Summer 1968
Building your own home is ecstasy and agony. It was exciting, but the problems just keep coming. We were building where the ground sloped. The garage would be under the house on the low side of the hill. So they didn't have to dig a hole; the digging went into the side of the gentle slope. When we got back to the furthest corner, we hit water. Not really an underground spring, just some steady seepage. That is common in this county, so they knew we would just have to allow for extra drainage around our basement area and seal the blocks real well. I was learning how knowledgeable my new In-Laws were. Every time a problem came up, they figured out how to solve it. I didn't have much say in most of their decisions. But, it didn't bother me. I was getting a 1760 Sq. Ft. ranch home on several acres in the country. Compromise was easy.
The first compromise was a big one. I'd planned my floor plans to take advantage of a view down into the valley below us. I wasn't even told right away that they decided to flip my house from end to end. My plan put the living room and kitchen over the garage. They put the bedrooms over the garage. It made sense when they explained these would be the coolest rooms and their way also put the kitchen and living area on the up hill side on ground level. (It was also the wider end and gave them a bigger garage.) O.K. Now my view was just road and woods. I could live with that. They could have at least told me before I watched them chalk out the rooms on the sub floor. It was a clue, early on, as to who was in charge.
Work was progressing steadily, but slowly. Working around the mens full time jobs made this a sideline business. But, they did spend every spare moment on it. We even kept going through some of the summer showers. The goal was to get it "under roof" before winter, so we could move into the basement and not have to pay rent.
I had this strange idea that once it was "under roof" we would be almost done. If that makes sense to you too, you've never built a house. The rough construction goes fast. Everything after that gets slower and slower.
The day we set up the outside walls, my parents and Moms parents were there. My Grandfather had built his own house and he was very interested and full of questions. Even at his age, he pitched right in. You build the walls on the floor and then have to raise them into place. It takes all the help you can get. Dad was a lot of help too. But he was also funny. He'd never built anything but a corncrib. When they were setting studs at 16" centers, Dad made a comment about them being so precise. He told my Father-In-Law, F. that when he built something, if it was within 6 inches, it was close enough. (It was an exaggeration, but it was the way my Father thought.) F. laughed and laughed and then explained to Dad that if centers were off at the beginning, nothing you did afterward would fit. I'd already learned this when we put the floor joists in and nailed down the sub floor. Plywood edges would end where you could not nail them to a stud (or joist). If you had to cut everything to fit, you'd have wasted material and wasted time. Dad just grinned, (I loved my Fathers grin.) and shrugged his shoulders and told F. that he bowed to his superior knowledge and he guessed he'd better forget the 6 inch theory. The P. family did know what they were doing. It was a good day, and everyone was enjoying being together. One of those precious days when memories are made.
That was a long, short summer. Mom had brought J T a puppy and both were growing fast. They were always under foot and I had to watch them closely to keep them safe. With one end of the house over the garage, it meant a bad fall if they were running and not watching where they were going. And, there was the hole where the basement stairs would be. It was a relief to get the wall studs up. They could still fall through, but at least it was a barrier. I tried to keep them out in the "future yard", but every time I turned my back to help or fetch, they would disappear into the woods. I spent as much time chasing my little ones as I did building or fetching.
Once we were up on the roof, I got a lot of exercise. J T's dog, Duke, had invented a game that kept us in stitches. J T would run as hard as his little legs would go and his half grown pup would give him a head start. Then the pup would run after J T and when he got right behind the boy, he would jump and swing his body so that his rump would catch J T in the back and knock him down. Then before J T could get up, Duke would sit on him. J T would struggle and yell, but the pup wouldn't budge till he was good and ready. As soon as J T got back to his feet, he would take off again, and the whole show would repeat. We were nailing plywood to the roof and trying to work, but watching boy and pup slowed our progress. No matter how mad J T got, Duke just didn't tire of his game. And I didn't have to run up and down a ladder to see where they were.
The first compromise was a big one. I'd planned my floor plans to take advantage of a view down into the valley below us. I wasn't even told right away that they decided to flip my house from end to end. My plan put the living room and kitchen over the garage. They put the bedrooms over the garage. It made sense when they explained these would be the coolest rooms and their way also put the kitchen and living area on the up hill side on ground level. (It was also the wider end and gave them a bigger garage.) O.K. Now my view was just road and woods. I could live with that. They could have at least told me before I watched them chalk out the rooms on the sub floor. It was a clue, early on, as to who was in charge.
Work was progressing steadily, but slowly. Working around the mens full time jobs made this a sideline business. But, they did spend every spare moment on it. We even kept going through some of the summer showers. The goal was to get it "under roof" before winter, so we could move into the basement and not have to pay rent.
I had this strange idea that once it was "under roof" we would be almost done. If that makes sense to you too, you've never built a house. The rough construction goes fast. Everything after that gets slower and slower.
The day we set up the outside walls, my parents and Moms parents were there. My Grandfather had built his own house and he was very interested and full of questions. Even at his age, he pitched right in. You build the walls on the floor and then have to raise them into place. It takes all the help you can get. Dad was a lot of help too. But he was also funny. He'd never built anything but a corncrib. When they were setting studs at 16" centers, Dad made a comment about them being so precise. He told my Father-In-Law, F. that when he built something, if it was within 6 inches, it was close enough. (It was an exaggeration, but it was the way my Father thought.) F. laughed and laughed and then explained to Dad that if centers were off at the beginning, nothing you did afterward would fit. I'd already learned this when we put the floor joists in and nailed down the sub floor. Plywood edges would end where you could not nail them to a stud (or joist). If you had to cut everything to fit, you'd have wasted material and wasted time. Dad just grinned, (I loved my Fathers grin.) and shrugged his shoulders and told F. that he bowed to his superior knowledge and he guessed he'd better forget the 6 inch theory. The P. family did know what they were doing. It was a good day, and everyone was enjoying being together. One of those precious days when memories are made.
That was a long, short summer. Mom had brought J T a puppy and both were growing fast. They were always under foot and I had to watch them closely to keep them safe. With one end of the house over the garage, it meant a bad fall if they were running and not watching where they were going. And, there was the hole where the basement stairs would be. It was a relief to get the wall studs up. They could still fall through, but at least it was a barrier. I tried to keep them out in the "future yard", but every time I turned my back to help or fetch, they would disappear into the woods. I spent as much time chasing my little ones as I did building or fetching.
Once we were up on the roof, I got a lot of exercise. J T's dog, Duke, had invented a game that kept us in stitches. J T would run as hard as his little legs would go and his half grown pup would give him a head start. Then the pup would run after J T and when he got right behind the boy, he would jump and swing his body so that his rump would catch J T in the back and knock him down. Then before J T could get up, Duke would sit on him. J T would struggle and yell, but the pup wouldn't budge till he was good and ready. As soon as J T got back to his feet, he would take off again, and the whole show would repeat. We were nailing plywood to the roof and trying to work, but watching boy and pup slowed our progress. No matter how mad J T got, Duke just didn't tire of his game. And I didn't have to run up and down a ladder to see where they were.
posted by LeeAnn | 2:03 PM
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