# I got a free house



## JohnP (Sep 1, 2010)

Slight fire damage and some water damage and here's the catch. I have to tear it down and take it with me. It's pretty big so I should be able to build something(s) out of it. Originally a 24'-6" x 30' rough sawn oak house with a 30' x 30' two story added on for about 2700 sq ft total. Two story addition has 1x12s for subfloors and roof decking. That's about 2800 linear ft of 1x12s or just over half a mile. Imagine the shelving for stocking up. Here's some pics. There's a lot more on my blog along with commentary. The owner of the house across the road want to sell so he bought this to have it torn down and get rid of the eyesore. I think it's become quite a landmark after sitting like this for 17 years. People slow down almost to a stop on the main road to see what's going on. 














































3 weeks and 5 tons went to the dump. I wore a respirator for the clean up.










The parents went to the store for a few minutes and came back to the house on fire. Two kids playing in the kitchen started the fire and a little girl sleeping upstairs died of smoke inhalation. 










It was nice to get past the nasty stuff and get to this stage. Some of the insulation was like new so it got bagged and taken home.










I procrastinated in starting this project so I could start a garden where we're leasing some property. Now I'm working in 100f temps and the garden's mostly dead. Oh well, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger right? Or is that sorer. Or maybe it just kills you. We're doing alright. Been living through this stuff without a/c and I can now go to sleep when it's 80 something degrees. Never thought I'd be prepping like this. I do believe it's more work to take a house frame apart with minimal damage than to put one together. Once the big section is done we'll be taking a couple of weeks off. I don't see us being completely done until mid to late Sept. Then I get to build a cabin on the lease property. We get about an acre for our yard but get run of the whole 40 acres. Out in the boonies and I'm kind of the caretaker. One other person lives there. Nice old guy from AR. This is going to be our place to get away from it all, if we ever feel the need to get away from it all. BOL

Here's a link to the rest of the pics and more info like the breakdown of the limber with values if bought new today. Totals about 15k. The Fire Damaged House | John's Place


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## Guest (Jul 29, 2012)

I found out it's a heck of a lot of work & time consuming to dismantle an old building & try to salvage the lumber .


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## PhilJohnson (Dec 24, 2006)

WV Hillbilly said:


> I found out it's a heck of a lot of work & time consuming to dismantle an old building & try to salvage the lumber .


Yeah I've found that to be true as well. I've recycled a few buildings myself and it's usually a pretty time consuming process.


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## Irish (Feb 10, 2012)

I see it as you're putting a whole lot of work into tearing it down and then rebuilding. Free??  HA!


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## blooba (Feb 9, 2010)

Not a bad deal if I had more time than money but here lately I have had none of either....lol

Am jealous of all the free material but like it has been said, its not "free"...lol...hows your back holding out?


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## idigbeets (Sep 3, 2011)

so you're tearing down and moving all these materials ... from MO to AR.. to build a new house for yourself.. wow. That's some serious recycling. Keep us posted, hope you make it.

Are you living in a trailer or something on the leased land while you build/rebuild a house there?


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## JohnP (Sep 1, 2010)

Our neighbor is from AR, we're in MO and will be building here. For now just a 16x20 cabin at the property we lease which is a couple of hours away. We'll be signing a 10 year lease before we start work on the cabin to make sure it's worth our while. Just a few hundred a year and as of right now I mow the place in exchange for rent. (haven't had to mow in a while with this drought though We'll pay rent and use it as a hunting lease/possible BOL later. The rest of the materials will be stored and saved for when we find property to buy. 
I know "time is money" but out here in rural MO my work pays about 20k a year so if I can save from having to buy 15k worth of stuff later on then it's worth it to me to bust my butt here for a few months. Right now our bills are less than $100/month and we brought our camper trailer to the house we're tearing down. The guy that owns it is letting us use electric and water at his house across the road. We just charge batteries over there as we have solar for a fridge and lights. If I was working full time, we'd be renting in or near a city as that's where my work is and that would all total up to a grand a month and I'll be doing that soon but at least I won't have to spend a year paying those bills while saving money for materials. I can immediately start saving for property. The other thing is taxes. I'm not a big fan of them and these materials are tax free. 
No worries. My family thinks I'm nuts too. They think DW and I should both be working full time while the public school and day care raise our kids so we can save for a few years and get into the whole brand new car payments and 30 year mortgage thing. Yeah right. In a few years I'll be living on property in a house all paid in full. Everything might not be brand new and shiny though.

Had to take a break while typing this.

The owner came by today and said he's got another house he could use torn down. It's an old rental house he says is too far gone to repair. It's located about 15-20 miles from where I worked 8 years ago. Hmmm, rent free, work to make money and more free (no out of pocket costs, tax free) lumber.  Might have to look into that. Setting up a homestead takes lots of wood. 

If nothing else, I'm in my mid 40s and in the last year and especially the last month, I've gotten in better shape then I was 10 years ago. Same with the DW. :happy:


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## willow_girl (Dec 7, 2002)

You are one hard-working couple! :thumb: :thumb:

But ... that photo of the sooty doll is CREEPY, dude! :teehee:


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

i was thinking the same thing real creepy. puts me in mind of something but i can't quite put my finger on it. i believe it was a movie i saw. ~Georgia.


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## JohnP (Sep 1, 2010)

If it had been a clown I probably would have peed my pants. With all the walls black from soot and insulation and flex duct hanging down from the ceiling, the whole place was kind of creepy at first.


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## lazyBum (Feb 27, 2012)

Lol, reminds me of my childhood. I don't know how many boards I pounded the nails out of. And I probably straightened a literal ton of nails. Dad has a 40x60 pole barn. The entire thing is recycled material, posts, boards, trusses, sheet metal, nails, conduit, wire etc.


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## blooba (Feb 9, 2010)

JohnP said:


> The owner came by today and said he's got another house he could use torn down. It's an old rental house he says is too far gone to repair. It's located about 15-20 miles from where I worked 8 years ago. Hmmm, rent free, work to make money and more free (no out of pocket costs, tax free) lumber.  Might have to look into that. Setting up a homestead takes lots of wood.
> 
> If nothing else, I'm in my mid 40s and in the last year and especially the last month, I've gotten in better shape then I was 10 years ago. Same with the DW. :happy:


Well if you ever need a place to dump all that extra wood I have a place in TN that needs some....lol


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## Pearl B (Sep 27, 2008)

Congrats and good luck with your endeavors, it looks like your off to a good start!

My condolences to the original family. I dont blame them for not wanting the house, I probably wouldnt want it either.


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## speedfunk (Dec 7, 2005)

Thanks for sharing this. I also have been thinking about doing this to build a rental on my property. I assumed it was labor intensive. How much have you spent on dumping fee's?


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## JohnP (Sep 1, 2010)

It's $65 a ton and I've taken 5 tons so 325. I've also spent a few hundred in fuel. In hindsight I wish I could/would have just gotten a construction dumpster brought in and set next to the house. It would have saved a lot of hours. I didn't know what my time frame was though and I ended up taking a month off after the clean out. I started the 1st week of April, was here for two weeks, went home for a weekend and came back for a week, took May off, came back in June, went home for a week and came back with the family at the end of June and have been here since. I'm tearing up the floor on the big section and will be done this week At that point there will be close to 600 hours in it and we'll have lumber for a 1000-1200 sq ft house but we'll be building a 320 sqft cabin out of that. After that we're taking some time off. Probably wait for this 100 degree weather to be over with to take the small oak framed house down. I figure that will take 3-4 weeks. During that break we will be going to look at the other house. He said he'd sell the lot. The house is not worth fixing to him but may be for us. We've got some wood.  It's in a small town but less than 30 min from Springfield in a county with no restrictions. I don't think the town has any either. Population 775. I'm not sure how big the lot is but it's not acres. Might be a good start though and/or good investment as the growth is heading that way quickly. Something we can pay off quick. If we don't buy it we may rent it for a while. He said he wouldn't have had a problem with the previous renter sending him 100 bucks or whatever so...we'll see.


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## idigbeets (Sep 3, 2011)

600 man hours, We'll say $500 in tipping and fuel... at min. wage you're coming in around 5000$ and still not done.... A large dumpster is at least $500 (I rented one recently for $350 to do a roof, and it was small).

I'm not so sure the savings are really there in terms of your labor, but at least you're recycling materials.


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## farmgal (Nov 12, 2005)

[QUOTE Then I get to build a cabin on the lease property. We get about an acre for our yard but get run of the whole 40 acres. Out in the boonies and I'm kind of the caretaker. One other person lives there. Nice old guy from AR. This is going to be our place to get away from it all, if we ever feel the need to get away from it all. BOL

[/QUOTE]

Looks like a nice find. Good for you. 

Did I read this right tho, You are going through all the trouble of dismantling the building to drive it across the country to build a cabin on someone elses property that you only lease? At anytime you can be thrown off and lose it all? You said "old guy". Meaning he can die soon and then what? 

I would just invest in a piece of property you OWN so all your hard work isnt in vein. I have never seen this set up work out. The nice guy dies and the family sells the property, investor loses. You are ambitious, you deserve it!:goodjob:


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## Joe.G (Jun 26, 2012)

So you are going to sign a ten year lease and then what? They can boot you off the property? Then all the work you did is gone? Just sounds like a lot of work and risk, I am not against hard work, but it just doesn't seem like it is worth it to me, Are you working at all to make money?

If you can get the wood apart and in decent shape I guess it'll be ok to frame with as long as it is still solid. It is nice to see stuff getting recycled instead of thrown in the dump.


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## gunnar wordon (Jun 13, 2012)

photo of the doll is something straight out of a stephen king movie....................


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

I've recycled a few houses/barns and turned down even more. Before signing anything, or agreeing, I asked to test a closet... I'd go in with a sledge and prybar, and see what the wood was like. I had a beautiful old house once, but getting to the studs and sheathing told me to write it off... the wood was so brittle that it would break when pulled from the wall, and nails driven into it would split it terribly. That and there'd'a been more waste (drywall, nasty insulation, etc.) that'd have to be hauled to the dump. I prefer half rotten barns... because all the rottables have rotted, and the rest is usually heart pine.

The smoked wood would be intolerable for home building (unless one's sniffer wasn't working good).

Looks like a good haul though! You take your scrounges whenever you can find them!


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## JohnP (Sep 1, 2010)

This thing's been sitting for 17 years and there's no smoke smell at all. I plan on running a sander over everything just to brighten things up. When I store the wood, I'm going to grade it and the lower grades will be for things other than housing. I was worried about all the 1x12s splitting. Both floors and the roof of the larger structure were decked with them. They came up pretty good though. Out of the almost 3000 linear foot of it, I'd say I've got 2400 lin ft that is still 1x12 and probably 1/3 is #2 or better, 1/3 #3 or better and the rest #3. Easily enough nice stuff to do a whole kitchen in knotty douglas fir with plenty left over for pantry/shop/shed shelves.

I also agreed to take the perimeter block foundation down to below grade and was worried I was going to end up with rubble but they're coming up easy as can be and will clean up quick. 

As far as wages go, this stuff would be 15k plus if purchased new. There's all kinds of things besides the wood that can be reused. I'm even saving the drywall. Soil amendment, gypsum plaster. Tar paper under the shingle siding can still be used to separate dissimilar materials. Two tubs, a toilet, two vanity tops, 3 single handle delta faucets, galv electrical boxes, pvc, romex, sink shut off valves, wood casement double hung windows with matching storm windows, hollow interior doors with casing.

Also since being up here, I've got a job and a line on 1/2 an acre lot in a small city that's half an hour from a large city. If I didn't take on this house, I'd still be down in the sticks trying to keep a garden going in un-amended clay during a drought/heatwave with no running water.

Oh yeah, and I am very into the whole alternative/green building thing including reusing materials. At some point some of these materials may accompany things like earthen plaster, straw bale walls.


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## clovis (May 13, 2002)

JohnP-

I am impressed with your work and accomplishments!!!!! Congrats...you should be proud of yourself.


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## mplatt4 (Mar 24, 2007)

I would try to get a first right of refusual on the 40 acres if at all possible and try to get a set price on the 40 acres if at sometime you can buy it or possibly even a clause that in the sad case of his death you can buy it from his family at a certain price but you do whats right for you I dont like someone telling me what I should be doing. I am just putting out there some ideas how you might be able to hold on to your hard work longer


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## sam03 (Apr 26, 2012)

Very cool! Cant wait to see the finished projects!


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## prairie hill (Jul 14, 2002)

After reading the other replies, I'll first tell you I have a lot of respect for your go-for-it-ness! Clearly, disposal and fuel costs to site have to be considered, but in regard to figuring out labor cost, we never have done that when we salvage (provided, of course, we have had the time at our disposal anyway.)
We gutted out, salvaged a bunch of materials and rebuilt our place after a house fire that looked to be approximately the same level of damage. It sat only a couple of months after tearing out insulation, drywall, etc., and thankfully has never smelled of smoke since rebuilding. It was of concern though, thus the reason we let it set for a bit. I'm wondering if the fact that things have set 17 years with everything still in place may actually have "set" some pretty deeply embedded smoke smell. Betting that since the lumber won't be used immediately and will be setting exposed will help, though. 
I will though, add my concerns about building on leased property. Yikes.


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## JohnP (Sep 1, 2010)

Yeah, it's looking more and more like we won't be building on the lease. I just got a job up here where the salvage house is and the lease is 2 hours away. If we did build on the lease it would be something very basic using the less desirable materials like the press board/masonite siding. Basically a shed with a loft. Used corrugated roof, windows and door from a travel trailer I scrapped a while back. You gotta understand that the 4 of us have been living in 100 sqft for 6 months now so we were/are desperate to get out of the box.We're playing things by ear at this point.


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## Joe.G (Jun 26, 2012)

4 people in a 100 SQ FT Mn that is tight Id go nut's.


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Oh Man Oak,that's the only reason more didn't burn thing is bugger getting Nails out and putting Nails in.Not saying it can't be done because I've done it.

You might think about selling the Oak and buying Pine.

big rockpile


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## old school (Aug 26, 2012)

:goodjob:Nice post thanks for sharing what a deal you must have got a great workout and a lesson in going green.Keep us informed.GOD bless


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