response 1 of 191:

Jan 26 22:07 UTC 2013

My partner Jim and I started building a 960 sq ft (no basement) very insulated
house in 1986 and the city gave me six months to finish it (May 28 2013). 
Jim refuses to come here because he was assaulted twice by some awful new
neighbors and I am building with help from two friends.  
Today the architect friend and I are putting skim coat white thinset mortar
on the exterior downstairs walls.  This is very sticky stuff (polymer added)
that we mix up by hand (5 lb powder, 1 pint clean water), apply with a trowel
(making sure to cover all screws and taped joints), then she uses a special
Japanese trowel to smooth it as flat as possible.  Maybe two more days of
these.  The cement board is Hardibacker, 3x5' sheets .40 inches thick, 40 lb
per sheet, and was a challenge to put on the walls over resilient channel
(metal channel) without bending the channel or puncturing the foil over bubble
wrap vapor barrier.  Two weeks of cement board (370 sq ft) and now about the
same of skim coat, two people working together.  Two more days to go?  

After this 9" deep window jambs and a second set of windows (inswinging sash,
designed by Jim and to be made by the company that made our outswinging
windows).  They will close like doors, with standard window latches and
hinges.

We are taking off early today (5 pm) to get my friend some more used work
pants at Value World.  My other friend is off fixing things for other people
and we will continue wiring tomorrow afternoon.  The first friend is in
charge of the HRV (heat recovery ventilator) and an accessible bathroom
floor.

We need to do plumbing, wiring, ventilation, interior walls.  The wiring
includes lights (we finished exterior lights and outlets) and space heaters.
Lights will probably be $10 fixtures from Ikea that come with 3x35W halogen
bulbs and can be used with 3 3 to 9W LED bulbs from CHina ($1-2.50 each
includes shipping).  THe space heaters will be hydronic electric baseboard,
probably 500-1000W each.  I need 2200W total to heat from 0 to 70.,  Right
now the heat is at 50F because I turned up the space heater from its low of
43 so the mortar would cure better.  I am heating with one space heater set
on low (1500 watts rarely one), on dehumidifer (660W when dehumidifier,
purchased new locally for ebay matching price), and five double fluorescent
light fixtures (we turned those on one day before the dehumidifier when it
got down to 40 downstairs).  When the sun shines no other heat should be
needed once the two south porches are glazed in.  Or if I cook wastefully or
take hot showers every day I should not need to add more heat.

The architect friend is building her own house and I promised her two weeks
help stuccoing in June.

I am learning how wiring works, and service panels, and 4-way switches, and
double motion sensors (it actually works - one outside and one inside the
porch so the porch light goes on if someone approaches or leaves the house,
to light the stairs).  We have lighted mercury switches which light when in
the off position and are not lighted when on, unless you put them sideways
in which case they don't work at all and are always lighted.

We are leaving - more another time.  Is anyone else here building a house?

response 3 of 191:

Jan 27 01:21 UTC 2013

The Habitat Re-store in Ann Arbor has some really nice stuff.

response 5 of 191:

Jan 27 03:56 UTC 2013

Are the neighbors really assholes, or are they just upset that there's been
this hole next to them for the last 27 years, thus driving down their own
property values?  Things like houses don't exist or have value solely on their
own merits, they hold value because of what's around them as well.  It doesn't
seem unreasonable to me for someone to be angry that someone else in the
neighborhood isn't pulling their share of the weight, particularly given the
economic downturn.

Try to see things from somebody else's perspective every once in a while,
Sindi.  It will do you some good.