![\"\"](\"https:\/\/21z6r9yf8x02eaff51wxrs58-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Barn-Wood-690x300.jpg\")
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Not so long ago, my wife Emma and I bought our property, a place for which we\u2019d been looking for nearly four years. And, in doing so, the enormity of what we were about to undertake sunk in. I\u2019d been gathering up wood in anticipation of us needing to build a home, but the pace had been leisurely and the collected resources a bit aimless in there (re)purpose.<\/p>\n
Amazingly, the property came with a bonus: There was already a structure on it. A picnic shelter, that is our future home already had a slab and a roof. This was a major relief because we\u2019d been contemplating how to balance foundations, ecology, and building codes for the floor of the house. Suddenly, that was done. We\u2019d have never voluntarily poured concrete, but we are happy to (re)use a slab. As for the roof, it was an instant spot to keep materials out of the weather.<\/p>\n
However, with the dimensions of our home now official and the plan roughed out in a real way, I started calculating the amount of wood we had versus what we needed. We were short. Very much so. Hoping to get started within the next year, I realized we were going to have to seriously up our efforts for squirreling away some wood for the project. We wanted to repurpose the bulk, if not all, of our lumber, so that added a challenge, amongst the many before us, that many builders don\u2019t have to worry about.<\/p>\n What We Had Stacked<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/21z6r9yf8x02eaff51wxrs58-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Pallets.jpg\")