TOM: We've never built anything from the ground up.
This will be our first.
MEGHAN: There is snow everywhere.
We may be crazy.
But I think we'll pull it off.
Wind gusts are probably 40 miles per hour.
CHARLES: It's a special kind of hell
while it's blowing in your face.
MEGHAN: We did not expect to have snow like this.
Pull your bucket in.
Is it too deep?
It's going to be heavy as hell when
you guys got to pick it up.
[interposing voices]
MEGHAN: You having fun yet?
TOM: Even before we're done mixing it,
it's starting to dry up.
Go ahead.
MEGHAN: Not safe.
This diesel is burning super fast.
It's kind of freaking me out.
TOM: Welcome to Building off the Grid.
NARRATOR: Are you ready to go off the grid?
[music playing]
Man, look at the river.
Did it look like there was fish in there?
MEGHAN: We're building in south central Colorado.
So we took a road trip from our place in southeast Texas
to the build site.
TOM: The drive to Colorado was much longer than we thought.
22 hours.
One more turn after this, and we'll be there.
MEGHAN: We showed up today, and there's snow everywhere.
TOM: Having left Texas two days ago in extraordinary heat
and to go into 28 degrees this morning,
and being that it's technically still summer,
it's a shock to come here and see this much snow.
This is it, guys.
MEGHAN: We may be crazy, but I think we'll pull it off.
I'm Meghan.
I'm Tom.
And we're building a rammed earth
house in the San Luis Valley.
TOM: The property is located approximately 45
minutes from Taos, New Mexico.
From Alamosa, it's about 40 miles.
So we are out here.
MEGHAN: It's really beautiful, huh?
TOM: It is.
Is this is your first time seeing snow, little man?
This is the first time any of our family members have seen
snow, including the 16-month-old Tucker
and both of our dogs and Ava.
And they love it.
First mountains.
First time in Colorado.
TOM: We came out here a couple of years ago.
And Meghan really liked the area, and so did I.
Daddy's going to get your mittens.
We just fell in love with it.
It's beautiful.
And I saw the listing and had to have it
and surprised him on Christmas with it.
I've never gotten a piece of land for a present
before, so it was--
He can get me a car next time.
[laughing]
MEGHAN: The main reason that we want
to do this build in Colorado is that we
come through here a lot.
We love the whole state.
What do you think about all this, Ava?
It's beautiful all these mountains everywhere you look.
And the snow just goes on forever and ever.
And I love that.
Ooh!
[laughing]
MEGHAN: You got to get your mittens.
We met through a mutual friend.
By the end of the date, I knew.
You kind of know.
I think we got married four months after we met.
TOM: We're the parents of six kids of a blended family.
MEGHAN: All the kids are back in school,
except for Ava, who is doing remote learning, and Tucker--
TOM: How's that?
Look at that.
MEGHAN: --who is helping out as best he can.
TOM: The business that we own, it's
a small remodeling business.
Meghan does a lot of the designing,
and I do a lot of the building.
But we've never built anything from the ground up.
So this will be our first.
[music playing]
MEGHAN: We are going to build a rammed earth
house that'll be 33 by 33 feet.
Inside will be two bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room,
a kitchen, and a dining room.
The thing about earthen walls, whether it's adobe or cob
or rammed earth, is that they stay cool during the day,
and they stay warm at night.
Our off-grid features are going to be
a water sourced from the Rio Grande River into a water tote.
And heat source will be from the fireplace and electricity
from solar panels.
The budget for this build is a little under $20,000.
MEGHAN: So our timeline is about seven weeks to begin
and complete the build.
It'll be a project, but we'll get it done.
TOM: The dangers in San Luis Valley are wildlife--
Bear, mountain lions, coyotes.
Snakes.
Snakes, which I don't think we have to worry about today.
Scorpions.
Hypothermian.
That's a very real thing.
[laughing]
MEGHAN: I don't think we're going
to get the excavator today.
No.
We did not expect to have snow like this.
So what with the weather and the excavator not coming in today,
I'm not really sure what we're going to do.
Set us back a little bit, but hopefully
tomorrow we'll get one.
[music playing]
MEGHAN: Big sigh of relief.
The excavator has finally arrived.
Somewhere down the line, somebody
gave him the wrong address and had him up a muddy mountain
pass 20 miles to the east.
But he made it, and we've lost a day and a half.
So yeah, we're ready to get after it now.
The first thing that we need to do with this excavator
is cut a driveway.
MEGHAN: Good to go.
TOM: Right.
We're doing the driveway first because we want to have a spot
to drive our material in closer to when we
start to build our forms and put up our walls
and dig our foundation.
MEGHAN: There you go.
Pull your bucket in.
Is it too deep?
Your blade might be too low.
I don't know.
Yeah, it is.
MEGHAN: There you go.
Cool.
OK, so I think we're at the point I need
to go stand at the end of the line,
so we can get a straight line.
TOM: And so if she's standing out there,
it's a lot easier to see a person than it is two stakes.
She wants to the driveway straight.
So we're going to get it as straight as possible.
This is it.
Tom!
You got to look to know where to go.
Yes, come all the way.
TOM: OK.
MEGHAN: Good to go.
We wound up doing the layout for the driveway.
Between my GPS being a little squirrelly and Tom leaving me
a little bit to the left every time I wanted
to go to the right, it wound up about
15 strong feet to the left.
By virtue of it not being straight in that line,
we're going to turn it into a little bit of a curve.
And it really leads back to the original idea of having
the cabin on an angle.
So it's all going to work out anyway.
OK, so I think we're ready to go ahead and lay out all the four
corners of the cabin so that we can
dig the trench for our foundation under the wall.
Pull it up over the weeds.
Let me mark mine.
I think Rigel bumped them.
Go on.
Our stakes and our string and the stuff
we were going to mark our boundaries with
was supposed to come on the supply truck.
But it didn't come yet.
We also have 4,500 pounds of Portland cement coming, which
we can't stack up in this environment
because it may rain and snow again tonight.
So it'll be one big block of concrete.
We need to dig pretty specific precise corners at each
of these pieces of wood.
If it snows, we'll have to remeasure.
And measure and remeasure.
And remeasure.
[music playing]
If it snows, we'll have to remeasure.
And measure and remeasure.
And remeasure.
[music playing]
After marking the four corners of the house,
we were super nervous it would snow again and ruin them.
But luckily, it didn't snow, so we
were able to use those marks to dig the trenches
for the foundation.
Two weeks in, I would say it probably
doesn't look like we have a whole lot done,
but we really do.
TOM: What we'll do today, and it's a major milestone,
is start to build vertical by building our first portion
of the rammed earth wall.
[machinery cutting]
We met Charles.
He's a local.
Sheets of plywood here to drill out.
TOM: And he offered to help.
And I wasn't going to turn him down.
I've never seen anything like this before.
I was very excited.
She said rammed earth, and I had never
ever heard that term before.
A lot of residential experience but nothing like this.
MEGHAN: So today, we're going to start our first form.
The form is a mold that we use to create
the rammed earth walls.
And each one of them is packed with a mixture
of a local aggregate of the local soil
and cement and water.
And we do layers, tamp it down, let it cure overnight.
And we keep doing that until our four walls go up.
TOM: We usually build the forms with plywood.
But we found something stronger.
These aren't your average 3/4 inch plywood sheets.
They're 116 sheet metal.
And they were for racehorse dividers.
Check that metal one.
Oh, yeah.
So that's what we're using as our form for extra strength.
MEGHAN: I'm just concerned it's going to be heavy as hell.
How's it going?
It's going.
You got a stuck wheel.
MEGHAN: I know.
While the guys are working on the form,
I will be bringing rocks over load by load
and dropping them into the trench.
We have been collecting these.
There's a great drop off down to the Rio Grande that's
a great place to get rocks.
This is our chain wall foundation,
and I'm throwing these rocks in it.
These will be below the forms to prevent shifting
and degradation of the walls.
And get about two courses of these rocks.
And then get it compacted fill with Portland cement.
And just tamp it down.
And get it level and grade, so that the wall
will have a place to stay.
So I'm just building a little bit of a perimeter pile
with my rock fill to mix some of this native soil
with this bag of Portland cement.
This is like baking.
You do the dry mix, and then you add the moisture.
That's all I'm going to do for now until we go get water.
Getting water out here is not easy.
The Rio Grande is a mile that way.
Whenever you guys are ready for a break, we can go get water.
Why do you smell like gasoline?
It's my aftershave.
That's your cologne.
Sure will be nice when that 150-gallon tote comes in,
won't it? TOM: Yes, it will.
MEGHAN: So we can--
TOM: I hope. Sure.
MEGHAN: Mitigate how many trips to the Rio Grande
we have to make with five-gallon containers.
TOM: It's cooler than it was when we left last time.
We didn't get our water tote or our cistern
like we were supposed to.
So we've been hauling five gallons
at a time in bags, buckets, whatever we can get it in.
You having fun yet?
CHARLES: I'm having a blast.
TOM: Lots of fun.
[music playing]
MEGHAN: Now that we have water--
Here we go-- we are mixing it into the rock foundation.
And so we can build the walls on top of it.
Looks dry, but it's how it works.
So when you've got it like this, if you get a handful of it,
squeeze it and create a ball that stays for the most part.
Then you're good to go.
[machinery cutting]
The chain wall section is ready for the forms.
TOM: All right.
Well, we're done.
We've just got to bring them over, and we'll set them up.
Plop it down on the other side.
OK.
TOM: The plane here is to put together the form.
The plane is to have the form sitting
above and not in the trench.
By doing it this way, the rammed earth
is actually going to become one with the foundation.
CHARLES: I'm not sure how to do this.
TOM: OK.
The problem is these are very heavy.
CHARLES: I was just going to say weight is an issue.
Lifting them up enough to accommodate putting the whalers
on is getting a little tricky.
There it is.
[music playing]
MEGHAN: Hi.
The form is formed.
TOM: Yay.
Tucker, are you so excited?
Now, the form is built, and we're ready to start filling
it up with our compacted fill.
TOM: Do dry mix, and then add water last, right?
Yeah.
So this mix is different from the foundation
mix in that we avoided the larger rocks, for one thing.
And also, it's going to have a little
less Portland cement content.
Let's just do water.
Let's do it.
TOM: Looks like concrete to me.
MEGHAN: This is the first load for the first form.
We have a long way to go.
It's obviously a ton of work.
And then hopefully, we'll figure out better
ways to do this very soon.
TOM: We've put in a total of probably 15 or 20 buckets.
And it's going to be another couple hundred until it's
packed all the way in because we put eight inches down,
and it compacts into four to five.
These are homemade tampers, which are actually
working out pretty well.
And the importance of tamping it is to activate
the Portland cement.
It's going to take it from basically raw dirt
and turn it into something as hard as cement.
MEGHAN: We did a test wall down in southeast
Texas, which is I think the humidity capital of the world.
And we found out that up here in the arid plains
that you need at least two or three times as much water
to achieve the same consistency of the mix.
Even before we're done mixing it, it's starting to dry up.
And we've got to be able to tamp it while it's still moist.
How's it going with the moisture?
Did you add more to this batch?
No, but we need more.
Yeah, it's drying it up really quickly.
It evaporates by the time you get it in the form, doesn't it?
Yeah.
OK, well, I'll head to the river with the kids
and get some more.
Seems a little dry.
I think so too.
We're out of water.
We're about 25% through with the form.
CHARLES: If she even gets back with the water,
we'll never get it filled before the end of the day.
TOM: Yeah.
This is a ton of work, brother.
Let's call it a day.
We'll start back first thing in the morning.
All right.
TOM: Going back and forth like this to the river,
it's not very efficient.
But we're going to have to switch it up,
or we're going to fall way behind.
[music playing]
We're out of water.
CHARLES: If she even gets back with the water,
we'll never get it filled before the end of the day.
TOM: Yeah.
This is a ton of work, brother.
Let's call it a day.
We'll start back first thing in the morning.
All right.
TOM: Going back and forth like this to the river,
it's not very efficient.
But we're going to have to switch it up,
or we're going to fall way behind.
MEGHAN: OK.
The great news is that the water totes we've been waiting
for have finally just arrived.
TOM: We went from 50 gallons of water to--
MEGHAN: 330.
So we piggyback.
And we take the small one to the river, and we bring it back.
And it's a constant, fluid process.
And things are good right now.
We've got some of the window boxes in,
and we have fine-tuned to our process with the walls.
We brought the excavator back, and that
allows us to mix bigger batches and fill the forms way faster.
The method has evolved.
It's very different from how we started out.
[music playing]
So today is pretty significant.
It's a landmark in that we are this close to being finished
with the bottom course.
TOM: And now, we only have two more walls to go,
and the first level is finally finished.
Let me get a squeeze.
MEGHAN: OK.
You're going to do the squeeze test?
It's pretty good.
MEGHAN: Since we graduated to this wonderful piece
of equipment, life has become much easier.
And it helps to mix.
I've got double pits here too, so I can mix and alternate
and go so much faster.
TOM: I know.
CHARLES: All right.
Just tilt your bucket, and you're in there.
TOM: Go ahead.
MEGHAN: Not safe.
TOM: I know.
CHARLES: I'm out of the way.
You could turn this way.
MEGHAN: This diesel is burning super fast.
I'm running the excavator, and I'm noticing that the gauge
is rapidly falling.
It's kind of freaking me out.
TOM: That's the last bucket for that.
MEGHAN: Yeah.
TOM: All right.
It's burning it seems like twice the rate
that it was burning yesterday.
Maybe somebody put gas in the diesel can.
Hey, I'm really low on diesel.
How low?
Empty.
[interposing voices]
TOM: The danger of running a diesel completely out of fuel,
it's very hard on the engine.
And it's hard to get it started back.
I've just always been told don't run your--
- Not something you want to do. - Not something you want to do.
We don't know.
And we don't want to know.
What are we going to do?
TOM: We got to finish this form today.
Go back to the old ways to fill in the forms?
It's optimal work conditions right now, hon.
We're squandering them.
TOM: We're talking about losing half the daylight
we have left or more.
Thing about that is that the nearest gas station doesn't
sell diesel, so we've got to go in the opposite direction
about 35 miles that way.
Very unfortunate.
CHARLES: All right.
I'll go get fuel.
TOM: This sucks.
We've dealt with every problem so far, and we keep going.
That's right.
So let's keep going.
MEGHAN: Our best asset, Charles, has
gone on the seemingly million mile trek to get diesel.
CHARLES: I need money.
TOM: OK.
[laughing]
All told, with putting the diesel in
and getting back rolling, it's going to knock out,
I don't know--
Three hours.
MEGHAN: Two, three hours.
Three hours.
Darn it. Darn it.
MEGHAN: I know.
Charles Is back.
Now, we can get going.
Get after it.
Hey.
CHARLES: Yeeha!
You got it.
TOM: Yeah, that was fast. [interposing voices]
CHARLES: --round trip ever, buddy.
TOM: Did you do the speed limit?
CHARLES: No.
[laughing]
TOM: Charles saved the day today.
MEGHAN: OK, I'm going to get in the machine
if both of these dry mixes are ready.
TOM: I'll wet this one down. MEGHAN: All right.
Thank you.
CHARLES: Woohoo!
Rock and roll.
[engine starting up]
That's music to my ears.
CHARLES: That looks great.
TOM: Was supposed to take an hour.
But it's taken more like almost all day
with some of the hiccups that we had.
But-- MEGHAN: Welcome to our life.
[laughing] But we're there.
When Charles got back, we were able to finish off the wall
and finish the first level.
MEGHAN: We should be way past this by now.
But we're happy to have it done.
And thus far, when we've taken the shutters off,
it's always a brand new form.
It's exciting.
TOM: Oh.
Ta-da.
Well, it looks good.
Each time that you reveal it, yeah, it is
like looking at a piece of art.
You rip the sheet off.
And there's imperfections. But--
MEGHAN: It's unique.
And it's real cool to see it.
TOM: Worked out good, didn't it?
CHARLES: It's pretty cool.
Nice.
MEGHAN: That's the best one yet over here.
[inaudible]
Ooh.
MEGHAN: Got a problem?
No, [inaudible] oohing and aahing.
[interposing voices]
Whoa, this one's been curing for a couple of days.
MEGHAN: Oh, guys.
Look at this.
A whole wall.
It's beautiful.
CHARLES: It's amazing.
I love the small lifts.
Absolutely love it.
TOM: So now we're going to go up and do the rest of it, which
will be, once again, a learning curve
because we're going to have to flip all the forms, re-brace.
Sounds like an opportunity for tomorrow.
MEGHAN: I'm going to be honest with you.
I'm getting a little nervous about the time frame.
This will be a ton of work.
CHARLES: Getting scary.
MEGHAN: I woke up so excited today to do
the second tier of the walls.
But it doesn't look like that's going to happen.
So instead of working today, we're going to go hunker down
and see what the storm brings us.
We really had to catch up, fill forms, finish walls.
But the weather, in spite of the forecast, had other plans.
We're hunkering down for another cold, long night.
And I am tired.
And I don't just mean tonight.
I mean, I am a little weary at this halfway point.
And I guess I'm at the doldrums, at the point
where I realize we did ask ourselves what could go wrong?
We need to pick up the pace.
[music playing]
Don't walk out there.
You can't see the steps.
There will be no rammed earth for the next few days,
I don't think.
Seems like I've been away for a million years.
And I'm going to go see what the damage is.
It sure is beautiful out here.
But boy, am I worried about our walls still being up and intact
because we got a ton of snow.
[music playing]
Seems like I've been away for a million years.
And I'm going to go see what the damage is.
I just got to the job site for the first time
since the big snowstorm.
And some cute little deer tracks.
And in case anyone was wondering how the walls fared, ta da!
They did great.
Everything's fine.
Oh, what a relief this is.
I had no idea what to expect.
Thanking our lucky stars.
I am really glad the wall held up.
But the reality is we were behind before the storm hit,
and now, we are even more behind.
[music playing]
TOM: The last couple of weeks, we've really hit our stride
on the second level, being able to move forms faster,
and get through things faster.
And that just comes with experience.
MEGHAN: As far as our timeline, it's totally blown.
It's cold.
It's snowing all the time.
It's difficult. Woo, it's so windy.
TOM: Right.
MEGHAN: Almost there.
The monotony is getting pretty killer.
It's a lot of scooping dirt.
I think we all dream about dirt.
And at the point at which we get to be able to do something
else, I will be so happy.
TOM: We've had a couple of hands join us.
Jordan, who came to us through Charles, and then my nephew
Thomas is here from Texas.
We're excited to have them.
Good, healthy banks.
And they're helping with the heavy lifting.
MEGHAN: Yeah, I think their age combined is my age.
It's been great.
CHARLES: All right, Jordan.
Hurry up.
MEGHAN: I'D say these wind gusts are probably 40 miles per hour.
And it's creating more and more trouble the more it picks up.
TOM: It slows things down.
It makes things dangerous, especially
when we're working up high.
CHARLES: It's a special kind of hell
while it's blowing in your face and sandblasting
you and exfoliating your skin.
MEGHAN: OK, it's ready to--
TOM: Almost.
MEGHAN: It's going to be kind of difficult. Hold it steady.
TOM: Uh-huh, I know.
Dealing with the material in the wind, particularly the forms,
if you're not careful, wind can catch them
and, yeah, they take off like a kite.
MEGHAN: OK, I'll take that from you.
CHARLES: All right, you guys.
Be careful.
The wind's ripping now.
All right?
MEGHAN: Got a gust coming.
Be careful.
Watch out!
Oh, watch out!
[interposing voices]
[music playing]
Hold it steady, you know?
TOM: Dealing with the material in the wind, particularly
the forms, if you're not careful, wind you catch them,
and yeah, they take off like a kite.
CHARLES: All right, you guys.
Be careful.
The wind's ripping now.
All right?
MEGHAN: Got a gust coming. Be careful.
TOM: Oh.
MEGHAN: Watch out!
[interposing voices]
TOM: Goodness.
Wow.
MEGHAN: Ta-da!
TOM: You all right?
CHARLES: See, it'll kill you if you're on the wrong side.
MEGHAN: Did you get splinters?
Normally, we'd probably just shut it down and go home.
But we don't have that kind of time.
Tonight, we're going to work until the sun goes down.
We'll be back at or before you sun up
and just keep on going until we're where we need to be.
Winter's coming.
Whether we're ready or not, we've got to get it done.
[music playing]
The last few days, we wrapped up all the dirt walls and the
rammed earth and everything.
And we're moving on to carpentry now.
And it's a really good feeling to be at this point.
The original plan was to do a symmetrical build
out of completely rammed earth.
But due to winter coming and some other factors,
we've gone with a custom wood corner and another 45
degree angle wood corner and a whole back wall
that is half wood.
And I think we're actually pretty happy with the way
it's turning out.
We've got about a week left to finish our build.
And while I feel good and optimistic about it,
it's down to the wire.
We've really got to get on it to get this finished.
Today is an exciting day because we begin the roof.
And we're going to start with putting up
columns in the form of logs that Charles
brought from his property.
CHARLES: All right, now you can get down below and line it up.
I'll lift it.
You got to line up the hole.
OK, watch your fingers.
OK, who's up?
You want to get up there?
JORDAN: Yeah.
OK, over the top.
You got to screw it in.
Another windy day in paradise just like we wanted.
Great job, boys.
We just set our first post together.
And I guess we can get this other one done now.
Woo!
Did you see that?
The wind just blew me almost off the ladder that way.
[drilling]
The next step is to put the timber beam up across here.
And that consists of six beams that
are sitting out front that we will have to assemble
and put from side to side.
Jordan, here, you want to grab the impactor
and start running these three inches in?
I'm going to check my phone.
[drilling]
[music playing]
CHARLES: That was a message from my mom.
She's doing OK, but she's in the hospital.
Lots of stuff going on in Charles's life.
Mom's in the hospital in Florida.
And I really don't have the means to go see her.
So worried about mom.
Worried about getting this stuff done.
And that's why my head's not right here.
If it's OK with you guys at this point in time during the day,
I think I'd like to take off back towards Crestone.
And sorry we didn't get a little bit further.
But we got close.
MEGHAN: Building out here, it's offered its own host
of unexpected challenges for each and every one of us
in different ways.
Today was our main carpenter in chief's
day to have a difficult one.
CHARLES: Tom and Meghan are great.
And I hate disappointing them.
They've been good for me.
Good people.
MEGHAN: It's been a tough day.
The whole build's been a tough build.
You know?
Every step of the way, it's been difficult.
If it's not one thing, it's another.
But I'm not here to complain.
I'm here to get it done.
You got to keep your eyes on the prize and on the finish line.
And that's what we're here to do until we're finished.
[music playing]
CHARLES: LOTS of stuff going on in Charles's life.
Mom's in the hospital.
And that's when my head's not right here.
Sorry we didn't get a little bit further.
But we got close.
MEGHAN: Charles left today.
He's going to go regroup.
In the meantime, we're going to keep doing what we do.
Now, it's Tom, me, and Thomas to put up this beam.
And I feel like three of us, we'll find out whether or not
we can get the beam up.
Every step of the way, it's been difficult.
If it's not one thing, it's another.
But I'm not here to complain.
I'm here to get it done.
I don't feel too great about the sunlight.
I don't think it's going to last very long.
But we'll keep going until we can't.
TOM: All right.
You ready?
As we slide it in, or at any point when
we get up on the scaffolding with it, if it starts to fall,
let it fall.
It's going to be heavy.
MEGHAN: Got you, coach.
TOM: OK. MEGHAN: All right.
TOM: You ready?
THOMAS: Meghan.
Meghan.
TOM: OK, good.
MEGHAN: Are we right heavy?
TOM: Yeah.
Yep.
MEGHAN: Oh my God.
So scared.
TOM: All right, ready?
Nice.
All right.
All right, ready?
MEGHAN: Oh, God.
Please be careful.
You want me to help you?
No, I got it I think.
MEGHAN: Please do not let it drop.
Please.
Oh, God. I need a beer.
TOM: All right.
MEGHAN: OK.
TOM: Now, I'm just going to tap it down.
[tapping]
TOM: There it goes.
MEGHAN: I feel really good.
It's up.
It's sturdy.
I'll admit, I was scared out of my wits
for every step of the process, from lifting
it out there to bringing it in.
But it's up.
And it's a huge relief.
I feel great.
I'm going to go home and eat a steak.
I think that we'll sleep better tonight than we
have in a couple of weeks.
MEGHAN: It's been a really busy couple of weeks.
We've gotten the roof up.
We've gotten the windows in and most of the interiors finished.
It's been some long days and some long nights,
but we've got a lot of work to show for it.
I think it looks beautiful.
And I'm really excited about it.
Oh.
You need some help?
TOM: Loosey goosey.
MEGHAN: Tom's task for the day is putting the door in,
which should be an hour job.
But considering these dirt walls,
it could be quite a while.
There's nothing that's pre-plumbed or you standard.
So everything is custom fit.
Just going to have to use a little more elbow manipulation.
MEGHAN: I'm working on finishing at the fireplace.
We've got the bricks in place and everything else.
And we need a way to divert the smoke out of the house.
So I built the frame out of rebar and lathe.
And now, the same exact mix that the walls are made out of
is going around it to create the hood.
And then we'll put the stovepipe, and that'll be it.
So this is a fireplace and a cooktop.
On the other side, we've got this stainless thing we
had fabricated down in Texas.
And it passed tests.
And we were able to warm some things up on it.
So I think it'll be good.
From literally the very first day we were here,
we've had to battle with the weather.
It's been insane.
Like tomorrow, snow's coming again for what?
The fourth, 400th time?
I don't know anymore.
But we're up against it all the time.
So we've got to get this thing done.
All right!
You did it!
TOM: We're dried in.
MEGHAN: We're dried in.
Good job, babe.
MEGHAN: Here it goes.
About 70% of the smoke's going up.
And we haven't even sealed it.
So that's great.
MEGHAN: It's going to be a long night.
But it doesn't have to be as cold.
TOM: I'm looking forward to resting at some point.
But with what we have in front of us tonight,
we're going to continue to go and use--
MEGHAN: Lots of coffee-- - --for sure.
And faith.
[laughing] - And faith.
And hope.
TOM: Building this place, I feel like I've lived
and died 100 lives so far.
[music playing]
MEGHAN: I don't think words can adequately describe
how happy I am to be finished.
I'm happy and sad.
I mean--
- It's bittersweet. - It is.
It was long build.
And we went through a lot of challenges.
MEGHAN: But we're at the finish line.
TOM: Yeah, we are.
We made it.
[music playing]
TOM: Our original budget was $20,000.
We came in right around 18,500.
The original timeline was seven weeks.
And we came in at 13 weeks.
Our friend Jenny is coming to see the house first.
And then shortly thereafter, the kids will arrive.
Our first guest.
TOM: I know.
Hey, Jenny.
MEGHAN: Hey.
Hola.
Welcome to the house awesome.
Awesome.
Beautiful.
MEGHAN: What do you think?
JENNY: It's just amazing.
TOM: Yeah.
JENNY: Is that cement or just mud in the--
MEGHAN: It's a little bit of both.
TOM: It's about 10% Portland cement.
And the rest is a little bit of water and dirt.
You rarely see inside?
JENNY: Ah!
What?
Oh, wow.
Oh my God. That is so--
MEGHAN: What do you think?
That's-- it's so cool.
It's just awesome.
This is so beautiful.
Where did this happen?
TOM: Oh, this is--
MEGHAN: Tom and Charles made it.
JENNY: Wow.
Did he cut this?
Did he cut the--
TOM: Yeah.
This all came-- [interposing voices]
TOM: Came from his mill. Yeah.
How cool is that?
Wow.
MEGHAN: Recognize that thing?
JENNY: I do.
That came out of my 100-year-old house.
You just made it so cool.
TOM: Meghan did a great job with it.
JENNY: You did a great job.
MEGHAN: Thank you.
You made it live again.
You gave it a second life.
MEGHAN: I love it.
JENNY: So where's your water come from?
MEGHAN: So that's a barrel pump.
And it's an actual old school pump.
And it's connected to our water tote in the back of the house.
And eventually, we'll bury a cistern.
But that's what we have for now.
Good view.
Beautiful view. TOM: Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
It's incredible.
JENNY: It's incredible.
This is amazing.
Can you actually cook on this?
CHARLES: Oh, yeah.
It's our main heat source.
Ooh, it's hot. It's hot.
Right? Yeah.
JENNY: It's nice that it's in the center so it's--
THOMAS: Yeah. JENNY: -- making the heat.
MEGHAN: Yeah, the central location
goes-- it's a pass through fireplace,
so it warms the front part.
And then the two bedroom doors are open to it.
So it warms the whole house.
JENNY: And what are you doing for electricity?
Right now, we're running off the generator.
MEGHAN: Solar panels forthcoming.
TOM: Yes. JENNY: Yeah.
MEGHAN: Probably in the spring.
JENNY: Yeah.
So you'll have batteries and--
TOM: Yeah. - All that.
And panels.
Once we learn what it takes.
[laughing]
JENNY: Cool, I want to see the bedroom.
MEGHAN: This is the kids' room.
JENNY: Oh, wow.
So cute.
Cosy!
TOM: Eventually, we're going to build some bunks for them.
MEGHAN: Yeah, we'll do three and three, you know?
JENNY: So this is your bedroom here with these beautiful--
It's like a tent, kind of?
Yeah.
MEGHAN: We figured we wouldn't have much privacy either way.
So we just went with something that you
can see light through, diffuse light and warmth, hopefully.
All right, so here is our en suite bathroom.
JENNY: It's close by to the bedroom.
Couldn't be closer.
JENNY: Cool, so you have a septic tank.
So that goes down the septic.
[interposing voices]
JENNY: And that is the cutest shower ever.
Check out the living room.
MEGHAN: All right.
TOM: Yeah.
JENNY: Nice.
Did you paint that?
MEGHAN: I did. JENNY: Really?
Wow.
And you have the dirt floor.
MEGHAN: Eventually, we'll probably
level it out and do tile.
JENNY: Oh, OK.
MEGHAN: But for now, this will work.
JENNY: I love that this house is built from the earth.
I have a deep place in my heart where
that just feels like the right thing to do,
to build out of the Earth.
I've done it.
It's hard.
And they have persevered.
And I'm so proud of them.
MEGHAN: We came through it.
We and our marriage is still intact.
So that's a good thing.
And we do intend to renew our vows out here.
It's been pretty magical.
TOM: We're looking forward to making more memories.
AVA: Every day I think about the first day we spent here.
TOM: Yeah.
It wasn't that long ago.
But it feels like a long time ago.
And all the snow.
Yeah.
[laughing]
TOM: And I'm so glad you guys could see it.
In the long run, we can look back and say
that the build didn't beat us.
That we ended up on top.
MEGHAN: Woo!
TOM: It's a cool feeling, you know?
[fire crackling]