Building a house takes many things– tools, patience, several cases of beer, and most importantly, a plan. In the last couple of years I’ve worked with a number of tradesmen and contractors, and even though I only threatened to bury one of them in the backyard once, I still recommend that anyone undertaking a project like this has an understanding of what it really means to build a house from the ground up, just in case…

Since I’m just finishing up (and moving out of) the first house I was intimately involved in building from the ground up, it seemed like an appropriate time to put together a high-level overview of the different stages of the building process. It’s not a compressive step-by-step plan, but for anyone trying to wrap their head around some of the basics of the building process, this is a great place to start.

Before You Build

It’s easy to think the building process starts with things like foundations and walls — hey, I get as excited as anyone about digging a bigass hole in the ground– but the truth is that almost as much work goes into the “pre-building” stages as actually nailing things together. Here are the things to know about it.

• Know the zoning of the land, topography, and the location of the corners of the property to determine setbacks and buildable areas.
• For country folk, make sure you’re clear for a well and septic, while city dwellers will need to make sure they have access to public utilities.
• If there’s an existing house on the property, make sure you know where the current utilities are located– trust me, the sound of a punctured gas line is something nobody ever wants to hear.
• Once the house plans are done, the exterior walls need to be staked to prepare for excavation.

More information on building plans and getting permits (you’ll definitely need one of those) can be found here.

Excavation

The actual “building” portion of the project starts with the foundation, and all foundations will require some excavation. This means heavy equipment, big piles of dirt, and one very awesome hole in the ground.  This should probably only be attempted by professionals using an excavator or backhoe.

Footings

The footings are the foundation of the foundation. They are the lowest part of the structure and carry the entire load of the house.

• Footings are always located below the frost line, approximately 4′ deep.
• Most common problems relating to footings & foundations are caused by poor soil conditions or disturbed soil. (If soil is disturbed, always remove and fill with additional concrete.)
• In areas that get plenty of rainfall–hello Southern Michigan–footings should have drain tile installed to remove water from around the foundation.

Foundation

The foundation sits on top of the footings and carries the support for the actual building structure. This is where everything can go right or wrong as far as your entire house being level and plumb.

• Common types of foundations include full basements, crawl spaces, and slabs.
• Foundations are most commonly constructed out of poured walls or concrete block.
• Any part of a foundation that is below-grade should be sealed with a waterproofing agent.
• All foundations should include anchor bolts that will tie the framing structure into the foundation.
• After the foundation is finished, cured, and waterproofed, the area around it should be backfilled.

For more detailed information on footings and foundations see this post.

Floor Framing & Sheathing

Personally, when I think of “framing” I think of putting up walls, but the truth is, after the foundation is done,  the first thing that is framed is the floor. It closes off the foundation and creates a nice level workspace for framing the walls.

• The floor is made up of a number of 2x dimensional lumber, 16″ on-center.
• Girders are metal I-beams, or 3 pieces of 2x face nailed together that rest on the foundation walls, and usually have beams supporting the middle.
• Floor joists typically rest on the sill plate and one end and girder beam at other.
• There are many rules and code restrictions relating to notching and hole-drilling to accommodate utilities (electrical, plumbing, HVAC).
• The rim joists are attached the floor joists by end nailing and the floor joists are secured to the sill plate by toenaling with 3 nails.
• Floor sheathing or “subfloor” is attached to the floor joist system and is a base for all floor materials.
• Floor sheathing is usually plywood or OSB (5/8″ or 3/4″ thick).
• Floor sheathing is laid so the maximum number of joists come in contact with the sheet and no two rows next to each other are laid in the same pattern. A 1/8″ gap is left between sheets for expansion.

Wall Framing & Sheathing

I like to think of the “frame” of the wall as the thing thing that holds up drywall (or sheathing, if you’re on the outside). Getting the wall framing right means you have to consider how the materials that will finish it will be fastened to it, and that the weight of the structure is supported vertically– which means that the weight of the roof is transferred through the walls to the beams in the foundation, and that openings for doors and windows are properly supported.

• Framing is typically done 2×4 or 2×6 dimensional lumber, spaced 16” OC
• This is started after the floor sheathing is done, which provides a perfectly flat surface for laying out wall units.
• Wall units are assembled on the ground and then raised into place and secured with temporary braces. Sheathing may or may not be on the walls at this point.
• Wall sheathing adds structural integrity to the house and is commonly 1/2″ OSB or plywood.
• Like floor sheathing, there should be a 1/8″ gab between pieces and the seams should be staggered.

For more specific information on floor and wall framing, check out this post.

Roof Framing & Sheathing

For a person who runs screaming from math like yours truly, creating the roof structure is the most complicated part of framing. Luckily someone invented prefabbed trusses, but there are still things like slope and drainage to consider, along with the possibility of falling from an unfortunate height.

• Roof framing consists 2x lumber that supports the sheathing and shingles.
• The roof can be built 2 ways, either the rafter/ceiling joist system is “built in place” or a prefabricated truss system is built to spec off-site and then put in place with a crane
• Common roof styles include: Gable, hit, mansard, gambrel, saltbox, and shed.
• The roof should be “engineered” by a certified structural engineer.
• Notches or holes should never be cut in the boards of a roof system.
• Like exterior wall sheathing, roof sheathing is most commonly OSB or plywood , but the minimum thickness will be determined by the truss or rafter spacing.
• Like floor sheathing, there should be a 1/8″ gab between pieces and the seams should be staggered.

Envelope Installation

After the exterior wall sheathing is in place, a vapor barrier or “house wrap” is installed which prevents moisture from reaching the wood structure (but allows any moisture that does find its way in to leave).

• The first sheet of house wrap is started on the bottom (and run horizontally). Each row overlaps the previous by 3″.
• Once the house wrap has been secured the seams are taped.

Electrical Rough

Now that most of the elements can be kept at bay by the sheathing on the roof and walls, it’s time to play with exciting things like electricity. The electrical system of a home should be installed entirely by a licensed electrical contractor – and this is a good idea, particularly if you don’t want to electrocute yourself. However, in most states homeowners are allowed to perform electrical work on their own homes

• Rough electric consists of all electric work and materials from the meter to the outlet/switch boxes without receptacles or fixtures installed
• Some good-to-know electrical facts:
  • A minimum of two 20-amp circuits are required in the kitchen area
  • All receptacles within 6 inches of a water source should be protected by a GCFI receptacle
  • All bathrooms must have one 20-amp branch circuit
  • In all habitable rooms (bedrooms, kitchen, living rooms, etc. not closets or bathrooms) walls without openings must have a receptacle within 12 feet of each other

Plumbing Rough

The plumbing system is tasked with the very important job of bringing good “potable” water into the house and taking bad “waste” water out. This is another one that should be done by a licensed plumber or that a homeower can do themselves, but there’s no one to point the finger at then, when a toilet overflows. (Hint: If you’re doing it yourself, make sure the drain lines are properly vented to ensure the fixtures actually drain.)

Mechanical Rough

“Mechanical” generally refers to the HVAC system that circulates air throughout the house. It includes a furnace, air conditioner, vents, duct work, etc. It may also include any necessary gas piping.

• Proper placement of vents is important to even heating and cooling of the house.
• There is a maximum distance vents (like the clothes dryer vent) can travel.

Window/Exterior  Door Installation

Unless you’re doing most of the work yourself– ahem– it’s likely that things like window and door installation will be going on simultaneously with the rough utilities. If you want to use a fancy word for it, door and window systems are referred to as the fenestration of a home, but not ever by me.

• All exterior doors must be a minimum of 1-3/4″ thick and should have a passage lockset as well as a deadbolt lockset with a minimum 1″ throw.

Roofing Installation

The roof is by far the most important part of keeping the weather outside of the structure, and carrying water safely away from the walls and foundation. Roofing systems may be metal sheets or shingles made from asphalt, wood, slate, or fiberglass.

• Roofing systems include drip edge (a metal strip that runs the perimeter of the roof), tar paper underlayment, possible ice guard, and shingles.
• Roof pitch is measured by a number over 12, for example “4:12″, which the slope of the roof is 4 feet vertical for every 12 feet horizontal.
• For a roof with a pitch of 4:12 or greater, one layer of underlayment can be used. For a roof with a pitch between 2:12 and 4:12, two layers of underlayment are necessary.
• For shingle roofs, all fasteners must be galvanized with a broad flat head, and long enough to extend all the way through the shingle and the roof sheathing.

Siding

The number of choices you have on materials to use on your house increases exponentially when talking about siding. Brick, wood, stone, vinyl, and fiber-cement are just a few siding options. Personally I prefer wood that has to be hand nailed with impossible to find stainless steel fasteners, but that’s just me.

• Full brick or stone siding must be supported by a brick-ledge in the foundation. Veneer brick or stone does not.
• Wood or vinyl siding must be attached in a way that allows it to expand and contract as the temperature changes.

Interior Insulation

Interior insulation can be done any time after the doors and windows are installed, the roof is complete, and the utilities are roughed in.

• The amount of insulation needed in the exterior structure is determined by the energy codes. Effectiveness of insulation is measured by “R-value”.
• Insulation on the interior of the structure is used for soundproofing.
• Insulation types include fiberglass batts (faced and unfaced), foam board, spray foam, loose cellulose or fiberglass fill.

Drywall

While drywall might just seem like something to be painted pretty colors and hang pictures on, it also provides insulation and fire resistance.

• “Drywall” is composed of gypsum board panels, tape for the seams, and joint compound to cover seams and texture the walls.
• Generally 1/2″ drywall is used on walls. In some states (like my very own Michigan) you need to use 3/4″ drywall on the wall between the house and an attached garage for fire rating. 5/8″ boards are also recommended, but not required, for ceilings.
• Wallboard is attached to studs first using coarse threaded screws or nails, starting with the ceiling and working down the wall. Drywall seams are staggered similar to exterior sheathing.
• After wallboard is in place seams are taped and finished with joint compound. When seams are dry the wall may be textured with joint compound using rollers or drywall knifes.

Get more detailed information and step-by-step directions on drywalling here.

Painting

This the exciting part of house building that means four days out of five you’ll go into your day job with paint freckles on your face. Or maybe that’s just me. Other than the intense decision-making that comes with choosing paint colors, here are some other things to consider:

• Wall paints generally come in latex or oil based. You can use a latex paint over an oil based primer. Typically oil based paints have a higher VOC level and are more difficult to clean, but are very durable and have great coverage.
• All drywall should be finished with a primer before painting, unless you’re using a paint and primer in one.
• Use a flat ceiling paint on the ceiling, a semi-gloss for any trim, and an eggshell for other walls. (Trust me, shiny paint is not in.)
• If you can manage it, it’s easiest to paint before trim, cabinets, and flooring are installed.

Interior Doors & Carpentry

Once the paint is one the walls it’s time to start finishing things out with interior doors, and other interior carpentry such as handrails and built-in shelving.

• Interior doors typically come pre-hung in a frame and are 1-3/8″ thick and 80″ high. There are many style options from slab to mission to six-panel design.
• Doors widths are usually designated by foot-inches, so a 3-0 door is three feet or 36″ wide.

Cabinetry

Cabinets can be ordered to fit, or custom built in place for kitchens, bathrooms and other storage areas.

• Blocking for cabinets can be installed during wall framing to make the cabinet installation easier.
• Measuring for cabinets should be done after drywall is in place to ensure cabinet sizes are correct.
• Standard kitchen base cabinets are always 24″ wide and 35″ in height (to accommodate for at least a 1″ thick by 25″ deep counter, bringing the height of the workspace up to 36″.)
• Standard wall cabinets are 12″ deep, but vary in height.
• Bathroom base cabinets may only be 29″ high.

For more information on blocking for cabinets, check out this post, and for building a bathroom vanity from scratch, check out this one.

Flooring

Sheet flooring such as wood, ceramic or vinyl may be installed at this stage, while carpeting is generally installed later. Most floors require some kind of underlayment between the subfloor and finished flooring.

• Wood flooring generally requires an underlayment rosin paper or roofing tar paper.
• Laminate may require a special underlayment to pad the floor and prevent squeaking.
• Vinyl flooring can be installed directly on a smooth plywood subfloor.
• Tile floor should be installed over at least 1/4″ durock or other cement board underlayment.

For more information on wood floor installation check out this post, or tile installation try this one.

Utilities Finish

In order for all of those fun pipes and wires hidden in your walls to do their job, the electrical, plumbing, and mechanical work needs to be finalized.

• Electrical receptacles, switches, and light fixtures will be installed.
• Plumbing sinks, faucets, toilets, and other fixtures will be installed. (Tubs are generally installed during the rough framing stage of construction.)
• Vent grills and thermostats for the HVAC system are installed.

Carpeting

If you’re having carpeting installed it should be the absolute last thing that goes into your house. Unless you want to be vacuuming up construction dust for the rest of eternity, that is.

• Tack strips are installed around the perimeter of the room.
• Padding is used underneath carpet, and then carpeting is rolled out, stretched and attached to tack strips. The rough edge is tucked under the baseboard.

Inspections

After the final utilities are in place, inspections are performed on the structure, electrical, mechanical, and plumbing systems in order to obtain a certificate of occupancy.

Certificate of Occupancy

You win. Go get your stuff and move into that damn house already. Or if you’re me… sell it and start building a new one.

Month 14 was officially the BIG month in the DIY House Addition Saga. It was the  ”I’m moving out of the garage and into a house” month. The “hey look, it takes more than ten steps to get from one side of this room to the other” month. The “sweet baby jesus, I can take a bath” month. In short, it’s been pretty amazing. Also? An exhausting amount of work, but that’s nothing new.

Here are all of the big changes.

Month 14 Progress: Interior Spaces & Goodbye Garage

It started with one. finished. bathroom. Getting it to that state meant grouting the tile, finishing the Pottery Barn inspired vanity and having the sink and toilet installed.

After that things kind of snowballed. The cabinets magically appeared in the kitchen one weekend except for that one in the corner.

Then it was several days of shoveling debris cleaning up the rest of the living spaces so that there would be an actual place to sit in the house.

Also, one other little addition (which is one of my favorite things in the house) that I’ve neglected to show you is the fireplace grill. This was a bit of a splurge but worth every penny.

The closet was also finished up…

Which led to the bedroom floor, and even more excitingly, the appearance of a bed.

And I have to tell you it’s a bit of a struggle not to just stay laying in that bed in that big mostly-finished room all day. But since the plan is to eventually have a second finished bathroom, I spent a lot of time banging my head against the wall while putting in this floor.

Biggest pain in the ass project to date, but since it looks good I won’t spend too much time complaining about it.

There was also some progress on the exterior of the house, with the mountains of dirt in the backyard finally being leveled out and seeded, and even a little progress on the siding.

What can I say? I’ve been busy.

Month 14 Injury Report: I Need To Stop Using This Finger

It would be too much to expect all of that work to go off without a hitch, but I also think the universe may have some kind of vendetta against this finger…

Which was alternately sliced open by a tile and then invaded by a splinter the approximate length and width of a toothpick.

However, it is still attached to my body, so my father’s dire predictions about the future state of my digits have yet to come true.

Month 14 DIYed and Didn’t: In My Element

I really like the heavy duty phase of construction particularly since I’ve learned so many new things as this house was being built, but there’s also something to be said for doing something your 100% confident in and just being able to rock out.

In the last two months I:

• Painted the bathroom and kitchen ceilings
• Built and finished a bathroom vanity (including tile top)
• Assembled a corner cabinet
• Coped and installed baseboard in the bedroom and closet
• Installed tile membrane and and WarmWire floor heating system
• Installed the bathroom floor tile
• Sanded and polyed the bedroom floor

The next month is going to be more of the same, but after that you never know… I may just sit back and drink umbrella drinks for the rest of the summer. Or, you know, maybe finish the siding on the house. Either one.

Back when we first broke ground on this house adventure and people would ask when we were going to be done, I’d casually wave a hand in the air, “Oh a year or so.”

Well, we’ve officially passed the year mark and are heading straight into the uncharted territories of Or So.  I’ve already waxed as nostalgic as I’m going to get about all the work we’ve done and progress we’ve made over the last 365 days. What I have to say about the twelfth month of DIYing a house addition is that it comes with a vague sense of dissatisfaction that can best be summed up in this instance as, why do I still live in a garage again?

While there’s been quite a lot of progress, we also reached a bit of a bottleneck with some must-have items we need before we move in. Like doors. And a bathroom floor.

Here’s where we’re at.

Month 12 Progress: Mixed Bag

Since last month I’ve been jumping between tiling, building cabinets, and wrapping my arms around my new working washer and dryer and staying like that for the rest of eternity.

The full bath is just a few standing stones shy of being complete:

That includes doors for the vanity that just need to be painted and attached.

The master bath actually has cabinets in, even though I’m still working on the new doors and drawer-fronts:

And the floor of the master bedroom is in:

I also took the time to put a few “finishing touches” in the bedroom, including trim for the recessed lights and switch plates.

All we need is a couple of doors, some baseboard, and to poly the floor before we can move in. (Well, that and have a working toilet in the house. Priorities.)

The master closet is also just a few shelves away from being finished, which means we’ll be able to both wash our clothes and put them away afterward. I know, who knew laundry could be such scintillating blog material?

Month 12 Injury Report: Do donkey bites count?

I’m pleased to say that with all that progress no one shot a floor nail through their foot or poked somebody else’s eyeball out with a shim. One of my donkeys was trying desperately to get my attention the other day and actually grabbed onto my arm skin instead of my sleeve, so the extent of the injuries this month consist of one donkey tooth shaped bruise on my arm. But who can stay mad at this face?

Month 12 Financial Status: How much my sanity is worth, in actual dollars.

Here’s the answer to that question: One hundred and six thousand, three hundred and seventy-seven dollars. And sixty-five cents.

That is the estimated savings we’ve earned by DIYing (and essentially working second jobs building the house) for the last year.

According to the building-cost.net calculator, which separates material and labor costs for each part of construction, here’s the breakdown of what we saved by DIYing on a house our size:

• Exterior finishing – $8900
• Exterior trim – $1500
• Roofing – $9000
• Finish carpentry – $7300
• Interior wall finish – $5000
• Painting – $9000
• Wiring – $8000
• Flooring labor – $9000
• TOTAL LABOR SAVINGS: $ 48,700

Since we were acting as our own general contractor throughout the process, we also saved an additional $57,677.00

As for what we will actually pay for the house, the only loan we took out was to purchase the property and get us started on construction, which was $80,000. Between the cash from selling my old house, tax credits, and the money we’ve been dumping into it is we go (and will continue to do pretty heavily for the next year), our total cash investment will be around $120,000.  While that means we’ll be saving up cash for some big-ticket items like hardwood for the kitchen/great room and appliances, we’re of the mind that it’s better to do without now than be saddled with additional debt later.

Month 12: Lessons Learned

Things we could have done better:

1. Order in advance, the closer you get to “done”. I mentioned above that we hit a bottleneck with things like tile and interior doors, and there was no reason to wait as long as we did to order them. Things started getting finished fairly quickly over the last couple of months and I think we were surprised how soon we’d be ready for some of those items.
2. Solid pine and plywood do not stain the same. You may notice the corner shelves in our closet which were made from plywood, stained much darker than the other shelves. Unfortunately we’d already poly-ed the lighter shelves or they would have gotten a second coat.

Things we got right the first time:

1. DIY baseboard. The baseboard in the closet image above is just 1x pine that we used the router to put a bevel on. Simple, rustic, and $0.40/lf instead of $2.50/lf.
2. DIY bathroom vanities. I saved a couple grand easy by building the vanity for the full bath and using modified stock cabinets for the master bath. We’ve yet to see the finished result for either, but I think it will be well worth the time spent on them.

Here’s to hoping our Month 13 wrap-up will be written from inside the actual house.

Whew. We’re rapidly approaching a year of construction on the Memorial House, and isn’t it crazy how time flies when you’re covered in dirt uh, having fun? If you’ve got sharp eyes you may have noticed a little something different on the exterior of the house this month, which is the first time we’ve made progress on something outside of the house since we entered the sixth ice age up here back in October.

Here’s what it looked like in January:

Yes, there is way less blizzard going on, but that’s not what I’m talking about. Check it out…

When I was driving all over two states a few weekends ago, trying to find my brain, MysteryMan put the not maroon cedar beams in place.

So that’s exciting. Here’s what else has been going on in the last two months.

Month 11 Progress: Colors, Tile, Trim & Floors

There have been some great strides in finishing the master bedroom and master bath, including picking paint colors and doing something awesome with this window:

The grays:

I tasked MysteryMan with building the closet-shelves-made-out-of-plumbing-parts, which required enough math that even his engineer brain almost exploded. But it’s looking awesome, and if only we had a floor in there we could put it together and store our clothes somewhere other than the garage.

And speaking of floors, the full bath has one:

It also has this beach inspired rustic wall (plus a few more boards):

And a little tile:

It’s not done, but it is a far far sight better than what it used to be.

Yep, same bathroom. And hey, all we had to do was tear out all the fixtures, drywall, flooring, and miscellaneous closet, and then rebuild it all. Story of my life.

Month 11 Injury Report: Does Food Poisoning Count?

Hey, all my fingers and toes are present and accounted for, and I’m no worse for wear unless you count another layer of skin peeled off my hands from not wearing gloves when mixing thinset for the tile, and the fact that I almost died from the flu. Or guacamole food poisoning. A person shouldn’t be able to die from guacamole, so the jury is still out on what caused the 24 hours of hell, but I’ve made a full recovery thank you. Thus concludes the one day I alloted myself for sickness in 2011.

Month 11 DIYed and Didn’t: I Should Get A Gold Star For This

For the whole first half of this project I would like to think I pulled my weight and then some (considering I’m the one who washed the dishes out of a spigot in the back yard for a couple of weeks), but I wasn’t the MVP of the building projects, which always went to MysteryMan, or the professionals, or our electrician friend. But give me a house full of unfinished drywall, floors that need to be installed, tile that needs to be laid, and oh boy, am I in my element.

Here’s what I tackled myself:

• Texturing the walls in the master bedroom and both baths
• Priming and painting the bedroom and both baths
• Trimming and staining the window in the master bedroom
• Installing the full bath floor
• Installing the full bath tile

Here’s what MysteryMan did:

• Building the closet shelves
• Framing in the area for the tub in the master bath
• Installing the porch posts

This is what we used the “pros” for:

• Finishing up some electrical work (and does it really count as professional help if we pay our Chief Electrician in beer?)

Here’s to hoping we round off the year by actually finishing a couple of rooms.

It’s possible that I almost had a minor breakdown when we had to choose the colors and patterns for the concrete that surrounds almost half of our house. Because the truth is, with decorative concrete these days, the patterns and color combinations are infinite. Which is exactly how I almost ended up with a very large very purple porch surrounding my house.

Oh wait, I’m sorry, plum.

A plum porch surrounding my house. Which is, you know, just that much more awesome.

It’s actually taken me so long to get over the trauma of that experience that I’m only writing about concrete now, even though our porches have been in since October. But here we are, fully recovered–with some quite beautiful porch caps, I might add– and it’s time to share some things everyone considering this decorative conglomerate should know before strapping on those concrete shoes and diving in.

Concrete: The Overview

First thing you should know, it’s called concrete. Not cement. From someone who spend 5 years of her life running a concrete block plant, let me tell you that if you call it cement, someone somewhere is laughing at you behind you back. (Cement is one of the things that goes in concrete. Calling concrete cement is like calling cake “flour”.)

Other things you should know:

• Concrete is made of cement, sand, aggregate (stone), water, and additives in varying amounts– the size and type of aggregate as well as the type of sand can affect color and finish. Light colors may also require white cement which is ridiculously expensive.
• How well concrete cures will affect the final product, things that can affect curing are: humidity, wind, temperature, moisture in the ground or area you’re pouring. (Even I had a minute of impatience where I was like, “Seriously?! It’s too windy to pour concrete? Is this a joke?” But it was not a joke. If the top of the concrete dries out faster than the rest of it, you’ll get all kinds of cracks on top. Trust me.)
• Concrete is fairly permanent, therefore you should not pick purple your colors on a whim.

Colors: This Ain’t Your Grandpa’s Concrete

The joke in that title is that my grandfather started the concrete company my family owned and operated for twenty years so technically for me it is my grandpa’s concrete, however let’s not start getting literal now.

The fact is, concrete technology as far as colors and stamping has exploded in the last couple of decades.

So you can have a plain gray concrete pad if that’s what you want, and frankly, that would make the decision process easier, but for the rest of us, here are some of the basics about concrete color:

• Concrete can be poured gray and then stained with a topical concrete stain
• Concrete can be painted or covered with an epoxy.
• Concrete can be colored with an “integral” color. This is a powder or liquid that is mixed into the concrete in the truck or mixer, before it is poured.
• Concrete can be colored with a “release”. Releases are used when stamping concrete to keep the stamp or form from sticking to the mud. Releases do not need to have a color.
• Concrete can (and should) be sealed with a top coat. There are varying finishes of top coat and it may or may not contain additives like an anti-slip sand.

You can use any combination of these techniques to achieve a custom look. (That’s what they say in the brochures, but I like to phrase it as “Getting the exact shit I want.”)

For our porches  and garage floor we used an integral color with a colored release.

Stamping: Like Scrapbooking, But Bigger

So there are two ways to make concrete look like something other than a big square:

• Forms: These are the “walls” or the form that the concrete is poured into. For your standard square pad or porch they are made with 2x lumber (width depending on how thick your slab will be.) For a curved feature they make bendable concrete forms that can be staked with a radius– Something I plan to attempt in the next summer or two.
• Stamps: These are just what they sound like-large rubber stamps that are used to press a shape into the top of the concrete.

Some kind of release must be used with a form or stamp. A clear release, such as a form-oil, or a colored release that can come in powered or liquid form.

Tips For Picking Color

People, I almost had 500 square feet of purple porches surrounding my house so maybe you should take my advice with a grain of salt (or as my friend E says, a “grand assault”). Or just call this learning from my almost-mistakes.

There’s really just one tip here:

Don’t rush. See a sample of the exact combo you’re going to use before you decide on it.

Our problem was that nothing was just what we were looking for, so we tried a little last minute mix and match. The company we bought our color from did have actual concrete samples (you can’t pick this from a color brochure) and we spent many, many consecutive minutes staring at them. Over several days. Or weeks.

It’s all a little fuzzy now.

You can also ask companies if they have examples of jobs that have been installed in colors you like to drive by (easier if it’s a driveway, more likely to result in an arrest if you’re snooping around on someone’s back patio though).

And the other thing to keep in mind is that a sealer will change the color of the concrete drastically. That, my friends, was the magic solution in turning our purple concrete from this:

Into this:

But it may not change the color for the better, so make sure you’re aware of what kind of sealer is used on the samples you’re choosing from.

Also speaking from experience: Neutral is better.

The Steps

Here’s a quick look at the process in photograph form.

Forms with colored powder release:

Concrete with integral color:

Typical concrete finishing techniques were used to get it to a smooth finish:

The concrete was allowed to set up until the top was firm with just the slightest jiggle to it (probably 45 minutes to an hour in cool breezy conditions, and this completely depends on what your weather is).

Then the colored release was thrown across the top:

Which was a dirty, dirty job. Dust masks definitely required.

Then the stamps were used in alternating patterns while two guys did the “stamp dance” on them… it’s kind of like a shuffling square dance.

Then the sides of the forms were removed and stamped with a roller:

We were properly horrified at our very purple concrete at this point. And we stayed that way over night while the concrete set.

The next day, the release was artistically washed off with a power washer:

This is what gives it the variegated look. The less power washing, the more of the release color you see. The more power washing, the more base color you see.

Once the water has evaporated, the sealer can go on. For some colors this will just give you the darker “wet” look. For our plum release, it changed the color entirely… bringing us to a nice neutral grayish brown.

Whew.

That could have been a disaster.

The concrete got two coats of sealer, and can be resealed as necessary when it starts to wear out. We put an anti-slip additive into the sealer, and word of caution, make sure you mix it well for the second coat because all the sand will have sunk to the bottom of the pail.

And those, folks, are the finer points of pretty mud.

It’s a pretty sure bet that when I’m talking about DIYing a house addition and/or living in a garage, I’m going to make some sarcastic remarks about the state of our mental health. It comes with the territory. I’m going to break form a bit this month and just say this: Month Nine was the month of supreme confidence. As in, there was such a feeling of, “Don’t worry babe, I got this” that I did the same thing I do whenever life gets too easy: Added more stuff to my plate.

First, I had to admit in a big way that fifteen years ago when my orthodontist was all, “If you don’t wear your retainer you’re going to have to come back here for braces every few years” he was not bullshitting. And now half of my teeth are in what I’ve been affectionately referring to as “oral traction” for the next four months, and my food intake is limited to things I can swallow without chewing… so basically water. It does good things for my temperament.

And then MysteryMan and I decided to put the 60 hours of residential builders classes we took last winter to use by signing up to take the official exam and get our licenses (assuming we pass.) Basically we’ve got two weeks to re-learn everything there is to know about construction codes and how to frame a house.

Meanwhile, back at the house, we’re making some good headway on things like heat and drywall, and at least one of us is finding things like picking out the exact right tile for the bathroom so the universe doesn’t implode a slightly more difficult task.

Month 9 Progress: Heat, Showers & Taping Seams

Let’s take a look at how the interior is looking now, (which is basically just like last month, except the drywall seams are done-ish):

There has been some significant progress on the bathroom showers as well, the most notable thing being the completed show pan (making it totally ready for tile that I haven’t ordered yet).

Here are the things we’ve accomplished from last months list:

• Getting the geothermal system working
• Finishing drywall seams
• Getting the showers ready for tile

The list was much longer than that, and here are some of the items we expect to wrap up in the next week (in construction speak, that means 2-4 weeks, depending on the weather… builders classes? not a complete waste of time):

• Picking out bathroom tile – I have the wall tile for the master shower, and a good lead on the wall tile for the full bath
• Texturing walls- Expected to start next weekend
• Painting ceilings- Expected to be finished next week
• Framing in the master bath tub – Expected to be finished this weekend
• Ordering cabinets- Expected to be finished this weekend

We’re also adding to that list:

• Tile started in master bath
• Trim and stain picked out for windows
• Interior doors ordered
• Paint color picked out for master bed/bath

Month 9 Injury Report: Wolverine or Cement Board?

The biggest thing to report this month is that either a rabid animal attacked me in my sleep or I somehow managed to make 10 perfectly parallel scrapes on my arm while hanging tile board in the shower. You decide what’s more likely.

Month 9 Financial Status: That sound you hear is my tears echoing inside an empty piggy bank.

If you want a more in-depth look at our financial “plan” I talked about some of the thought process in Month 6. I plan to lay our financials bare in a “how much did DIYing this save us” post soon, but I can only look at so many receipts and spreadsheets at a time before my eyes start to bleed.

We’ve officially crossed the threshold of “using money from the sale of my old house” to “saving up for the tile I want to buy for the shower”. We have an exceptionally small mortgage (hence payment) so we can save up the money pretty quickly, but it will likely be the end of the year before we’re buying kitchen appliances. I’m getting real good at cooking meals on a hot-plate though.

Month 9 DIYed and Didn’t: I win?

We’ve reached that time in the house building process where I get to do the heavy lifting with finish work, and MysteryMan gets to wander around with a bewildered look on his face wondering what he should do now. After nine-months of non-stop mental and physical work, it’s hard to let go… I think the football playoffs have been easing his transition though.

Here’s what we tackled ourselves:

• Tile board in showers
• Filling in screw holes and drywall seams (on the walls, not the ceiling)
• Electric in the basement (with the help of our Chief Electrician)

Here’s what we had professional help with:

• Finishing the drywall on the ceilings and inside corners
• Installing the shower pan
• Making the geothermal system work

It wasn’t the craziest or most exciting month in the process, but things will start shaping up around the house pretty soon.

I’ve been talking about the impending deep-freeze for months and hey look, we’ve entered the 2010 ice age in Southern Michigan. Unfortunately Month 8 is wrapping up, and this is a house that doesn’t yet have heat. It does have a extra large kerosene heater in it though, and believe we can get the whole 2000 square feet up to a toasty 65 degrees in about five seconds flat, but we may be sacrificing a few non-essential brain cells to the fumes.

Month 8 Progress: Studs, Walls, & Pipe

With the cold weather we’ve moved inside both from necessity and well necessity.

Just a couple of weeks ago the house looked liked this:

But there have been a few improvements:

Last month our list included:

• Geothermal wells
• 1 fireplace installation
• Building inspection
• Insulation
• Drywall
• The rest of the siding

We’ve knocked all of those things off the list except the siding (of which not a single board has been installed in the last month).

Taking us into the New Year the list includes:

• Getting the geo working (hopefully tomorrow)
• Picking out bathroom tile
• Texturing walls
• Painting ceilings
• Framing in the master bath tub
• Ordering cabinets

Month 8 Injury Report: All Fingers Accounted For

I sliced one open on a radiator vent, does that count?

Month 8 DIYed & Didn’t: Call It A Tie

Because we:

• Installed blocking (me)
• Installed the vertical portion of the geothermal (MysteryMan)
• Installed all the in-wall wiring for the entertainment system (me)
• Framed out the kitchen closets (both of us)
• Installed some fireblocking above walls and the fireplace (both of us)

And the professionals:

• Insulated the house
• Hung all the drywall

Month 8 Thanks: Mom, We Love You

Really, my mom was my hero this month. Most times I just tell her to come over if she wants to– asking for help is not what I do, per se– but before the insulators and drywallers came, I practically begged her to come help me tackle the disaster-area/construction zone. And then she spent two days inside our 30-degree house vacuuming every square inch of the 2000 square feet with the smallest attachment on the shop vac.

Seriously.

No way I would have gotten through that weekend without her.

I equate soffit building (particularly those funky boxes on the corners) as the house-building equivalent of being attacked by a shark. One minute you’re all swimming along, soaking up the rays, thinking how easy it will be to install siding (a two or three weekend job, right?)– things are going well for you. And the next thing you know you’re missing a foot, flailing helplessly, hoping someone (I’m looking at you, Google) will be able to rescue you, and wondering what the hell just happened to your life, plans for siding the house, peaceful day at the beach.

Another thing soffits and sharks have in common? Never saw it coming.

Soffits were just something we were going to worry about later, and the next thing you know we’re trying to put siding on and realize that 1.) The soffits have to be up to put the corner pieces in place, 2.) The corners need to be in place to put the siding up, and 3.) We have no idea how to build the soffit boxes.

This is the age of Google and YouTube after all, you think someone would have a damn tutorial on how to put a wood soffit box in, but no. So we had to go back to the age-old method of faking our way through the entire process, but as it turns out we’re pretty good at that once we’re done flipping out about it.

See?

Let’s talk specifics, shall we?

Soffit Installation

Everything about this general area of the house– drip edge, fascia, soffits, etc– was a bit of a mystery to me. I’d thought about the roof shingles, the windows, the doors, the siding, but who the heck plans our their soffits ahead of time? (Probably professionals, actually.)

Every time I took a picture of what we were doing MysteryMan was all, “You know there is no way in hell we’re doing this the right way, right? You shouldn’t be showing this to people.” But I’m not an engineer, which means my one qualification for if we’ve done something the “right way” is this: Did it work?

Answer: Yes.

Okay then.

Step 1- Blocking

For all the soffits we started with blocking. MysteryMan did all sorts of complex measuring (which for me translates to holding up a level) to make sure the blocking was in straight.

The purpose, of course, was to give us something to nail the trim to.

Step 2- Soffits
The soffits on the flat part of the roof (parallel to the ground) need vents to keep air circulating through the attic so you don’t die of The Mold. I’ve seen this done a number of different ways, but this is how we did it.

We used 1/4″ exterior grade plywood ripped down to the necessary width. (Both sides primed, bottom side painted.)

To properly install the vent we first put up a 3″ piece of wood with staples…

The vent has a 1/4″ lip on either edge to keep in in place (so don’t staple any of your wood up within a quarter-inch of where the vent goes).

We pre-painted it, then slid one side of the lip under the first piece of wood, and installed the second piece of wood on the other side.

It’s not rocket science, but it did take us a little bit of time to get there.

Any peaks were done with just ply ripped to length and stapled in place (no vents).

This part did not particularly require Google, but to get there we had to build the soffit boxes, and that, my friends, was a right pain in the ass.

Building Soffit Boxes

I was busy moving five years of my life out of my old house during this adventure, so full credit goes to MysteryMan for doing this without my help.

Step 1 – Frame

He started with a “frame”. This was a three piece wood box that consisted of a triangle piece, a back piece, and a small nailer to attach the whole thing to the house.

Step 2- Trim

Then the painted 1x cedar trim was cut to fit, one piece for the “triangle” in front, and once piece for the back. Because of the size of the stock we had, the piece in the back is shorter than the bottom of the traingle piece or fascia, but we preferred using what we had to buying new.

It took some clamps and a little finagling to get the pieces tight.

The outside of the box needed to be complete before we could finish the bottom of the soffits.

And getting the bottom piece to fit just right? Almost impossible. Luckily caulk forgives many sins.

Step 3 – Nub removal

Our soffits hung out like this for a long time, because they were good enough to allow us to move forward with the siding…

For it to really look finished though, we needed to remove the nubs. A perfect job for my Rockwell Sonicrafter.

A little primer and paint, and can we just say, thank god that job is done?

And I know, it doesn’t look that difficult in the pictures. In retrospect we’re like, well, duh*, how else would we do it… but getting there without a diagram, picture, napkin drawing, or otherwise directive, was harder than one might think.

*Just in case there’s any confusion, MysteryMan has probably never uttered the words “well, duh” in his life. I’m pretty sure he thinks them sometimes though.

Fall took its time standing on the edge of beautiful sunny weekends, taunting us with cloudless days and feathery breezes… and then that bitch took a deep breath last week and plunged us into the dark, icy days of Winter.

It took me like four days to finally catch my breath. Then I bough myself a pair of Carhartts, long johns, and some new gloves and got ready to work in temperatuers that I’m sure can freeze a person’s eyeballs right out of their head. It’s bottoming out in the twenties now, but it’s only a matter of time…

And hey, I’m still living in a garage!

Good news: the space heater can turn the one-room garage apartment into a sauna, so no one is going to freeze to death in their sleep. Other good news: we may have actual heat in the house in the next couple of weeks as well. It’s not as good as having 4 more weeks in the 60′s, but it’s something.

Month 7 Progress: Lights and trenches and siding, oh my!

A few months ago the house looked like this:

We’ve made progress on the illumination front:

And with the siding:

In the last month we’ve:

• Completed (and stained, thanks Mom) 50% of the siding
• Passed all of our utilities inspections (HVAC, plumbing, electrical)
• Had one fireplace installed
• Finished concrete pads in basement
• Blocked in old basement windows
• Trenched water and electric out to the barn

Still on the list to complete:

• Geothermal wells (They keep saying “next week” which has been going on for two months. Why can’t I pay you less if you constantly lie to me?)
• 1 fireplace installation
• Building inspection
• Insulation
• Drywall
• The rest of the siding.

After that’s done I get to move on to tiling, cabinetry, and flooring. I never thought I’d be so ready to install thousands of little glass tiles again.

Month 7 Financial Status: Rapidly Dwindling Zeros

I went into greater detail last month about our financial decisions thus-far. We’ve paid for a lot of the big-ticket items that we’d alloted this chunk of change for including HVAC, electric, fireplaces, etc. Next month we’ll pay for our geothermal wells, insulation, and drywall, which will clean out what is left of our official budget.

MysteryMan has quite a few zeros left on his own personal budget for things like interior doors and whole-house audio systems, and I’ve been buying and hoarding light-fixtures and tile out of my tool-fund money for the last few months, which means we’ll have plenty to keep us busy until the next wave of cash we’re expecting in early spring. (Can you say geothermal tax credit? It’s totally going to pay for my kitchen cabinets.)

Month 7 Injury Report: No Thanks to the Wine

All fingers and toes are present and accounted for. The fact that no one broke any bones this month is shocking considering my penchant for drinking wine and balancing on top of shop equipment to take pictures.

Month 7 Lessons Learned: It Takes Forever and That’s Just The Way It Is

This is the month where I finally chilled out with the whole running around waving my arms over my head and yelling that the sky would fall if we didn’t get the siding on before winter. I don’t care what the calendar says, it is now winter. And since we’re all still sitting here, the universe did not–in fact– implode into itself killing all intelligent life just because my siding wasn’t on.

I don’t really dig working out in the cold unless it’s shoveling or something high-impact that keeps your warm, but this is life. Despite the fact that my dad insists I need to hire help for the siding because eventually it’s going to get too cold to nail the wood in (which is a completely unsubstantiated claim) I’ve learned to settle down about the whole thing. Yes, it’s frustrating to be stuck at a desk when it’s sunny and nice out, and then come home to pitch black and freezing at 6PM, but being stressed about it doesn’t make the work go faster.

Also, siding is taking way longer than we ever anticipated. That’s just the way it is I guess.

I can’t really accurately describe the blissful days of hanging siding that the weekend consisted of if I don’t tell you a little bit about the week of hell that I survived, which went a little like this…

Tuesday my Actual Real Job shuttled all of its employees a half-hour away for a full day meeting. Which, my typical work day is mostly meetings anyway, but you all know what my week is like, I have every minute of my day that isn’t devoted to working at my job earmarked for something pertaining to getting my house built– including lunch hours and starting immediately after I leave work.

Monday, for example, I sped home and did the Clark Kent phonebooth quick-change into my work gear, so that I could spend the last hour of daylight doing this:

What I wouldn’t give for light-til-10-PM summer nights still.

So you can see how an all-day meeting that takes away my lunch hour, adds drive time, and runs past my normal working day could throw my schedule into a tizzy. (Is tizzy the right word to describe “effing disaster?” Maybe I need a new thesaurus.)

That meant that MysteryMan and I were up until all hours of the night framing in the bump-out for the living room fireplace, which was scheduled to be installed Wednesday morning.

And two thumbs up for the guy from Fireside Hearth & Home who showed up exactly at 9:00 AM on Wednesday. And dealt with that little spacing issue MysteryMan and I created with our late night framing and lack of looking at the fireplace specs.

The fancy grate isn’t on it yet, but I have high hopes that we made the right decision with the self-contained glass-fronted unit that vents out the rear wall instead of the roof.

Just after I let the fireplace installation guy in Wednesday I left for Shaumburg, IL — if one of Dante’s circles of hell was a place made entirely of boulevards with no legal U-turns, it would be Shaumburg, IL. I executed more illegal driving maneuvers in 24 hours in that city than I have in the last 15 years of my life. And I got to work on a video shoot in a mall until 4:00 AM.

You know, I don’t really like malls all that much. Or video shoots. Or 4:00 AM. It’s a bit like I imagine purgatory would be, and luckily the video crew are some awesome dudes to be stuck with if you’re going to be in hell until the wee hours of the morning.

And speaking of hell, after that long night housekeeping busted into my room at 8:00 AM, and then two hours later when I officially “woke up” and turned on the shower, I set the smoke alarms off. Shockingly, the four hour drive home took me six hours.

I love Chicago, but I have never been so glad to leave a city in my life. Except for that entire week I was in China. (Also, clearly it’s time to get that crack in my windshield fixed, huh?)

So, it probably comes as no surprise that I felt like someone shoved my head into a beehive for the better part of the weekend. I spent most of the day Saturday working with a fever or else very premature hot-flashes. And, like I mentioned earlier, someone told me that since it was going to be an unprecedented seventy-five degrees out on Sunday, I better put my big girl pants on and get some work done.

So I did…

It would have been cooler if I’d finished that peak, but my body gave out Sunday afternoon, which meant I spent a leisurely Sunday evening in the laundromat doing six loads of laundry.

The good news is, with the progress made this weekend, that means most of the “addition” is sided, and we’re probably just under half-way done with the entire house. It’s taken us four weekends to get this far, and we’ve been blessed with some truly awesome weather.

My guess is the next four weeks aren’t going to be nearly so much fun, but hey, that’s life. And DIY.