It’s finally time to say goodbye to 2023. It’s been a busy year but a good year. I’ll cover the highlights here.
At the end of last December (2022), the house and garage pad were poured. Approximately 80 yards of concrete was laid down over a few hours. I had the house area concrete colored, stamped with an Italian Slate pattern, and then dyed with a walnut-color release. The contractor did a good job and it turned out very well. I was planning to publish a post on this earlier this year but never finished it. (Maybe I’ll post it later.)
In early January I began working on the exterior plaster for the strawbale 10×10; applying the brown coat. I used a mix of about 2 parts concrete sand to 1 part NHL3 lime, mixed in a wheelbarrow for 10 minutes, allowed to sit for 10 minutes, and then mixed again prior to spreading. I spread it about 3/8-3/4″ thick over a dampened wall. The main goal with the brown coat is to fill in depressions and skim over high points to make a smooth, straight wall.
There are a lot of variables to working with lime plaster. Although, by the end I had gotten much better at applying plaster, it was still a challenging and time-consuming process. I have done minor standard cement-based stucco and I estimate that lime plaster is about two to three times more difficult to work with. It is critical that the mix not have too much sand, be too wet or too dry for proper adhesion. Also, the surface it is applied on must be neither too wet nor to dry. If the underlying coat is too dry, the moisture will be sucked quickly out of the plaster leaving the new coat stiff and unworkable. If too wet, the new coat will not adhere properly and will either slump or peel off taking large swathes of surrounding plaster with it (happened more than a few times on this job).
I gave a brown coat about a month to dry and then began working on the color coat in March. The color coat was 1:1 plaster (brick) sand to NHL2 lime. For color, I choose the Aspen pigment from LaHabra Stucco and used two bags of color per 7.5 gal of plaster. It dried slightly lighter in color than I had hoped but I’m still very satisfied with the results.
Right after I finished applying the color coat, I flew out to Pensacola, Florida for my brother’s wedding. My whole family had flown out earlier and I had stayed behind because I wanted to finish the color coat as well as I was taking a biology lab class at the time. About the time I was due to leave the house our family pig escaped and so I spent precious minutes in good clothes chasing it around the yard with a muck shovel. That aside though, the trip itself was good and it was a blessing to see my brother married. It was so exciting to see him and his lovely bride off to start a new phase in their lives. God blessed my brother with a godly woman and I am looking forward to seeing what He has in store for them!
The rest of the winter and spring, I was busy in the orchard as well as completing an 800′ water line down to the south of the property. I rented a small mini-excavator and pulled all the stumps from the orchard area. Then I dug nine new holes for trees, and borrowed my co-worker’s skid steer to fill the holes with top soil. All told, it took quite some time to spread the soil, plant the trees, and put the slope back together after pulling all the stumps.
In May I put together a materials list for the first story of the house and purchased enough to do most of the first story walls. The first load of lumber arrived on June 1st. I spent the next 6 weeks doing plating and layout (or, more accurately, learning how to do plating and layout!).
On July 14th, I put the first wall section together.
About four weeks later, on August 12th, I had a “wall-raising” party with about a dozen men from my local church. It went really well! We raised all the walls and tacked them together in only five hours! I was very thankful to have so much willing help. Many hands made light work and we had a good time.
The day after raising the wall, I few out to Oahu, Hawaii for two weeks for work. My work job went relatively well and I had some extra time after work and on the weekends to explore the island. Although I went in the water once, the tourist crowds were a bit too touristy…not to mention the lack of clothing 🙁 so I spent most of the time sightseeing and hiking around the island. I was also able to visit the USS Missouri and see the spot where the Japanese surrendered, ending WW-2. I had seen the pictures of the ceremony before but it was significant to me as well as sobering to be able to finally place the pictures at location.
Returning to San Diego towards the end of August, I continued working on the house. Now that the walls were up, the next step was squaring and plumbing. I have seen Youtube videos of folks doing this with 2×4 walls and a kicker. They make it seem easy. Unfortunately, I found that the 2×6 walls are much stiffer than a 2×4 wall. I ended up using ratchet straps and securing them from the top of the wall section to sill bolts or hold-downs to pull the walls into square. Several places, also I used ratchet straps to help plumb the wall. Once they were plumb and square, I would add a sheathing panel or two to hold the wall in-shape.
It took me thru the end of September to complete this for the outer walls and get most of the sheathing panels added. Although, I did the majority of this work by myself, this part of framing is more efficient with two or even three people.
As the walls were plumbed and squared, my Dad and others would come behind me installing hold downs and finish attaching the plywood sheathing panels. Mom also came out to the job site and was a big help nailing down the panels. She is proficient with the nail gun. 🙂
The first three weeks of October were spent building and raising the interior load-bearing walls.
By the last week of October, I had began working on the 2nd floor framing. Because the 2nd floor doesn’t sit neatly over the first story walls, the plans called for a network of laminated veneer lumber (lvl) beams to support the floor. Installing the beam network was intricate with many Simpson beam hangars, and some others which I had to custom fabricate. I also installed the back patio and front porch beams at this point as well. It took me about 5 weeks to complete all the beams.
The month of December has been mainly spent on building the stair treads (still only partially complete), and installing joists between the beams. I just started laying the subfloor before the end of the year. I’m about 8-10 wks behind where I was planning to be at this point in the build. My new goal is to complete the rough framing by the end of March 2024.
In late July, I bought a 26 ft. travel trailer and moved it on to my property temporarily while I am in the building process. I had been looking on Craigslist for a while and God blest me with a well laid-out, older trailer that was in very good condition. It even came with a toaster and a coffee maker! I spent a few weeks outfitting it and finally moved over to my property full time in early September. Although not ideal long term, having it close-by on the house-pad has allowed for significant efficiency gains.
Now that I no longer live at home, I’ve had to learn how to make food by myself. I’m not a great cook, but I’ve found that I actually do enjoy making things from time-to-time. On Sunday evenings, I’ll typically spend a hour or two making food for the week. My staple has been one pot meals and my little Instapot works nicely for this purpose. I can set it going, go to bed, and then take the pot out and put it in the refrigerator in the morning before I leave for work. It works out well as it allows me to keep the total meal prep time to below 30 minutes per day. I can’t even go out to eat for less time.
A particular blessing this year has been that my fruit trees are starting to come into production. I harvested about 50 lbs of Japanese-type plums, 15 pounds of apples, 15 pounds of figs, 10 pounds of apricots, and about 8 pounds of cherries as well as a couple pounds of mulberries. I’m thankful for the opportunity to grow and try so many different kinds of food!
We had enough plums that my mom and I made three batches of plum jam. We made two batches of a high sugar version and then a low-sugar calcium-based pectin batch. To me, the low-sugar version seems to have the best flavor. The flavor of both seem to improve after sitting for several months. All-told, we made over 20 quarts!
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As we close out 2023, although I’m thankful for many things, I’m most thankful and humbled to know the Lord Jesus Christ, who left his home in glory, entered the world that He had created, was crucified on a cross to reconcile us with God, and rose from the dead to be Lord over all. I’m very blest to see another sibling married and in that, many prayers answered. Lastly, I’m especially thankful for the opportunity to build my own house and learn so much in the process.
Wishing you God’s richest blessings in 2024!
Thus saith the LORD: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches. But let him the glories, glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgement, and righteousness in the earth: for in these I delight, saith the LORD.
Jeremiah 9:23-24
