My DIY house Build...

[nos_specialist]

Good evening tuners.. so...I am gonna attempt to build my house....and do what i can do myself until i give up......yeahhh

Now i am not no rich kid nor am i a professional builder...but i gonna do whatever work i can do on my own to save watever little money i can..

This post is to document my progress and hopefully get input and advice from experienced and Genuine persons...

So..some background info...

1. I bought 1 lot of land about 3 years ago.

2. I traded my car music with a draughtsman to do my house plan

3. Did a plumbing job for a customer in exchange for 1.5 tons of 3/8 steel

And this is where I am at.. using my house plan and basic maths.. i worked out how much Stirrups for my ground beams i needed and how much piles my house gonna have..

I made this jig

My ground beams gonna be 12" x 10" so my stirrups are being bent 10" x 8"

How much hundreds down...how much hundreds to go

[pugboy]

You using a traditional type bending setup
You ever see the other kind which uses pins and pivots ?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=exEG_sEpH5A

I made one but not sure if it would be faster but it works good.

[shake d livin wake d dead]

Nuff respect at how you got the steel...good luck with your house bro

[racedriverpro]

Good luck bro...hope ur hard work pays off.

[Morpheus]

All the best man. You're going to hopefully inspire many others.
Many times you'll want to give up or wonder if you bit off more than you can chew, but keep at it.

Good Luck

[Slartibartfast]

Hey Nos I'm a Civil Engineer (not certified as yet) but feel free to pm me anytime if you have questions or unsure about anything.

Couple of questions. What type of soil are you building on and what made you decidever to use piles? Depending on the soil and you house a pad footing/ground beam set up might offer better bearing.

Also, you may need to increase your ground beam size to prevent corrosion of the steel in your ground beams.

If you really want to do it right, getting a copy of TTS 599: 2006 - Guide to the Design and Construction of Small Buildings is a good place to start.

[nos_specialist]

Nice man thanks for that piece of info and the assistance..i will look into it.

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

Awesome topic!!!

Can't wait to see the progress!

[EFFECTIC DESIGNS]

You can do it, my brother is building a high house by himself, the only thing he has ever hired was the cement truck to pump the readymix. He dig the trench himself aswell.

His father in law is a house builder so he came one day show him how to do 1 boxing for the columns let him now how deep to dig the trench and how to bend and tie the steel. After he did it once he did the rest all by himself, my dad also built his own house in El Dorado doing the same thing.

He is also welding his roof himself, he bought a bunch of tools including a "router" for carving wood to build his own furniture using youtube videos. He did a few stuff and it looks a lot like what you would buy in the store but note it takes a lot of practice.

And note these 2 men are by no means any professional they are equipment operators for a living in the Port. So if they can do stuff so good, you can do it, off that I have no doubt. My one suggestion, youtube is your friend you can learn soooo much there.

[Ted_v2]

Stuff like foundation I would get a experienced person involved. Everything else I believe you could do it yourself with some guidance

[VexXx Dogg]

wow, good luck.
The thing about DIY is that it can be more expensive than hiring professionals if not done right. Not discouragement, but just a tip to get it right the first time.

[Dave]

Kudos! I admire the bravery

[dougla_boy]

damn...subscribed to this! good job on doing what you did to get stuff done....

question, how come u didnt check out the steel frame houses?

[nos_specialist]

Those houses i wud hadda go thru a company to buy it....which wud involve me having to take a mortgage to get that kinda money... i am attempting to do a cash..small loan kinda build..

[88sins]

go forward strong boi. nothing makes a man appreciate what he has more than doing it on his own.
But just a couple tips.

1-Doing it on your own, it's a marathon u running, not a 100m dash. Take your time & go through phase by phase, & set a reasonable time-frame/deadline for each phase & try to stick with it. But if you go past your deadline by a week or two don't sweat it. No sense rushing a task, you would either end up making mistakes or worse physically damaging yourself.
2-Remember why you started, & do not allow yourself to get frustrated. Yeah it does happen, especially when you pushing to do plenty work with zero help.
3-you will eventually find some jackass coming to either distract you or bring you a dose of negativity, they might say you don't know what you doing, that you cheap for not hiring labor, or they just there to flap their gums. My advice? Pass them a shovel & tell them to start mixin mortar. Worst case scenario, they up & ride out, best case scenario, you get some help & finish a phase a lil quicker & either way you find out who's really for you & those that posing as though they for you .
4-At the end of a days work, always take a couple minutes to admire what you've accomplished for the days efforts. Best done after having a satisfying hot meal, & nothing wrong with having a cold beer while you watch & reflect & prepare to go forward.

Good luck bruh

[nos_specialist]

go forward strong boi. nothing makes a man appreciate what he has more than doing it on his own.
But just a couple tips.

1-Doing it on your own, it's a marathon u running, not a 100m dash. Take your time & go through phase by phase, & set a reasonable time-frame/deadline for each phase & try to stick with it. But if you go past your deadline by a week or two don't sweat it. No sense rushing a task, you would either end up making mistakes or worse physically damaging yourself.
2-Remember why you started, & do not allow yourself to get frustrated. Yeah it does happen, especially when you pushing to do plenty work with zero help.
3-you will eventually find some jackass coming to either distract you or bring you a dose of negativity, they might say you don't know what you doing, that you cheap for not hiring labor, or they just there to flap their gums. My advice? Pass them a shovel & tell them to start mixin mortar. Worst case scenario, they up & ride out, best case scenario, you get some help & finish a phase a lil quicker & either way you find out who's really for you & those that posing as though they for you .
4-At the end of a days work, always take a couple minutes to admire what you've accomplished for the days efforts. Best done after having a satisfying hot meal, & nothing wrong with having a cold beer while you watch & reflect & prepare to go forward.

Good luck bruh

You wah make me cry oh wah...lol thanks for this piece of information bro...agreed 100% and i will take the advice

[luckeydude]

Good luck bro ur an inspiration to many keep the strugle alive.

[INDAVID WORKSHOP]

Bro, great effort I can be contacted for advice on welding and woodworking activity, I will provide you the info free of charge so don't hesitate.

I do admire your effort.

[nos_specialist]

Thank you man... i look forward to it.

[Dizzy28]

damn...subscribed to this! good job on doing what you did to get stuff done....

question, how come u didnt check out the steel frame houses?

Like the one AP Scott in El Socorro does?? You can see a sample house on the left hand side of CRH just after the blue walkover (Courts Megastore) heading into PoS. I find those houses real expensive and you still have to have land and build foundation before they come and put the house down. The only savings is time and not money.

[dude2014]

Hey Nos I'm a Civil Engineer (not certified as yet) but feel free to pm me anytime if you have questions or unsure about anything.

Couple of questions. What type of soil are you building on and what made you decidever to use piles? Depending on the soil and you house a pad footing/ground beam set up might offer better bearing.

Also, you may need to increase your ground beam size to prevent corrosion of the steel in your ground beams.

If you really want to do it right, getting a copy of TTS 599: 2006 - Guide to the Design and Construction of Small Buildings is a good place to start.

.

The ground beam was the first thing that strike me. In foundations the cover to the steel (ie the distance from the outer edge of the concrete to the steel) should be a minimum of two inches.

Therefore your beams will be 14" x 12", which can significantly raise the price because of the additional concrete in the beams.
or use smaller stirrups.

Dont be turned off from a steel frame. Make an inquiry about it, get some costs. The steel you have can still be used in your foundation. A relative told me the price of steel beams has dropped. So it is worth exploring, except if you are adverse to having a steel frame.

Since you are doing it piecemeal, you can buy the steel beam, protect with zinc chromate and proceed when you in a position to do so. Just a suggestion bro ..........

Yes that is an investment better than fixed deposit and such other things ........

[zagie]

good luck with your construction, a bit of advice, download the small building code guide https://www.scribd.com/doc/20748625/Tri ... Code-Draft and study it, it has all the information u need on proper techniques for construction and get lots of information from builders before each stage of ur project, once its done u cant undo it, so do it right the first time, cheating on the material isnt an option because u already saving on the labour costs, i too did what u are doing and i saved a lot of money which was put to use else where, also there are going to be things that u wont be able to do, like electrical (if ur not an electrician) so dont attempt to do it, im sure u know someone who can do it for a fraction of the cost, good luck and hope to see pic of ur progress

[urbandilema]

Nice tread man..I will here as that's my exact plan of action. .currently in a location of land though..

[FLEX]

Bought the wrong lights was supposed to buy 3"
i have WESTINGHOUSE 4" RECESSED LIGHTS
If anyone is interested
all brand new in boxes of 20 = $1300 each box of 20 slightly negotiable
led light bulbs $120 per box of 4 slightly negotiable
believe i have 120 light bulbs. and 100 recessed lights
EVERYTHING NEW IN BOX
whatsapp for pics
774-7425

[jones81]

at this stage, it would help if you have a builder to guide you along , bending and tying of the steel is a good start for you , you will get plenty of practice , when you digging the trenches for your beams get some help , if the soil is loose it will cave in pretty soon, so you will want to dig , place the re bar and cast without too much delay, make sure that you have someone experienced "line up" your house , make sure your foundation square , or you will get problems later on. Go brave and watch out for people who will claim to be builders and masons and carpenters etc ,dont pay anyone to fu@K up something that you could Fu@K up for free .

[screwbash]

rent a lil baby backhoe, buy ready mix conrete, buy a lil cement mixer for mixing mortar to plaster. It will help take out some of the hard physical labour.

[Rory Phoulorie]

good luck with your construction, a bit of advice, download the small building code guide https://www.scribd.com/doc/20748625/Tri ... Code-Draft and study it, it has all the information u need on proper techniques for construction and get lots of information from builders before each stage of ur project. . .

This is the one of the best pieces of advice in this thread. Check your design against what the Small Building Code recommends and adjust the design accordingly before you even start excavating. With these recent seismic events and the unpredictability of the paths of hurricanes, you need to ensure that you have a properly designed structure to withstand the natural elements.

Where blockwork is load bearing, you should not use any block narrower than 150mm (6 inches). You could probably look at the vertical core 150mm wide hollow clay block over the similar width concrete block if you want to try and save money. The vertical cores allow you to place rebar and concrete in the cores to help support the loads. The Small Building Code will give guidance on the size of rebar and spacing in the cores. You should look at your design to see if there is provision for shear walls to resist lateral loads (wind and/or earthquake loads). Again, the Small Building Code gives guidance on the design and location of shear walls.

rent a lil baby backhoe, buy ready mix conrete, buy a lil cement mixer for mixing mortar to plaster. It will help take out some of the hard physical labour.

Another good piece of advice. In addition to the above, get a concrete vibrator to remove voids in the concrete during placement. This helps a great deal with the strength and durability of the concrete.

Good luck with your build.

[dougla_boy]

damn...subscribed to this! good job on doing what you did to get stuff done....

question, how come u didnt check out the steel frame houses?

Like the one AP Scott in El Socorro does?? You can see a sample house on the left hand side of CRH just after the blue walkover (Courts Megastore) heading into PoS. I find those houses real expensive and you still have to have land and build foundation before they come and put the house down. The only savings is time and not money.

for them to do it, yes....it is....but if ur doing it and just buying materials...it isnt that bad......u could give dimensions and whatnot and they would sell u the material and u could do it yourself.....

[timelapse]

Been doing the same thing this year.PM me if you need any kind of info

[nos_specialist]

Thanks man.. will do..