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DIY DIVA
DIY diva

Doing it For REAL

DIY diva

Buying a House Through GoHoming.com or Altisource: An Epic Journey & Review

The time between when I first saw my future house (from the outside only) to the time the final bid had to be placed through the online auction at gohoming.com…

So, who wants me to build them a house?

First of all, you can imagine my surprise when, after a late night of studying followed by an early morning of studying and an hour drive while studying, the first…

February 6, 2011 | 20 Comments | Read the Full Article

Cramming (T minus 10 hours and counting…)

I’ve just decided I know absolutely nothing about soil testing, insulation, or siding a house with something other than hand nailed wavy-edged cedar siding, so unless the questions on the…

February 4, 2011 | 4 Comments | Read the Full Article

The Contractors Exam: Rules I Didn’t Know About House Design

One of my favorite things about myself is my ability to be surprised– and I mean utterly astounded– at my own ignorance about things that I’m not sure why I…

February 1, 2011 | 11 Comments | Read the Full Article

The Contractors Exam: Laws About People Who Build Houses

You might be thinking, hey, I’m not insane and taking a contractors exam in a week and half, so why do I care about this? And the answer is that…

January 26, 2011 | 6 Comments | Read the Full Article

Don’t Measure When You Can Mark (And other things I learned on the Habitat build.)

Needless to say, I do a lot of “working on houses” but this is the first time it’s been sponsored by my Actual Real Job, which has nothing to do…

August 25, 2010 | 3 Comments | Read the Full Article

Sharpening our no.2′s

We’re entering another one of those “sit back an wait for materials and/or while professionals do the work on our house” phases of construction. With the roof on (and the…

DIY House Addition: Step 2 – Getting Building Permits*

Sixty hours of sitting through contractors class and this is what I learned: No, you cannot rent an excavator and just start digging a bigass hole in the ground for…

April 15, 2010 | 2 Comments | Read the Full Article

Things I Learned in Contractors Class: You Do Not Know It All

Huh. It says it right here on my notes. When we got to this section of the course I gave MysteryMan a look that said, “Obviously this guy doesn’t know…

January 28, 2010 | 6 Comments | Read the Full Article

Things I Learned in Contractors Class: How Not to Die

Last month I almost fell off my chair in excitement when MysteryMan agreed to take the Residential Builders Pre-licensure courses with me, and believe me when I tell you I…

January 20, 2010 | 2 Comments | Read the Full Article

Do I lose my DIY membership card for this?

Some time ago after I had finished my MBA, and MysteryMan was in the midst of studying for his Professional Engineer’s licensing exam, I was feeling a bit forlorn about…

December 14, 2009 | 2 Comments | Read the Full Article
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