Cheese Making Room - Layout

[MiaBella Farm]

Wayne, you are welcome to come over and help!  :)

Siegfriedw:  The interior walls are made from PLAS-TEX® PolyWall, but you can buy some stuff at Home Depot made for bathrooms that is a bit cheaper.

As for building this for you in NC...it would depend on local lumber/concrete prices....but hubby will not come there and build it for you...he really hates building stuff!  He is an IT guy...but he does it FOR ME!  Also, he is too cheap to pay anyone else to build it!  LOL!!!

[wharris]

Funny you mention that.
I spent the summer helping my neighbor build a 24X32 out building.

15 foot  tall walls.
2X8 stud walls.
Sewer, water, electricty.

We dug/poured the foundation, laid the block, built the walls, stood them up,  put up the trusses and and roofed it.
Put the siding on and the doors on .
We put the concrete floor in 2 weeks ago.

At this point he is weather tight and has running water.
Will spend the winter fitting out the building from the inside.

[siegfriedw]

Thanks for the answers on the walls. It is funny -- I am sort of an IT guy too - I work for a large software company and that's what pays the bills for the farm.

Wayne - any idea on what that building cost? I know quotes I was getting for a similar sized building were 3 times what is mentioned above.

[wharris]

IT?    - same here.  I do IT security work.

The bare building cost about 8k-9K total. (perhaps 10k)  We did all the labor.  So there is zero labor costs there.
I mean, that is digging the foundation,  trenching the sewer, etc.  That was all us.

[MiaBella Farm]

My hubby is doing all the work himself...other than his dad helping out now and then (he is in his 60's) and I do what I can too...so no labor cost here.  Although some days he wishes he had rented a machine to dig the trenches for the slab...he had to manually pick through 6 inches of waste concrete before he hit dirt, which is mostly clay on our land!  So, back breaking work for sure...but his "cheap" side did not want to spend the $200 to rent anything when he is perfectly able to do it himself...crazy person!

I don't know if I mentioned it but the $11k includes the foundation, building and all the stuff inside (tables, a/c, sink, etc)  Hubby is a good on-line shopper so gets the best deal he can on everything!

What is up with all you IT guys building stuff???  Must need a break from that computer huh  ???

[wharris]

Funny,
I think there is a thread on that somewhere here.

Something like,  "why do we make cheese"

Anywhey.  It comes down to this for me.  At the end of the day, I merely make electrons.  Electrons that stored neatly on a magnetic disk, housed in a computer room somewhere.

Professionally I make nothing tangible. I sit at my desk all day making electrons. (kinda like now)

Making cheese, wine, equipment, whatever, is my connection to the tangible world.  It will be my visible mark on things.

[siegfriedw]

I think  Wayne hit it on the head.

I have always wanted a farm but was not born into it so I had to work hard to be able to afford to buy the land.

IT seemed like the way to make the money to afford it, plus I can work from home which allows me the time that would otherwise be spent commuting to take care of the farm tasks. I dont know how I would be able to do this if I had an hour plus commute like many who work in the big cities..

[MiaBella Farm]

Let me tell you, it is not easy!

Both hubby and I have "day jobs".  We ride to work together, and then we both run the farm after work and on weekends.  We live on 22 acres and have 35 animals (plus 7 puppies).  LOTS to do!

The goal is for me to quit working and just run the farm while he continues to work so we have insurance.  I have 4 years left on my 5 year plan...so we need to get cracking!  :)

[wharris]

Wow,

So what I am hearing is that you do not plan on any two week vacations any time soon,

[MiaBella Farm]

Yea, that is a negative! The kids are not super excited about that either...but they will live...we take mini-vacations, day trips and stuff.

Hubby's mom lives about 10 minutes down the road so in a pinch she can come milk for us and will do so gladly!  She used to have goats many years ago, but now she just visits with ours  :) 

She has helped out a couple of times when we have gone to shows that we had to drive several hours to get to.