I've been out of touch for a while, moving into a new house that I designed. So glad that's all behind me - talk about stress!

Anyway, my builder called me and warned me to be very careful about pulling my RX-8 up the driveway. He was afraid I might scrape the front end. I was already leery of it, having driven my wife's Trooper up and down the driveway the day before. Sure enough, he came over and watched carefully as I inched my way up, and there was gonna be scrapeage!

The car went back to the old house, and they had to cut out the first few feet of the driveway and get a variance from the county to add some asphalt to the approach. Seems like a simple problem to solve, but with all the regulations about slope, drainage, drain pipe size, etc., it turned out to be a bit of a problem. The good news is, I can now get up the driveway, although I do need to slow down a good bit where the driveway meets the street.

Oh, and get this - the county inspector said, "Well, if you didn't drive an abnormal car, it would've been just fine!". I got a good laugh from that one.

 

Nice looking house. Care to build one for me?

 

beutifull house. I hate town law so much red tape.

 

nice house - will look better once you actually get some landscaping.

 

Leave the trees, they look good

 

awesome house love the design hell of a job

 

I thought Texas was all flat and full of tumble weeds

oh yea, that steep drive will get slick when you get an inch or so of snow on it.

 

I remember when we designed our house in SC. It was a pain in the *** with codes and what not..*of course ours is on an Island and you can't take cars on it, only golf carts...guess who's getting an rx-8 golf cart... * plus we had to do all hurrican window stuff and our house is all glass....You're house is awsome though...nothing like designing something yourself and then seeing it done. It's such an amazing feeling! Awsome job! good luck with the car..

 

Sweeeeet CRIB... man that is really nice...

dont worry just get HYDRUALICS on the RX-8 and raise it up while putting it in the driveway... lol.. j/k..

 

Wow. I wish I had one of those to match my car...

 

Haven't been down here before have you? Snow here happens so infrequently that schools get cancelled and business' close until it is gone. Might get a very slight amount of snow every few years but nothing that sicks. Certainly not an inch or so. Ice is far more likely but still rare. San Antonio might get slightly more than Houston but it can't be much more. Dallas will get it though.


I love the solution to the driveway issue. The RX-8 can't do it, so the driveway has to move!

 

I just bought a plow for my 8. I can't wait til it snows... I may be waiting a long time.. Nice house.. You may regret the windows come summer.. I know I did in my last house. I had plate glass windows that went to the second floor and they acted as solar collectors. Good luck.

Nat

 

"Mr. Plow, that's my name: That name again is Mr. Plow!!" :D

"i'll take your money, but i won't plow your driveway!!"

 

Gorgeous. I love the elevation change and the native brush.

The house is beautiful too. Do you have to go up the driveway at an angle, one wheel at a time?

 

My entire family pitched in to erect our home. The only code which concerned us was the canvas had to be waterproofed and the Port-o-Let emptied every 6 weeks.

 

The original poster couldn't get it up. Now you need your whole family to erect... Maybe I watch too much Bevis and Butthead!

 

The house is amazing, would love to see pictures of the inside!

 

Beautiful house, and love the story! Oh for the love of the RX-8...

 

Good Job on checking if the 8 could make it up the driveway rather then just "plowing" (pun intended) up the driveway!
Now when all your Rx-8 friends come the will have no problem getting up to the house!

I like the symmetry on the house. Beautiful design.

 

Beautiful house. Isn't living in Texas great?! Cost of living baby! I'm sure that house cost a pretty penny but compared to the rest of the nation, building is relativley cheap.

 

Snow!? In Texas..?

 

Who says it doesn't snow in Texas! This was in Austin just days before I picked up my new RX-8.

 

Of course this was all melted and gone by noon.

 

Thanks to everyone for the compliments on the house. I completely changed the front elevation one week before construction was to begin, and I'm really glad I did. I'll post some pictures of the inside in the next few days.

My next challenge is to clear enough room in the garage to pull my car in. It's a 3.5 car garage, but it's so stuffed full of boxes right now, there's no room for cars!

The driveway issue was one of only a few problems during construction. I feel pretty fortunate that things went so smoothly. I had a great builder, and that helped a lot. One of the things I did learn in the process was that it is very easy to have miscommunications between builder, supplier, and homeowner. I stayed in the loop pretty closely on most things, but didn't make sure I saw the work order on the master bath countertops. I didn't get what I had discussed with the supplier, and they had to be ripped out. And then there was the driveway, but I never even considered that there would be a problem. Oh well, it's all over now, and things look pretty good. One thing's for sure, I won't be ready to do it again for at least 10 years!

 

who was the builder and where in SA did you build?