EcoRenovator - View Single Post - My "10 year project": rebuilding an efficient "tiny" crooked house in Canada

AlanE · 02-23-12, 04:12 PM

I'll chime in with my wishes of good luck.

Here's my 2 cents worth of advice on how to proceed while spending as little of your cash as possible.

1.) Hook yourself up in the network of DIY lumbermill operators and tree service/arborists. You can buy your lumber pretty cheap this way, trade labor for free lumber, haul away wood for free lumber or just cutting charges, etc. Some guys have kilns or solar kilns to dry the wood so they charge for that or you can build your own passive solar kiln for next to nothing and dry your own wood. Often times the lumber your get is of better quality than what you get from a lumber yard.

2.) Scour Craigslist and USEDONTARIO or some type of similar publication's FREE section. If you have the time to wait for the right items and a place to store items until you need them you can pretty much build a house for free - I've seen lumber, roofing materials, concrete blocks, rebar, toilets, sinks, kitchen cabinets only a few years old, double paned aluminum windows with Low-e glass, front doors, patio doors, wood stoves, wood flooring, carpet, old granite countertops, furnaces, and so on listed.

3.) Find out about the demolition crews in your locale - I've heard that some crews will allow you a few days before they start tearing the house down to go in and scavenge for free so long as you haul away the junk you pull it - it saves them dumping fees.

4.)As you have noted the foundation is key. That's the place to start. Progress will be slow and non-visible while you work on that and that might be depressing but once that's stabilized the visible progress thereafter will go much faster.

5.) Build yourself a small shop/storage yard so that you have a place to work that is separate from the living space.

6.) Invest in a a.) a table saw, b.) a router, c.) a planer, d.) a jointer and e.) a bandsaw.

7.) If you follow through on points 1.) and 6.) then you are set to fabricate your own wood flooring, your own kitchen and bathroom cabinets, your own wood wall paneling. You can buy a compressor and spray gun and spray your own cabinetry or hire that out. With labor and wood for free you can build yourself a $10,000 kitchen for peanuts.

02-23-12, 04:12 PM	#13
AlanE Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Canada Posts: 91 Thanks: 6 Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts	I'll chime in with my wishes of good luck. Here's my 2 cents worth of advice on how to proceed while spending as little of your cash as possible. 1.) Hook yourself up in the network of DIY lumbermill operators and tree service/arborists. You can buy your lumber pretty cheap this way, trade labor for free lumber, haul away wood for free lumber or just cutting charges, etc. Some guys have kilns or solar kilns to dry the wood so they charge for that or you can build your own passive solar kiln for next to nothing and dry your own wood. Often times the lumber your get is of better quality than what you get from a lumber yard. 2.) Scour Craigslist and USEDONTARIO or some type of similar publication's FREE section. If you have the time to wait for the right items and a place to store items until you need them you can pretty much build a house for free - I've seen lumber, roofing materials, concrete blocks, rebar, toilets, sinks, kitchen cabinets only a few years old, double paned aluminum windows with Low-e glass, front doors, patio doors, wood stoves, wood flooring, carpet, old granite countertops, furnaces, and so on listed. 3.) Find out about the demolition crews in your locale - I've heard that some crews will allow you a few days before they start tearing the house down to go in and scavenge for free so long as you haul away the junk you pull it - it saves them dumping fees. 4.)As you have noted the foundation is key. That's the place to start. Progress will be slow and non-visible while you work on that and that might be depressing but once that's stabilized the visible progress thereafter will go much faster. 5.) Build yourself a small shop/storage yard so that you have a place to work that is separate from the living space. 6.) Invest in a a.) a table saw, b.) a router, c.) a planer, d.) a jointer and e.) a bandsaw. 7.) If you follow through on points 1.) and 6.) then you are set to fabricate your own wood flooring, your own kitchen and bathroom cabinets, your own wood wall paneling. You can buy a compressor and spray gun and spray your own cabinetry or hire that out. With labor and wood for free you can build yourself a $10,000 kitchen for peanuts.