They’ve started on the footings up on the mountain. Almost 2 months after our loan closed the first dirt is dug. That is very frustrating, it took forever. It had been so long and our job was so stale that everything had to be revisited, none of the bids were current for anything. People gave up hope we’d ever get funded. So firing that all back up took time, and that is really unfortunate, because after delaying a year, another 2 months is like a dagger. I want to be living there already. My original plan, way back was to have the castle done and finished by August of 2015, back when I started this process in, I don’t know, 2010 or 2011, I thought it was doable. We may have the 3rd floor framing done by then, maybe.
So, at least now they’re starting the footings. What are footings? Well, they’re the feet of your building. You always dig down into the earth a ways (how far depends on a lot of factors, including your climate) to put in your footings. You put in steel, or a lot of steel as in my case, and pour concrete into these trenches. Then you have a firm level base on which to build your walls. I’m told this will take a couple weeks, then we’ll put up our pool patio basement walls, then the ICF main house basement walls, they will start on the 1st floor in June, then maybe 2nd floor in July, 3rd floor in August. Maybe we’ll get closed in then by Halloween.
Congrats. I’m sure the wait has been frustrating, but you are actually doing it. That alone is impressive. Thanks for continuing to keep the site updated. Extremely interesting.
This is awesome – where are you building this? I can’t find pages/contact on your site. What’s your total budget? I’m hoping to buy a castle but am considering building my own…
I am visiting TN this week and was tempted to check out…..but couldn’t… So thanks for the updates. So excited for you
Came here from Google. Very interesting project. Thanks for keeping this site updated, I love reading it all.
I wonder if your castle will be as big as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihAPm8JQ3bg the one in France that’s using the medieval way of building
Question for you Ishmael: I know in your very first post, you talked briefly about how you found the land for the Castle. Just curious if you might share a bit more about that process. What led you to TN? What other areas did you consider? Was TN/KY area the plan all along? What constraints did you have (amount of land, water access, regions in the US, etc.)? Obviously zoning and associations factor into that, but if I am generally looking in very remote areas already, I was curious what factors influenced your own process.
That is an insane amount of rebar! I imagine with all of the rock and stone your walls will be very heavy, but that is an impressive pile of bar for a residential build!