[Shalina] We are building three A-frames
on very intricate terrain, I guess, you could say.
We're gonna do this all ourself?
- We're really gonna do this? - We have to.
[Shalina] If you can't get the supplies here,
you can't get the supplies here.
I don't feel so strong anymore.
I need to sit down.
Oh, no!
[Ben] They're real bad. We can't use those.
[Shalina] We're just gonna have to do double work now.
[Ben] That is not good.
[Shalina] I feel like there's just been nothing but setbacks.
We're not making any progress at all.
[Ben] Completely unnecessary.
[Shalina] Super frustrating.
The build has just shaken our faith.
This is ridiculous.
[Ben] It's about to start pouring on us.
It's a mess.
[Ben] Here's the rain. We just need to hustle.
The day we've been dreading.
You just cannot get hurt.
- I'm kinda losing it. - You're losing it?
[narrator] Are you ready to go off the gird?
[Shalina] See, this is gonna be good up here.
- Yeah, it clears up, up here. - Yeah.
- Let's go this way. - I like that big tree back there.
There are a lot of rocks.
[Shalina] There is a lot of rock.
[Narissa] You do have a problem with all the cactuses, though.
We cleared up this tree, this would be like a good spot.
So, we're building on
very intricate terrain, I guess, you could say.
[chuckles] The terrain kinda changes from up and down,
there's water flows, there's lots of rocks and boulders
and lots of junipers and pinyons.
It gets very hot in summer
and very cold in the winter.
We have a lot of clay, and if there's any moisture at all,
it's a mess around here.
A lot of things to deal with.
[Joli] I mean, we're gonna have to clear out
all these rocks for sure.
It has some rocks and bushes,
but it's relatively flat.
- [Shalina] Yeah. - [Ben] Got nice views.
-[Ben] I'm Ben. -[Shalina] And I'm Shalina.
And we're building a home in southwest Colorado.
We're building 40 minutes southeast of Durango in southern Colorado.
[Ben] We're newlyweds.
My wife is very bubbly
and easy to get along with most of the time.
Ben is very grounding to me.
I would probably float through life
like a little butterfly... [laughs]
and get lost sometimes.
But he really keeps me grounded.
Usually, she has an idea,
she tells me, I freak out about it,
and then figure out how to make it happen.
Which is how life should be.
It's okay to freak out, you just gotta move on.
We're gonna predominantly build this ourselves,
but the kids are gonna help.
Joli who is 19 and Narissa is 11.
[Joli] I like the view,
got a nice view of snow caps.
We chose this property because it's far enough out
that you really get a lot of privacy
because we're afar from town,
and it's something that we love.
[Ben] It's rugged and beautiful,
- that's why we chose it. - Yeah.
Last year, we built an off grid property for Joli
and this year, we are building a house for us.
So, I can envision something really large here.
'Cause the main A-frame
is gonna be the sleep area for us and Narissa.
- [Ben] Mm-hmm. - So, then your kitchen area would be there.
We're going to build a home
that consists of three separate A-frame structures.
The central one will be the largest
and will be our main bedroom
with a log bed for Narissa.
To the right, we're gonna have a guest bedroom,
and to the left will be our game room.
The main focus of this home
will be an outdoor living scenario
with a deck for a kitchen and a living area
and an outdoor bathroom.
[Ben] We're gonna use wool insulation on the main cabin.
We're gonna use some solar.
We will pump our water to a tank from down the hill,
and then just a simple composting toilet and a solar shower.
I think the whole point of this build
is togetherness with separation.
So, we have our spaces together,
but then there's also separation
that's through the outdoors.
And the small buildings allow us to, like,
tuck in the trees and not disturb,
so it's gonna be very Zen, very built into nature.
[Shalina] We're building three A-frames
that will be 800 square feet.
Our timeline is eight weeks to build them
and our budget is $25,000.
We're feeling excited and a little nervous.
- I'm way more excited than him. - [both laugh]
We have to come up with a way to get all those logs up here.
- [Joli] Pulley system? - You have to get everything up here.
Concrete.
There is no road to our build-site.
The closest we can get is to within about a 100 yards
and everything else has to be brought in by hand.
Feels like 100 miles to me. [chuckles]
[Ben] I think we need to establish a trail
down to the driveway.
[Shalina] How far is that?
- [Joli] Exactly. - [Ben] Pretty far.
Like, 100 yards.
You ready to move some rocks?
I like the view, I don't like rocks.
- You like the view but not the rocks. - [Narissa laughs]
[Ben] Let's get to it.
We wanna get, like, a three-foot wide path
this way.
So, this is all gonna have to be cleared rocks?
- Yeah. - [Shalina] Okay.
One down, 9,422 to go. [chuckles]
[Shalina] I would say that life is definitely harder
living off the grid,
but the rewards completely outweigh that.
And teaching our kids to live this way,
and just to know that you can live off of the land
and you can give back to the land.
And it helps us to live in moderation.
I just think it's a good way to live.
We've made it ten feet already.
[Narissa exclaims]
So, how many more to go?
- 300. - [Shalina chuckles]
Look at this one, it's like purple and glittery.
One of the biggest challenges for this build today
is that we're gonna be very distracted when we find rocks.
[Joli] Yeah. Like, we just found this quartz.
Nothing really too special,
but we kinda do go rock hunting sometimes
and we do see some pretty cool stuff out here.
Mom, come look at this. What is that?
- [Shalina] Ooh, where'd you find that? - Right there.
- Under the rocks? - Mm-hmm.
- [Ben] It's an arrowhead. - [Shalina] Whoa!
-[Ben] Nice find. -[Joli] Ah, super cool.
[Shalina] That's super cool, Narissa.
You need to keep that somewhere really safe, okay?
Put it up until we know what it is
and we can research it a little bit.
Put it in your pocket so you don't drop it somewhere.
- Okay. - Good job.
Does that mean I get to be done working for the day?
- No, ma'am. - [Narissa laughs]
[Ben] For the last two days, we've been working on a trail.
Just to get to the build site.
It's been a lot of work, lots of trees trimmed,
rocks to move.
[Shalina] This is our second day now,
and we're about halfway.
We've all this left to go.
We're gonna do this all ourself?
- We're really gonna do this? - We have to.
Huff all the lumber up here,
huff everything up here.
We don't absolutely have to huff all of them...
Oh, yeah, you got an idea?
Tomorrow at 5:00, we get to go get a donkey.
- We're getting a donkey? - [laughs]
Are we really gonna do this?
Tomorrow at 5:00, we get to go get a donkey.
- We're getting a donkey? - [laughs]
Okay.
I researched they're good at carrying things.
You got a lot of donkey training experience?
I bet there's some internet that can teach me something.
I guess I'm cool with the donkey
hauling stuff for me.
- You're on donkey duty. - That's all right.
- You're team donkey. - I'm team donkey.
- Yeah. - I can do that, that's a title.
- All right. - Well, it's for sure.
- You can't back out. - [Ben] Okay.
Donkeys live 30 years.
- Is this donkey, like, 25? - [both laugh]
[Shalina] Today, we're going to the local mill
which is about 20 miles away.
And we have talked to them about
wanting to get dimensional lumber
completely milled for the build.
[Ben] All this wood came from our county,
so it's all local.
It has a lot more character than anything
you're gonna buy at the hardware store.
We're paying our neighbor
instead of a big box store.
Have you started making some boards?
- Yeah, we're gonna start with those logs there. - These logs over here?
[Tyler] Yup, these were all from a fire,
- we cut 'em down to stop the fire. - Fire mitigation.
Fire mitigation, yeah.
- That's what these trees are all from? - [Tyler] Yes.
These were in the fire,
that's why you can see the black
on some of the bark and stuff like that.
Is that gonna give, like, some more cool detail
when we cut into them?
If you cut into them, you'll see a bunch of
cool colors come out of it 'cause of the fire.
I can't wait to cut these logs up
I'm excited about that now.
[Ben] We need 120 two-by-eighths, 45 two-by-fours.
It's a lot of wood.
- [Shalina] Look at that, I absolutely love that. - [Ben] Sweet.
That just went from a burnt tree to...
[Ben speaking]
So, the scraps they call them,
are some of my favorite pieces.
I am actually wanting to take them
because they're already really thin.
And just kinda shave 'em down a little bit
and use them as trim pieces
for the ceiling and the floors, baseboards,
just really add a lot of detail.
Look at that!
She gets just as excited about the scraps
- as the actual boards we're making. - I do.
I really do. [chuckles]
- No waste. - [both laugh]
-[Ben] Right on! -[Shalina] This looks great.
- Thank you so much for helping us. - Thanks, Tyler.
I really appreciate it.
This is so good, thank you so much.
It's a start, we'll come and get the rest.
- Sounds good. - You guys have it cut.
[Ben] Awesome, really appreciate you guys.
[Shalina] We're three weeks into the build right now,
and actually I feel really good
about where we are on the timeline.
[Ben] So, we have been pouring the piers.
We've got six of the 12 piers in,
so two of the building's done.
We done a lot of work, but it doesn't look like that there.
And just trying to figure out
still how to get everything up the trail
has been ridiculous.
We got some donkeys.
You ended up getting not one donkey, we got two donkeys.
You see, donkeys need a friend.
Come here, Ethel, come here, Lucy.
I named them Lucy and Ethel
and I love them so much. [laughs]
So, these donkeys have not carried anything
up the trail so far.
Well, this is true.
Come here, come here. Let me see your nose.
Because it takes time to bond with a donkey.
It's okay, come here.
They now have learned to
allow me to put their leash on.
And I am working up to putting the pack saddle on.
Can you come? Okay, all right. You're fine.
- They need a little bit of time. - Soon-ish?
Patience is key with donkeys and with me.
[chuckles]
[Ben] Even though we're waiting on the donkeys,
we can't wait on the work.
All the lumber has been delivered,
and we need to haul it up to the build site.
Do we need all of these, too?
No, we can probably leave those.
This is plenty to start.
[Shalina] Luckily, we have some extra hands today.
Our friends Mike and Angela
have stopped by to help out.
[Ben] We're gonna have to start huffing all this lumber up.
[Shalina] Oh, my goodness, we're not even to the hard part yet.
[Ben] It was a lot of heavy lifting over a couple of hours.
[Shalina] And it was mentally and physically exhausting.
[Ben] But we've managed to get all the material up
and build a foundation on our piers
before Mike and Angela have to head out.
That's perfect.
[Mike] All right, Ben, we gotta go.
[Shalina] Thank you.
The plan today is to put in all the brackets
and do the flooring, and to get the whole base finished
so that we can put the ridge beam in.
And then we'll start framing the ceiling roof.
- We got a lot to do today. - Mm-hmm.
[Ben] We really were relying on their help.
[Shalina] And now it's the two of us.
[Ben] Now it's the two of us today.
We have a lot to do.
Was hoping to put this ridge beam up
and then we can put tarp over it...
- Yeah. - and store all our stuff.
It can get wet...
- Yeah. - and that's gonna slow us down.
It's gonna be hard for two people to make a ridge beam happen.
Yeah, deck it and a ridge beam all in one day.
Well, we can at least get it decked and see how far we get.
Yeah, we got to fasten this down,
we'll get the corners,
and then we'll do these little rickety sides.
We'll need to get another socket
'cause these are bigger.
- What size are they? - Looks like three quarters.
Well, I think I can really make the process speedy
if you don't need me hammering and screwing with you, I can...
Yeah, you wanna drill holes?
- Yeah. - Okay.
- So, we at least got something going. - Yup.
Everything is lined up.
- Have we checked it out? - [Ben] Everything should be good.
Everything is good?
- [Ben] Yup. - Okay.
Oh, I think that your bit is bent.
Oh yeah, it sure is. [chuckles]
[Shalina] What just happened?
I don't know how you did that. [chuckles]
Yeah, I don't know if that's gonna do it.
That is not good, we have one more.
- I was holding it straight as I could. - [Ben] Yeah.
[Shalina] Maybe I was putting too much pressure.
So, you get to take over drilling the holes
'cause I don't wanna do that anymore.
I feel like there's just been nothing but setbacks today,
so, super frustrated.
[sniffles]
We woke up with this really awesome plan
to make everything streamline.
We lost our help.
I broke a bit, we only have one left.
We don't have the right parts to put the screws in.
So, it's like we're not making any progress at all.
And I don't know how to make it happen.
The plan today is to put in all the brackets
and do the flooring.
Oh, I think that your bit is bent.
[Ben] Yeah, I don't know if that's going to do it.
That is not good. We have one more.
[Shalina] Maybe I was putting too much pressure.
I feel like there's just been nothing but setbacks today,
so, super frustrated. [sniffles]
But I know it will come back up,
I just have to shift my perception right now.
I have to look at this like a learning experience
of how Ben and I get to get through this struggle
and figure out
how to make it work no matter what's happened.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
[Shalina] Back on track. Ben and I rallied
and we've installed all the brackets and floorboards.
- We have a deck. - We should square dance tonight.
Oh, we'll square dance?
So, sure enough, we're wrapping up the deck today,
and here walks in Marvin, which was such a blessing.
- Hi, Marvin. - Hey, how are you guys?
- Thanks for coming. - You're welcome.
You guys need a little help?
- We need a lot of help. - [all laughing]
We want to put up the ridge beam and couple of rafters.
Luckily for us,
we were able to put the call out in this community.
And it's such a wonderful community
that people are very open and willing to come and help.
- How many of these long ones do we need? - Three.
Imagine you want the straightest ones possible, right.
[Shalina] I would think so.
[Ben] Straight is great.
This one looks pretty good.
- [Shalina] Come down. - [Ben] Down.
- [Shalina] There. - Okay.
This is how tall it's gonna be.
How do you feel about that?
- Well, I want it even taller. - So, toss it.
It is. Let's do that on another one.
Just hoping there's no wind. [chuckles]
[Ben] So, we'll lock the boards up, you and I.
Set it up there, have tails go on each side,
and then we'll bracket it up there,
get those secure on the center line.
Okay, I'm gonna let go for a sec. Gotta get this.
Soon as we got up, the wind starts blowing. [chuckles]
Yeah, it's a little nerve racking right now.
Because-- Well, once it's nailed in, it'll be fine.
Hopefully, no more wind. [laughs]
[Ben] Yeah, it's a little precarious how it is now
there's some wiggle to it.
So, we really want to get these rafters in very, very soon.
It's the birth of an A-frame.
[Shalina laughs]
[Ben] We got rain coming tomorrow.
We should tarp everything,
get the tools out of here,
get the concrete covered, be done with today.
- I am ready to be done with today. - [Ben laughs]
I am super done, I am super tired and super hot.
So am I. That's a day.
- [Marvin] All right. - [Shalina] Sounds great.
[Shalina] Over the last couple of weeks,
we finished up the first A-frame
and we moved on to the second.
But just as we started to make great progress,
here comes the rain.
[thunder rumbling]
[Shalina] I'm sitting out here
after we just finished tarping.
The house is down.
We're supposed to be putting up sheathing today, so we can do the roofing
and be prepared for the insulation this weekend.
And it's been pouring rain for the past 11 hours
and it's not supposed to stop for another 24 hours.
So, we're in a really big bind
and we kinda don't know what to do.
It's a mess.
[thunder rumbling]
[Shalina] It's been pouring rain for the past 11 hours
and it's not supposed to stop for another 24 hours.
So, we're in a really big bind
and we kinda don't know what to do.
[Ben] We lost several days
of what was gonna be a big push on the build,
so we didn't get as far as we hoped to.
I think we've been pretty frustrated this week.
The build has just kind of thrown us for a loop,
and it's kinda shaken our faith tiny bit
more than we wanted it to.
And we fell pretty far behind, so it's stressful.
[Ben] So, it looks like our rickety tarp shelter
kept everything dry.
Yeah, these aren't wet at all.
- It's just a little damp there, but... - [Ben] Yeah.
But I think we can get ready for insulation.
Yeah, let's do this wall.
Do this wall, all right.
[grunts]
[Shalina] So, the next project that we have
is putting in the wall insulation.
[Ben] We have two 300-pound bales of wool
and we gotta get 'em up the hill.
And the only way to do that is to roll them up.
100 yards inclined, curving. It's fine.
I don't feel so strong anymore. [grunts]
I started out great.
[Ben] You good? [straining]
[both panting]
[Shalina] We need one more flip
because it's got to be up.
- There you go. - [grunts]
- [Shalina] Okay. - [Ben] All right.
I need to sit down.
What's this stuff for again?
So, this is gonna be our insulation.
It's safe, it's eco-friendly.
It's gonna be super healthy and warm.
It's a natural alternative to fiberglass.
- We ready to start getting ready to put it in. - Think so.
Today, we have Gabriel and Mary coming in.
And they're going to help us get the mesh up-right
and get the insulation all blown in.
- Yeah! - [Shalina] Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.
[all laughing]
[Shalina] We need one of those.
[Ben] Because of the weather delay,
we weren't able to get the roof ceiling on.
So, we're having to do an extra layer of mesh
which is completely unnecessary.
[Shalina] It's just part of building out here where we live.
If you can't get the supplies here,
you can't get the supplies here.
We're just gonna have to do double the work now,
which is like every other process of our house.
So, the insulation comes in these 300-pound bags,
it's very compacted.
And they're gonna be getting the insulation
and kinda fluffing it and separating it,
and shooting it into the leaf blower.
[Ben] The other person who has the hose on the other end
is blowing it in the base
and filling each up and moving on to the next.
- [Shalina] So simple. - It's pretty cool.
After you blow it, it gets springy.
- [Ben] Yeah. - It is relaxed, so if you compress it,
it comes back to its shape.
- [Ben] Oh! - [Shalina chuckles]
[Gabriel] Yeah, that's why it won't settle over time.
Actually, it will grow within two or three weeks.
It will grow, like, 20 percent more.
That's a pretty slick system, I like that.
I think this was an amazing idea,
I loved everything about the insulation piece to it,
and I don't think I'll ever use
another kind of insulation again.
It's really great.
I don't know why everybody's not doing it.
[Shalina] Over the past week,
we've been working on putting up a third A-frame
and getting everything ready to roof.
We've been very busy.
So, we're getting down to the last of our wood supply,
and we left the curvy ones for last
and they're real bad.
Like, look at that thing. We can't use those.
[Shalina] How many more two-by-fours do we need still?
[Ben] We need like 12 more
for the rafters on the last one
which is troublesome
'cause I think we're gonna be down to the wire
to finish the kitchen.
[Shalina] That's not even gonna be enough.
[Ben] We don't have any more long ones.
[Shalina] This is ridiculous.
[Ben] So, we're getting down to the last of our wood supply
and we left the curvy ones for last,
and they're real bad.
[Shalina chuckles]
We have three structures,
two and a half are up.
And we still have an outdoor kitchen to build
and an outdoor bathroom.
And I don't know how we're gonna do it.
Our boards dried really fast
and we should have let 'em dry longer.
But we just had to, we had to use 'em.
And it's where we're at, it's what we have to deal with.
[Shalina] Yeah and we didn't really know how to cure it
when we first got it.
We had them with stickers between them
and they were starting to curve.
So, then we strapped them all together
to where they would be flatter,
and then they start to mold.
Then we had to pull them back apart and lay 'em out,
and then it got really hot
and they just kinda whoop!
But we also have to utilize
every inch of lumber we have.
So, we got to use every stick,
even the crooked ones.
I think we're gonna have to rip two-by-eights into two-by-fours.
We've learned how to board manipulate,
- so we have a new task to add to our resume. - Yeah, we're pretty good.
So, we're just going up in the world. [chuckles]
We're gonna frame up the front wall
in the insulated house today.
Try to get the window in above the door
and start getting the Aspen siding going up.
We have Brian who has come in to help us
finish getting insulation done and finish framing.
Ben is working on getting the window frames in.
We got a window.
And we have Joli always helping.
I am making the doors to the main house.
And trying to make 'em look like they're old barn-style doors
versus a fresh piece of wood.
Distressing them is quite a tedious process.
It's basically five different layers
of different colors of stain.
And each layer, you sand it back down to the grain
and you do a new one.
And eventually, all those layers come up into one.
And it's...
It's this whole process of a new look.
It gonna take a lot of time,
but I know it will be worth it.
Now it's time to install the Aspen siding.
I'm cutting these boards and Shalina is putting them on the front wall
of the insulated cabin.
In order to salvage our warped and cracked boards,
what I'm trying to do instead of having one really short, fat board,
I'll chalk a line,
run that down, then we'll have
a decent board with that thickness.
And I'll do the same thing on this side,
trying to get as much of this board as I can
because we don't have a lot of this.
This process, it adds more time 'cause their rips are long cuts,
the saw batteries die quicker.
But it's absolutely crucial
for us to have enough wood to finish this siding.
[Shalina] We got the Aspen siding up, it looks great.
And now we get to put the doors in place
and see if they work.
So, the doors are going to function like barn doors
and they'll hang on a railing system.
Boop, boop.
[Shalina] And that's very space saving
because instead of opening in or out of the house,
it's just gonna slide over.
So, we needed as much space as we could everywhere.
I wanna see how far they come together.
And so when they open, I wanna see how far they open out.
- Okay, on one go. - Watch your hand.
So, that's how far they open.
But they'll be up a little higher.
- Yeah, 'cause they'll be hanging. - They look pretty.
I love it. Ta-da!
I love the doors, they look fantastic in my opinion.
I think they're gonna look really good
when we get all of the hardware on.
They look sweet.
This is coming together looking like a house.
- Good job! Thank you! - [Brian] Yeah.
Our timeline is eight weeks for the build,
and we're about six weeks in.
Feeling a little bit stressed.
We have a lot to do still, I mean a lot.
[Shalina] And we still have an outdoor kitchen to build,
and an outdoor bathroom to build.
And I don't know how we're gonna do it,
but we'll make it happen.
So, one thing we decided to add
at the last minute was a tree net,
which is basically gonna be a roped platform between trees,
and I think it will be super fun.
So, basically, what we're doing here is we're making a tree net.
You can see here we're using this static rope
for our outside framing.
And then we come back through with a parachute cord.
And that's how we kinda make all of our fun patterns
and different designs and themes and stuff like that.
[Ben] Wow, look at this thing.
[Shalina] Whoa! This is amazing.
Definitely exceeded my ideas and expectations for sure.
[Ben] Let's see how we feel about these,
let's give 'em a test lift.
The day we've been dreading since the beginning,
the beam day.
Getting beams up the hill.
By far the heaviest thing we got to get up there.
Assume we just lift it.
Yeah, we just got to pick 'em up
and see if we think we can do it.
[Shalina] So, the latest on the donkeys.
Come on. You can do it.
The donkeys need just a little bit more training.
- Just a little? - Just a teeny tiny.
[Ben] They're almost ready.
We think they weigh 300-400 pounds.
- Well, I don't think I can do it. - Yeah, you can.
These are eight-by-eight beams,
they're about 14, 15-feet long,
and it's just the two of us.
One, two, three.
[Shalina grunts]
Yeah, that's a lot of beam to get up the hill.
No way.
What do you think about trying one of these Aspen beams?
- Okay, I can try to lift that and see. - Yeah.
- That's a lot lighter. - I can lift this one.
Okay.
Let's come up with a plan
and then we'll start bringing these up.
Well, what's the plan?
I think I'll get on that end
and we'll carry 'em like this,
so you don't hurt your shoulder.
I'm working with a torn rotator cuff,
and so I'm really not supposed to
lift my arm above my shoulder height.
[Ben] You just cannot get hurt.
[Shalina] We can't afford that anyway,
not financially, not physically,
we just, we don't have the option for any mistakes today.
This is heavy enough.
I don't know how we're gonna do these beams.
Almost just fell.
- [Shalina] What fell? - I almost fell.
-[Shalina] You almost fell? -Yeah, for real.
[Shalina] Oh, no. Are you good going backwards?
Do you wanna turn it to the hip?
- Oh, I'm fine. - [Shalina] Oh, this is ridiculous.
- This actually kinda hurts. - [Ben] This is heavy.
[Shalina] This is the bad part of the trail
this is where I can barely get up walking,
let alone carrying something.
Ooh, watch out. [grunts]
You're okay?
[Shalina] Well, I feel like...
My glove's kinda slipping.
Hold on. Slow down
'cause I'm kinda losing it.
- I'm kinda losing it. - [Ben] You're losing it?
- [thuds] - [Shalina yells]
- This is heavy enough. - Yeah.
I don't know how we're gonna do these beams.
Ben and I have decided to take
the Aspen beam up the trail,
and it's a lot heavier than I expected it to be.
-I almost fell. -[Shalina] You almost fell?
- Yeah, for real. - [Shalina] Oh, no.
If we don't get these beams up the hill today,
we won't have a kitchen or a living area.
- You're doing okay? - Well, I feel like...
My glove's kinda slipping.
- I'm kinda losing it. - [Ben] You're losing it?
[Shalina yells]
- You okay? - Yeah.
I can feel my hands slipping
and the glove is slipping,
so we decide we kinda have to abort...
[laughs] ...the carrying of the beam.
We can't do this by ourselves.
- No. - I can't help you with these.
- And this is the easy one. - Yeah.
Her and I can't do these beams,
so we're just...
We gotta call in friends and family to come help us.
[Shalina] Every little delay sets us back
and it's very frustrating.
There they are!
- Hey! - Hello, what's up guys?
So, my sister Amanda and our friends Mike and Brian
just showed up to help us out and we are elated.
[all grunt]
[Ben] We have to get these beams up today
'cause we don't have help everyday
and her and I can't do it.
And we can't make any progress
on the kitchen without them.
[all grunt]
[Ben] Last one is the hardest.
- [sighs in relief] - Nice work.
Fellas.
[Shalina] The past couple of weeks,
we've made a lot of progress.
We have the roofing done.
The third A-frame is up.
And we finally got all the beams up to the kitchen space.
We're down to the final push,
we still have a little bit of stuff to do.
Hopefully, we can get everything done.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. There's a rock here.
[Ben] We're finishing putting up the last two rafters
on the kitchen today,
and then the roof will be complete.
[Shalina] Oh gosh, I don't know where you want me to go.
- [Ben] Put it up. - It's far from the thing.
Okay.
Hey, the rafters look good. What's next?
Uh, we can pull the shade cloth across.
[Shalina] Get down.
All right, we have shade.
Shade is key.
- I love that. - Nice work.
Good job.
I feel really good about where we're at right now,
but there's still so much to do.
One really cool feature we got in this build
is the solar oven.
With the solar oven,
the key is to make sure
it has full sunlight all day.
So, we put it in a place where it has great sun.
And also lined it with a thermal insulation
that actually attracts the sun,
and so it causes it to have really good heat collection
inside of this box.
Zero fuel.
- Finished. - Trimmed out
ready to cook some brisket.
Yeah, that looks nice.
[Shalina] Loving it.
[Ben] We're completely off grid.
We're relying on solar for electricity
in the main cabin for all the lights.
It's a very little panel for this system.
We got to finish that today.
I'm just gonna put magnets on it
and put it on this A-frame.
That's south facing, should be good sun.
Little super glue and stick it up there.
You can test it, babe.
The little light on the wall comes on.
Does it work?
So, we have light on all of 'em.
- It's all working? - Yeah, we're good to go.
- All right, let's do something else. - [Shalina] All right.
[Ben] It's about to start pouring on us, I think.
We just need to hustle.
We should put the sink in.
We were working on putting the sink in
and the skies were getting pretty dark.
[thunder rumbling]
[Shalina] And then it started to rain.
[Ben] Here's the rain.
[thunderclap]
All right. Ugh, ugh!
[Ben] It just unleashed on us.
We just had to stop.
Lost time there.
It is down to the wire
and we just got to push through to get it finished.
[thunder rumbling]
We are finally done with the build and we nailed it.
It looks amazing and it's beyond our expectations.
[Ben] What a weight off our shoulders, we feel so good.
We're so proud of what we got done, just elated.
- We did it, again. - Yeah.
Our budget was $25,000
and we actually came under budget at $20,000.
[Ben] Which is super exciting.
[Shalina] Our original timeline was eight weeks
and we ended up finishing in ten due to bad weather.
And some lazy, spoiled donkeys. [laughs]
Today, we have Liz and Jalynn coming.
They're some friends of the family
and we're very excited for them to see our home.
Oh, my gosh!
- Hi. - This is amazing!
[Ben] Here it is in the flesh.
[Liz] Oh, my gosh, it's beautiful.
- [Ben] You guys wanna see the kitchen? - [Liz] Absolutely.
[Shalina] Just follow the path.
Oh, my gosh, this is beautiful.
- [Jalynn] I love how open it is. - [Liz] What's this?
That is our solar oven.
[Liz] Oh, my gosh, that's so--
- [Jalynn] Does it actually get hot? - [Shalina] Yeah,
it's 200 degrees right now.
[Liz] This whole place is beautiful.
- And the sink. - [all laughing]
[Shalina] We have a foot pump sink
so there's always water.
That's brilliant. Did you guys mill these beams?
[Shalina] We did, we had those milled.
[Ben] And then we huffed them up the hill.
-[Shalina] Dropped a couple. -[all laugh]
[Liz] Oh, my gosh, they're beautiful.
Good work, I'm so proud of you.
-Thank you. Thank you. -It looks great.
And swings.
[Jalynn] These are so sweet.
[Liz] This is my favorite kitchen I've ever been in.
I'm not even kidding, who has swings in their kitchen.
You guys wanna see one of the A-frames?
- Absolutely. - [Ben] All light, let's go see 'em.
[Jalynn] I'm blown away, these look gorgeous.
[Ben] This is A-frame number one.
- Lovely. - [Liz] It is so stinking cute...
and beautiful at the same time.
Why don't you go on in inside.
- [Liz] This is so nice. - [Jalynn] Ooh, this is comfy.
I love all the sunlight in here.
[Liz] I love the clear panel.
[Ben] Yeah, the clear was Shalina's idea, to let more light in.
It would be amazing to be in here in a thunderstorm.
We got to experience that. [laughs]
You did really good.
Well, y'all still have a lot more to see.
Let's see it.
[Liz] Ooh, these doors are different, they look amazing.
-[Shalina] They're barn doors. -[Liz] I love the wood.
This is all rough sawn lumber
from trees grown in this county.
And all the windows we got were reclaimed windows.
[Shalina] Got those off of an old vintage camper.
You guys should check it out.
[Jalynn] It's made out of something different in here, what is it?
[Shalina] This is bamboo,
and then it's insulated with wool.
This is beautiful.
[Jalynn] I bet it will keep it cool, too.
- What's this? - [Shalina] So, that is our power.
That runs the lights above
that controls everything to charge your phone and listen to music.
[Liz] You got a loft here. Oh, my gosh.
- [Shalina] That's Narissa's little loft. - [Liz] Good work.
So, we have one more for you lot to see.
[Jalynn] Sweet.
[Ben] And so, this is the twin to A-frame number one,
but it has a different purpose.
Why don't you walk in, check it out?
Check it out, okay. [chuckles]
- [Liz] Oh my gosh, this is cute. - [Jalynn] Oh, wow.
[Liz] It's a game room.
[Shalina] Nice and cozy, comfy game room.
[Liz] It's lovely, I'm very impressed.
Would y'all like to see the bathroom?
Yeah, where's the bathroom? [laughs]
- This way. - The bathroom's right this way.
Oh, my gosh, it's tropical!
Wow, perfect!
-[Jalynn] Cute. This is so interesting. -You have a shower.
[Shalina] We have a little shower.
- Composting toilet. - [all chuckle]
I like it. And I love the floor.
[Shalina] We wanted it to be a living floor.
And the cool thing is every time you use the shower,
the water actually wets the moss,
and it feels so good on your feet.
- [Liz] What is all this? - [all laughs]
It's a tree net.
- Do y'all wanna get in it? - Yeah.
- [Shalina] Okay, let me show you. - Yes, obviously.
[Shalina] So, you'll go through the entry of the tree.
[Jalynn] I love that it's right up the tree.
Wow.
- This is awesome. - [Jalynn laughs]
Okay, okay, I'm joining.
[Liz] Just imagining, like, lean up here looking at the stars.
Yes.
[Liz] This is awesome. I might have to be adopted.
This is beyond what I could have pictured for her,
and so I'm super happy for her.
You have a talent.
And you guys are a great team. It's incredible.
Ben and Shalina's place is so inspiring.
Not a lot of people could do this.
[Shalina] We nailed it.
- You nailed it. - [all laughing]
[Ben] Much like building off the grid is a challenge,
working with your partner can be a challenge, too.
But we came together as a team
and we got the job done,
and the end result is beautiful.
And we're very happy with it.
Ready to party, dude?
[Shalina] I'm very excited
because now we have a place to actually entertain
our family and our friends,
and that feels really awesome to me.
We're all still together,
but we have our own space
- to still have some privacy. - A hangout area.
Yeah, I love that.
Building off the grid was super challenging
but in the end, we pulled it off
and we're very happy with how it turned out.