Building a House in Pictures
This is the sequence to how we build a house. The pictures are taken from several trips.
-
Prayer (2006) - The most important thing we do in preparation is to spend time in prayer. -
Foundation (2000) - Here is the ground ready for cement. Unfortunately, the cement doesn't crawl into the form. -
Pouring Foundation (2000) - We have to manually pour the cement, but at least the mixer is gas powered. -
Finished Foundation (2000) - It should cure for about a week, but we have to get the house done in a week. It's still standing. -
Loading Materials (2005) - More often than not, the site is unsecured, so we have to load up the supplies and take them to the house. -
Unloading (2006) - Of course, what you load, you have to unload. -
Starting (2004) - Most of the time we don't have to pour a foundation and we can get started. -
Framing (2000) - Everyone puts nails in the frames. That means no VBS on Monday. VBS starts Tuesday. -
Finished Frame (1999) - Here's a wall frame. For those who wonder, we use 2' centers. -
Wall (1999) - The plywood is put on the frames when they are on the ground. Sometimes the door is cut, too. -
Walls Up (1999) - The wall are lifted into place. -
Wall Support (2006) - The first two walls have to be moved and held into place. -
Attaching Walls (2005) - The walls are nailed together. -
Walls All Up (2005) - We work really hard to finish the walls on Monday. A group works on the rafters while the walls are built. -
Building Trusses (1999) - The first truss is carefully assembled and used as the pattern for the remaining ones. -
Finisheing Trussing (2006) - Here are the finished trusses stacked in place. We have reached the end of Monday. -
Installing Trusses (2003) - On Tuesday, we start installing the trusses.They are pivoted up into place. -
Trusses Going Up (2003) - The trusses go up one by one. -
Painting (2003) - On Tuesday, painting begins as soon as the walls are up and while the trusses are being installed. -
Painting (2002) - Sometimes there's not much room on the side to put in the nails. That can be a challenge. -
Cutting Trim (2004) - We have to cut a lot of trim - 4" wide. The trim sealsl the seams between the plywood. -
Painting Trim (2005) - All the trim gets painted on both sides to seal the house. -
Roofing (2001) - We were using plywood as the roofing. Now we use OSB to help keep out the water. -
Roofing Sheets (2006) - All the sheeting has been attached. This uses the OSB. -
Shingle Paper (2004) - Shingles go over the tar paper. Trust me, it works better in this order. -
Fininshing Shingles (2004) - The ends of the tar paper and shingling need trim to hold them in place and protect them from the high winds in Tecate. -
Windows (2008) - The windows are put in as almost the last thing. We haven't broken a window - yet. -
Door (2002) - I am chiseling out the places for the door hinges. The families decide where they want the door and the windows. -
Finished House (2006) - On Thursday morning, we hope to have house finished so we can have the dedicaiton early in the afternoon. -
Inside (2004) - Just studs and rafters - no insulation, drywall, electrical or plumbing. To the family, it's a castle. -
Keys (2005) - The project ends when we give the keys to the family. Tears of joy come to the family and our group. -
Ooops (2006) - Hammer to fit. Paint to match. The window was cut too big and we patched it (the extra trim under the window). -
Paint to Match (2014) - After putting up the big piece of trim, we painting the part by the window to match the house. -
Hammer to Fit (2014) - The window fit exactly between the studs so the trim didn't cover the seam.We put a bigger piece of trim up on the right side.
Building a House Video
This is the house we built for Elena in 2018. Unfortunately, there was fire in early 2022 that made it uninhabitable. Fortunately, we were able to take it down and use the materials for the house we built in 2022. When you look at the pictures you'll see the charring caused by the fire on the studs.
The video doesn't show the roofing and painting.
The video doesn't show the roofing and painting.
