Finally Bought Some Land

[j44ke]

Maybe he means the tire I have. It is a regular tire filled with polyurethane foam. Rides like a slightly under-inflated tire, which works well for pushing a load in loose dirt, but it isn't too bouncy.

[nahtnoj]

Its weird. I have an L Series Kubota with a 60" bucket, a 3'x6' carryall for the back of the tractor that I built last summer, and am shopping for a UTV - but no wheelbarrow...

[ides1056]

Wheelbarrows are for when you tire of the smell of diesel.

[j44ke]

Or if you have a lot of areas without trails or roads and you don’t want to tear up habitat.

[j44ke]

I'm headed to the property to take some photos this afternoon. Midday light is pretty horrible for photography, and there are also guys there working on the interior. Just easier (and safer covid19-wise) to be there alone in the early evening.

In the meanwhile, I have been using these videos as therapy after my usual 1/2 to 3/4 day spent on-site with the landscape architect and gardeners. This guy, who sounds Australian, has embarked upon an interesting journey, buying one of Japan's many abandoned houses and renovating it to more modern standards. He has some interesting information on buying these abandon houses, particularly in terms of cost (which isn't free) and dealing with bureaucracy (which isn't easy.) He does it all with good humor and the house he and his wife bought is really interesting. A LOT of wood and quite a bit of joinery, plus cross bracing and foundation work that is obviously all about withstanding earthquakes.

YouTube

[ides1056]

Incredible house.

[j44ke]

Incredible house.

Isn't it? All those crossing rafters in the roof. Makes the shoji screens possible.

[j44ke]

A lot of painting has gone on. Some key parts of the concrete board have been finished - specifically the air vent covers for the built-in split unit air conditioners, but also other awkward-to-cut pieces. The columns finally got a coat of white paint. There is still one column that is red. The painters have been informed. Kitchen is waiting for counter material (Corian) and then drawer fronts (concrete board) and then appliances. The bathrooms are next. Outside the gardeners have started planting. A handful of pagoda dogwoods, some witch hazel and downy serviceberry. In the next two weeks, the whole outside grounds will either have plants or seeds planted. Of course, the resident vegetation is plenty happy to take over everything.

We've had a bear in the neighborhood. I was out watering trees early in the morning and one of the neighbors came out yelling and firing off his shotgun. Then the dogs barked sequentially from west to east as the bear ran through one backyard after another. I didn't see him, but the dogs all seem to have a bear bark. Anger fear and excitement all together in one "bark!" Different than the other barks. I hear the bear is a young one and has developed a taste for garbage. Typical teenager.

[j44ke]

Here are a few from the interior. Stairs, columns, kitchen, living room with its wood stove, upstairs room, and walkway. The upstairs room got its linoleum flooring installed. The walkway now has all its lights. The gardeners have been exposing more "built-in" stone as they come up on it in their digging. You can see the AC vent/intake in the photo of the wood stove. Those holes were all done with a waterjet cutter.

[Mabouya]

You can see the AC vent/intake in the photo of the wood stove. Those holes were all done with a waterjet cutter.

What are your plans for decorating that wall? (especially the area of the AC vent holes - I'm assuming you can't really block them, on the other hand, you might not want to leave them exposed as is)

[rwsaunders]

Looking good in the hood, Jorn. a bearskin rug in your wife’s office would possibly be in nice contrast to the white walls.

[ides1056]

rightfully house-proud

[j44ke]

What are your plans for decorating that wall? (especially the area of the AC vent holes - I'm assuming you can't really block them, on the other hand, you might not want to leave them exposed as is)

We decided that the art would be outside the windows. There is only one real space for art anyway - the wall above the cabinets in the living room area. That will get a work by one of our good friends whose artwork is a household favorite, Hedwig Brouckaert.



The kitchen has a similar structure on the opposite wall, but that's basically going to be coffee land. The art will be the gianormous coffee robot we purchased a week ago. Counter surfaces and the island will be clad in white Corian.

[j44ke]

A few more, just to connect some parts of the house.

This is the main entry. There are door/windows on either side. This one leads directly into the kitchen. The other one (not seen here) goes into the guest room and laundry. The light is from the skylight that also (thin bar) has a light in it, so that will be the porch light at night as well as illumination during the day.



This passage goes from the front (west) windows all the way through to the rear (east) rock garden area. The guest room is to the right after crossing the main hall behind the cabinets. There is another passage like this that runs from the front windows through to the master bedroom, though the master bedroom door is shifted to one side so even if you are lined up with the passage on that side of the house and the door to the master bedroom is open, you can't see into the master bedroom. But air travels through no problem when all the windows are open. Great cross ventilation.



This is the built-in bed "plinth" to support the mattress (terribly blurry photo - sorry about that.) We have some nicely mortised wooden boxes ordered for bedside tables. The back side of the head board is one wall of the closet space, which is quite large, and has built-in drawers and shelving. The other wall is large - nearly walk-in - closets. And windows everywhere (yes, we will have curtains, if only for sun management.)





And this is the post-ride area outside the garage. Once things are quieter, we'll put down some pine chips to help keep the dust to a minimum. That big rock is sort of a tool table. Workstand can come out of the shop and sit next to it. Surrounding rocks are for sitting or whatever. The area is really part of the drainage management for water coming off the scuppers on the back side of the garage, but once they got the drainage figured out, the landscape architect suggested hauling out a small fraction of the leftover stones and making some usable space.



There is a lot of cleaning and touch up that is yet to occur. Punch list stuff. Like all the thresholds of all the doors and windows. Finger prints everywhere. Blind spot things that never quite got resolved because they weren't really the painters' responsibility or the carpenters' responsibility. We're already making our list.

[Tom]

That view up the path to the house. I suppose it'll never be totally and entirely done, all the work, but the day you guys are walking up in there and look at each other and say "Yup, we're home".... that's gonna be sweet. It's been so much fun to watch the progress, I know I wouldn't survive taking on such a huge project. Thank you for letting us see the story as it unfolds.

[j44ke]

rightfully house-proud

That view up the path to the house. I suppose it'll never be totally and entirely done, all the work, but the day you guys are walking up in there and look at each other and say "Yup, we're home".... that's gonna be sweet. It's been so much fun to watch the progress, I know I wouldn't survive taking on such a huge project. Thank you for letting us see the story as it unfolds.

Thanks guys. I am not sure how we got to this point but yeah, I think it will hit me at some point that it is actually our house. That will indeed be sweet.

[j44ke]

Looking good in the hood, Jorn. a bearskin rug in your wife’s office would possibly be in nice contrast to the white walls.

The bear might have something to say about this. I think he is still using his.

[Colinmclelland]

...Thank you for letting us see the story as it unfolds...

+1 on that. I have so enjoyed vicariously building a house!

[ides1056]

a couple of suggestions:

don't use pine chips- they rot in short order and become goo- I know from experience

if that plinth for you bed has space underneath, you can install full-length slides with drawers- we had a Captain's bed in our NY apartment with nine drawers on each side

[72gmc]

don't use pine chips- they rot in short order and become goo- I know from experience

This aligns to my experience in the PNW moss belt. My wife deployed her crew (me) to transform our yard into a gravel layer cake of walking surfaces, with small round stones and stone pathways on top. Drainage is great, and we only have to deal with slime or moss on the path stones.