I try to keep the mid-week updates to a minimum, but yesterday was a small milestone (or 2).

Front porch and parking area were poured. We've been anxious to see the front porch in concrete to determine if the size is good. I think we're good, it looks HUGE in person.





Shop area pad is going down today



The other small milestone yesterday was the first interior wall got stood up and bolted down.

Hopefully Chris approves of my method to try and keep his floor protected:

Measured out where the wall should be and made an "incision" in the floor protection



Popped a chalk line



Bolted the wall down





And then not pictured, layed the floor protection back in place and stapled it to the new bottom plate.

Cleaned up floor plan test:

I've set a goal of having the shop bathroom and doghouse ready for "move-in" by the end of the month. Doghouse is basically done. Bathroom framing was completed this weekend and ready for plumbing. I stumbled upon a good deal for the Viega PEX tools I needed so hopefully this coming weekend we get the plumbing knocked out (depending on parts availability).

With the shop bath framing done, we were able to refocus on interior walls. The master bedroom now lacks 1/2 of one wall. Master closet is done. Master bath and laundry room are both 1/2 done.





You may notice the floor protection is pulled back in the above photos......We had a little excitement this weekend.....

Helluva little storm passed through. HEAVY rain and strong winds for 30-45 minutes. The genius's I had lay the stone for the wainscot did not leave ANY weep holes. The wind was able to blow the water between the metal flashing an the top cap of the stone, eventually filling up the 1.5" brick-ledge. The only place for the water to go after the 1.5" was on to the slab. We were able to get the water off with a shop vac and I drilled a few weep holes during the tail end of the storm. Water wasn't on the floor for more than an hour. Talked to Chris at Texas Concrete Design and he told me no permanent damage (if any damage) would result.





I mentioned this to Chris - I always look for a silver lining in everything. The silver lining with the water is that we got to see large portions of the floors "finished" for the first time. And I don't know if it's the same situation as never thinking your own kid is ugly, but these are some of the best looking stained floors I've ever seen.

Had a side project come up that took a few weekends to get done. But there has been progress!!

The entire ground floor is now framed, save the 2nd bedroom closet and the hall closet.

2nd Bed and Bath / livingroom

Kitchen/Laundry/Master Suite


We also got the breaker box/building ground rod in the ground. Doesn't sound like much but that is a feat up here with the rock. We didn't have that back home on the gulf coast.

This week after work I hope to get most of the 2nd top plates on and then finish the walls this weekend and start straightening and bracing walls in prep for truss measurements.

Daniel - The guy I used was local and only does it on the side. I knew I shouldn't have used him but had a lapse in judgement. Just make sure you use someone who does it for a living and you'll be fine.

jfbdvm said:

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Why not just build a house?

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Many reasons:

• Because then I'd have to build a shop too.
• What if it's raining? You want me to walk outside to the shop? like a caveman or something?
• Some claim that in the end Barndo's are cheaper /sq.ft.
• Priorities. Wanted a shop, had to throw a house in it to justify.

Joking aside. We've always liked the idea and look of barn houses. Some people say it ends up cheaper (yet to be seen, but will report when it's all done). This is not the last house we will live in so we thought we'd give it a shot. Will have to build a traditional one next to do an honest comparison to include all the DIY aspects.

Sorry for the lack of updates. Progress has been made, but nothing TexAgs worthy. Just a bunch of small stuff that doesn't change the overall look.

Monday/Tuesday after Kentucky game should have a good update - trusses should be on site (and maybe a few installed)

Father-in-law brought his drone a few weekends ago. Did a few shots and a flyover video of the place. I don't want to be "that guy" so I edited out the parts where he unknowingly got over neighbors land or had video a little too close. All the land in the video is owned by my boss so its free flying.

From the pasture across the road:


Coming up driveway a bit:



Big lean-to side:


Rear:


shot f the side of the oaks we started cleaning, will finish up this winter:



Video:

Not much fun-to-look-at progress this weekend. Lots of clean-up and getting ready for trusses on Friday. These will be 2' tall trusses that are the 1st floor ceiling / 2nd floor floor. All of the plumbing, electrical, and ducting will be run within these trusses.

But here is at least something to look at.

Had my first experience with PEX. So far so good, 12 crimps, 0 leaks (knock on wood). These were the hose bibs around the outside of the house.

Fishing it in


View from inside. Just realized I don't have a pic, but these were just connected with a 90



I'm using Viega FostaPex which is a PEX with an aluminum and plastic (PEX?) sleeve around the outside of the standard PEX. I believe it is refered to as PEX-AL-PEX (pex-aluminum-pex). Because of this extra layer the end of the pipe must be "reamed". This allows the standard PEX connections to be used.

Connections all done and water supply turned back on.


I still need to make some sort of mount for each bib to hold them against the wall.

I also got my breaker box connected to it's ground rod.

Rod coming into the house and tied onto the metal building (bonding?)


Making its way to the box. ~8 inches above finished floor. Routed through 2 90 degree corners, much eaiser than expected.


Up to box. not sure if zip-ties are to code, but it'll work.



Connection inside box. It ties to a separate grounding bar, then that bar is tied to the neutral bus bar.


I don't fully understand electrical but I do have a professional electrician that will come help me lay out the circuits and double check this type of stuff. But to my understanding my neutral is bonded to the box (by the green screw at the lower left of the panel) thus, all the bare wires and white wires can/will terminate on the neutral bar. And with the new connection show above, now the box and the metal building are bonded neutral as well.

If there are any electricians here, feel free to correct me if I'm off on that.

We have a 2nd floor. Kinda. What we really have is a bunch of work to get done, no more waiting on stuff.

Trusses unloaded from truck


Moved inside and some staged around the house







Started placing them up top





Not bad for half days work



Took Monday off to make up for the day lost to the game. Started decking the 2nd floor



Working solo requires building an extra set of hands




The "jack" ended up working pretty good. I could slide the sheet up it to rest on the higher cross piece. Then from on top, pull the sheet up onto the floor.

I ran a bead of Liquid Nails on top of every truss just before placing the sheet. Then screwed the sheet down every 12", I did every 6" on edges of the sheets. The sheets are 23/32" Tongue and Groove pine plywood (not OSB).

Master bedroom area decked



Still have a handful of trusses to set in place (the 2nd bed and bath area). I used the master bedroom area as a "test" to figure out how the process would go. All the trusses outside of this area are just sitting in place, not attached. So this week I hope to fine tune placement and screw down remaining trusses. Then start on decking the remaining space.

Once the 2nd floor is decked, we will focus on the 2nd bathroom. Hope is to get it temporarily usable and put our current house on the market by the end of the month. Mrs. Gringo had a good idea of getting the For Sale sign in the front yard for Halloween for the high traffic volume. If the house sells before the barndo is drywalled, we will move into the doghouse and the 2nd bath.

There's Bathtubs-R-Us, that's on third too. You got Soak-Your-Butt-There. That's on third. Scrub Low, Sweet Chariot... Matter of fact, they're all in the same complex; it's the bathtub complex on third.

blindey said:

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There's Bathtubs-R-Us, that's on third too. You got Soak-Your-Butt-There. That's on third. Scrub Low, Sweet Chariot... Matter of fact, they're all in the same complex; it's the bathtub complex on third.

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Oh, the bathtub district!