Building a new house: from foundation to finishing, and all the woodworking

[Mel Fulks]

Certainly a giant undertaking for someone not in the biz to take on ,and done well....you have made me think about being a university professor !

[mreza Salav]

Thanks Mel. I wouldn't want to do it again, ever!

[Bruce Page]

HOUSE PARTY!! We'll be right over!

Thanks for bringing us along on the build, I've enjoyed it.

[mreza Salav]

Thank you Bruce. If you ever come up here I'd be glad to have you over for a chat/drink.

[Yonak Hawkins]

mreza, you probably covered this already but what is your favorite finishing method ?

[mreza Salav]

I'm no expert in finishing by any stretch, the product line I used was General Finishes pre-cat Urethane. The stain was a mix of some of their RTM.
These are all WB. I simply couldn't (and wouldn't want) to use solvent based lacquer in such a large scale in the whole house.

[James Tibbetts]

A gigantic undertaking to say the least.
Very classy without being the least bit pretentious. Superbly done!!!

[mreza Salav]

Thanks James.

Today is the moving day. All packed up and ready for the movers to come...

[Raymond Fries]

What a beautiful home. Enjoy it always...

[Mark Stutz]

Absolutely stunning, and clearly a labor of love.

[mreza Salav]

Back to making more things for the house. I have setup my shop in the new house and am ready to make things.
There were a few things I didn't do when finishing the house simply because I didn't want to delay moving to the new house and/or rush building them. One of them being the walk-in closet for our master bedroom. I started this project last week.
The closet is 8'x10' that is bare right now. The shelving will be from maple (and ply maple) and will be stained like the rest of the trim work in the house.

First task is to cut down all the plywood parts.

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Some of the shelves will have puck light LED's. I've made a template for them and route out the spot for them. The wiring will be hidden.

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There will be 4 doors and 8 drawers, they will be built like the rest of cabinets we have in the house.
The parts for doors are made on the shaper and the drawer parts are made on the router table. The parts for the door frames are cut a little wider, they will be ripped to proper width after the profile is shaped.

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The make the panels for the drawer fronts I found it easier to make one large panel to do the profile on the narrow pieces and then cut them to size:

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[mreza Salav]

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The panels for the doors are made on the shaper and here is a dry fit of one drawer and door.

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Glued up all the doors and drawer fronts. Here is the simple jig to speed up making domino holes:

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[mreza Salav]

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I hate sanding and have been busy doing just that for all the parts, mostly done except for the gables.
Did I say I hate sanding? Then will start staining/finishing them all.

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[Patrick Walsh]

Pretty awesome. What a dream!

I am a builder foundation to finish so i understand what you are up against all the way through.

Forgive me i did not read the whole thread. Are you doing all the interior trim, cabinetry and mill work? Or just pieces that matter most to you?

If not and just pieces how is that going over with the other subs you have hired.

I know in the years i have been a contractor the farmer always has something to say about the foundation guy, the finish carpenter something about framer and the cabinet guy something about all of the above, the stone guy something about the cabinet guy and on and on and on.

[mreza Salav]

Thanks Patrick. Here are the things I did myself:
- built the entry door (was challenging).
- built all (31) interior doors and the door jambs.
- Made the stair railing and the hollow posts for them (most challenging thing I'd done was the 3D curves solo).
- bought the cabinet doors (130+ of them) and did everything else for the cabinets myself, boxes, columns, range hood,
- I did the arches/columns/fire-place mantel, the rest of mill work (casing, basebords, closet shelves, crowns) I hired a finisher to do as I had way too much on my hands.
- Did all the staining of woods.

I was the general contractor and was pretty much checking all the subs (and occationally fixing after them myself).