the house that jack built
Our chalet was one of the last houses built under the county’s ‘owner-builder’ permit, just before they outlawed notions like a citizen building his own home without meeting every Uniform Building Code that applies equally to a house in Maine winters or hurricane-prone Miami. The county folks said I’d be stupid to build a house that way. When I sold it, I’d have to admit, or confess, or ask forgiveness, to any and all potential buyers. Probably couldn’t sell it to anybody that hadn’t just fallen off a turnip truck and hit their head. Which, undoubtedly, the county thought I’d done.
The truth was, I still had to meet all the codes, the square footage for window openings, the R-factors for insulation, beam calculations, perc tests and septic requirements, plus meet the state electrical codes. About all I ‘got away with’ was reduced permit fee and the right to take as long as I wanted to finish the house.
I took two years. The pioneers didn’t take two years using ax and ox. I was 42 years old, prime of my life, cocky as Bantam rooster, figured I could learn as I went. Study up on concrete, then pour a foundation. Read up on framing, then build a wall. Study plumbing, then install an indoor toilet. Bone up on electric, then wire up the main panel box without running 220 volts through my eyeballs. This is what we South Enders call Trial and Error in the School of Hard Knocks. It isn’t rocket science, but …. mistakes can be costly. I nearly lost the house removing studs in the main bearing wall in order to frame up for a Russian fireplace we hadn’t planned originally. Studs bent like a row of archers’ bows and the second story and the roof obviously were coming down around me. Could’ve planned this better if I’d been experienced…
I could bore you with all the details of all my mistakes —- there were plenty. But in the end, we moved in two years to the week after pouring the foundation. Doors are all homemade. Cabinets are hand fashioned. Most of the furniture we designed and built. Even the toilet seats are custom fit curly maple. It’s a shame, I think, we don’t allow, much less encourage, folks to build their own home, the way they want it, as simple or as fancy as they choose. I know for a fact it’s the most ambitious, the hardest, the most satisfying thing I ever did. Although I’m real glad it didn’t kill me that day when it almost collapsed on top of me. And I admit, during winter storms, I sometimes wonder if I got enough nails and screws in the old place to hold things together. So far, so good…..
Hits: 50