Thought I'd do a write up on the house I just got done building. I'll start from the beginning and work my way thru and list the how to's and pro's and con's in case some of you have or are considering a home like this. I did all the construction myself with the help of friends and family. Only thing I subbed out was concrete and sheetrock.

I found 37 acres last year at a steal for up here. I started contacting different banks and telling them my plans. I called 6 different banks including traditional mortgage lenders. I had a local guy laugh in my face and tell me good luck with getting that financed. I had to do it local because these type homes are not FHA approved for some reason. Anyways, I found a local lender that financed the land and home build for me.

Here's the land before any construction started.



Driveway is about 1500' long. I didn't want to be seen from the road if I want to run around naked in the yard. I'll spare the boring stuff about plumbing and grading gravel, etc. The guys that poured my slab did a fantastic job. I highly recommend them. I installed a radiant floor in the slab. I do not have it hooked up yet, and I'm very anxious to see how it works with heating the home.





I ordered my building from Inland Building Systems. They delivered it on Sept. 29th last year. I started framing immediately on arrival. I've done construction my whole life and have mainly done metal buildings, so it was a cake walk. We had it framed in a day and half. Inland actually made my rafter sections on the wrong pitch compared to the end rafters. I didn't notice this until we started putting the roof on. Inland went above and beyond to correct this. Their customer service is top notch.

The rafters being built wrong set me back 3 weeks. In the mean time, I started doing some framing inside. Then came back and finished the roof. Then went back and finished framing. Then electrical.





After electrical and finishing up the plumbing, I had my cousins to lay the fireplace. If any of you guys on here need masonry work done around NE bama, these boys are the best of the best. Miller and Son Masonry is their business. Andrew won the National Skills Brick Laying competition in high school. He's won several of the Brick layer 500 craftsmen awards since then.





Had a little down time after the fireplace was finished. I had ordered some eastern white pine for the living room walls. I had to wait 8 weeks for delivery. Also, had to wait on the sheet rock man, as he was behind. Once I got the pine delivered, I went to experimenting with finishes. I wanted a real light weathered grey look, but never could achieve it. I ended up using tea and apple cider vinegar/steel wool to stain it with. I boiled about 5 gallons of tea and rolled it on the boards with a paint roller. I let it dry in the sun and then rubbed the vinegar/wool mixture on.

You can see in the pic the boards on the ground have been rolled with tea. The boards on the saw ponys have been rubbed with the mixture. Its an immediate change in color.






Once I had all that put up, I moved onto the ceiling. I couldn't find any corrugated metal that was already rusted up when I needed it so I made my own. I bought new sheets from home depot and rusted them with muratic acid and peroxide. Then shot them to the rafters inside.





Once that was finished, I moved onto the worst part of the entire build, tile showers. They are nice now that their done, but these things are a nightmare and I hope never to do one again.

Very nice. Not a building question... Where did you get those type pallet forks for your JD..??

Very cool.
Dad picked up the bush hog up there and was telling me about your place.

That dude on the right looks like Wilbanks. Y'all related?

The plan in the beginning was to do carpet in the bedrooms and stained concrete everywhere else. This did NOT turn out as expected. I tried it in one bathroom to see how it would turn out and it was a peach nitemare. I ended up covering it with luxury vinyl planks. 100% waterproof with a lifetime warranty. I couldn't beat it.



I ended up sealing all the concrete and I WILL be putting some type of hardwood or laminate down over it. I hate the floor.

For trim, I looked far and wide for something that I thought went with the rustic look of the home. I ended up buying some #2 2x4's and ripped them in half. I stained them with a weathered oak stain and gave them a little grey color. Some rooms got stained with other stuff that matched that room better. In the master bed and bath, I 45'd the edges to kind of make it look like crown. I don't like crown, to much for me. The simple 45 2x4 suits me just fine.







I installed the cabinets myself as well. I'm not crazy about them at all and will eventually change them out. I don't think they mesh well with the rest of the house.



I then built an L shaped island. I wanted to do something unique for the counter that was different than the other counters. I used a tongue and groove pine board and stained it using a multi step process of sanding and staining.





Bench seats I made on the back of the island out of sawmill lumber.

Place in Rainsville. $225 They were very handy. I can't remember the name, its some kind of junk store and I don't think he has them all the time.

I am Wilbanks dipshit!

Good looking stuff right there. Andrew was at the tech school when I was going through. He's definitely good at brick work.

I then started on my porch. I really like the porch.



Some of the small projects I've done to it. I found an old piece of driftwood while fishing one day and I brought it home with it in mind to do this with. I routed a channel out of the back and wired in all the lights together.


I reclaimed a kitchen table from some old tongue and groove flooring.



I've still got a lot of small projects to do that will have to wait til deer season is over. I only got to go 5 times last year, so I'm blood thirsty. Here's a few pics of the finished home now.

I'm also going to do a brick wainscott down the front after season.







Headboard I made.



If yall have any questions on how I done something, holler at me. It was a fun project and one I hope to never do again. If your considering something like this, my advice is go a little bigger. I wish I had. I wanted my garage to be big enough to leave my wood working stuff out and be able to park boat and atv in their. That aint happening now.

Me and Drew was raised together. I consider him my brother. If it hadn't been for him, I'd probably still be working on mine. We actually just finished his new house up. He started about a month before I was finished.

Very nice man. If I didn't hate you so much, I'd come visit.

Same here. He's a dick!

Feelings mutual prick. I've pretty much begged u to come up and u keep coming up with lame excuses.

Bobby, u ain't got to have him to come up. I've got a toddler bed u can sleep in.

Lmao! I'm seriously going to try. But if you ever send me another pic like the last one, I'll stab you

Awesome work Brent. Looks fantastic.

You should be proud of that build.

I am Brandon. Thanks for all your help.

And joy, it was a harmless pic. Don't get so bent outta shape.

Bout to send that pic to bob. I'll post his response.