I am GCing, but not physically building and swinging a hammer. As the previous poster mentioned, it has been a full time job. We started work in July. Should be mostly finished at the end of this month, some stuff will trickle over to April. As also mentioned, I started out getting bids from GC's and also from subs so I could try to figure out how much it was going to cost to build. Then at some point, I had all the bids from all the subs that I would need, I could cost and service compare, and when added together, it was less than the GC's bids. I was waiting on one GC in particular that I really thought I would go with but his bid never came. So finally I just decided let's get this party started. I think I have saved a lot of money, but can't really say how much for sure. I found an Amish crew and they do most everything, except plumbing, electric, and hvac, so that relieved almost all of my stress. I gave him the blue print and they have done it all. So really they became my GC on the build part but I still had to line up my other subs and suppliers although they made reccommendations of people they have worked with before. My main job has been that of tending to the shopping. I bought most supplies at the local lumber yard. They delivered when we needed, they came out and helped measure for things like trusses, for the supplies for the wrap around porch, help with measuring for windows, they come out to count the doors, just anything and everything. I think they are happy to get out of the store once in awhile. I found a great buy on doors online, and my local matched it. So they really have tried to go above and beyond. All other stuff, like bathroom fixtures and lighting fixtures, all my appliances, I bought online. I saved a TON of money I think, and had it delivered to my door. If at times when the savings wasnt all that great or even if I didnt save, I still ordered online because it saved me time and gas and the hassle of hauling something home and lining out help to unload. I should also add that prior to digging a hole, I researched for months and months and months. So by the time it came time to build, I pretty much knew everything I wanted even down to the finishing touches. Now some of those ideas have changed of course, but my point is, there were things I knew I wanted or didnt want, so we could plan ahead for them. Most every sub needed to know something about the next phase, and I was able to answer it, so they were able to do things to make the next phase easier. Would I do it again? At first I said no way, now I am thinking I might but on a much much smaller scale. Next house will be a two room cabin or something, in maybe 15 - 20 years, so I might tackle that. Okay, so what was the question? Pitfalls and savings. I think had I built in the boom time, I would have had a terrible time getting subs here. They would have been loyal to the contractor that would be giving them their next job also, and I would have taken a backseat. I really feel my Amish crew made this possible for me to do. While they didnt hire subs, they made reccommendations of other subs and supplies that they have and will work with again, and also made sure things were lined out and ready to go. Savings? I think so, just not sure how much. But we have about 7100 sf under roof. Now that includes wrap around porch that is under the standing seam metal roof, and garage and safe room in a full basement, but everything under roof is about 7100 sf for a cost of around 420k. We did geothermal, extra tint low-e argon windows, some spray foam, some blown in cellulose, some pink stuff, we have lightning rods and a security system that added a few bucks. We have 5 miles of wiring. I have enough lights, ceiling fans, and spigots and a hot/cold spigot on my porch that a family of 4 could live there. So I have some bucks in the bones. We also have a new pond and an on-ground pool in those numbers. BUT - I tried to save money in other areas like our custom cabinets are Amish built, my flooring is a little engineered hardwood and mostly laminate that I got anywhere from .79 - 2.49 sf. A little crown in a few rooms, but nothing over the top. Saved some bucks on the exterior. I won't have granite countertops - going to try something new this week, will see how that goes. I won't have fancy decor inside as I tried very hard to stay on budget and not finance, but I tried to get the bones right, the other stuff we can upgrade later if we want, although right now I am pretty happy with how everything is coming together. Here is a link that might be useful: Our Home Page

"The principle of form follows function, is that you identify all the applicable functions and allow them to define the form." ... that's what's happening. Round on the outside IS a determination of function ... it satisfies my criteria for combating the forces of nature, above and below grade. On the inside, form is following function, too. It might not be there yet, but that's why it takes work and effort instead of the waving of a wand (especially, when its outside of my normal area of expertise.) . An additional reason which I have hesitated to mention is that there is the possibility a round structure is, at least in part, machine buildable, an issue I am exploring. (I am always looking toward the future.) While there are many round houses I find visually unappealing (the lunar landing style,) to the contrary, there are many I find captivatingly charming. I am not alone in this. Where charming round houses exist, they are almost universally loved and adored by all who come into contact with them. If the functional/organizational problems can be worked out ... and I think they can -- at the end of it all I would have something remarkable (at least in my own eyes.) This post was edited by Yardvaark on Sun, Nov 24, 13 at 13:55

We never had that happen Mike. Thank goodness. I have seen the electric and cable lines miss flagged by several feet. We got to where we kept a cable splice kit and some cable on the truck! I got to remembering the little incidents and forgot all about the build. Sounds pretty good. I prefer pressure side cleaners with a booster pump too. The 6' depth bothers me. It's too deep to stand in and too shallow to dive in. Some people say it keeps the pool cooler, longer. In Texas I don't think we would notice. Texas also seems to follow California, usually about two years later. We don't have a two speed law yet, but it makes sense. In the old days, less efficient pumps on low speed didn't move enough water keep DE on the grids. Newer high head pumps do. Jandy says their pump on low is still moving 40-50 gpm. When you cut the speed in half, you cut the eclectic use in quite a bit more than half. So that's good. SWG's are selling like hotcakes. And like anything new, we are coming up with the technology to fix any problems caused by the SWG. Sealed steel rails. Coatings for flagstone and rock waterfalls, to keep the salt from staining them. Things like that. There not really NEW, I sold lectranators in the '80s. They didn't reverse polarity, so they were not self cleaning, but they generated chlorine. Then we sold a unit that had the salt in a tank and fed the chlorine into the return line. You didn't put the salt in the pool. The by product however was caustic soda, and you had to drain that off from time to time. They required a little more maintenence and that kind of ruined the idea that you were saving time and money. Sounds like it's going to be a nice pool. Enjoy!

Hi all, While I initially posted this on the Home Repair forum, it did not get any responses, so I thought I'd try here. I'm a bit stumpered on how best to proceed, and am looking for feedback on what we're thinking, alerts to any pitfalls, and to find out what I don't know that I don't know. :-) Background: 1880's Queen Anne house. In the dining room is a radiator, surrounded by a mantelpiece unit, and behind that interior wall of the room is a chimney running basement to roof. I've been stripping off the wallpaper on the rest of that wall, and noticed that what was behind the radiator was a sheet of some type of wood covered in wallpaper and nailed in place behind the radiator. While I couldn't move the panel out without moving the radiator, due to a leak elsewhere in the hot water system, the system was drained and I had the plumbers disconnect and move the radiator over so I could get the panel out and paint it to match the rest of the wall. Discovery: I had thought it was going to be a flat wall behind the radiator. Instead, there is this niche that's pretty much the width of the chimney I measure in the basement: Niche space is: About 19" wide 37.5" tall 3.5" deep Our current thoughts: - Radiator is 38.25" tall and 32" wide. It pretty much fills the space under that mantel unit except for about 3" on each end. - My husband would like to put a sheet of aluminum to reflect the radiator heat back into the room. The sheet is 36"x36", and would cover up the niche and fill most of that area within the mantel unit. He figures he can nail it into place with small nails into the vertical beading pieces, and then the radiator will hide that when it goes back into place. - If it were only up to me, I might do something different. However, his idea seems the least effort and he's motivated to do it, and I can't think of reasons *not* to do it that way. (And I suppose we could always change it in the future if it's just the sheet of metal there.) My questions: - Do we need to fill up that niche with some material before putting the aluminum sheet across it? Or can it simply exist as an air space behind the aluminum sheet? - Any safety pitfalls about having this aluminum sheet up against the plaster walls on either side, and against the vertical wooden beads? (I'm assuming it would only heat up to the heat of the radiator, which I can rest my hand against.) The oak floor boards run up to the plaster wall that you see in the pic (both on either side of the niche and inside the niche), and they end at the wall. Any other pitfalls/hazards that we should be concerned about? Thanks in advance for your insights and feedback! We're aiming to get this done this week, so if there's some safety thing that we should take into account, I'd appreciate hearing about it. --Lee