JL reports: While I was working at the Wood & Coal business in Queenstown, MD, and we were trying to sell "Sows Ear" (the “winter water view” place), Barbara & I purchased a building lot in Dorchester County, MD. It was one of only 11 parcels which would ever be developed on a 100 acre peninsula, and we later started to call the neighborhood “'Snake Point.” (We also made wonderful friends from there, whom we stay in contact with.)
By the time "Sows Ear" sold, and I had sold my share of the Wood & Coal business, we moved into an apartment which was (literally) a converted chicken coop (converted into apartments). I had to run a “trap line” that winter - for mice -, and we could not always count on the toilet flushing out....or backing up!
We started building “Two Turtles” in the fall of 1985. (Remember Sue.... “Eat the lion before it eats you”)....once my third secretary [in my last Army job] was in place, I signed up for local adult education night courses including: Residential Carpentry; Masonry; & Residential Electricity.
Barbara & I selected a house plan out of a book of standard house plans, and then, with the builder, modified it to fit our needs.
Our philosophy became: To not scrimp on quality of materials or workmanship, but yet, to construct the house as economically as possible. For example, we faced the top three layers of the foundation with brick (matching the chimney), & then had a bulldozer grade top soil from the surrounding area against the bottom two 12" masonry blocks.
We moved out of the “chicken coop” into the new house when the toilets would flush, & water came out of the faucets (see the “before” picture of the kitchen above).
To save money (& yet have a decent final product), I built the kitchen cabinets out of #2 1X12 pine boards (ripped at a 15degree angle into three pieces) and put an 1/8" bead on each piece with an antique wooden plane. The hinges were from a hardware store going out of business, and I turned them “old” with gun browning solution. The “crystal” knobs were from an antique shop which refinished antique furniture.
The house ended up being so tight that we had to crack a window (on the upwind side) to be able to keep a wood fire going.
For heat, we used solar & the wood stove. I covered the air filters for the heat pump with plastic in the winter, such that cold air would not “siphon” from the attic.
The main floor of the house has been flooded twice (since we left), yet the current owners are still using the long leaf southern yellow (heart) pine flooring which we installed.
The current owners have installed an entire heated second floor (which attests to the 3000 lb./sq inch [5-bag mix] cement which we used for the footings.
A good friend & neighbor, “Mr. Charles” helped me install dry wall in the garage, until, as he describes it, I fired him. (Barbara didn't want me taking too much advantage of his good nature!)
Jl
Mr. Charles commented: Very informative e-mails and educational. Minor addition to the narrative, to wit: "Mr. Charles" aka Pops was relieved of sheet rock duty failure to use proper number of nails per sheet (in an effort to conserve nails) and failure to indent nails. He was assigned other journeyman's tasks to attain a Sampson Certificate of Carpentry which he cherishes today.
Sue asked, “Why in the world did you build on a flood plain?" Jon explained that it wasn’t that kind of flood that struck the new owners: The “flooding” was not due to nature - except the second time, if you count rain water (it was open while they were constructing the 2nd floor, and they apparently didn't have sufficient cover). The first time, a supply line froze & broke in the half bath (hard way to learn about throwing a circuit breaker to the water pump when you're gone overnight).
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