“DIY” and underslab plumbing.

23Jul08

I’m not a big fan of the term “DIY.” I’m not entirely sure why—somehow it evokes visions of crocheted doilies and poorly-applied paint. Glue guns, duct tape, and leaky plumbing. It’s not that I don’t think people should do things for themselves, and make efforts to create their own environment(s) in an age when [...]

Filed under: house building, house thinking   |  4 Comments
Tags: DIY, plumbing, truevaluecontest08, underslab plumbing

the economics of the beastly thing.

21Jul08

We spent the day (Saturday) working on the house. Progress seems slow– sometimes painfully slow, and we did some mental calculations over dinner to determine whether or not we’ll be able to live in the house by winter (or at least part of the house.) The answer is: we’re going to try damn [...]

Filed under: house thinking   |  5 Comments
Tags: economics, financing, Fine Homebuilding

i’ve spent far too much time on annoying technical details.

09Jul08

Before you scroll down and read my missive about our weekend of manual labor, you should note that I’ve finally gotten around to adding a “subscribe by email” button over on the edge of the blog. This means that you can be personally notified when I’ve gotten around to publicly whining about the trials [...]

Filed under: blog mechanics   |  4 Comments
Tags: technical

a thumper and four wheelbarrows.

08Jul08

This photo encapsulates all the reasons that we’re totally exhausted, our hands are blistered, and I’ve taken to adding Ibuprofin to my regular diet. (On the Ibuprofen front, Luke is choosing to suffer based on his ridiculous belief that by abstaining from the wonders of modern-ish medicine, his liver will remain fully intact.)
We got [...]

Filed under: house building   |  1 Comment
Tags: concrete, house building, renovation, wheelbarrows