You guys have been a big inspiration for my wife and I starting our own channel! Your content has been so helpful and much of our workshop construction has been inspired by your project. Happy Holidays!
Just watched your latest build video - holy crap, awesome job on both the build and animations! You're definitely an engineer if we had to guess 😉 Might have to give blendr a try for future builds after seeing your work! Keep up the great work on the channel, stick with it. Merry Christmas 🎄
The treasure box in the wall is a great idea. Someday when your great grandchildren find it they will treasure you. When I was insulating the upper floor bedroom of my 1920's farm house I found the pencil signatures of the 29 builders written on the shiplap in a stud bay. I framed a space in the drywall, put in a piece of removable foam board, and covered it with a framed picture of the signatures.
Haha. Great stuff. My dad - who built his house at the 99% level in the 60's - contracted out the plaster, though he did hang the backer board himself. He said - as you do - that he didn't want to practice plaster on his own house. The other thing he didn't do is dig the full basement foundation hole or the septic field, though he did lay all the pipe and build the tanks and distribution boxes. He started to backfill the septic field by hand, but broke down and hired a digger after a week or so. He also laid the foundation block and facia brick (the whole house except the eaves). They're pretty much perfect, but it took a loooong time. I think you're making great decisions on diy vs pay.
That's so cool to hear, not much has changed! Great minds think alike I guess no matter the time period 😄 were septic tanks / d-boxes built in place back then with block then waterproofed?
@@MasonDixonAcres No he worked out how to cast concrete in one pour for each box including the main tank, which is pretty enormous:The soil is heavy clay, so percolates slowly; no sand mounds at that time. It needs maintenance pumping only every 8 years or so. Ah the other thing he contracted was digging the well. Though he put in the submersible pump - 80' down - by himself.
He sounds like a jack of all trades! Some specialty trades like water wells just make way more sense to hire out. Even setting and pulling those pumps is so much easier with the right equipment, but certainly can be done with enough DIY willpower 😄
@@MasonDixonAcres Yeah he was. I miss him. He did get muscle help from my uncle and cousins now and then. And of course me when I was big enough. My mom's job was landscaping. The lot is an acre, so not a small job. Miss her, too. A good way to grow up.
Regarding the radiant system, I remember long ago, when planning your foundation, you wondered about the efficacy. I commented that you would feel the warm effect upstairs and that it would minimize your costs up there. Now you are reaping the benefits of your planning and investment.
@@MasonDixonAcres I really hope other owner-builders will follow your advice. Your long-term savings are substantial and the short term comfort are real. Are you going to do electric radiant in your shower upstairs?
Yep both the shower and bath floor, shower floor mostly for drying purposes to keep mildew down. Not 100% sure how well that technique will work but going to give it a shot!
I’m def doing radiant in our basement floor when we add on to our 1832 federal style home. I have always appreciated its immense value. Are you installing radiant on all floors?
Regarding evaporation of the shower floor/bathroom floor, I would think treated air being recycled by the furnace in winter likely will help that a lot. In warmer months, not sure.
Alex and Elaina, I love your channel. Great job taking on such a demanding project! I’m a fellow engineer and a building contractor with much in common. I purchased a home on Lake Murray, South Carolina in September. 2 weeks later, hurricane Helene destroyed the house. I’m planning on building a big garage with an apartment above before building our main house, just like you guys. I really like your floorplan. Did you do the design? Is it available to buy? Keep up the good work!
Thanks so much for the kind words! Terribly sorry to hear about the hurricane damage ☹️ Hoping you can rebuild it even better. We did do the design and floorplan ourselves, we do think we'll offer the planset on our website eventually but it is not currently available! We have an email notification you can sign up for when new digital products go live, just scroll down on the homepage and you'll see the signup 🙂 www.masondixonacres.com/
So exciting! I actually love doing drywall, although it is hard work. Those sheets aren't light. I will say I absolutely hate doing ceiling drywall... holding a sheet up to the ceiling frame is tough. I did several sheets of our own ceiling before someone told me there was a lift I could rent from Home Depot that would hold the sheet up for me while I screwed it in. Big face-palm moment for me. Ended up breaking several sheets before this life saving piece of advice entered my life. Anyways, congrats! It's looking great!
Hahah we did the utility ceiling ourselves due to all the pipe penetrations and didn't use a lift, I said never again will I hang ceiling drywall without a lift 😆 you'll see the aftermath of that in the video for downstairs drywall. I do like the challenge of finishing a patch or a few seams so I get you!
Your thoughts on drywalling is interesting, as somebody planning to do what you are doing i've always thought of it as something to look forward to as you can control the almost end product as most drywall i've seen have had quite the blemishes
If you want to take the time and you're good at it then definitely go for it! hiring labor for this many sheets comes at a cost for sure. That said, after watching the whole process I'd save that money doing other trades and hire it out drywall again and again for anything more than a few sheets 😆 It's an enormous volume of heavy, dusty, and overhead labor. These guys make it look so easy. There were in fact a few flaws I found at the end but the finisher came back to fix them up no questions asked!
I can’t believe anyone would want to do that to themselves carrying all those sheets! I was able to get 54” wide sheets for my ceiling to cut down a seam and up to as long as 16’ from the wallboard supply company but Lowe’s only had up to 12’. The boom truck operator boomed all the sheets up to a second story deck and had them half in the door before the guys started unloading them. I was doing all the hanging with one guy so we rented a lift for $35 and that was worth its weight in gold. I was doing all the finishing and didn’t have a lot of confidence in my butt joint ability but bought some level 5 skimming blades that made them disappear. I did find that the rotozip didn’t damage the Rissan tape around my outlets but again it was me doing the work so I was being extra careful. Looking good!
@@MasonDixonAcres that's good to know, thanks so much I'm glad I came across your channel and journey, literally living my dream! Keep up the amazing content it's so informative and quality!
Hey guys, amazing job so far. I've been loving this series, it's really inspiring. Totally off topic but did you/have you ever considered solar panels for your roof? I realise the electricity grid is a lot different in the US compared to here in the UK.
Thank you! Yes we have, and put in an EMT conduit from attic to utility room in case for future solar. 2 reasons we're not doing it up front - first we want to know actual load data rather than an estimate to properly size the system, and second I'd rather mount them on a less important roof like that of a barn or even free standing. So TBD on solar but definitely on the radar
The screws are (mostly) going into framing through Twinet. For the ones that miss framing, yeah mudding is the best you can do. Unless you have a million holes though, it's probably splitting hairs in comparison to something like a door gasket
Alex， during construction， how did you guys manage lighting when natural lighting wasn’t good enough? Battery powered led lights? Or some of the circuits were already energized ? Thanks!
The EGO work light from Lowe’s is amazing, especially if you have other EGO equipment. I like that you can position the light panels to light up a whole area rather than just one wall
9:32 My drywall company charged me $80 to deliver and load the drywall in the rooms and pricing was compatible using 12x4 boards if you shop around, I priced out my 10/22 order, today would cost me $250 more at Lowes using 4x8 boards even with their 15% bulk discount. Drywall companies also stock specialty drywall and sizes, 4.5x12 or 1/2 no sag boards for 24" framing. I found that hanging drywall with a lift was not that bad plus you had the perfect contractor to mud it for you if you had the time to hang it yourself, 39:33 you would have not had near that much waste. Ironically I hired out my insulation, I thought that was much harder to plan, install and get right than drywall.
Thanks for the data point! It probably differs by region. I got quotes from the only 2 dedicated drywall supply houses near us and their prices were all much higher per square foot of material, regardless of sheet size. For the waste, I think if you put all the scraps together it would have been 5 or 6 full sheets so not terrible with all the triangles we have. I could tell they were doing what they could to maximize sheets but still use best practices for seams and around doors etc. but we had a good bit of triangles so you can only do so much
@@MasonDixonAcres I found the triangle pieces are complimentary angles to an opposing gable end. If one person is taking their time making the cuts you can plan accordingly to maximize your cuts.
Nice job done! Your drywall boards looks thick in comparison to what we usually use in Europe, or is it just an impression ? In building the thickness goes from 9,5 to 13 mm (up to 0,5 inch). Keep up the good work and wish you nice Christmas time in your house ! :) Greetings from little Belgium.
Thanks Freddy! The standard here is 1/2 inch (13mm) but for ceilings and fire separation against the garage we used 5/8 inch (16mm). That's as thick as it goes for residential as far as I know. Merry Christmas 🙂
Everyone works different I do taping for a living and would never tape a house by hand and specially up and down on a ladder that’s a lot of work and way slower I use all kinds of taping tools
Sir. I mean know disrespect. I have been in the drywall business for over 30 years. And anyone in this business would never use 8 footers when 12 footers is available..... would the hangers charge more for the 12's yes without a doubt but when considering how many more 8's there is you got screwed in the long one
Per square foot of material, 4x8s are less expensive than 4x12s in our area. So not only was material cheaper, hanging labor was less with the 4x8's. The finisher didn't charge anything additional for more butt joints
The photos and note in the wall is a wonderful tribute to your grandfather.
You guys have been a big inspiration for my wife and I starting our own channel! Your content has been so helpful and much of our workshop construction has been inspired by your project. Happy Holidays!
Just watched your latest build video - holy crap, awesome job on both the build and animations! You're definitely an engineer if we had to guess 😉 Might have to give blendr a try for future builds after seeing your work! Keep up the great work on the channel, stick with it. Merry Christmas 🎄
@@MasonDixonAcres haha how'd you know? 🤓 Thanks guys, we really appreciate it!
In central California, they recycle it into soil amendments. Sold as gypsum to open up soil.
Drywall is like putting icing on the cake. That's why I leave it to crews who do it fast and get the quick gratification that it provides. Loks great!
Good analogy 😄 thank you!
Very nice! That box was very touching. I’m glad to see you love your house as much as we do! God bless you guys and merry Christmas!
Thanks so much! Yes we do ☺️ Merry Christmas 🎄
That guy doing the mudding is definitely good at what he does. Makes it look great and effortless all at the same time.
Agreed! Lots and lots of practice, his dad was also a drywaller so he grew up on jobsites
The treasure box in the wall is a great idea. Someday when your great grandchildren find it they will treasure you.
When I was insulating the upper floor bedroom of my 1920's farm house I found the pencil signatures of the 29 builders written on the shiplap in a stud bay. I framed a space in the drywall, put in a piece of removable foam board, and covered it with a framed picture of the signatures.
That's an awesome find!! Hopefully the memory box will bring a smile to someone someday as well 🙂
Merry Christmas to you both and hope you have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. Hope 2025 is an even better year than 2024.
Merry Christmas! Much appreciated and the same to you and yours 🙏🏻
Take some of the nice pieces of drywall scrap and put them in a attic, kneewall space for future repairs.
Not a bad idea!
Haha. Great stuff. My dad - who built his house at the 99% level in the 60's - contracted out the plaster, though he did hang the backer board himself. He said - as you do - that he didn't want to practice plaster on his own house. The other thing he didn't do is dig the full basement foundation hole or the septic field, though he did lay all the pipe and build the tanks and distribution boxes. He started to backfill the septic field by hand, but broke down and hired a digger after a week or so. He also laid the foundation block and facia brick (the whole house except the eaves). They're pretty much perfect, but it took a loooong time. I think you're making great decisions on diy vs pay.
That's so cool to hear, not much has changed! Great minds think alike I guess no matter the time period 😄 were septic tanks / d-boxes built in place back then with block then waterproofed?
@@MasonDixonAcres No he worked out how to cast concrete in one pour for each box including the main tank, which is pretty enormous:The soil is heavy clay, so percolates slowly; no sand mounds at that time. It needs maintenance pumping only every 8 years or so. Ah the other thing he contracted was digging the well. Though he put in the submersible pump - 80' down - by himself.
He sounds like a jack of all trades! Some specialty trades like water wells just make way more sense to hire out. Even setting and pulling those pumps is so much easier with the right equipment, but certainly can be done with enough DIY willpower 😄
@@MasonDixonAcres Yeah he was. I miss him. He did get muscle help from my uncle and cousins now and then. And of course me when I was big enough. My mom's job was landscaping. The lot is an acre, so not a small job. Miss her, too. A good way to grow up.
Regarding the radiant system, I remember long ago, when planning your foundation, you wondered about the efficacy. I commented that you would feel the warm effect upstairs and that it would minimize your costs up there. Now you are reaping the benefits of your planning and investment.
You're 100% right! All through construction in the cold seasons it has been amazing, even before insulation.
@@MasonDixonAcres I really hope other owner-builders will follow your advice. Your long-term savings are substantial and the short term comfort are real. Are you going to do electric radiant in your shower upstairs?
Yep both the shower and bath floor, shower floor mostly for drying purposes to keep mildew down. Not 100% sure how well that technique will work but going to give it a shot!
I’m def doing radiant in our basement floor when we add on to our 1832 federal style home. I have always appreciated its immense value. Are you installing radiant on all floors?
Regarding evaporation of the shower floor/bathroom floor, I would think treated air being recycled by the furnace in winter likely will help that a lot. In warmer months, not sure.
Did you get the idea for the Siga from RR Builders?
Can't remember exactly where we first heard about Siga, I think we learned about it around the same time Kyle did
Alex and Elaina,
I love your channel. Great job taking on such a demanding project! I’m a fellow engineer and a building contractor with much in common. I purchased a home on Lake Murray, South Carolina in September. 2 weeks later, hurricane Helene destroyed the house. I’m planning on building a big garage with an apartment above before building our main house, just like you guys. I really like your floorplan. Did you do the design? Is it available to buy? Keep up the good work!
Thanks so much for the kind words! Terribly sorry to hear about the hurricane damage ☹️ Hoping you can rebuild it even better. We did do the design and floorplan ourselves, we do think we'll offer the planset on our website eventually but it is not currently available! We have an email notification you can sign up for when new digital products go live, just scroll down on the homepage and you'll see the signup 🙂 www.masondixonacres.com/
So exciting! I actually love doing drywall, although it is hard work. Those sheets aren't light. I will say I absolutely hate doing ceiling drywall... holding a sheet up to the ceiling frame is tough. I did several sheets of our own ceiling before someone told me there was a lift I could rent from Home Depot that would hold the sheet up for me while I screwed it in. Big face-palm moment for me. Ended up breaking several sheets before this life saving piece of advice entered my life.
Anyways, congrats! It's looking great!
Hahah we did the utility ceiling ourselves due to all the pipe penetrations and didn't use a lift, I said never again will I hang ceiling drywall without a lift 😆 you'll see the aftermath of that in the video for downstairs drywall. I do like the challenge of finishing a patch or a few seams so I get you!
5/8” on the ceiling is an excellent choice. But it’ll make a man out of you!
Your thoughts on drywalling is interesting, as somebody planning to do what you are doing i've always thought of it as something to look forward to as you can control the almost end product as most drywall i've seen have had quite the blemishes
If you want to take the time and you're good at it then definitely go for it! hiring labor for this many sheets comes at a cost for sure. That said, after watching the whole process I'd save that money doing other trades and hire it out drywall again and again for anything more than a few sheets 😆 It's an enormous volume of heavy, dusty, and overhead labor. These guys make it look so easy. There were in fact a few flaws I found at the end but the finisher came back to fix them up no questions asked!
I can’t believe anyone would want to do that to themselves carrying all those sheets! I was able to get 54” wide sheets for my ceiling to cut down a seam and up to as long as 16’ from the wallboard supply company but Lowe’s only had up to 12’. The boom truck operator boomed all the sheets up to a second story deck and had them half in the door before the guys started unloading them. I was doing all the hanging with one guy so we rented a lift for $35 and that was worth its weight in gold. I was doing all the finishing and didn’t have a lot of confidence in my butt joint ability but bought some level 5 skimming blades that made them disappear. I did find that the rotozip didn’t damage the Rissan tape around my outlets but again it was me doing the work so I was being extra careful. Looking good!
@@MasonDixonAcres that's good to know, thanks so much I'm glad I came across your channel and journey, literally living my dream! Keep up the amazing content it's so informative and quality!
Hey guys, amazing job so far. I've been loving this series, it's really inspiring. Totally off topic but did you/have you ever considered solar panels for your roof? I realise the electricity grid is a lot different in the US compared to here in the UK.
Thank you! Yes we have, and put in an EMT conduit from attic to utility room in case for future solar. 2 reasons we're not doing it up front - first we want to know actual load data rather than an estimate to properly size the system, and second I'd rather mount them on a less important roof like that of a barn or even free standing. So TBD on solar but definitely on the radar
Hi...can i ask..all those screw holes breaking the airbarrier, how are they sealed?....mudding over them is that considered airtight? Thanks.
The screws are (mostly) going into framing through Twinet. For the ones that miss framing, yeah mudding is the best you can do. Unless you have a million holes though, it's probably splitting hairs in comparison to something like a door gasket
And I guess the screw pressure clamping down helps also... enjoying watching your build, on similar road! Greetings from Ireland!
Alex， during construction， how did you guys manage lighting when natural lighting wasn’t good enough? Battery powered led lights? Or some of the circuits were already energized ? Thanks!
A temp receptacle right next to the panel + cheap $20 amazon lights for downstairs, and upstairs mostly my Dewalt tripod light with a 60v battery
The EGO work light from Lowe’s is amazing, especially if you have other EGO equipment. I like that you can position the light panels to light up a whole area rather than just one wall
That is definitely a shortcoming of the dewalt tripod. I like the multi panel design, I've seen Milwaukee's has that as well
Total cost for drywall, materials and labor? On a sq ft of sheet basis?
Should write something on the box
9:32 My drywall company charged me $80 to deliver and load the drywall in the rooms and pricing was compatible using 12x4 boards if you shop around, I priced out my 10/22 order, today would cost me $250 more at Lowes using 4x8 boards even with their 15% bulk discount. Drywall companies also stock specialty drywall and sizes, 4.5x12 or 1/2 no sag boards for 24" framing. I found that hanging drywall with a lift was not that bad plus you had the perfect contractor to mud it for you if you had the time to hang it yourself, 39:33 you would have not had near that much waste. Ironically I hired out my insulation, I thought that was much harder to plan, install and get right than drywall.
Thanks for the data point! It probably differs by region. I got quotes from the only 2 dedicated drywall supply houses near us and their prices were all much higher per square foot of material, regardless of sheet size.
For the waste, I think if you put all the scraps together it would have been 5 or 6 full sheets so not terrible with all the triangles we have. I could tell they were doing what they could to maximize sheets but still use best practices for seams and around doors etc. but we had a good bit of triangles so you can only do so much
@@MasonDixonAcres I found the triangle pieces are complimentary angles to an opposing gable end. If one person is taking their time making the cuts you can plan accordingly to maximize your cuts.
Nice job done! Your drywall boards looks thick in comparison to what we usually use in Europe, or is it just an impression ? In building the thickness goes from 9,5 to 13 mm (up to 0,5 inch). Keep up the good work and wish you nice Christmas time in your house ! :)
Greetings from little Belgium.
Thanks Freddy! The standard here is 1/2 inch (13mm) but for ceilings and fire separation against the garage we used 5/8 inch (16mm). That's as thick as it goes for residential as far as I know. Merry Christmas 🙂
Everyone works different I do taping for a living and would never tape a house by hand and specially up and down on a ladder that’s a lot of work and way slower I use all kinds of taping tools
taping all that by hand without automatic tools or even a banjo is WILD. Hard to imagine a professional drywall finisher without "basic" tools.
I asked the same but it’s how he grew up and the way his dad taught him so he’s sticking old school!
Sir. I mean know disrespect. I have been in the drywall business for over 30 years. And anyone in this business would never use 8 footers when 12 footers is available..... would the hangers charge more for the 12's yes without a doubt but when considering how many more 8's there is you got screwed in the long one
Per square foot of material, 4x8s are less expensive than 4x12s in our area. So not only was material cheaper, hanging labor was less with the 4x8's. The finisher didn't charge anything additional for more butt joints
Why is your content is so delayed? The NAHB show was 11 months ago.
We have built up quite a backlog between wedding planning, short form work, and life lol