If you have been reading Dimes2Vines for awhile, you know that we began construction on our home overlooking the vineyard in August 2010. We decided to use the Rewards Insulated Concrete Forms mainly because of their insulation value. We completed what will eventually be our basement and moved in the weekend after Thanksgiving, 2011.
We have been very pleased with our ICF home except for one thing – something no one warned us about – chickens like it. Not only do our chickens like it, they LOVE it. Love to eat it that is!
You read it right – our chickens love to peck and eat the styrofoam off the house! They have left holes along the lower edge exposing the supports which are built into the ICF blocks. The concrete which fills the ICF blocks is visible in several areas!
We had temporarily painted the house yellow. Our plan is to put a stone facade on the walk-out basement wall. This will be after the upstairs is finished and dirt is pushed around to cover three sides of the basement making it a true basement.
It might seem logical to shoot some chickens. But, we value their eggs! They lay their eggs in the morning and normally, we let them out of their pen in the afternoon to free range. We could not believe it when we first saw it happening. And, you would not believe the sense of satisfaction gained by running and shooing those chickens away from our house! I am sure we looked like people gone crazy.
We are now taking precautions to keep them away from the house using barriers.
As for the holes, John has filled them with Great Stuff – spray foam which expands. It looks unsightly but does offer protection from water seeping in the holes and flowing into the house. And, yes, that has happened 
Hopefully, one day in the not too distant future, it will all be covered by dirt or stone. For now, it is one of those funny (yet humbling) things you would not believe unless you saw it!
What will eventually be our basement is now home sweet home. We are all enjoying starting the New Year in our own home. So far we are very pleased with the ICF (insulated concrete forms) walls and are amazed at the insulation value. Our small wood burning stove can quickly cause us to open windows to let out the heat!
Having done all the work ourselves has taken time but certainly saved us a lot of money. As of now, we have spent right at $42,000 and have1500 sq ft with 3 bedrooms and 1 bath (Yes, 1 bath for 9 people can be challenging at times but there are more to come upstairs!).
We did decide to do some extras since this is hopefully the house we will grow old in. The $42,000 figure includes a $1500 Pelican water softener which has been well worth the expense. We did purchase the larger model to accommodate the remainder of the house. If you live in an area which has hard water, you may be interested in one as it uses no salt but rather a bed of crystals. The crystal bed causes the naturally dissolved minerals in the hard water to form tiny crystals suspended in the water. These tiny crystals are relatively inactive and so the water “feels” soft in the shower, dishwasher and other normal usage. The bed never needs replacing and in just 4 years it will have paid for itself.
John also installed a fire sprinkler system inside, we used beaded board wood for the ceiling, the bathroom is floor to ceiling porcelain tile and the kitchen counter is made of granite tiles (bought on sale).
The exterior door opens into the laundry room which leads into the kitchen.
The kitchen, dining room and family room are really one large room.
It is very conducive to our lifestyle to be able to see what is going on from any room. The bedrooms are off the southwest side of the family room. Complete settling in is happening little by little and hopefully will be completed before the vineyard work really starts.
Phase 2 is planned to begin after this year’s harvest. Extending another 14 feet on 3 sides with the ICF and continuing upward. The 14 foot areas will provide storage, wine cellar, cheese cave and root cellar. The first floor will have 4000 sq ft. with a very large center family room surrounded by a 5 ft wide hall. The bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen and study will surround the center room and be off the hall.
The roof will be metal of a yet to be determined color. The temporary TPO (Themo Plastic Olefin) roofing, which is now covering what will be the first floors sub-flooring, will be removed once the ICF walls and metal roof are in place. The exposed basement walls will have a stone facade with stucco on the exterior of the upstairs.
Being do-it-yourselfers has provided us many memories, opportunity to learn new skills, and the chance to work together as a family besides having more that we otherwise would have been able to afford. While it has taken time and been a lot of work, it has certainly been worth it!
Now, to be content and wait for phase 2!
While we have not actively been working on the house recently, it is so nice to look over the vineyard and see it in the distance.
Much of the house is complete. All but a couple of pieces of sheet-rock have been put up and the last pieces are cut. We even started mudding it. Once the sheet-rock is finished, we can paint it.
The ceiling will be tongue and groove wood which I plan to white-wash so that the wood grain still shows through. Finally comes the finishing with bathroom tile and fixture, as well as, kitchen counter top and fixtures. Oh, and don’t forget the lights, ceiling fans, shelves and trim!
I guess that sounds like quite a list of unfinished items, but in light of what has been completed – we are almost done!
When it comes to paint color, for me there is no choice other than yellow. In most cases anyway. The outside of our house in Alabama was yellow. I enjoyed it, so why mess with a good thing? The natural choice for the new house was yellow. The problem is it is so difficult to tell the actual color from a little color chip. I know the tricks: take it outside in real daylight, take it to the place where it will be used…. But when it comes down to it, I feel like it is still hit or miss within shades.
The name of the color choosen is “Buttercup”. I admit, I was drawn to the name. After all, Buttercup is a nice milk cow and a pretty flower. How could I go wrong? Well, if anything is wrong, it may be a bit bright. Would I change it? I don’t think so but I do have time to think about it. All this will be covered with stucco after building the first floor .
I have pictured the girls painting but just for the record, the boys all painted too!
Some got in to it more than others. Since it was water based paint, I was not too worried. Accidents do happen. Fingers in the paint. “Accidentally” touching a sibling with the paint roller. You know how things just happen.
Mmmm! Does that taste as good as it looks?
What’s wrong with yellow eyeshadow?
How did this happen?
We will apply a second coat, to the house that is, on the next calm day.
Thermo Plastic Olefin (TPO) is a durable plastic roofing material used for flat roofs. Since our basement roof will be flat until we add the first floor and my brother-in-law was able to get a wonderful deal on it, we are using TPO for our temporary roof.
We had several 10 ft wide pieces, as well as, several 3 foot wide sections. So, the first step was to roll out what we had and see how best to utilize it.
Next came the seams. Pieces were overlapped, some sticky stuff placed in between the layers, glued and then pressed together. I hope that was not too technical for anyone!
To provide insulation, we used the pink foam board. Two layers of foam board were put down on top of the plywood decking. The first layer was screwed down and the second layer glued to the first. The TPO was then rolled out over the foam.
An overhang was left around the top of the insulated concrete forms (ICF) which will be glued down and secured with strips of wood. The bucket are filled to provide weight to hold the TPO down until it is completely secured. We would not want this west Texas wind to get under it and lift it off!
The corners remain to be finished. The excess is cut and that same black sticky stuff is used to secure the pieces together.
If you have ever upholstered furniture, these corners are much like some of the cuts you make to fit the fabric to the furniture piece. 
It makes a nice snug corner. Notice the duct tape on the thumb? It is a makeshift, in the field (and sometimes at home) band-aid. Duct tape really is amazing stuff! Did you know it will even help get rid of warts? Not that I have any, but if you do, put a piece of duct tape on top of the wart and leave it for a week, check it and put another piece on if needed. To speed up the process, put duct tape on after using a wart remover.
Now, back to the corners…. It makes a nice snug corner! The excess will be trimmed off when it is secured.
Painting the exterior will be next and then the TPO can be secured across the top of the ICF. We have bought yellow (my favorite color) paint and are just waiting for a still day to paint. Here in west Texas though, it seems that every day is a windy day!
Framing, TPO roofing, work, work and more work!
If you remember, my brother-in-law leaves today, Monday. He has been here a bit over a week and we have had so much fun! While he came out to help build the new house, I think he may have worked harder than he anticipated! These guys have worked every day, all day, until 7:00 in the evening. Our goals for the week included framing the walls and putting the roof on the basement. The goals were almost accomplished. Framing the walls were finished the early part of the week. They began the roof on Thursday. Since it will only be temporary until we add the first floor above, we are using TPO (thermo plastic olefin). It is a plastic flat roofing material which is very durable. My brother-in-law was able to get an awesome deal from a roofer so it was very economical.
The progress on Thursday included a lot of thinking. Floor joists (roof rafters for now) were begun. Notice “the thinker” sitting and well, thinking!
They were able to put up about half of them.
Friday’s work started with completing the joists.
The decking was next. Plywood (we used Advantech) was nailed over the joists.
The decking was finished on Saturday. It is amazing how having a roof adds perspective to the inside. It gives size and definition to the rooms. It also makes a cavernous, echoing, loud space! I will definitely be using rugs!
So at the end of the day, thinking was begun for the TPO roofing. Since we had several 10 ft sections as well as some scrap 3 ft pieces, how was the best way to lay it out?
I know you are all sitting at the edge of your seats waiting to hear how we did it but … I must leave you hanging. We have to get ready to go to the airport. The brother-in-law would be disappointed if he missed his flight. That would mean he has to continue working and I think he is ready to leave so he can get some rest!
More later!
Once we hand harvested the Montepulciano, we were able to start work on the house again. Hopefully, we can get a lot done before next week’s harvest. John’s brother is visiting so, the goal is to get the roof on before he leaves!
Since we used Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF), the exterior walls went up very quickly. Now, we are working on framing the interior walls. Here are a few pictures:
It may be difficult to envision, but there are three bedrooms on the south side.
The north side of the basement will be the kitchen, dining area, living area and bathroom.
Next comes the roof (which will eventually be the floor joist of the first floor).
For the floor of the basement, we decided to seal and paint the concrete. Our house in Alabama had a clear seal on the basement floor which we liked and it held up well. We chose the same type to use here in west Texas. It is a 2 part epoxy coat which rather than being water based is amide based. This epoxy will stand up better to the wear and tear a large family gives a floor.
After sweeping, sweeping a second time and blowing with a shop vac, the floor was ready. To make it easier to see what had been painted and what was not, we chose not to tint the first coat. So, it went on white. Really bright white!
As with most things in our lives, it was a family affair to paint the floor. How many people does it take to do it? Well, for us it was: 3 to paint, 1 to move the bucket, 5 to watch/play/ provide general comic relief and 1 to photograph. It is a good thing we are a big family!
Now, I know how difficult a white floor is to keep clean and I am so glad we were not stopping here! After drying overnight, the second tinted coat was applied. The late afternoon sun casts shadows that really give the color varying shades. Although you can not tell from the picture, because of the shadows, the floor is all one shade!
While this type of finish can be expensive, it is very durable and practical. We were able to save quite a bit by doing it ourselves. Our supplies purchased included 2 part epoxy (which mixed yielded 2 gallons) to cover two coats on a 1500 sq ft slab, thinner, rollers and pole (we had an old broom handle to use for one) and cost approximately $440.
As we start a new week, I can not help but look back over the past one. Actually, I am still tired from it and plan to recuperate this week!
August is a big month in our family with 4 birthdays (with 12 mths in the year, you would think things could be spaced a bit better) and our anniversary. To complete the festivities, our 22 yr. old son was visiting for the whole week to help us celebrate! Not all birthdays fell last week, but you sure would think they had with all the fun we had.
Vineyard work is, for all practical purposes, finished until harvest – YEAH! Spraying for leaf hoppers and discing the weeds in the circle were completed. Now, we will continue to check the brix (the sugar content is measured in brix) of the grapes and at the right time they will be harvested. The desired bricks value is normally determined by the winery to whom the grapes are contracted with.
The wood for the framing of the house will be delivered on Wednesday and it will be exciting to get started on the walls! Once the first floor is completed, our plan is to stucco the entire exterior. Until then, we will paint the basement exterior to prevent any breakdown of the ICF walls. I will be buying the paint and hopefully start painting this week.
Maybe there will not be recuperation time after all. Well, adrenaline, excitement and coffee always get me through! Maybe I should put coffee first 
I am so thankful for coffee and this morning was certainly no exception. I always feel like a new woman after my first cup of the day! We worked until after dark last night and then came home to eat so we had a late night. But, today, the cement truck is coming at 1:00 pm and we have a lot to finish!
As you can see, we had just begun the sixth course of our ICF walls and this course involves a lot of cutting and fitting the forms around the windows and doors.
We are having 5 windows and 1 door but 3 of the windows will eventually be doors. So, we are framing them now and John will frame the bottoms of the doors to support the windows. Once the main floor is constructed, there will be rooms around the lower level for a wine cellar, cheese cave and root cellar. The windows will be removed and doors installed for access to these areas.
If you remember my analogy to legos, the ICF has the tabs that snap together and these must be cut off around the top course for an even wall. The walls looked much like a castle if you can imagine the tabs as crenelations. But, although I am still queen, my crenelations were cut off! The result, a nice level wall ready to pour. You can see the wood bracing added to the door to support the weight of the concrete as well as, the wood brace over the door. This is to prevent a break out at the cut above the door.
For the pour, we had 3 cement trucks and a pumper truck. I had never seen a pumper truck in action and it was amazing. The cement truck poured concrete into a hopper at the back of the pumper truck. It was then pumped about 40 feet into the air through a hose.
Have you ever had a remote control car? Well, a man stood with what appeared to be a remote control car controller and controlled the hose. John guided the hose around the top of the ICF’s filling the walls with concrete. Three rounds were made to fill a third of the wall at a time.
We will be taking the bracing down Saturday, cleaning the slab and popping chalk lines for the interior walls.
|
Grab My Dime! 
<a href="http://dimes2vines.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Photobucket" src="http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/ac339/dimes2vines/newbutton.jpg"/></a>
|
About Me 
God has amazingly blessed me, Dina-Marie, with a wonderful husband and 10 beautiful children. Moving from our "secure" life in Alabama to the "exciting" life of starting a vineyard in west Texas has been challenging to say the least. I have had the opportunity to take a crash course in frugal living and become a real farm girl - complete with milk cow and chickens. I have learned the importance of health from the inside out, "traditional" cooking and cod liver oil!
I hope to encourage you to make the most of where you are and what you have. |
