Thank you for maintaining a wonderful website to support one of my all-time favorite books. Dyan E., Lexington Park, MD

Mimi's Forum Posts: 1
Journal Entries: 8
Interview Answers: 7




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ICF, SCHULTE ROOFING, LEVELING

Posted to BUILDING-OUR-GREEN-DREAM-HOME by Mimi in Pattison, TX on 11/2/2010

Jim did a lot of legwork today. He made contact with Ian at ICFhomes.com, and was quoted a price of $11/sf for materials and labor for ICF. The workers are covered with insurance. 

Posted by Mary in PA on 11/3/2010 Mary's Forum Posts: 101 Journal Entries: 60 Interview Answers: 15 Average Forum Rating: 4.17 Image from Mary's blog 11/3/2010

Hi Mimi, I've been reading your posts. Your project sounds very interesting. My husband and put up a 30x50 structure that will be John's shop later, but will serve as storage and launch pad for building the house next spring. It was a bit of work, and of course a chunk of money out of the budget - scary when the entire house project looms out on the horizon. But on the upside, it will give us a great storage and work area. And another bonus was that this project was a terrific warm up for the main event. I learned so much about the building process and made lots of contacts with subcontractors that we can reuse with the house. All in all, it worked out well for us. I noticed you're thinking of little Bluestem grasses for your hay fields. Several years ago we converted our rented-out soybean fields to little Bluestem (and a few other native warm-season grasses). It has worked out well for us, and I love the 'prairie' look of the fields. There are lots of sources on-line for how to establish and maintain native WSG fields. Here is a link to our construction journal post with a few photos of the pasture establishment:    ownerbuilderbook.com/blogs/post Good luck with your build!

ICF, Thermasteel, Metal or Agriboard

Posted to BUILDING-OUR-GREEN-DREAM-HOME by Mimi in Pattison, TX on 11/1/2010 6:38:24 PM

Jim sent off an email today to get a general idea of how much ICF costs compared to the other materials we are considering for the framing.

Trimming Oak Trees

Posted to BUILDING-OUR-GREEN-DREAM-HOME by Mimi in Pattison, TX on 10/31/2010

We are continuing to work on our property to try and make it look a bit nicer. We have five beautiful large oak trees that are in need of pruning, etc. Jim and the boys spent about three hours working on just one of them today. Still lots of work to be done!

GARAGE

Posted to BUILDING-OUR-GREEN-DREAM-HOME by Mimi in Pattison, TX on 10/28/2010

Jim and I are thinking about building the garage first as a free-standing building, so we can store materials in it while the house is being built. My concern is that if we do that, it may not exactly match the outside look of the house.

OUR GENERAL PLAN SO FAR

Posted to BUILDING-OUR-GREEN-DREAM-HOME by Mimi in Pattison, TX on 10/26/2010

At this time, our plan is to build a green home complete with a canopy over our roof. This canopy will shade the house and make it more energy efficient. Attached to this canopy will be solar panels and a very innovative water-heating system. We are looking at building with ThermaSteel, Agriboard, a concrete insulated wall system or some other similar type of high R-factor energy-efficient material.

WORKING ON THE OLD HOUSE

Posted to BUILDING-OUR-GREEN-DREAM-HOME by Mimi in Pattison, TX on 10/25/2010

Not only are we planning to build a green dream home, but we are also busy fixing up this little house on the prairie that we currently live in. We live in a small, approximately 100-year-old house on five acres in Waller County. It needs LOTS of work. Luckily, we are both retired, but still, there never seems to be enough time. Today, we continued to work on our 23 windows. Each window has 8 panes of glass. That means we are removing old glazing and reglazing 184 panes of glass! I glazed two windows today. Jim continued working on getting the old glaze off some of the remaining windows as well as replacing a couple of dozen panes.

Posted by Rachal in Janesville, CA on 10/26/2010 Rachal's Forum Posts: 79 Journal Entries: 31 Interview Answers: 62 Average Forum Rating: 3.84 Rachal's Selected Image 10/26/2010

38 miles is a long way to drive while overseeing the construction of your new home. Your contractors may like that. I was right next door, and I know that I was underfoot at times.

Posted by Mimi in Pattison, TX on 10/26/2010 Mimi's Forum Posts: 1 Journal Entries: 8 Interview Answers: 7 Randomly Selected Image 10/26/2010

Thanks for that thought, Rachal. So you think it would be better if we rented a trailer and lived on our land right next to the construction site? We could keep a closer eye on the contractors that way. It would also be cheaper probably than renting an apartment 12 miles away.   So much is still up in the air. We have so much work to do. I guess a lot will depend on when we can sell this little old house of ours.   Mimi

AIA Houston Architecture Home Tour 2010

Posted to BUILDING-OUR-GREEN-DREAM-HOME by Mimi in Pattison, TX on 10/24/2010

Jim and I checked out 7 beautiful houses yesterday and today. Most were very extravagant and totally out of our league. There was one, however, that was very well done and very reasonable... a bit on the small side, though. We chatted with several architects. Jim took some photographs of interesting ideas. Made contacts, got names of various vendors, and picked up several business cards. Very productive, I think.

Introduction

Posted to BUILDING-OUR-GREEN-DREAM-HOME by Mimi in Pattison, TX on 10/22/2010

Hi! We are Jim and Mimi building a house on just under 12 acres in the Welcome Community in Austin County, Texas. Our land is located approximately 12 miles south of Brenham, Texas.

Posted by Rachal in Janesville, CA on 10/26/2010 Rachal's Forum Posts: 79 Journal Entries: 31 Interview Answers: 62 Average Forum Rating: 3.84 Rachal's Selected Image 10/26/2010	Welcome. This site has been such an inspiration. We will be looking forward to your posts!
Posted by Mimi in Pattison, TX on 10/26/2010 Mimi's Forum Posts: 1 Journal Entries: 8 Interview Answers: 7 Randomly Selected Image 10/26/2010	Thank you, Rachal. We are very excited about doing this. I am trying to get in the habit of posting on a daily basis. Mimi