Dallas Denny Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 G'mornin Ya'll I posted this at CH.com this morning but wanted to put it up here as well....... I've shared this story in private with a few friends on the boards.......but it's one of those tales that I think just needs to be told......we hear and talk about all the "bad stuff" goin on in the world today and not enough is said about the good deeds folks do for others!!! Long story short, the "economic downturn" has kicked our ass's severely with a 75% reduction in net income between Mar and July of this year resulting in the impending foreclosure on our home .....that's the BAD news...... the GOOD news is that a VERY good friend offered to "front" us a 1.75 acre parcell of virgin land that is very densely wooded for what he paid for it 6 years ago ( 8K )......the land is on old indian camping grounds located about 20 miles South of Durant, Okla ( we'll be 5 miles from the Choctaw Casino.....meet n greet??...lol!!!).....the VERY good friend also happens to be my wifes ex (we call ourselves husbands in law..lol) and he's a custom home builder by trade.......he also volunteered to put up the money for the building materials (12K) to build a 852 sq ft cabin (and use his framing crew to build it), with 2x6 walls, metal roof, beaded pine ceilings, pecan flooring that were going to cut ourselves on his sawmill along with the Western Red Cedar for siding......only a 100 year old Falls River cast iron pot belly stove that I got junkin an old building with a friend last year for heat and a 10k btu window unit in the bedroom and another in the Great Room for cooling......I took out just enough trees for a drive and the house pad!!! We'll have spent a total of $3500 to get water, elect, and a septic system and we're going to owe Mike 20K payable at $800 a month for 25 months and we'll own the whole damned thing outright!!!!! Needless to say, we're also giving up internet service for the time being with the exception of my iphone so my time here and at ch.com is gonna be real limited for awhile......I can publish videos to youtube, so I'll use this thread to provide links to those as we go thru the building stages......we've been on hold for the past 3 or 4 weeks on getting the septic system installed and the footings dug but it looks like we'll finally get started towards the end of next week!! If the weather cooperates (yeah, sure that'll happen), we should be in the cabin by early Spring at the latest!!!! We are truly blessed beyond belief!!! DD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bejeeber Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 $800 a month for 25 months and we'll own the whole damned thing outright!!!!! Un-fecking-believably cool!! Glad to hear you're leaving the max amount of trees standing. 8-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatHurtsMyHead Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 So sorry to hear about loosing your house, but WOW. It's great to hear it's going to turn out maybe even better!! PFW, Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHfather Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 it's a beautiful story, denny. makes me happy. you've certainly accumulated enough good karma helping others with CH that you deserve this nice repayment right here in this lifetime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stump BeefKnob Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Great story Denny! I also feel blessed beyond belief for the people of Clusterbusters, and the support provided on here (you know who you are! ). I really believe us clusterheads are a unique and wonderful bunch, and I feel like this is one large extended family. My thanks goes out to everyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonkers Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 This isn't something that just anybody can do. For those of you who don't know him, Denny is one of those guys who can do everything and any time he runs across something that he doesn't know how to do, he teaches himself how to do it. Denny's clearly a nut-case but he's also an exceptionally capable and interesting man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallas Denny Posted November 27, 2011 Author Share Posted November 27, 2011 Hey Ya'll, Hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving!!! We spent the day in Okla at Cindy's Mom's after Mike and I checked the footings for water damage....had 5 1/2 inch's of rain last weekend but we were OK!! Sure glad I took the time to pump that 400 gallons of water in the septic tank though cause it would have floated for sure!!!! Still not sure how it does that but I DO know that they will float!! Thought I'd update this thread this morning with some links to my photo bucket account of the project thus far along with some related youtube vids . We're goin to the building supplies place in Celeste Tues mornin for the materials and should begin framin the pony walls for the foundation by the end of next week!! Woo Hoo!!!! The link for the photo album of the land project is http://s815.photobucket.com/albums/zz76/DallasDenny/Oklahoma%20Land%20Project/ One of the pics is of Mike's "project" house and I've got a couple of video's of it published to youtube......I tried to name them the "Redneck Virtual Video Tour", but he wouldn't let me since he was usin em as an ad to sell this place!! LOL!!! This video is of the drive in to the property on Treaty Road....the wooden bridge spans the creek that runs directly behind Mike's 5 acres which adjoins our property...umm, and ya don't need to watch the end of it where I miss the stop button so ya get to look at my pants leg and the truck door...lol!! Probably gonna be real busy for the next few weeks so I'll take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in advance!! DD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bejeeber Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 it's a beautiful story, denny. makes me happy. you've certainly accumulated enough good karma helping others with CH that you deserve this nice repayment right here in this lifetime. What he said! Glad that you've escaped major interference from the elements - when I hear about severe weather in Oklahoma I always think about you and the new house going up. Cool that you have your own private woods. 8-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricardo Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 Made my day! Enjoy all the amazing things the world seems to have in store for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubblesup Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 I am having tears of joy for you and your wife. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallas Denny Posted December 14, 2011 Author Share Posted December 14, 2011 The move is finally complete and I'm in my tempory new digs!! http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/zz76/DallasDenny/Snapbucket/29F906C2.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixie-elf Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I completely missed reading the "temporary" part and was like "Wait, what happened to the house?" lol. So glad the move is finished! Hope y'all are in the real house soon! Mystina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallas Denny Posted January 3, 2012 Author Share Posted January 3, 2012 Hard for me to believe it's only been 20 days since I last posted to this thread!!!! ....where to start?? ....I guess the trip to the building salvage place to buy materials....the final plan for the cabin ended up bein 896 sq ft of heated space with a 10 x 16 screened in porch off the bedroom, and a 8 x 16 covered porch outside the loving room.... ....the first item we went to find was the 8 windows....the plan incorporated seven 3 ft wide by 6 ft tall and one 3 ft by 3 ft for over the sink..... These were vinyl, dual pane, argon gas filled, low E windows that we had been quoted for $135 each.....so Mike and I go out to the ware house to check em out and we see this group of all wood cased Sierra Pacific windows....two 3 ft by 6 ft, two 3 ft by 5 ft, and two 3 ft by 4 ft.... And there was also a 2 ft wide by 30 inch tall, and a couple of 18" tall by 48" wide. We knew that just one of the 3 ft by 4 ft had a list price of over $500, so we pulled out the plans, figured out how to modify it to use the expensive ass windows, and then went in and ask the sales guy what kinda price he'd give us on the package....Jason, the salesguy, sez "oh!! Those are expensive units y'all!!! My heart kinda sunk, but he said" let's go look at em....we get to em and. He sez " yeah, these 3 ft by 4 ft list for $539, the rest are higher than that"......then he sez "if you'll take all 6, you can have em all for $500"!!!! I asked if he'd throw in the 2 ft by 30" for $50 and the two 18" by 48" for $20 ea and he agreed!!!! Close to 5 grand worth of windows for $590!!! We had planned on sheathing the exterior and interior walls with OSB wafer board and milling our own siding, but Jason sez "if you want those windows, I have some cedar siding that will go good with it that I can make you a deal on"!!!! Enuf cedar to cover ALL exterior AND interior walls for $1000!! That's less than 15 cents a foot folks!! Next stop, blue streak, beaded white pine ceiling for the whole house......$771 ( 49 cents a ft).... ......got all of the rest of the materials to dry the cabin in ( with exception of the exterior doors), including floor and 2x6 wall insulation and all of the material to build a 12 x 20 workshop for a grand total of $8881.75!!!!!!!!!! The only other expenditures this far are $125 for cement pads, and $865 for concrete and steel for the footings!!!! When we rolled up this evening we were ready to start hanging truss's....the ridge cap and screw for the metal roof will be here tomorrow nite so we should have the truss's lathed and the metal on Weds....30# tarpaper go's on Thurs along with setting the windows and we'll start the exterior siding and the Cornish on Friday!!!! This has truly been one of the most exciting experiences of my almost 65 years of life!!! We've built at an ez enuf pace that I've able to step away and snap pics with my iPhone on a regular basis, so I have a great slide show of the cabin coming up from the ground!! Unfortunately, the connection out here in the wilderness is weak so it's been impossible to publish videos to YouTube or upload pics to my photobucket account but I hope to get into Denison sometime this week so should have links to post for those soon!!! What an amazing ride y'all!!!!!! Dallas Denny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatHurtsMyHead Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Denny, That's completely awesome..... I'm getting you to help with my next house!! Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonkers Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 This is only the current chapter in what has been an absolutely amazing life. Denny's done more things and can do more things well than anyone I've ever met. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallas Denny Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 Hi Ya'll Updated photobucket with cabin construction pics today at http://s815.photobucket.com/albums/zz76/DallasDenny/Cabin%20construction/ and here http://s815.photobucket.com/albums/zz76/DallasDenny/Cabin%20Constuction%20Phase%202/ we're actually much further along (finished installing the metal roof yest) but didn't have time today to upload anymore......will do some more in a few days. Dallas Denny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallas Denny Posted March 8, 2012 Author Share Posted March 8, 2012 Yeeeee Feckin Hawwww!! Started campin out in the cabin today!!! NO runnin water (but I got the outhouse built yesterday....you step into it from the door outta the dining room and it sits right over the trunk line goin into the septic tank) but we'll have a sink and a commode by next weekend......3 heavy duty ext cords from the temp pole for electricity.....insulation on the walls in the 20x24 foot section we're campin out in but nuthin coverin it.....but it already feels like home!!!! Cindys in the kitchen ( temporarily the bedroom) sawin logs and it's rainin on the metal roof!!! Here's the link to a video of the exterior that I shot for Mike and published to youtube.....he wants to quit framin these 3500 sq ft and up homes and just build a couple of these cabins a year for his retirement!!! Never in my wildest dream could I have imagined this was what we were gonna get to build when we started!!! DD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alleyoop Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Way cool Denny!!! I am so happy for you guys! :) :) :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonkers Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 We're anxious to see your handiwork, Denny. It won't be long. Ron and Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bejeeber Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Yeeeee Feckin Hawwww is right LOL! Incredible to see the dream becoming reality like that. Now I want one. Gimme. ;D Does Mike only build 'em in Oklahoma? Not that there's anything wrong with Oklahoma, especially in your nice wooded area where I'm sure the impending springtime is going to be a real eye popper. In a non CH kind of way that is.   [smiley=thumbup.gif] Cindys in the kitchen ( temporarily the bedroom) sawin logs and it's rainin on the metal roof!!! Sawing logs - I'm pretty sure that must mean she's sleeping, although in this case I suppose it could mean she's actually helping with the construction! ;D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallas Denny Posted March 10, 2012 Author Share Posted March 10, 2012 Does Mike only build 'em in Oklahoma? He's willin to travel to Colo, NM, Ark, Tex, and anywhere in Okie land for his base price cabin but I'm sure you could talk him into spending a few months in Tennessee jeebs!! Lol!! We're anxious to see your handiwork, Denny. It won't be long. Ron and Mike Only 10 weeks from today my friend!! Lookin forward to seein you and Mike again!! GrannyB's tryin to talk Lenny into comin last I heard!! DD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Wow, very cool... This was all posted before I joined, didn't know. Sad for the loss of your house... wish we could build such a cabin up here... would need a wood stove Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1961mom Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 The only thing I see missin in your beautiful cabin is...of course DEKBLOCKS! http://www.deckplans.com/ In the early days we called ourselves "2 guys & a girl" trying to make a livin! Just looked at the youtube shots, nice to hear your voice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallas Denny Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 Damn ya'll!! It's been a shade over 3 years since I started this thread....gee, ain't it funny how time just slips right on away!! I can now report that 65 years old is Way too freaking old to embark on a project of this magnatude! !! But, it has still been the experience of a lifetime!!! We reached a milestone last week when I got the last of the cedar cut and nailed up on the dining and living room walls......going to start furring out the windows and running trim...so, I thought I'd post a few pics this mornin!!! DD http://s815.photobucket.com/user/DallasDenny/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20150102_092755.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alleyoop Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Way to go DD!!! [smiley=thumbsup.gif] [smiley=thumbsup.gif] [smiley=thumbsup.gif] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.