Building Your Own Home: Tips, Techniques and Thoughts for the Owner-Builder

Building Your Own Home –

Tips, Techniques and Thoughts

for the Owner-Builder

by Carl A Harte

Copyright 2013 Carl A Harte

Published by Smashwords

ISBN: 9781301050574

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

For my sons Zachary and Hamish

About the Author:

Carl A Harte is an Australian multi-tasker – writer, actor, public speaker and owner-builder – from the Mornington Peninsula, near Melbourne, Australia. He has spent the last few years living between his home town, Fiji, and South India, pondering the issues of building, design and lifestyle while travelling and working. Married with two sons, he has diverse interests, ranging from physical fitness to clinical hypnosis and theatre, and much in between. His total absence of academic or vocational training in building, is proof that anyone with a little aptitude and an enquiring mind – coupled with determination and some resources – can build a home.

Acknowledgements

A Heartfelt Thankyou to:

Barbara Lebecki Allen (for proof-reading); Zachary Harte (for proof-reading); Gina Hartnett (for editing); Janet Healy Deshon (for proof-reading); Arnaud Lemaitre (for formatting); Roopa Pukkella (for proof-reading); Rajeshni Reddy (my partner, for her love and support while I wrote this book), and Manuela Schliessner (for her cover art, oil on canvas).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 – Why?

Chapter 2 – Dreams, Frank Discussions and Strategy

Inventing the Future

Realism, Research and Relationships

Objectives and a Foregone Conclusion

Chapter 3 – Access and Amenity

Making an Entrance

Country Roads and Driveways

Giving Shelter

Powering Up

Chapter 4 – Form, Function and Design

Chapter 5 – Passive Solar and Active Benefits

Solar Enjoyment and Solar Avoidance

Obstacles and Variations

Chapter 6 – Methods and Materials

Load-Bearing Walls

Post-and-Beam

Frame Construction

Chapter 7 – Mud Glorious Mud

Chapter 8 – Mud Brick Techniques

Vertical and Horizontal

Firm Foundations

Courses

Bond and Strength

Laying and Finishing

Mortar

Keeping an Eye on Safety

Mixing

Integrating the Elements

Plumbing and Electrical

Rendering Satisfaction

Mud Brick Making – Mind Before Matter

Concrete and Clay

Slavery or Machinery

Chapter 9 – Brutal Honesty and Heavy Masonry

Worth the Weight

Chapter 10 – Steel – the New Wood

Chapter 11 – Steel Building Techniques

Keeping it Grounded

The Baseplate

The Cage

The Vertical

Accuracy and Making it with Millimetres

Beams and Trusses

Practical Purlins

Watching the Scales

Lightweight vs Straw-weight

Chapter 12 – Brawn and Brains –Thermal Mass and Insulation

Thermal Mass – the Brawn

Benefit or Burden

Insulation – the Brains

Keeping a Cool Head

Colour, Foil and Fibre

Insulating Concrete

Sealing the Leaks

Insulation for Fenestration

Chapter 13 – Water on the Rooftop, Water in the Tank

From the Gutter to the Tank

Catchment and Calculations

Gravity Powered Water

Letting it Flow

Towers and Tanks

Chapter 14 – Back to Basics or Back to the Future?

Slow Combustion

Flues, Chimneys and Heating

Sustainable Ecology with Wood Fires

Making the Most of Greenhouse Gases

Collecting the Sun

Chapter 15 – The Correct Tool for the Job

Making a List

Holding the Job Together

Chapter 16 – Building Small, Standing Tall

The Small House Movement and Living Shotgun

Exploring Space and a Dry Run

Architectural Pride Before a Fall

Chapter 17 – The Flexible Rectangle

Chapter 18 – The Triangle and the Circle

Chapter 19 – Balancing the Budget

Some Cautionary Notes

Chapter 20 – Hot, Hotter, Hottest – Building in the Tropics

North or South

Tropical Reflections, Soaring Ceilings and a Breeze

Unwelcome Wind

Out with the Hot, in with the Cool

Windcatchers,Whirligigs and Thermal Chimneys

Tall Trees and Houses

Comfort and Al Fresco Cooking

Chapter 21 – Energy and Independence

The Road to Independence

A Pragmatic Tilt

Lightening the Load

Chapter 22 – Take it Easy

Sustainable Work

Plain Sailing

Chapter 23 – Necessity as Legacy

Chapter 24 – Notes

Why?

There is an innate creative urge in all of us. Perhaps this is a defining characteristic of being human. Creativity has many manifestations. Some requite their needs with a family – after all, what can be a more profound manner of creation than giving life? Others may find their outlet in a wide range of pursuits, such as gardening, animal rearing, the fine arts, or increasingly, in the virtual world. A minority of individuals in these times – sometimes referred to as owner-builders – choose to build their own home.

Usually of the more intrepid, earthy breed, owner-builders may also be intellectual types seeking anchorage in meaningful physical activities. These owner-builders remind me of two towering figures of the last century – Gandhi devoting hours each day to hand-spinning fabric, and Churchill with his penchant for bricklaying – in their need to reconnect with this more grounded aspect of their lives.

It must be stated at the outset, however, that building your own home is no small matter for anyone. There’s a Tamil adage: "kalayaanam panni paar, veedu katti paar, that tells us that there are two difficult things in life – arranging a marriage, and building a home. Literally translated, it is seen to be a challenge and warning: Arrange a marriage (and you’ll) see; build a house (and you’ll) see."

Anyone who has performed either of these tasks can attest to the truth in this saying. Should you have done both, you may feel that building a home is like a marriage – you are responsible in good and bad times, in sickness and in health. If it is carefully considered and well-planned; if you have been assiduous in your duties, the need for maintenance will be lessened, and there will be fewer recriminations.

Besides the more profound motivations, there are many reasons why one may be inspired to take the life-changing decision to build a home. Some of these are:

* A sense of adventure;

* A dream;

* The need or desire to save money;

* The desire to create a unique home;

* A need to get back to basics/reconnect with the fundamentals of life (not fundamentalism!); or

* The need to be different

All of these reasons – and you may add to this list – are legitimate. By building your own home, you are fulfilling a primal desire to create a worthwhile shelter for your loved ones and yourself.

Our forefathers built their own homes with the intention that successive generations would inhabit their creations, and it is only a relatively recent development that owner-builders have been distinguished from the majority. Modern owner-builders enjoy a plethora of choices in contrast to the stark necessities faced by their forebears. The options for owner-builders are almost endless in budget, materials and size. There are small stone castles, and concrete and steel mansions which stand as a tribute to years of owner-builder labours. Contrasting in magnitude – but of no less significance – are liveable cabins which have been built for a couple of thousand dollars.

With limitless options but more likely than not limited budgets, owner-builders have a compelling need for focussed contemplation of the challenges they face before they embark on a project. I hope to spark some thought and discussion with this book, rather than rigidly prescribe an approach. Owner-builders are by definition resourceful, enterprising and self-motivated. Given the right questions, and not necessarily the answers, their inspiration and intuition would amply provide the material and force for worthy owner-builder creations.

While this book has been written for owner-builders who will actually do the building work themselves, most of its content – apart from do-it-yourself techniques – is equally relevant for those who are considering having contractors or sub-contractors build their home.

* * *

Dreams, Frank Discussions & Strategy

Perhaps the greatest challenge facing the first time owner-builder is planning. This critical issue can be all the more difficult, because without background knowledge and decent, honest advice in particular, the owner-builder may not know what to plan, and how to plan.

Time spent researching and discussing, toying with ideas on paper or the computer – actively contemplating the building process – can save the owner-builder from costly mistakes, manifold inefficiencies, and from embarking on a self-authored comedy of errors. It can feel like you are subject to the law of diminishing returns when you spend time redrafting plans and blueprints. But commencing building without a well-conceived strategy, detailed plan and carefully drafted blueprints can be frustrating, time consuming, soul-destroying, and extremely expensive – in a word, devastating.

Inventing the Future

The classical philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote that the best way to predict the future is to invent it. In following your dream with a sound strategy, a detailed plan and productive work, you are inventing your own future.

Starting at the beginning, the best place to start is by asking yourself the following questions:

"1 What is my/our dream?

2 What do I/we envisage? then

3 What am I/we capable of achieving physically, financially and emotionally?

4 How well does 3 match 1 & 2? Does my/our dream and what I/we envisage my/our home to be match favourably with what I/we are capable of achieving physically, financially and emotionally?"

This chapter might be starting to sound a little like a self-help column written by a new-age counsellor – if so, I apologize. Should your dream owner-building project be a small one room kit getaway cabin, you can be a little blasé about such questions, but for many owner- builders the time and money spent in building their home may be one of the biggest investments of their lives. It is fitting, appropriate and warranted to ask deep questions about such a crucial life event.

The consequences of failing to ask these kinds of questions – by which I mean subjecting yourself and a proposed project to this kind of self-evaluation – can be drastic. An expected 8 months build can turn into a tumultuous 3 years, and a budget can blow out by 300 per cent. I’m talking about my first home: before completing the project, I had been separated, divorced, remarried, and had welcomed the arrival of a new-born son, in that order! Although I am eternally thankful for my marriage and my son – and of course, the completion of my home – I would not want other owner-builders to suffer the expensive and time-consuming tribulations of my project. I am grateful in no small measure that others may learn from my mistakes.

Realism, Research and Relationships

Once you have addressed the fundamental questions, you may be ready to start formulating your strategy. The right strategy will be one that realistically matches your dream and the home which you envisage, and is achievable given your resources. Of all the owner-builders I know, only one or two could be said to have deep pockets. Wanting to save money or having somewhat limited means seems to go with the territory of owner-building.

A proper strategy may only be formulated with a clear background of what the building process entails for a preferred method of construction and material. This means that the owner-builder has to think about the end game first in some respects, in which there is an inherent danger of getting ahead of yourself.

There is a predictable order in which any task or group of tasks works best. When we drive, we open the car door, sit in the seat, shut the door, check that the gearshift is in neutral, turn the key to start the engine, fasten the seatbelt, disengage the clutch and then select first gear, etc. It sounds obvious and it would be unnecessary for the experienced driver to note these steps, but for the learner driver, it’s another matter. For efficiency and safety, this procedure needs to be learned verbatim and consciously followed.

Such a logical order should be observed by the first time owner-builder when starting a project. Perhaps with experience, some of this would become ensconced in the unconscious mind the same way that driving does, and not need attention. The experienced owner-builder would automatically contemplate all the paradigms and formulate a strategy and a detailed plan, even if it were not done in an overly formal manner. The first time owner-builder should also aim to adhere carefully to such a structured approach, but with more conscious care and diligence.

Meticulousness with research, strategy, a detailed plan and a correct order of proceeding may seem a dogmatic and regimented approach to a process which you might want to experience as being organic and liberating. In reality, quality, satisfying building should be firmly grounded. The initial discipline of research, a well-conceived strategy and detailed plan give rise to clever blueprints, which elide seamlessly to the freedom of a truly creative and inspiring building project.

Formulating a basic strategy – much less a detailed plan – demands knowledge. Inevitably, self-education must be the owner-builder’s first duty. Seeking, gathering and absorbing information: by investigating online, reading relevant books and magazines, attending trade fairs and owner-builder home tours, and undertaking short courses; all of this is priceless for the first time builder. Moreover, speaking with a broad range of honest and helpful owner- builders who have undertaken a project similar to your dream home is invaluable, if not essential.

Sufficient time spent on research allows you to accumulate the knowledge needed to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of a proposed build. It can lead you to making an informed decision regarding the most suitable building materials (mud brick/adobe, wood, steel, straw bale, etc.) and the preferred method (i.e. load-bearing walls, post-and-beam, frame construction, or any combination thereof), for your project.

If you’re unsure of which building material you should choose for your home, trying your favourite or dream options by labouring for an owner-builder friend, or undertaking a relevant short hands on course, could prove to be an indispensable experience. Only practical application can demonstrate the demands of a particular material. It would further be helpful in calculating building estimates. A few days experience in bricklaying would, for instance, enable you to ascertain how many bricks or how much wall you can lay in the average day. This knowledge is vital in formulating meaningful budget and project duration schedules.

Especially owner-builders who intend to engage the services of others to build their home – who may otherwise be less bothered with learning the minutiae of construction – should take pains to familiarise themselves with every aspect of building, thus readying themselves to take the reins of their project. It is a rare horse indeed which leads you to the correct destination without guidance.

Once these intellectual foundations for your project are laid – and this could take time, but do not let that concern you, as it is time well spent – you may be ready to devise a strategy and a detailed plan. This may sound overly formal and daunting, like embarking on an army campaign, but this is the stage where many owner-builder projects start to go awry – my first home included. All the research and theory in the world can’t make a project run on the right track if there is no track to begin with.

The key elements of a strategy and a detailed plan embody – budget, funding, size of the building, materials and method of construction, and many other factors which would be discussed in forthcoming chapters. Owner-builders may share similar dreams, but an individual owner-builder’s strategy must take account of unique circumstances – site and fiscal constraints, labour resources, and many other considerations. Time and attention at this nascent stage of a project can lead to an easier, happier, quicker, and more economical owner-building experience.

It is well worth mentioning here that few people can conceptualize and strategize a building project fully in their minds, let alone make a detailed mental plan. This ability is not necessary for owner-building in any case. You don’t need to be a savant to plan and build a home; common sense and a practical mind is enough. Your time and attention for strategy and planning are therefore best focussed here with ideas manifested on paper, a screen or even with art materials.

There are many formats which you may employ in contemplating, testing, determining and recording a strategy and detailed plan. Flowcharts, schematic or semi-schematic drawings (such as the diagram A Remote Power System in the chapter Energy and Independence), mind maps or concept maps, lists, spreadsheets, balance sheets, artistic renderings and even models may find their use in strategy and detailed planning. Some of the world’s greatest modern architectural creations have begun as rough drawings and models made with pieces of polystyrene foam and pipe cleaners. You should use whichever formats work best for you. The form is of lesser importance than the care and consciousness with which you undertake the process.

Let’s examine the beginning of the owner-building journey. Knowing our dream and vision is the easy part. If we are merely contemplating building our own home, we must have a dream and vision. The next question: What am I/we capable of achieving physically, financially and emotionally? is a little more problematic, and requires self-reflection, and perhaps a little brutal honesty and realism.

You may cherish the notion of building a stylish and sizeable two storey solid stone house with your life partner. But if you are both prone to lumbago and have limited funds to hire the skilled labour needed to realize your dream, then you may need to adjust your strategy to incorporate elements of your dream and vision which are practically achievable. A small single storey home with cladding and stone feature walls may be a compromise between your vision and what is feasible. Moreover, it would be almost certainly be less traumatic or likely to end in divorce and continuing visits to physiotherapists and psychologists!

Having neither the skills nor aptitude for marriage counselling, I hesitate to entertain questions about how to handle relationship issues, but it is worth noting that home building projects – particularly owner-building projects – place great pressure on a relationship. Pressure can forge a stronger bond for a couple, or cause the relationship to dissolve like a poorly constructed mud wall in a severe rainstorm. I can think of many examples of each extreme scenario.

The difficulty seems to begin when one partner is enthusiastic about a project, and the other is less enrolled. The more enthusiastic member of the partnership may have the lead and do much of the research, and both may share a dream, but the success of the project and relationship may hinge on honest reflection of What are we capable of achieving…emotionally?

Frank discussions about how much work, expense and time a contemplated project would entail can save a relationship. Consent given merely in-principle, by a partner who is uninformed and half-hearted about owner-building, cannot stand the gruelling test of a prolonged and expensive endeavour.

Anyone can say, Yes, I’d love to build my own rammed earth home and mean it, just as anyone can say I’d love to be a professional sportsperson. Having the awareness and commitment to everything that either of these pursuits demand, along with the ability and resources to see it through, is another matter entirely. Most people have at least some understanding of the commitment that it takes to attain and maintain a sporting career. Fewer understand the challenges of successfully building a home, which can be equally demanding.

Sharing all the available information, and having candid discussions with your partner about your expectations and what resources you are each willing to commit, can put you on track to choosing a suitable size, material and method of construction for your home. Furthermore, this may spare your relationship the rigours of a sub-optimal building process. It could sometimes lead to a couple’s decision to not embark on the owner-building journey at all. The more enthusiastic member of the partnership – who may also be better informed because of the research they have done – has to consider how best to educate the other about the demands of a proposed owner-building project.

Realistic appraisal of the demands of building and your capacities to fulfil these, may require some consultation with experienced, honest and helpful owner-builders. Owner-builders in particular should be ever mindful that opportunities to learn from others’ mistakes are to be seized enthusiastically but graciously. Discussions with the more experienced of our ilk would confirm that owner-builders almost invariably underestimate the time factor involved with – and all builders tend to underestimate the money required for – their projects. These are grave dangers for the uninitiated, which can sometimes engender drastic consequences reaching well beyond the confines of the project.

Time is money, and labour consumes time. Owner-builder projects are, for the most part, inherently more labour-intensive than mass-produced commercially-built homes. An honest assessment of your capability and desire for expenditure of labour and time can determine the best building material and method for your purpose. If you are strong and active, and have four strapping, willing and industrious teenage children champing at the bit to help you build a mud brick house, you have a great head start.

If you’re 45 kilograms/99 pounds soaking wet, and can muster only yourself and a partner of similar stature for construction duties, perhaps a light steel structure may be more realistic; a valid and pragmatic option for many owner-builders. The nineteenth-century German philosopher Frederic Nietzsche famously advised that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. With some owner-builder projects, the odds may be even for either outcome. For those who are less physically endowed, endlessly hoisting 18 kilogram/40 pound lumps of masonry can be just too difficult.

A light steel structure or a quality wood frame building with cladding is less arduous; it requires less labour to construct than a masonry home, and can be surprisingly quick to erect. The basic structure can be in place in a matter of days in some instances, whereas a solid masonry building’s progress may be measured in months. There are endless opportunities for ecologically sound, imaginative light steel house designs. And cladding options are vastly improved since the days when weatherboard and fibro-cement sheet were the only choices. Moreover, having a structure where the building materials are fairly light and easy to handle, and the construction process less laborious, can be the difference between a smooth, speedy project and a saga, especially for owner-builders with scarce labour or time constraints.

Objectives and a Foregone Conclusion

In truth, all facets of the building process would have a bearing on what one is capable of achieving physically, financially and emotionally. No facet, however, is as important as size, such being my convictions on the topic that the later chapter Building Small, Standing Tall is dedicated to discussing this matter. There is a direct relationship between the size of a building and cost – all other factors, of course, being constant. Honest contemplation of what is truly needed in terms of the size of a home, can greatly ease the financial burden of building, yet size is perhaps the one aspect of building to which the least critical thought is dedicated.

Material, method of building and design – each of these elements of building is inextricable from the others. There are multi-purpose plans which can be adapted for use with load-bearing walls or post-and-beam or cladding, suspended floor or slab. But like an adjustable wrench, they end up not serving any specific purpose well – other than the purpose of submission to the local authorities for a building permit. To formulate a workable detailed plan, the major decisions need to be made before blueprints are drawn – each element of importance is contingent upon other elements. If major decisions are given due and conscious consideration, minor decisions become matters of preference and ease. Consequently, building becomes a mostly positive and enjoyable experience.

In any event, your efforts should be properly oriented from the outset. All successful human endeavour requires maintenance of an aim; starting and continuing in the correct direction until the goal is reached. Your aim as a first time owner-builder should not be to build the grandest, most architecturally inspiring, scintillating paragon of artisanship. The overriding objective is to conceive and plan a project which is predestined for success, confounding sceptics and naysayers – almost every owner-builder encounters these – who would revel in your failure. Constructing an ecologically harmonious and soundly-built home, which provides functional, comfortable living spaces, is in itself a triumphant accomplishment.

The home needs to be built in the mind before a brick is laid, or a nail is hammered. Hopefully, reading these pages will be part of the inner journey of imagination and contemplation which will carry you to where a dream and vision for a home can be offered a strategy, a detailed plan and blueprints. From there, a dream home can be brought to life in its physical splendour, for the enjoyment of your loved ones, yourself, and should your design be truly inspiring – neighbours and passers-by.

* * *

Access and Amenity

Many, if not most, owner-builder projects are undertaken in rural or remote areas, affording some freedom from suburban confines and conformity. This gives more scope for rusticity and creativity, which are almost universal predilections of owner-builders. It can also