Building a Home for My Family
2023
Build a house of course!
My wife and I are from the San Francisco Bay Area and had dreams of raising our children here. Yet prices were through the roof. What was I to do?
Plan it…
This was the floor plan for the home. It is definitely modest in size but it was going to be up to date, clean and most important of all, our home.
DISCLAIMER
I had almost no experience in any of this. I read books and watched videos on how to do this. Some things I needed professionals like the copper pipes and structural framing.
Getting Approval and Gutting the Dilapidated Garage
Once we had gone through all the code, applied and were approved for our construction, we got started destroying the “garage”. Some of the foundation was just packed dirt! No concrete!
Needing More Space
Quickly I realized we needed a lot more space for materials and equipment so I made a budget shed out of discount lumber, throw away plastic windows and a used door. This was a good practice run.
New Foundation
The foundation was made originally for what looked like a shed. It was only a few inches thick and no rebar! I spent many, many days smashing, cutting and drilling.
Framing the Place
A lot of the framing was pretty bad so it had to be redone. New windows and doors also needed to be framed.
In the walls
The walls had hay, dirt and rats as insulation. It was all removed and new insulation was added.
The whole place also got an electrical makeover. Outlets were placed everywhere.
Of course air conditioning and heating is also important.
Bathroom work
The bathroom was a little tricky but with the proper tools, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Toilet flushes and the faucets work.
A Modern Kitchen
I was the most afraid of the kitchen. Bought an entire kitchen set which had been removed from another home and prayed it would fit. The layout was done by the same person who drew up my floor plan.
Thank you David.
Cut the quartz countertop and assembled it myself. That was a detail oriented task.
Final Steps
Finishing up all the drywall, casing, quartz countertop, appliances, toilet, flooring, etc.
A New Roof
Another big issue was the roof. It was leaky, mossy and falling apart. So I read some booklets and watched many hours of videos are got to work.
All the old shingles had to be removed. Any rotted boards had to be replaced. It was a very tedious, hot and dangerous process.
A new was also in order. In the image on the right you can see the old roof (left) up against the new roof (right).
I wish I had gotten a better shot of the finished product but this was near the end. My friend Eric unjamming our nail gun.
Final Product
After a lot of hard work, research and help from friends, it is complete.
These photos were taken a week or so before it was completely finished so there may be some small things still being worked on.
