I don’t mean to highjack the thread. But only to show it can be done without a lot of money. We purchased the land in 1981 and sold it in 1991. It took me three years to build all together. We had no power or phone for the first 5 years. It is out in the woods and trees came with the land. (There is power and phone there now). We were able to do this without borrowing money. We paid cash for the land and everything else. Hand dug our wells and basically worked our glutimus maximus off. We built barns, fences, and sheds too along with growing our own meat and vegetables. 90% of the materials are from off the land. I could not do it without my precious wife who often worked along my side and encouraged me when I was hurting or down in my spirit. I worked out some for cash but never full time and only to facilitate the goal. I could not do it without the wisdom and strength God gave me. After all I grew up in inner city Philadelphia, Pa. How debilitating is that?
I quickly built a 8X12 foot shed to hold our belongings and then a 16 X32 frame building to live in while I worked on the log home. It later became a work shop. If I was to do it again I would build a strawbale house to live in while building. hehe could you see a strawbale house and an outhouse going up in Kansas_15’s neighborhood?
Oxman wrote:
hehe could you see a strawbale house and an outhouse going up in Kansas_15’s neighborhood?
Better than the place I’m living now. I would rather be living in my truck than in the place I live now, in fact here in a couple of day I just may, the only good thing about the place I’m living at now is the fact that I can strech out to sleep. Good, fair priced housing here in the Falls is almost impossible to find.
How old were you when you built the house?
I was 34 when I moved to Montana. My wife was 33. That’s when you are at the peak of productivity. Right around 30 is good. If you could get the job done at 20, wow ! I can say I am not carpenter but a voracious reader. I study until I understand and then do what I have to do. Reading will never take the place of experience in my book (no pun I think) but it sure helps.
Yep, 100 years ago. I was just there last week, there are actually still old prairie houses with outhouses behind along the highways.
I’ve been thinking about building my own house for a while now… you’ve left me significantly more inspired.
Yep, 100 years ago. I was just there last week, there are actually still old prairie houses with outhouses behind along the highways.
I’ve been thinking about building my own house for a while now… you’ve left me significantly more inspired.[/quote]
I think you got the wrong neighborhood. How about this, you go to every neighborhood around my town to see which one is my neighborhood 
Kansas I know exactly where you live. I’m looking through your window with binoculars even as we speak 8) .
jk
[sorry for the off topic note:] Don’t forget wind power. That site’s full of do-it-yourself energy projects! Be sure to snoop around it a bit… its kinda cool! You can do a lot with this stuff if you have the right location!
More on topic: I live in Northwestern Arkansas, the corporate home of Wal-Mart. Our area is one of the fastest-growing in the States these days. Real-estate prices are skyrocketing and the building boom is in full swing. The trouble is: most of the places being built are over $300k houses, so the mid-range homes ($100-200k) are quite scarce. Few builders shoot for this pricerange 'cause they think they can make more on the big ones… I just wish I had the capital to invest in this around here… I don’t know who it is that can afford such large places, either. It sure ain’t me!
within 5 miles of our house, there is 10 houses that cost around a million. and they are UGLY! and close together. they get almost no land.
When I lived in Colorado I had the opportunity to see an old “sodi”. A sodi is a house built out of layers of prarie sod stack up on itself.
Nice bit of woodwork there Oxman!
But I doubt a log house would go down well in a town of bricks + mortar houses…
However IKEA are now planning on selling flat pack houses for self assembly!
I kid you not!
It’ll be a bummer trying to get the flatpack onto a car roof rack though!
Seriously, I wish the UK would bring back prefab housing.
–
Brian
You guys in the UK aren’t against waddle and daub are you? That would work great with timber frame structures. Here’s a shot of my current project. It is 40 x 40 three story timber frame barn. I haven’t worked on it in a year at least but the angora goats are happy to be dry. All of the main joints are mortise and tenon.
That’s really …big. 
Very nice piece of work.
<edit> just back read the thread and saw the old Ox Mansions. Ox. I am in awe. That’s stunning. 34 years old you say? Hmm, 2 years to learn woodwork :-?
I can’t help but wonder, if you sold that place, what did you build next? Your site might require a squizz once I get off work. I have visions of a big wooden mansion with a pool filled with varnish.
</edit>
The wife and I looked at a wooden house in the village where we used to stay. It was just one wooden house in amongst all the bricks & mortar.
Turns out it’s a nightmare to try and get home insurance for it so we didn’t bother in the end.
According to the guy we spoke to about the insurance he said it was too great a fire risk and the premiums would be sky high 
Shame. It had ‘character’.
Chimpoid
In southern Michigan/northern Indiana, large houses and subdivisions are growing like weeds. Mostly rich people from Chicago area I think. We actually have people building “castles” now. The land here is fairly cheap (relatively speaking) and you can still build out in the middle of nowhere. The problem is what will people do when we run out of the farm land that everyone seems to be building on?
Yes, the same thing is happening in SW Oregon. 6,000 sq ft homes with imitation stone glued to the outside.