The masons began performing their art on the barter house last Monday. A crew of about six guys were able to knock out about 2/3s of the choctaw stone in just one week. We’ve already made two additional trips back to stone yard to pick up some more corner pieces. While I was doing the take-offs on the stone, I didn’t take into consideration using corners around the windows and doors - which led to a severe shortage. My wife just stated the local stone yard in Durham, NC wants to use images of the house in some of their marketing publications.
As a side note: We intially found the choctaw stone from a stone yard in Oklahoma doing business as Oklahoma Stone, Inc. We worked with Jack Ary, owner on getting a quote for the quantity we needed. Jack’s quote was better than the local quote and based on the quantity needed, we decided to buy it from Jack. He sent us some samples of chopped choctaw stone that showed up the next day. The samples looked good & we sent him a deposit so that he could begin processing the rest of the large order. Unfortunately, I did not use a credit card for the deposit (very naive) and we haven’t heard from Jack since January 9th. We contacted the Heavener, Oklahoma police department to try to get some answers and they mentioned several people from across the country had given Jack and Oklahoma Stone, Inc. deposits and never received any goods.
If you found this post because this happened to you too - please email me to discuss possible ways to get our deposits back.
If you think what Jack did sucks and would like to provide him with your two cents - here is his contact info:
Oklahoma Stone Inc
20569 Pine Mountain Road
Heavener, Oklahoma 74937
United States
Jack Ary
okstone@windstream.net
His home number: 918-653-4700
His cell number: 918-839-3130
His office number: 918-653-2424
Fax : 918-653-2480
A priest once said during mass that music is the universal language of the soul. Music can influence or compliment your emotions and great songwriters have a way of conveying your feelings when maybe it’s tough to find the words yourself. Some songs seem to be the soundtrack for stages in your life and two-thirds through the barter house project, I have found it’s theme song.
From the beginning we knew “it ain’t going to be easy“. The Barter House was challenged at our first meeting with the Architectural Review Board. Our modern design in a traditional, relatively conservative neighborhood (even though it’s Chapel Hill) did not receive a warm welcome - as to imply Give up and go back where you belong, dreamin’ is for the dead - the road is too long.
After several months we were finally able to get the plan approved by the ARB. Yet the jury is still out on the neighborhood approval, but I guess beginners test the waters and suffer the fate…so time will tell.
The song is written and performed by fellow Ohio University Alum, Red Wanting Blue. I encourage you to watch, listen and regardless of which challenges still lay ahead, remember… I’m still here!
In addition to building modern, sustainable homes, the LiveModern crew all seem to share in the philosophy of sweat equity. For some, it’s driven out of necessity, while others receive personal satisfaction from putting their own time and talent into their home. For me, it’s both. My drive and goals will always exceed my income and my belief in being responsible for achieving your own dreams could never be matched by simply just paying someone else to do it for you.
This evening while I was putting a second coat of waterproofing on the sitting wall planter, a neighbor came by and introduced herself. She appeared hesitant to say anything to me at first, but finally said “you must be the new neighbor”. I sat the roller down, walked over to shake her hand and exchange pleasantries.
She asked me if I was painting and I kindly mentioned that I was waterproofing the planter. Almost in shock, she replied “why are you doing that?“. The abrupt response and feelings associated with the comment seemed to suggest that I was *less than* for doing the work myself. In fact that’s why you have a builder, right?
The truth is, the work makes me feel *more than* as I create a connection with the house and see the fruit of my labor, be that sweat, salary or barter. I find inspiration from other do-it-yourself bloggers sharing their experience through LiveModern and I look forward to being responsible for making my dream become a reality.
De-constructed? Not exactly,but it’s definitely an interesting stage to be in. For six months we have built walls, created space and even tripled up TJIs only to begin the process of drilling holes and running pipes right through these structural units. It’s all part of the show, but just got me thinking about the process.
The windows were delivered last week & the barter house is getting closer to being dried in.
