The Power of Ignorance

In 1975 I married a woman who had had two children by a former marriage. We planned to have children as soon as possible. Therefore the small house we were living in would soon be too small. At first we looked around for a house to buy -- struck out. Then, we looked at "Kit homes" -- found none that fit our wallet  or requirements. "So," says I, "why don't I just build us a house?"

I had absolutely no housing building experience. None. But, just like I said to myself when I first started to build harpsichords: "Maybe I can't do it as efficiently or quickly as a professional, but I can certainly do it."  This is the power of ignorance.  My in-laws donated a small piece of property which was part of their larger piece. I made a drafting table, bought a lot of books on house building and set to work designing our house. 

I turned out to be rather large: 10,000 sq. ft on a 64ft x 64ft foot print. Full walkout basement, the north side of which was to be my harpsichord workshop. All the kids' bedrooms were exactly the same size and had the same number of windows and a built-in study carrel. The great room was a 64ft x 32ft clear span - no posts. I designed and had fabricated metal J-trusses to support a balcony/library and the master bedroom and bath over one part of the great room. I would occasionally hire some college kids for extra muscle, but otherwise did most of the work with my own two hands. It took two years.  Ahhhh..... The stories I could tell!! I had only two near fatal accidents.