THIS PROPERTY HAS BEEN SOLD

For purely personal reasons, we decided to put Hale Hoku Mele on the market. With young family still living on the mainland and in Canada, we were not able to spend enough time there to warrant the annual maintenance that a property like this deserves. This was a difficult decision...but the right one. Some people have commented that we found life for "haoles" too difficult. Nothing could be further from the truth...of all the things we will miss about Hawai'i, we will miss the warm, friendly, and giving culture of aloha the most. To be honest, the amount of rain was probably the biggest surprise to us...but usually all you have to do is drive 15-30 minutes to find some sunshine. Our realtor was great, and if any of you is looking for a recommendation, just post a comment. We have been asked not to advertise her firm or name on this blog.

THIS PROPERTY IS FOR SALE

Birthday Update

Tomorrow is my 62nd birthday, and due to insistant demands for new pictures, I am celebrating with a new post! These are just some recent pictures that I took of the living area with "early plastic tub" decor. Actually, things are coming together well...I have been building temporary cabinets and bookcases out of pine and plywood. I used some ohi'a posts for the bedframe. Of course, we had no furniture to move from the RV...which has been sold. Katie has been on the mainland for a couple of weeks, and I'm looking forward to showing her all the additions.

The weather has done a one-eighty from the record setting two-month-long deluge...totalling over fifty inches. We have had almost two weeks with temperatures in the high 70's and NO RAIN! I checked the catchment tank and it is down only about six inches which means we have about 9,500 gallons left...so I am not concerned about a drought, yet.

Enjoy the pics!

Post-Script

Our new house is essentially complete...or at least is completely functional. Officially, we still have to jump through the final inspection hoops...but all systems appear to be performing well. I had some minor plumbing leaks to fix, and one ceiling fan was defective and had to be replaced. All that remains now is to "make this house a home" by adding the finishing touches and just living in it. It really doesn't seem possible that we have reached the end of this segment of our adventure. It will be some time before we have finished floors and permanent cabinetry, and that just entails more time and money...and is not very different here in Hawaii from anywhere else. I'm sure that there will continue to be "lessons learned" as we settle into a routine...things that work well or things we would do differently...but those lessons would seem to more appropriately fit a new blog.

Katie and I were just talking about how and when to bring this story to a close. We decided that there will be one more post to this blog after final inspection...which may be a month or more away. Some final photos and reflections on our experience...but if you, the readers, have any specific questions or comments you would like addressed, now is the time to post them! We have already received many comments...all very positive and supportive. But I think the ones that affected us most were those that said (and I paraphrase) "Your blog has given us the information and the courage to move ahead with our dream to build a house and live in Hawaii." Certainly, I would hope that those who DO proceed will let us (and others) know about their efforts. We are truly "lucky to live Hawaii."

Stay tuned for our final post!

Almost There...

I can't believe we are seven days into 2008! Happy New Year to all of you who are following our project! It has been almost two weeks since my last post, and much has transpired during the interim. Although I do have some new photos, I think this will be largely a narrative post...mainly because we have learned a number of new lessons. The title of this post reflects a huge transmigration of sorts, since we have (for all intents and purposes) been able to vacate our RV and move over to the house! This was accomplished none too soon, because "cabin fever" had settled in and threatened to undo all that had been done. On Christmas Eve Day, we packed up our toothbrushes and headed for Kona-side with hopes of outrunning the rain and even finding some sunshine. We spent Christmas Eve at the Sheraton Keahou watching old movies comforted to know that the whole world was not under water! We celebrated Christmas Day basking on the beach.

Since then Katie and I have been painting madly...I think we have brushed and rollered about fifteen gallons so far...primer, walls, ceilings, etc. The results have been stunning...it actually looks and feels like a real home. Due to budget constraints, we had decided some time ago to build some "temporary" countertops and shelves until we could afford the real thing. This was to be plywood carpentry...I bought some 3/4-inch interior plywood at Home Depot...but as you will see in the photos, even plywood is affected by the humidity, so I had some major warping to deal with. Nonetheless, we have achieved functional utlility, and with some nice Douglas fir trim, it won't look too bad.

We called our plumber (who you will notice has NOT been named) and told him we wanted the water supply system hooked up since we had all the components plus 10,000 gallons of water in storage. We desperately wanted hot water, a washing machine and dryer, a shower, and oh yes...a real toilet! Since he was also doing the propane, it meant we could connect the new stove, as well.

OK...time for one of those lessons. Almost everything that comes to Hawaii is shipped by container and can be subjected to destructive forces beyond your wildest imagination. In the past week, we have had to return a half-dozen items that appeared undamaged but upon opening/starting were useless. These included a $300 dehumidifier, a $500 water pump, a $600 UV water sterilizer, and a $50 toilet tank. Suffice it to say that you are well-advised to inspect your purchases carefully noting that even an undamaged box can hide all sorts of wrack-and-ruin within! Thankfully, most retailers will admit this fact and will replace items with few questions asked... A case in point was the water pump which looked like it had been dropped from about thirty feet, despite an intact box. The supplier was sympathetic, but who could know who caused the damage or when it occurred? They agreed to give us a new pump "at cost." When the new pump was brought in, I insisted on inspecting it. By God's grace, it too was smashed...and we got a another new pump...this time, free of charge.

Lesson number two: beware of buying something from one business and having it installed by another. This creates a no-accountability situation with you in the middle and owing both...the plumber blamed the supplier, and the supplier blamed the plumber! Of course, this is sometimes unavoidable like when you buy a light fixture from Sears and have the electrician install it. But you would be wise to open the box, inspect it for broken parts, and let the electrician know that you have found it in good condition, so if something doesn't work, you can at least argue with some degree of certainty about who broke it.

Lesson numero tres. When the drywallers had finished, we were faced with extremely humid conditions, cool temperatures, and interminable drying times. I had some experience with dehumidifiers and had found them very effective in damp basements. Few people here talked about them despite the well-known issues around mold and mildew. We bought the the biggest unit Sears sells (70 pints/day), and in two days, the place felt completely different. Since then, we only run it to keep the humidity at about 65%. Of course, the thing uses electricity, but we feel the benefits are worth the costs.

Ultimately, we got the water supply system working, and it is great. The Bosch instantaneous water heater supplies all the hot water we need, and all the appliances remind us that maybe the "good old days" weren't all that good. Lesson 4...propane is the way to go in Hawaii with electricity costing about fifty cents per kilowatt-hour, but propane appliances require a lot more set-up than electric ones. Most have to be "converted" from natural gas to propane, and that should be done by a technician. Problem is most retailers (like Sears or Home Depot) don't do it...and don't tell you it may cost you an additional $100-$150 per appliance. We found someone on-line that did both our dryer and range for $100...but beware of the hidden cost of propane. Buying quality used might be a good idea, but it still requires a plumber just to tie into the gas line.

A couple of days ago, the weather changed, and we have enjoyed three gorgeous days in the high 70's and negligible rain. And as an "old-timer" here said, "It's like childbirth...when the sun comes out, you will quickly forget the rain" and she was right. Everything looks better, the plants have perked up, the birds are singing, the RV has dried out...even the coffee tastes better! The photos tell all.

I've never seen 3/4-inch plywood do this before.

Examples of rough countertops and shelves...I'll add some Douglas fir trim and more shelves, and it will look "cabin-style"...all the rage, you know?

Here's Katie trying out her kitchen and new cast-iron sink at breakfast...note the sunshine through the window.

Desk and computer area to be completed...

Living room...yes, that's a television!


Same from a different angle...

The electrician should be here tomorrow to install all the upstairs lights, outlets, and fixtures. After that, we will be pretty much on our own....finally!

Insulation and Drywall

The rain continues, practically unabated, but we are still making progress! After a brief hiatus for Christmas which we spent drying out on the Kona side of the island, we returned to begin the interior painting. Prior to that, we had put up some insulation in the ceiling and a couple of interior walls. For the ceiling we used R-19 (6") kraft-faced rolls to reduce heat and noise from the metal roof; and for the walls, we used R-12 (3.5") primarily to reduce noise transmission between rooms. I would have preferred to use insulation without the kraft paper (less chance for mold and mildew), but apparently, this stuff is standard on the B.I., and plain fiberglass batts are hard to find.


Here's the living room showing the insulation stapled to the ceiling joists and the wall studs. We decided not to insulate the exterior walls because it doesn't get as hot up here at 1,900' elevation, and the wide roof overhang and the lanai both reduce the sun's impact on the walls. Time will tell if that was a good choice.

This is Mason and Francois starting to hang the drywall. These guys look small, but they were running around carrying 4' x 12' sheets of gyprock and lifting them up with no assistance. Very often, one crew does the hanging and another does the taping and seamfilling. Even our little house took 58 sheets of gyprock to do the walls and ceiling.



Rooms are taking shape, and it's starting to look like a house inside! It took them only 2.5 days to finish hanging the drywall including attaching the bull-nose molding on windows, doors, and corners.

Here's a shot after the taping and seamfilling were done. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Eddie and his son at work, but their card is posted under the "Recommendations" post. They also sprayed on a light "orange-peel" texture. Because of the rain and low nighttime temperatures, we had a 1,500-watt electric heater going to speed the drying process. Even then, it was pretty slow.

And here's Katie rolling on the primer coat!

Recommendations

We feel that the sincerest form of praise is to recommend someone to your friends. So in this post, we will provide the business cards of those people who we have worked with on this project, and who have been helpful, honest, diligent, friendly and professional...and who will return your phone calls!!
This first one is Marlon's card. He handled all the foundation and framing work, and has been a valued advisor and friend on all aspects of construction.