Thursday, July 9, 2009

Poor prior planing leads to...

I just talked to Joe about the wood I need. The good news is that he can cut the lumber I want, and he is totally sustainable. Joe has milling equiptment and he takes trees that would be trashed or turned into mulch and he makes lumber for people looking for an alternative to the big box stores. This is awseome. Also the price is right. He said it would be about $600 for the framing lumber, which is less then it would cost to buy the wood from lowes, home depot, or a big mill (between 700 and 800). But, and here is where my poor planning comes in, the lumber needs to dry for about 4 weeks, which means I can't even start building until august 10th.

So now I need to either wait for the wood, or find another option. I think that I am just going to have to wait. I looked at the wood sources I received from the ecoSupply person and they are all out of state, which means that the wood would need to be shipped which I don't want to do for both ecological and financial reasons, and I would still have to wait. I am learning that there are three factors affecting every decision I am faced with: time, money, and sustainability. I can get two of the three were I want them and have to compromise on the third. If I want something fast and cheap it tends not to be sustainable, if I want something fast and sustainable it is not cheap, if I want something cheap and sustainable then I have to wait for it. Since this project and my personal inclinations are toward sustainability and my funds are limited I need to wait.

This means that I need to start doing some serious planning, which I should have done more of in the beginning. I have been playing too much of this project by ear, waiting for this or that variable to fall into place before I make a decision. Some of that was inevitable since I have never built a house before, but some of it could have been fixed with better research and planning. If I am going to wait an entire month for the wood I need to have everything else ready so that I can just build when I get it.

The first step is to have a proper detailed drawing. I have done a bunch of sketches, but nothing to scale and nothing concrete because I have been unsure about how to frame the house. It has finally sunk in that I need to solve my problems on paper rather then in the real world. Once I have my drawing I need to do make a list of the things I need to do to prepare the site. I also need to order my bales and check them to make sure they meet the requirements I need. I think that if I gather all of the materials I need and completely prepare the site that it will be possible to be done only a little after the beginning of September.

1 comment:

  1. Poor planning is different than adjusting to new discoveries. What an exciting journey you're on!

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