Build Your Own House

Build Your Own House

One of the joys of owning a homestead is being able to start building your life from the ground up (literally). This includes the ability to build your own house that is custom tailored to your family’s needs! While building your own home is an exciting adventure, I wish I’d had a clear step-by-step process of what I needed to consider before construction began. That’s why I’ve compiled this quick step-by-step for how to build your own house.

Step 1. Find and prepare the house site

Find a suitable location on which to build your home. Buy a piece of land if you don’t have one yet. Consider factors like climate, ground stability, availability of utilities and community infrastructure.

Do complete site clearing, down to the ground and 25 feet around intended house perimeter.

Step 2. Construct the house footing and foundation

Dig for footers around your home site and let inspectors check footer trenches. Pour concrete for footers.

Construct footing drain; this will drain water away from the footers and protect them. Construct foundation over the footers. You can use either concrete or blocks. Then, waterproof the foundation all the way up to the finish grade level. Dig holes in the foundation wall for water supply and drainage.

Step 3. Start the plumbing

Call in some plumbers to lay out the basic plumbing lines. For concrete slabs, pipes are laid down that will eventually get covered with concrete.

Step 4. Pour concrete

For concrete slab, install slab foam board insulation and make sure to lay down a 4 inch minimum gravel base for your slab pour.

Install plastic vapor barrier and back it up with wire mesh reinforcement. Pour the concrete slab.

Step 5. Build the framing, siding and roofing

It’s best to bring in carpenters to frame out your house because framing is the basic “shell” of the house, minus siding and roof.

Once you have the house frame in place, install windows and skylights, and then the sheathing and siding.

Complete the roof.

Step 6. Start the interior work

Interior work include having electricians lay out electrical and HVAC (heating and cooling) systems and installing insulations on walls and attic.

Step 7. Working on the flooring, drywall, priming, trim

Now is the time to install unfinished hardwood around your house. If your choice is pre-finished hardwood, then you’ll wait on this until after the drywall is hung.

Hang drywall throughout the house. This drywall will then be  mudded, sanded, re-mudded, and finish-sanded. Prime interior walls and place trim, such as crown molding, door casing, etc. Hang cabinets where you want them to be.

Step 8. Painting and finishing the house

Once all the messy work of priming and drywalling is done, it’s time to start painting the house. Paint all the walls and install finishing touches such as pre-finished hardwood and floor tiles. Fix the kitchen and bathroom counters in place.

Complete all plumbing, electrical, and HVAC lines.

Step 9. After construction cleaning and more finishing touches

Now it’s time to do some massive cleaning up after all the construction work you’ve done in your home. Install more finishing touches such as carpeting and/or finishing the as-yet-unfinished hardwood floors.

Step 10. Exterior work and inspections

Exterior work include landscaping. Inspection is a bit of a red tape to your DIY house-building project so call in the appropriate personnels to do this final step.

That’s all, fellow homesteaders! Did you enjoy our tutorial on how to build you own house? Let us know in the comments section below what troubles you had with building your own house. Do you have helpful experience building your own home? Share it with us and we’ll pass it along. We love doing DIY homesteading projects and becoming more self-reliant by learning more about how everything works around the homestead. That’s why Homesteading was created. We want all folks looking to lead a self-sufficient life, either on a homestead or in an urban environment, to come together and learn from each other! Of course, we welcome your help in creating a community of homesteaders.  Come and share your homesteading tips and ideas, recipes and expect the best advice on self-reliance and homesteading trials from our team of long-time homesteaders, self-reliant wilderness, and preparedness experts. Want to write for Homesteading? Shoot us an e mail and make sure to stay in touch on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest!

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