My husband and I are just finishing up a 1 1/2 yr project on the Gulf Coast. We built a small Italian styled vacation home with dry-stacked precast concrete architectural blocks. We did a great deal of the work ourselves-if you look at the photos, I’m the female using the grinder,etc…Originally I made a website for family and friends to see what we were up to, but it now gets a lot of traffic from search engines–especially people looking for ‘hurricane proof’ housing and acid stained concrete floors so i sorta ‘beefed-up’ the site to direct visitors to the manufacturers of the products we used.
Now it is starting to get some media attention-the Memphis daily paper sent a reporter down last week for a story that is to run later in June in the Living Section & the Mobile Register did a Real Estate Sunday section cover story on Memorial Day Weekend. Southern Living magazine and Coastal Living magazine have both called for photos.
I started my original research at the library on dry-stacked blocks after a bike trip across Italy and read one of the very few books on the subject that was by Taunton Press. Luckily I found out about the DAC-ART Building System, as they have plants here in the South & had exactly the look I was after.
The step-by-step construction photos are at:
Replies
Lundy,
Congratulations on your new house.It's absolutely beautiful.You and your husband are quite talented and resourceful.You should consider doing a story on it for Fine Homebuilding's "Houses" issue.
Barry
Wow! I'm impressed.
Was the cost reasonable?
Do they do non-historical styles with that technology?
YES and YES
Ted Dial says one can built with DAC-ART for abot the same as a nice brick home. Of course because people tend to utilize the fact that one is not dependent on so called 'standard sizes' of exterior wall products and go ahead and have higher ceilings, it is not always a 'compare apples to apples' thing to base the comaprison on cost per square foot. We have 13 1/2 ft ceilings- and I LOVE it. Ted can give you a price estimate based on wall surface sq ft--which makes more sense--considering the DAC-ART system provides interior surface, insulation, exterior surface,all that interior strength, and eliminates so many seperate subs and the accompanying problems.
Our budget was 100 grand. We had to bring utilities over 400 feet all underground (local code) but we will not have to repeat that for future phases of building. We 'splurged' a bit on things like top of the line appliances, but since it is such small quarters I wanted the quietest dishwasher,etc. I have not added up all the reciepts (I hate paperwork with a passion) and didn't have to since we didn't have a mortgage. I splurged on the chandelier, but bought the other light fixtures at a salvage place for $5.99 each--and I did the floor finishes myself--grouting myself--and since it was salt water coastal, we spent extra for seacoast upgrades on things like our windows and doors(18 grand for windows and 10 ft true divided light doors) But as for the actual DAC-ART costs--that part is way reasonable, and getting more so as new molds are developed.
You can build whatever style you like with DAC-ART. I can see cool comtemporary buildings in my mind!! Ted has drawn a bunch of different plans--and there is even a race horse barn that is going up in Louisiana.
While the don't care for the style your house is really neat. I specially like the finishes that you used on the concrete and it gives me ideas.
"I have not added up all the reciepts (I hate paperwork with a passion) and didn't have to since we didn't have a mortgage."
You really do need to total the cost and keep a record of them. You will need them for cost basis if you ever sell.
Even tho they are in a rather unfinished state, you might want to have a look at Mr.Dial's websites at some of the other style buildings DAC-ART has been used for. There are alot of dead links on the sites as he has just been so busy with new molds & new projects, etc. but there are several plans shown here and there on
http://www.DAC-ART.net look under 'projects'--then try individual links
and the Baton Rouge plant site has some additional photos at
http://www.DAC-ART.com
Thanks for the reminder--I will eventually add them up as so many people ask and I know you are right about the selling part. Lundy
Thanks for the background information. I think it is a fascinating system.
I suspect it is a very appropriate solution for your geography. That's not to say it wouldn't work in other places, just that I really like to see regionally appropriate techniques.
I have to admit, even the Italian architectural style is not far from some of the archetypes common southern Louisiana.