There is a ratio between chimney open area to fire hood open area to create enough up draft for the smoke

Can't remember what it is but I worked it out once and our fire place is close to the limit of what works

After I restored the fire place, we burned 3/4 ton of logs over a long weekend but the novelty wore off as it's as costly as running a thirsty V8.

We enjoy a fire most weekend evenings during the winter and when we're done with the Christmas tree we trim the branches off and burn the whole lot :D

Our house can be drafty as sometimes an upstairs door will creak open and closed when only a small downstairs window is open.

Sounds kind of like how you would expect the inside of pirate ship to sound like in rough seas :D

Mildly Interesting Motorsport News Update....
My 'other' work contributed in a small way ie didn't cause a DNF to another Monaco F1 GP win, that's 2 in a row, with 2 different drivers, fingers crossed for another win in 2023 :cool:

Boring Build News Update...
Mrs Ahab and I have been working 7 days a week for the last 3.5 weeks on this 'while you're in there' job :rolleyes: of bringing the roof insulation of the old part of the house into the 21st century

2 layers of 2" thick insulation board have been chopped up into many, many individually shaped bits cut from 30 sheets of 8ft x 4ft board

On the 1st layer all joints/gaps were taped over with 2" wide aluminium self adheisve tape to keep any draughts at bay

Room looks like this now,

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1654379159.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1654379262.jpg

Not sure what the situation in the US is like but building material prices have rockets up in price over the last couple of years

Once the plaster boarding has been fitted we'll easily have spent $2500 on materials for this job alone :(

Next update will be an example of how nothing is square/parallel with our house and at times it makes my OCD rash flare up and itch :mad:

Prices are ludicrous here in the US. I don’t see how people can afford to build a new house at this point, lumber costs are stupid high.

All that insulation will make quite a difference in your house, I think.

When I picked up my last load from my building supply place I got talking to the guys in the yard and they said a lot of builders are not taking on new jobs due to the cost of materials

The insulation boards I'm using have doubled in price in 2yrs

Even the seemingly most mundane work is treated with the utmost care. Its special.

Thanks for the updates. I always love seeing your home, work, and progress.

A housing development is being constructed next door to me. I preferred the forest, but did not get to vote. At any rate, these houses barely fit onto the lots, and they are large two-story homes. The workers are hispanic. They seem to know, very well, how to erect houses.

So....one of the guys told me that the cost to build one of these homes, which are probably almost 3000 SF of of living space, is less than $200K. He guessed they can be built for $170K. They are, in fact, sprouting up very quickly.

Okay so here is the point I am making: There is a housing shortage. There is a land shortage. Despite the increase in material costs, materials and labor are still the cheap part of the equation. This is why they build as many SF of living space into these homes as they can. The cost of building a 1500-SF home is probably only $50K less than the cost of building a 3000-SF home. The former would sell for $400K, and the latter sells for $600K. Labor and materials are only responsible for the $50K difference. The basis for the $200K difference is the cost of land, permitting, utilities, etc. Labor and materials are not the cause of housing inflation.

Having spent my life in construction, and having a business degree, I must say that that analysis is dead wrong.

Sorry about that.

PM sent.

That's the impression I'm getting from what I read and hear, material costs are pricing both home owners and developers out of taking on building projects

Really hoping the insulation work we've done makes a difference,

Before tackling the roof I looked at all sorts of energy saving options, solar panels, Tesla battery, electric heat pump systems, wood pellet heat system, water solar heating etc, etc

All are too expensive, too intrusive aesthetically, take up too much space or any payback vs investment is too long

In the end I decided the most cost effective way to reduce our energy costs was to take the passive approach and reduce the heat loss

R value for the 6" thickness of insulation board I've used is R 43, same value for the new build roof. Original house roof was only R 14

Walls are 2ft thick stone so not much heat loss through there as verified when the house stays cool whenever we have any hot spells during the summer

All my windows are well sealed and double glazed. Only exceptions being the two small stained glass windows. As a small warm, indoor job I plan to fit internal double glazing to both over the winter

Front and rear door shut gaps need sealing which are easy jobs, just need to get around to doing them both.

Fireplace chimney is the 2nd biggest hole so I need to fabricate up some sort of manual, butter fly valve type of seal

By far the biggest hole letting the cold in is a 3ft diameter drystone water well which is just inside to the left of the front door entrance. I just threw down some oak planks to stop the children/animals falling down it as a temporary fix.

Need to order a custom steel frame/glass cover and fit some lights down to the bottom. Another job for the winter and I'll post some pictures as having an old well inside a house isn't the sort of feature many homes come with :cool:

Plaster board work all done....

There are few square corners, parallel walls and in some cases even vertical walls in the rooms of the old part of the house and sometimes it makes my OCD itch :(

I was having trouble accepting the crease line between the sloping roof and vertical wall not being horizontal

Luckily Mrs Ahab keeps me check with large doses of reality ie it's an old house with character. 'Put the saw down, leave the walls alone and walk away from creating more work as we have enough to do!' :D

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1655066026.jpg

Apologies for the state of the carpet, promise it will be burned at the earliest opportunity :eek:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1655066315.jpg

Used a left over 4" thick chamfered stone window sill and a couple of smooth cut flagstones to create a 'feature' step up to the new build floor level

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1655066500.jpg

For putting wiring holes through 2ft thick external walls you need a serious drill bit and then hang on for dear life

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1655066672.jpg

Next up it's 'Window Time', hoping to finally lose the derelict, abandoned house look and up the tone of the neighbourhood

Fast approaching your 4th anniversary.

Anniversary of this build project or of me :confused:

The build.

Was worried you meant the build anniversary, hoping no one had noticed ;)


Like any good 'professional' builder I have my excuses for things taking so long,

Start delayed 1yr because I was dead
Mrs Ahab and I are not professional builders and are doing most of the work ourselves
My hernia op 6 months after the first 6 months
I make a lot of it up as we go along
Back to work fulltime in F1 for 2yrs (was worth it as the delay helped win a drivers championship, 19x race wins, including 2x Monaco race wins)
I am stupid and want to do as much of the work myself
A fight with an angle grinder requiring a visit to accident and emergency to have my leg sewn back on
Working through a global pandemic
Now working through the highest UK inflation in 40yrs

Phew! I'm still glad we're only 4yrs into this project, I'm not dead again and we've not run out of cash :D

Just to ease any worry of this build thread finishing too soon it looks like the UK is going into recession and I'll be going back to work fulltime for a rest!

Captain. When i was building my house (took 2.5 to 3 years), I was driven crazy by people saying, "So, when are you moving in?" I wanted to shout at them I was building it starting with clearing and grading the land where hothing but scrub oak was. I wasn't going out and buying something already built, like they did. I made myself just say I wasn't sure.

Steve, Your first excuse was pretty good, but reminded me of The Holy Grail opening, "I'm not dead yet!". Friends gave me a T shirt with that on it for my 60th birthday.
We should get you one with "It's just a flesh wound!"
I know where you're coming from on the length of the procedure. I built this house over a five year period forty one years ago in my spare time.(plus another year for a couple of additions) When I have to do renovations or upgrades, I know exactly what I'm getting into (well, usually). Digging into the structure of a house built centuries before you were born is a whole 'nother kettle of fish. I suspect there are many times you have looked at something part way into an operation and said something along the lines of ,"Darn! I can't do it that way after all."
Since I don't have to lug heavy stone or crawl into confining, dusty spaces behind knee wall studding, I am perfectly happy to wait for you to post the next instalment.
Kudos to you both.

Best
Les

Lobour of love Cap?

Les,
Big kudos to you too for building your own house :cool:, please post up some pictures as we'd both love to see the fruits of your hard work

Before this project I've only built a kit car for myself which I sold it to help fund buying this house which is our 1st house, when we're done I'm going to have a rest and try and do a car project, have a few in the queue, not sure which one I'll do first :confused:

Rod,
You're not the 1st person to call our build a labour of love, guess it is but I think of it more like a hobby that should more than pay for itself

Most hobbies involve spending lots of money with only enjoyment back in return but when we eventually sell we should have a large lump of money for all the work we've put in

Hottest day of the year....

I'm covered in SF50 (stone-dust factor) for protection from the harmful sun's rays while chopping up the last few pieces of stone for the shed :D

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1655469254.jpg

The additional roof insulation we've just finished on the original part of the house has made an amazing difference on lowering the temperature of the top room which must be a good sign for keeping it warm in winter