How the house was built |
I built the castle in stages. Preliminary: I built a 22 X 50 foot house for us to live in while I worked on the main house. I dug a 22 foot deep hand dug well to supply water to this house (41). This was planned to later become my workshop (it did not work out this way because I divorced and remarried in 1981, giving the house to my ex-wife). My new wife and I rented from her until we moved into stage 1. Stage 1 In the first 4 months I built the Master bedroom, 1/2 bath, one small bedroom, and the kitchen (with a bathtub). This was a simple plywood sheathed, tarpaper roofed structure and amounted to the SE corner of the completed castle, and we moved into it immediately. Water for this house was obtained from the hand-dug well I had dug 4 years earlier on my ex-wife's property. (1A - 1D) Stage 2 I added the SW corner of the house which included the dining area, another small bedroom, a full bath (The one in the kitchen was removed), a 2nd story bedroom, an octagonal tower room with a steeple, the top of which is 45 feet above ground level. The addition of the octagonal room and steeple was later to become a major problem due to my number 1 enemy throughout this project, RAINFALL. This to was a wooden structure with plywood exterior. This gave us a bedroom for each of our 2 children (2A - 2C) Stage 3 I dug the foundation for the rest of the house and dug a hole 14 X 16 X 8 feet deep in the NE corner for the basement ("dungeon"). In this process I encountered loose sand which kept caving in caused major difficulty in setting the forms for the concrete walls (28). I mixed the concrete for the basement walls floor and ceiling (as well as all of the rest of the 3500 square foot house footings, beams, and slab by hand using a small, gas powered mixture. I used hundreds of 94 lb. bags of cement. After the basement was done I mixed and poured the rest of the house floor (slab) in 200 square foot sections. 200 square feet was all I could pour and finish at a time by myself. I found that I could mix and pour the concrete in the cool of the night under lights and then have daylight to finish it out. This worked out a lot better than the other way around. (3A - 3B) Stage 4 With the entire slab now in place, construction proceeded relatively rapidly. I built the first 2 floor of the NW and NE towers, and then filled in the 32 foot long open area between the SW and NW towers with the 1 story den, computer room, and the 2nd full bath. I then filled the 34 foot open space between the NW and NE towers with the "Great Room" which measures 34 by 23 feet. At this point I made the only modification to my original plan because I decided to add a 11 foot square entry foyer to the front of the "Great Room" (25, 4A - 4G) All of this construction left a 23 X 23 foot open area in the center of the house which I planned to use as a patio. After the first rain I could see that this was not a good idea and made the decision to extend the roof over it so it became an indoor garden in the center of the house with sliding glass patio doors opening into it from the kitchen, den, and "Great Room" and a regular door from the master bedroom. It has 10 skylights in the ceiling for day time lighting. The walls are photo murals with the sky painted on above then. For several year this room was occupied by 300 parakeets and cockatiels. Today they are gone and there is a spa, fish pond, and indoor plants in there (31 -33). Also during this time I decided that the 3rd story in the NW tower would be an observatory to house the 12.5" reflecting telescope that I had purchased years earlier. I made the walls only 6 feet high, added doors in the roof, and spacey photo murals to the walls (35). Stage 5: The "Great Room" is a story in itself as it took about 2 years to complete, and I am sort of proud of it. The walls have 6" studs and are 10 feet high with beamed ceiling. Ceiling is planked with 2 X 6 boards as the first layer. Every piece of the hundreds of pieces of lumber in the ceiling as stained, varnished, hand sanded, and varnished again before being put in place. The heavy trusses were constructed laying down at the 10 foot level then lifted upright with a block and tackle fastened to the previous truss. The pitch is 1 to 1 (45 degrees)(5A) The ceiling is fully insulated. After the 2 X 6 inside planking was done I laid vertical 2 X 4's on top of it and installed insulation. I then laid 5/8" plywood decking on top of the 2 X 4's. and covered that with tarpaper. The interior walls are fully paneled and trimmed out. The rock walls on both of the towers are partially inside this room. The East end has a staircase giving access to the 2nd floor bedroom, and 3rd floor model airplane construction room. This room and the entry foyer are the only rooms inside the house that carry the castle theme inside. The walls are decorated with a number of replica medieval swards, pictures, and clothing (26 - 29) Stage 6: With the entire castle having been constructed of wood and plywood, and about 10 years into the construction, I began the long, laborious process of laying the stone on the outside. This took 9 years to complete (I was also completing most of the interior during this time). I calculated that it would require about 140 tons of "chopped" limestone rock to do the exterior so I ordered 14 10 ton truck loads. I had no idea how to lay stone so I went and watched some crews doing this on house under construction. I laid the stone on level lines of thicknesses ranging from 1.5" to 6.0". Almost every stone had to be trimmed on one end or the other with rock saw. I raked the joints about 1/2" deep. A full days work usually resulted in a piece of wall about 5 X 10 feet, and as I began to work on the 2nd and 3rd stories, even less a this as I had to spend much time assembling and dis-assembling my work scaffolds. I hand mixed the mortar in small batches in a wheel barrow and I must of made hundreds of mixes. As I got close to the top and laid the crenulations I was spending more time carrying the mortar and stone up the ladders than laying the rock. I could only carry 2 or 3 stones at a time. A lifting winch system was tried but was more trouble than it was worth. The arches over the windows and front door were very time consuming(40). Looking at the outside walls now, I sometimes wonder how I ever did it (6A - 6D). Stage 7: During the stone laying process, in 1994 I retired from the federal government after 36 years service. I almost went nuts and tried working a several temporary jobs. During a short retirement period I decided to make another addition to the original plan. I was tired of building square towers and wanted to make something round, so I added the twin stone entry towers in front of the drawbridge with arrow slots and copper sheathed steeples. This was a good ideas as it really added to the aesthetics of the castle from the front. It took a lot of work because I had to cut both ends of every stone (7A - 7D). In 1994 I managed to get back on at the place I retired from as a new, full-time state employee. I 2003 I retired from that and immediately went back to work half-time which is were I am today. Stage 8: This stage continues to today and includes the addition of a carport on the SE side (2004)(39) and the completion of the Master bathroom (2006)(34). What did you base the design on? The design is entirely my own concept and doing. I did not get any ideas by reading or otherwise. I was not planning to build a castle when I bought the land. I had moved from suburbia and only knew that if I was going to do it myself, I did not want to build an ordinary house. Here is the "fluke". Shortly after buying the land I was visiting my mother and father in Arkansas, and I was bored. For reasons unknown I took a cardboard box and built a 2 foot square model of a castle - like house (like kids would do as a school project on castles). I had a vague idea of one kid living in each tower. When we left I took this cardboard construction home with me and when I started thinking about the house I would build and looking at this model, I began to wonder if I could actually build something like that. I then made a floor plan and elevations on my old Apple II computer. I arbitrarily choose a 64 by 64 foot square size. If you look at that rain damaged model today you can see the house is almost exactly like it (37) The design feature of an observatory in the third story of the NW tower came about because I have bought a 12.5" reflecting telescope before buying the land and needed a place to put it. What is unique about the methods used to build a castle? ans: Unique to this area, the use of imitation slate and heavy copper sheet on the roof. Really no unique methods unless you count having to figure out ways to do everything my self like building the Great Room trusses in place and lifting them into position with a block and tackle. Also, at one point in the construction I had to build a little model out of sticks to figure out how part of the roof would tie into the rest of the house. Also unique to a castle is the roof line which has no overhang and many stone crenulations. Also, the arches over some of the windows are somewhat unique. What materials were used? Mostly standard materials such as concrete, steel rod, wood framing, insulation, house wiring, copper and plastic water pipe, "chopped" native limestone, masonry cement, plywood sheeting, 50 year asphalt shingles, skylight units, and tin roofing. Fairly unique for this area 1) The copper sheeting used on the front guard towers. I used expensive, heavy gauge copper sheets to make the hexagonal steeples. I did this because I wanted the front of the house to be as authentic as I could to old world European construction. I wanted the greenish copper patina to develop on the stone, as it has, to give an "aged" appearance (40). 2) The front roof. Again, to give an authentic "old world" look to the house from the front I wanted to use natural slate as the roofing material for the front roof. Here in Texas natural slate is not commonly used and I was having trouble getting a source. I learned of a company that makes imitation slate and visited their factory in Dallas. I found that their molds are made from actual pieces of natural slate and their product looks very natural with several advantages. It is not as brittle, and is lighter (though still heavy compared with asphalt shingles). Also, the 7 or 8 colors can be mixed in any desired proportion making an infinite number of combinations. I bought enough to do the front roof and much later a train storage house. I am very pleased with it (44). The rest of the house is roofed with standard asphalt shingles or metal. Difficulties (You can ignore this part if you wish, but I must be honest) My biggest problem has been one word - RAINFALL, primarily for at least 3 reasons. 1) The octagonal room and large steeple roof was supported only by the 2 X 12 ceiling joist of the room below which soon sagged slight under the weight causing the flat roof at the base to hold water which soon leaked through and began rotting out the ceiling joists. This has finally been mostly cured by several repairs and re-building of this roof. 2) The lack of an overhang on all of the roof lines has caused problems. In order to achieve a "castle like" look to the roof lines no overhang was constructed and the stone crenulations were built. This cause several problems because the water ran down the walls and leaked through the stonework (much to my dis-belief). Also the water is block behind the crenulations. This has caused me to have to add the gutters at the roof lines. 3) The observatory doors which open up and outward in the 3rd floor observatory in the NW tower have been a leaking problem. This has finally be solved by making them out of aluminum and sheet metal instead of wood. 4) Design foul-ups. I put the door opening to the second story room in the NW tower in the wrong place, making it impossible to build a matching stairway in the "Great room" |
41 Working on a cardboard model of the castle while visiting mother and dad in Arkansas in 1979. |
Foundation trenches (June 1981) |
1C - SE corner under construction (June 1983). Includes master bedroom, SE corner bedroom, 1/2 bath, and kitchen. |
Digging the water well (1979) |
1D - Stage 1 complete (July 1983) |
Forms for the Dungeon walls (Feb 1986) |
Stage 2 complete (Jan 1986) |
Stage 3 foundation work, entrance to dungeon (March 1988) |
Stage 4 (June 1988) |
Stage 4 (Sept. 1988) |
Stage 4 (July 1989) |
Jungle Room roof (Jan. 1993) |
Great room truss construction (Nov. 1988) |
Stage 6 (1995) |
Stage 6, laying rock (Aug. 1989 |
Stage 6, Laying rock (March 1990) |
Guard tower construction (Feb. 1995) |
Installing the slate roof (1998) |
DONE!!!! (2002) |
Carport slab (Oct. 1994) |
View from my Koala homebuilt airplane in 1998 |
