Yes...Schlabach builds in both Delaware and Licking County. It's not a problem at all for his working crews. They worked from 6:30 am until 5:00 or 6:00 pm 6 days a week on our house. They were never late and they were driven in from Holmes County and Danville every day. They took 1/2 hr for lunch and never stopped working during the day. Our house was built in 92 days, start to finish. He is normally building a couple of houses at the same time, so his foreman, Michael Mass, schedules the specialty crews (framing, drywall, painters, etc.) very precisely and they move from project to project with very few delays. It goes like clock-work. He gave us a daily schedule for the entire project from clearing the land to the finished walk-thru and they actually finished a few days ahead of schedule. We had plans of our own when we started interviewing the builders, but Roy had a far better design that we liked more than ours, so he took his design and adapted it with things we wanted included. Roy is a brilliant space designer and he made many practical suggestions that were things that we had never thought of, and quite frankly, neither did the architect that did our original plans! He added a sunroom for us that is now our favorite place in the house. He added walls of windows in our Great Room that bounce light through the entire house and make it airy and bright, even in the darkest winter day. He recommended that we do a walkout basement and he gave us a high deck off our sunroom that has a screened in porch incorporated under the deck, off the walk out. I would have never thought to do that, but by doing it that way, we saved a huge amount of money over a free standing screened porch and the space is not wasted. That's the other thing about Amish builders - they do not waste anything. They measure so precisely that there is very little wasted materials. Ours was less than half a dumpster for the entire project, and that was mostly packing materials. We've had people stop on our road just to look at our house, then come up the driveway to ask who built it. Roy has now built several other homes around us - in all price ranges. There are three just within a couple of miles from us. I had honestly just about given up on building and was ready to put the land up for sale when we found Roy. At our first meeting, he sat and went over the plans we had in great detail and made pages notes about what we liked and didn't like, down to the smallest details. He spent over 4 hrs with us. Then he pulled out some of his own plans that were similar to ours, doing the same thing. We found one that we loved and incorporated many of the things we wanted and that was our starting point. We saved nearly $100,000 by using his plan and got nearly everything we originally wanted. He sent us to see the house itself, which he had recently finished in a nearby town. When I walked through it, I knew it was the one. We never looked at our original plans again. We had such a great experience with him and his workers that I would do it again in a heartbeat. The other thing that will blow your mind is that our attorney, who has been in Knox County forever, took one look at our construction contract, saw that it was Roy Schlabach building our house and said "If Roy gives you his word on something, he will deliver what he says he will, when he says he will. And he will always make it right, even years from now if you have a problem". That's been our experience with him. Last year, we had a problem with our garage door, which was installed by a sub-contractor Roy uses. The door was 4 yrs old and some of the bolts holding the panels together started breaking. The subcontractor came out and looked at it and was going to charge us $700 to fix it. My husband called Michael Mass and asked him about it, since that seemed high. The door was out of waranty by that time, but two days later, the sub called us and said he had been contacted by Roy and a new door was being ordered and would be installed within a week. When the installer came out, he said his company can't afford to lose all the business that Roy gives them, so they were replacing the door for free. When my husband called Roy to thank him, he said "you paid good money for a door that should have lasted more than 4 yrs and it's my reputation as a builder that's on the line." He's a very honorable businessman and that's rare to find in this world anymore.

Alphonse: "As for lack of sheathing on the interior of the double wall... "That leaves a lot of room for flex or twist hidden inside the wall." True, but the twisting moment has been reduced (IMO) by a large percentage. You've halved the compression loading. " Perhaps the compression loading is halved - but I think that for code purposes, since the code does not talk about double walls, then the exterior wall would be considered load-bearing and the inner wall would simply be a partition wall. If I had to get a permit or inspection, it would be my bet that the inspector would require engineering certification to vary from the 2x6 requirement holding 2 floors above. But, as I said, I don't have an inspector or permit so, silly me, I came here to ask if anyone had any direct knowledge or experience and had offers to redesign my house, resize it, and refactor my life. lzerac: " You are correct on saying you need 2x6 at the basement, but you can still use a 2x6 staggered design and 2x4 infill on 2x8 plates" Now, finally, there is an on-topic post. That is an interesting proposition. Have you built that way? Lzerac: "be given advice from PROFESSIONALS on this forum, and then turn around and insult them for lack of DIRECTLY answering open ended questions, to which most could not even be close to being answered without the PREFESSIONALS required additional information to make a response!! (//end run on sentence!). It is also interesting how a suggestion is made, but then the PROFESSIONALS are basically called and idiot for not knowing the hidden information he later discloses. How stupid can we be! " Which professionals would that be? The one that answered my original post by "don't they have codes in Oklahoma?" even though the topic of staggered walls are not at all discussed in the building codes? Or the professional who said that sheetrock is not sheathing? Or the professional that said "don't tell that to the millions".... yada-yada about building a wall to support two floors, a ceiling, and a roof with 2x4's even though that is expressly forbidden by code? Or the professionals who keep talking about building codes that they clearly have never read? So what exactly would I assume anyone in this thread is a professional at? Or the professional who continues to interpret "walkout basement with two floors above" as three floors while explictly accusing me of making that incorrect inference? You want ME to take a better attitude? When i asked a question and from a single post, people on the other end of a fiber cable can figure out that, according to their judgments, I am ignorant of construction, code, life, finances, or anything else? worthy: "Yes, indeed, what an idiot I am! The OP considers the basement, or some part of it, to be the first of three floors, so it has to be framed in 2x6s. " Well, you said it, not me. I don't mean about you being an idiot, though you are the only one who said that, too. I mean about three floors. Nowhere did I say I was building a three floor house. I said I was building a house with a walkout basement with two floors. What I said, and it is correct, and you are only showing your true ignorance by continuing to argue the point, 2x4 walls cannot support two floors and a roof. So where the walkout portion of the basement is build with wood framing, the wall must be 2x6. You can't change the story now to pretend you made assumptions about the construction. You explicitly stated before that it could be done with 2x4s. "Oh well, back to shovelling snow while the Sooner State Bill Gates gets on with his eccentric masterpiece. " What an arrogant statement. You make judgmental comments about my house because it will be 3300 feet? I'm sorry if you can't have one that size but your pompous attacks are out of line. You know what? I came in here new to this forum and asked a simple question. Rather than any facts or opinions on the topic, what I got was a bunch of pompous a$$'s questioning my character, my financial worthiness to build anything more than a mud shack, my intellect, and my lifestyle. Any claim to insufficient information in the original post is hogwash. The question was clear. How wide can the wall be? And it was clearly placed in the context of a staggered stud wall. Either you can answer it or not. But since almost none of you can, you chose to inject yourself into areas not at all related to the thread. You jump me, attack me, make insulting and snide remarks, and make personal judgments after reading a few words on the Internet - and then have the nerve to try to turn it around on me to protect your "standing" (whatever standing you may or may not have) on these forums. What a bunch of insecure insignificant a$$'s.

quote" I do not undertand about the thickness and the rebar structure for the gunite. What is suppose to be "quote Steel reinforced concrete decking should be a minimum of 3 1/2" thick with rebar on 18" centers max, gunite should be a minimum 6" thick on the walls and floors, 12" on the beam and 9" on the cove. The steel on gunite should be a minimum of 12" on center, However in your area, Richmond/Rosenberg you have a very expansive soil. When I build pools down that direction I place steel on 8" centers, shoot the floor at 8" thick, and if it's a large pool I'll drop in 4 to 6" of gravel under the steel to help absorb the heave and hoe of the soil. Black SE Texas cotton clay is great dirt for farming but murder on steel reinforced monolithic concrete foundations like home slabs and pool shells. I hope this helps. See ya, Kelly

A guy I knew in high school - a normal, honor roll, good kid - said he went to Woodstock with his older brother. I'm pretty sure he was telling the truth. Woodstock was 1969, so this guy had to have been about 14. My DS is now 14. I have to ask myself two(rhetorical)questions: how cool is it that he was at Woodstock, and what were his parents thinking? Although melaska and linelle seeing the Beatles, that may beat out even Woodstock! And less muddy. Oh, and DS explained to me that Jethro Tull isn't "hard rock" it's "classic rock." I explained to her that they weren't "classic" yet when I saw them. Reminded me of the line from the hilarious song "1985," "When did Moltey Crue become classic rock?" which segue allows me to go sort of back on topic. Debby just hit the wall She never had it all She wanted stainless steel Just couldn't make the deal She wanted Shaker doors And Brazilian cherry floors 1200 cfm fan What happened to her plan? She was gonna get some marble, Backsplash of subway tile, She was gonna put in drawers, Pull outs with lots of style. Her UCL LED Is just a fantasy She looks at her fluorescent lights And nothing is all right It's still Coil stove, tile counters and over-the-range Microwave, Oak cabinets, partial overlay And double sink with separate spray. The kitchen design rules, They tell her that she's uncool, Cause her kitchen still looks like... 1985.