Building 60 Shearer

Join us, Gloria and John Young, as we build an 8,131 square foot modern chateau in America’s most expensive zip code. Live the process vicariously with us and relive 2019-2023 in this 10-part Construction Blog.

Part 1: Location, Location, Location

“We did it! We now own almost $5,000,000 of aging beauty who has made her contributions to the world. The cycle of rebirth was about to commence.”

Part 3: Up From the Bowels of the Earth!

Part 2: How to Design a Palace

“It’s like your teenage years when everything is possible and the future is unlimited.”

Part 4: Framing for Victory!

“We are now proud owners of a super-heavy boat, which is very unmaneuverable and quite blocky.”

“So this is why, as soon as the concrete is dry, sawdust starts to fill the sky.”

Part 5: The Rough Trades

“Vent lines go *up* from a drain line to equalize the pressure in the drain.  Why? Consider beer.”

Part 6: Sealing the Envelope

“Imagine a ton of the chalk dust you had to clean up during grade school detention, all souped up with pixie dust to resist mildew and fire and stick together, squished between a few layers of paper like a giant thin chalk sandwich.”

Part 7: Materials

“The final step is grouting, which is like pouring special sticky pancake batter all over your set tiles, squeegeeing most of it off.  The result is a nice tile, evenly spaced, with colored cementitious material pleasantly in between.”

Part 8: Finishing

“Why do houses even have baseboards?”

Part 9: Shouting from the Rooftops!

“You can sell an unfinished house, but it would be nicer for everyone’s sanity if the house were fully and completely done, per anyone who has a say in the matter. To any developer’s distress, the list of people who have a veto on this is distressingly long.”

Part 10: The Sale!

This time between the close of escrow for us to acquire the property and the COE when we sell it will be 1,243 days. Or 41 months. Or 3.4 years. Or 6% of your humble correspondent’s life.