Sagebrush & Solar

The trusses are placed, the roof is sheathed, and framing is about 1/3 of the way done. It’s so neat to see the shell of our house — which actually looks like a house now.

While I have a wild imagination (thanks to the copious amounts of fantasy fiction I read as a homeschooled book nerd), but I lack the ability to really visualize something as realistic as a house. To be more specific, what our building plans would translate to in “real life.”

I see it now. I never thought a bunch of 2x4s and sheets of OSB would make me so emotional, but I can actually picture our home.

So, what’s next? The answer is: a lot.

We need to set our windows, which Ashley Glass has been storing in their warehouse for us for the last 6-8 months. They’ve been phenomenal to work with and if you’re local, we highly recommend them.

Keith is working on adding material (pit run, road mix) to the floor of the garage to build up the base. He is doing the same to the front door area and back porch. This is necessary for the concrete work that will be done.

Electric and plumbing is the next interior step. My dad is a trained electrician and says plumbing is super easy, so we will be doing it ourselves. I’m excited because this is a project he and I will work on together. I have a bad feeling he will be putting me in the crawlspace.

Once our inspections for rough electric and plumbing are good, we can move on to some interior soundproofing insulation on the bedrooms and then drywall. Paint, flooring, cabinets, doors, etc. will come after that.

We have to build our above ground water shed. This will include excavation. We have some ICFs leftover from the garage snafu, which we will repurpose for the shed. In an effort to save money, we will use the same excavator to dig the septic tank hole and get that done as well.

Because I know Ken will ask me “did you get power figured out yet?” on Monday at work, no. We are still trying to figure out if the ranch will grant us an easement or if we’ll need to go the solar route. If we go solar (which is substantially more expensive), we’ll also need gas. Due to the increase in cost, we will also need to evaluate where we can cut costs to make it work with the limited funds we have.

On the exterior, we still need to backfill and improve the driveway. We also need to install a gate at the entrance to our driveway. We also need to install siding and paint the exterior of the house.

We chose a simple roofline because we knew we’d be shingling it ourselves and because curb appeal doesn’t really apply when no one can see your house. We will be going with a light-medium gray asphalt shingle to absorb a little less heat than a dark shingle. We initially considered a metal roof, but it was substantially more expensive than a shingle roof.

If you’ve stuck with me this long through the duration of our rough to do list — we have a lot to do in between work schedules and other obligations. We are trying to pay for this with cash, but are quickly coming to a point where a small personal loan will be inevitable. We aren’t eligible for a conventional construction loan due to the lack of water.

What does this mean? It simply means “move in ready” has a different definition for us. The home we move into this year won’t be the final product. Much will be unfinished, but the parts that matter will be useable. We can then build and improve each month, paycheck by paycheck. Our goal is to be debt free, not to live in a Pinterest or Instagram worthy house.