Foundations 2004-2005

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

-Henry David Thoreau

We spent the winter reading books written by others who built their own houses. Once spring dries the ground enough, we hire a certified septic installer to dig the basement while he installs the septic system. He shows up on a day when we are not there, and doesn't follow our request to have all the dirt piled on the North side. The result is hauling wheel barrel loads of dirt to were we want it, digging out other spots were it was not dug deep enough by hand, and modifying the house design. If you want to build your own house, you must be flexible, adaptive, and willing to commit your weekends to hard manual labor.

This one experience, convinced Greg that we really must do everything ourselves. So, even though all the books we have read say that the one thing you really must hire out is the laying of the footings, we decide to do this ourselves. How hard could it really be? Looking back, I now laugh about our ignorant idealism.

We have the forms ready for a 20 X 20 foot basement. Piles of sand and gravel, bags of cement, and a gas powered mixer. We get everything ready to start at sunup on the summer solstice, knowing it will be a long day. Greg mixes and pours, I haul the sand and gravel preparing it in 5 gallon buckets for the proportions of 2 sand: 3 gravel: 1 cement. In between, I keep track of the kids. It is slow going. Evening is approaching-- we are dead tired. The kids have been angels until this point. We are ready to give up and are only half done.

Whenever I need help, I call my parents. Family is the one thing I know I can always count on. They show up in no time. My mom leaves food and drinks then takes the kids home with her and my dad stays to share with the labor. Having another set of hands speeds things up. We get a second wind, and we finish the job in lantern light at 11:30 pm. This 18 hours is the hardest day of my life. There is a euphoria of successfully finishing an extremely difficult job, but my advice to those who want to build your own house is to hire out the laying of the footings.

The rest of the summer and fall is spent in this manner: Weekend 1, put up the forms for a 4x8x1 section of basement wall. Weekend 2, pour the wall in the same manner as the footings. Weekend 3, strip the forms. Weekend 4, do something fun. Repeat.

This is slow going, but it is the means for building at a site 30 minutes away when you are paying as you go and have a full time job, house, and kids.

We are laying the foundations with blood, sweat, tears, patience, laughter, and love.