Building a home for little $$$$

[Wannabefree]

The neighbors house across the street just got struck by lightning last week. The sheetrock has to be ripped out and all the wiring replaced, then sheetrocked again. I wonder if the old sheetrock is still good, or could be salvaged from that? Then scraps from the new job would be good too, right? They'll probably let me have it for hauling it away.

 

[handydude]

I would not reuse sheetrock due to the fact that it may have traces of mold. If the house is fairly new and you can get it down without damaging it, it might be ok. I found some sheetrock that had been removed from a commercial building that had been hung with metal clips on the actual front of the rock. They had put vinyl wallpaper on the back because it was flat. It was 5/8 thick and is "firerock" so it is good stuff. The reason people don't like using it is that it is 30"wide instead of 48". I like it because it is easier to handle and i can put it up by myself. There is a little more taping involved, but i sheetrocked a 24' x 36' addition for 135.64 in material cost (not including mud and tape) and 45.00 transport cost. This find came from craigslist. The labor was all me, and i did it in the evenings after work. I got the bedroom, office and bathroom ready for texture and went ahead and textured them and painted them. Subsequently, we have moved into them and will hopefully have the remainder ready for texture in the next couple of weeks.

 

[Wannabefree]

This home is barely a year old. The lightning destoyed all of the wiring. I figure it will be okay, not likely any mold.

 

[handydude]

After determining the size and floor plan, I had the utility companies locate the water, sewer, gas and phone lines(power was overhead)and determined how much pipe was needed to tie in to the utilities. We set the form boards, had some sand/fill brought in and leveled the pad for the concrete. I then tied the utilities in and brought the stub in pipes up about 12" above the concrete level at the place that they needed to be. That involved a lot of hand digging, but i had the time after work and with my kids help, we got it done and ready for the big pour. We started mixing and pouring at 5:30 am on saturday morning and by noon, we had about half of it done. I made sure as we were working that I kept the concrete that had been poured very wet by spraying it down with the water hose. NOTE: the slower you can get concrete to set and dry, the stronger it will be. After getting over half of it poured, I used the bull float and the fresno trowel to dress it up. We then finished mixing the rest and got it poured about 8:30 that night. I did get a friend to come in and use the power trowel to polish the floor as it set up and it came out excellent. I used 5/8 rebar and tied it in squares of 10" inches. that is a little overkill, but as of yet, NO CRACKS!!!! With the portland, sand, gravel and rebar, I got the floor done for about a fourth of what the concrete would have cost. The regular mix for 3500 lb concrete is 1 part portland, 2 parts sand and 3 parts gravel. I had extra portland, so I added a little extra portland and made the mix a whole lot stronger.

 

[dragonlaurel]

Thanks for going into detail about what you've done. It's helpful to know how to make stuff extra reliable, since many of us are likely to do some of the work ourselves.

I really want to build a small cob house. They are super strong structurally, but still might be hard to get approval for here. Alternative construction is still catching on.
But the regulations do vary across the state, and if you're far enough in the sticks . . . Cob is very adaptable about using whatever size windows, etc. you got a good deal on. I would still stick to fairly common sizes though, in case I ever needed to replace one.

Hubby doesn't want to give up certain modern conveniences, or I'd charge a laptop and a cell phone with a solar charger, and forget the grid.

 

[Wannabefree]

I love this thread! This is going to be a great tutorial for folks wanting to build their own homes. It's making it easy for me to wrap my brain around each step. DH is the construction guy in the family, but I'm basically clueless Thanks for starting this handydude

 

[handydude]

It is my pleasure to share my experience with everyone. I am just a guy with a family, works everyday for a wage to support my family and do the best I can to improve life around my humble abode. In these days, with gas approaching $4 a gallon and Milk about the same, we have to be ever mindful of every penny that goes out. That is why I am alwasy reading Mother Earth News and all of the other publications like it. As I planned my expansion, I planned for every energy saving and money saving shortcut that I could. However, I want to note that when I did use something used, I made sure that it was in excellent or almost new shape or condition. That is why I gathered for a couple of years. I just passed on the material/item if it was questionable.Just because a person builds a house or anything by using used materials,it does not mean that it has to look like poo poo (my politically correct form of speech).I have taken pride in the progress that I have made and that is why I want to share with all of the readers. By the way, Last night I finished sheetrocking the utility room and started taping and bedding the walls. Tomorrow I plan on finishig the utility room and t&b My son's room and closet. Hopefully sunday i will be able to texture those rooms and paint tuesday or wednesday. NOTE: If you intend on texturing a room yourself, invest in a quality texture gun. I purchased a "discount hopper gun" and ended up wasting a box of mud, making an unholy mess and making myself very angry. I shopped around and found the type I wanted and wached on craigslist and picked up a Goldblatt texture gun for 20.00 and have been happy ever since. If you don't have a certain piece of equipment and don't want to invest the money to buy it, just call your local rental place and they will probably have it. I am picking up all of these tools because i have planned ahead, gave a good price foir them and my 17 year old son will have them to use if he ever decides to do any of this type of work for himself. Good tools that have been taken care of will almost always hold their value.

 

[SKR8PN]

The neighbors house across the street just got struck by lightning last week. The sheetrock has to be ripped out and all the wiring replaced, then sheetrocked again. I wonder if the old sheetrock is still good, or could be salvaged from that? Then scraps from the new job would be good too, right? They'll probably let me have it for hauling it away.

If you need to sweeten your garden soil, recycle that old sheetrock. It makes a great substitute for lime. Just remove the paper from the painted side, break it up into smaller pieces and till away.

 

[Wannabefree]

The neighbors house across the street just got struck by lightning last week. The sheetrock has to be ripped out and all the wiring replaced, then sheetrocked again. I wonder if the old sheetrock is still good, or could be salvaged from that? Then scraps from the new job would be good too, right? They'll probably let me have it for hauling it away.

If you need to sweeten your garden soil, recycle that old sheetrock. It makes a great substitute for lime. Just remove the paper from the painted side, break it up into smaller pieces and till away.

That is exactly what I intend on doing with the broken pieces and my garden can sure use it

 

[baymule]

The neighbors house across the street just got struck by lightning last week. The sheetrock has to be ripped out and all the wiring replaced, then sheetrocked again. I wonder if the old sheetrock is still good, or could be salvaged from that? Then scraps from the new job would be good too, right? They'll probably let me have it for hauling it away.

If you need to sweeten your garden soil, recycle that old sheetrock. It makes a great substitute for lime. Just remove the paper from the painted side, break it up into smaller pieces and till away.

That is exactly what I intend on doing with the broken pieces and my garden can sure use it

We just got through wrecking out 3 bedrooms and putting up new sheetrock from a busted pipe in the ceiling 12-1-01. Yeah, I know it has taken awhile. One bedroom is taped, floated, textured and painted. Two more to go. But on taking down the sheetrock and reusing it.....it comes off in chunks, not sheets. Even if being careful, it still comes apart when removed. Best bet would be to ask for the new scraps. Also go to your local lumberyard, Lowes, or whatever and ask for damaged pieces.