger than me, so I think in your position, this would be probably the best investment in your future you could make, good luck in your dreams.

Dennis

[sparky]

Hello Splinky welcome, :D
First let me say, take the class! take the class! take the class!
Then let me add, cost being a factor if only one of you can go then only one of you can go, (in this life you play the cards you are dealt) but somebody go. The reason I say this is all the time you wait while you are saving so you can both go is time and money you could have spend thinking, planning, reading the members forum and gathering materials to begin your jouney. The best time to gather materials is when you don't "HAVE" to have them. Thats when you will find cost saving deal after deal, if you have a plan and know what you are looking for. The worst time to gather materials is when you need them next week :!: This is when you will resort to paying through the nose like the average bear.
Good luck and again welcome

[Splinky245]

Thanks for all the support. It really does help make me feel more comfortable with this idea. We like the idea about attending class sooner then we had originally planned. Possibly with our tax returns. It would be cheaper to just send my husband, but I must admit one of my failings in life. I am anal retentive about knowledge. I don???t feel comfortable entering any situation until I personally know every thing I can fin out about it. That???s ok though. My husbands Mother lives in northern Idaho so we figure we will head there after the class and make a little vacation of it.

To be honest I am really impressed with how little bad press I have seen about this class. The only place I have seen anyone bashing it was some other forum and there seemed to just be a lot of people with nasty attitudes there so I can???t help but not paying attention to it.

There mostly seemed to be concerned with how long the buildings would last. Comments were made about rebar sweating and causing the logs to rot. There where also things said about the ends of the logs being exposed and inviting rot. Does anyone have any information on these topics?

I am not looking for a home that is going to be there for a hundred years. All I want it something comfortable I can grow old in. It can fall to pieces the day after I die for all I care.

Also, my husband and I decided that it would be good experience to help someone build their home after we take the class, before we start on our own. Are there many people from Virginia that have taken this class?

~Emily

[kyle]

What part of Virginia do you live?

There are several of us from the mid atlantic and north east area that have taken the class and are looking at building shortly.

[Splinky245]

We currently live in Richmond but we don???t mind having to make a long drive at all. The experience will be well worth it. Eventually we would like to buy property up in the mountains. We want to get out of Richmond so badly. It is just a festering pit of violence. Over the weekend one of my Mothers coworkers and his family were found brutally murdered. I don???t want my son growing up in a place like this.

~Emily

[gregorama]

Welcome, Emily! You seem to share many of the ideals of this group; hard work, hope, and perseverance will get you there. Please allow me to get a little philisophical and share my favorite quote: Roosevelt in 1910 said:

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

That quote still stirs me every time I read it; I once had it memorized.

On the more practical side, by all means take the class. Then ask those naysayers to produce the "sweating/rotting" rebarred home. Although condensation on rebar is technically possible, the conditions necessary for that to happen would have to be perfect and long-lasting to be of any consequence. Any stick-framed building with a perforated (or no) vapor barrier would have worse problems. Also remember, almost all log homes (certainly all kits) have exposed log ends. If you keep them dry, there's no problem. If you extend them past the eaves, you're asking for trouble. I see loghome mags that have ends sticking out all over the place; I hope the photographer used a fast shutter speed, before those ends rotted out!

I suffer from "analysis paralysis" if I don't watch myself. Get your knowledge, then DO IT! My family situation keeps me here, chained to Federal Way, WA until next year, then I'm OUTTA HERE! Otherwise I would have moved years ago.

Northern Idaho is incredibly beautiful; if you visit, you may not leave... I'm out there about once a month..
We're rooting for you!
Greg

[farmercolby]

Hi splinky. I know what its like to be without money. I saved up the money for the class, but didn't have any money for getting there or for a motel once I got there. The company I worked for was having money problems [of there own making] and was three weeks late on my pay check. They told me they would get it to me before I had to leave. Two days before the class started they told me they couldn't give me my pay check, so I thought had to cancel.
I was telling my dad about it, and he pulled out his wallet and give me 600 dollars and asked if that was enough. I didn't think I could take it because he worked for the same people, and they were three weeks late with his paycheck too. He told me to take it and not to worry about it. So me and my wife made the 17 hour drive up the next day and took the class. We still don't have any money, but we are saving up tools and building supplies. We closed on our lot in october, and planning to start construction this spring. I have most of the things I need to do my exterior walls, and I traded for a steel roof. once I get the exterior done I will do the interior as I get the money to get what I need. Even if it takes me five years, I am going to have a log house debt free. My next project will be a log house for my dad.

It can be pretty rough not having money to do what you want, thats why its important to take the class as soon as posible. You learn how to save alot of money. My wife's uncle has a saw mill. I made a deal with him that he would saw all my lumber, and in exchange I would get enough logs so he would have the lumber to build him a house. Before I took the class I never thought about making trades to get what I needed.

Well I have rambled on long enough. Good luck.