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Fait Accompli: Our First House...Finished

comments (4) May 13th, 2009 in Project Gallery        
sjdehner sjdehner, member
43 users recommend
This is a photo of our first house, which we just finished in May 2009. We began building it in the summer of 2007.
Our free-standing Vermont Castings Encore woodstove sitting on a locally built and quarried hearth.
Our bedroom has a built-in pine bookcase aside one of the closets. (The attic stairs and closet in the hallway can be seen from the bedroom).
We built our vanity and medicine box by hand.
Having a wide hall (and a predilection for stairs), a tiny staircase leading to the attic with a built-in closet underneath seemed a perfect fit - especially for an old farmhouse.
This is a photo of our first house, which we just finished in May 2009. We began building it in the summer of 2007. Click To Enlarge

This is a photo of our first house, which we just finished in May 2009.

We began building it in the summer of 2007.

Photo: Jamie & Shawn Dehner
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After almost two years of steady work our passive-solar house is now "officially" built.

Looking back it hardly seems possible...

Thanks to a combination of mutual enthusiasm, several talented authors, such as Gary Striegler, Larry Haun, John D. Wagner and John Raabe - to celebrate just a few - along with a couple of instructive builders and contractors who gave us generous guidance and help when we needed it, we were able to primarily self-build a sturdy, comfortable, energy-efficient house.

Some features include:

  • A passive-solar design
  • Icynene spray-foam insulation
  • Stiebel-Eltron on-demand electric hot-water heater
  • Broan HRV air-exchange system
  • ThermoPride propane forced-air heating system (less than 300 gl/year)
  • Vermont Casting Encore wood stove (without back-up can heat entire house- basement to attic - on ~2.5 cords of wood through a Maine winter)
  • 100% zero-VOC paints and bio-based stains.
  • All wood cabinetry and interior trim.

Building a first house from the ground up was most certainly a risk - and it was not always easy. However, in the end the experience gained, money saved and custom results made every day of work a great investment.

Would we do it again if we had the choice? You bet!

A sincere 'thank-you' to Fine Homebuilding.

 




Design or Plan used: My own design - THE small HOUSE CATALOG
posted in: Project Gallery, energy efficiency, green building, architecture, framing, deck, cabinets, doors, built-ins, paint, tablesaws, stairs, colonial, bedroom, attic, fireplaces and chimneys, cape cod, federal, john raabe
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Comments (4)

sjdehner sjdehner writes: Thanks for your recent post! Building our own house was a wonderful experience and we're happy to answer any questions. Please feel free to email us anytime.

Best wishes with your own house too : )

Jamie & Shawn

twotoadstools@gmail.com
Posted: 11:17 am on May 16th

vwsunangel vwsunangel writes: We absolutely love your home. We just moved back from Germany and want to build a passive solar home in TN. I would love to ask you some more questions about your home.

Elizabeth
Posted: 11:31 pm on April 3rd

sjdehner sjdehner writes: Thanks for the nice comments.

Building a house has been full of lessons and we enjoyed being able to share our experience on the website.

Fine Homebuilding was a great resource for us!

Shawn & Jamie Dehner

Posted: 8:24 pm on August 10th

Cermides Cermides writes: Jamie and Shawn -

Congratulations...very nicely done. Thanks a lot for sharing this with us.

Cheers,

Chris
Posted: 4:30 pm on July 27th

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