Progress at Stephenson Castle

I received a note from the folks over at Stephenson Castle, there are some new photos on the site featuring the build progress. Doesn't look too far from being dried in and ready for some finish work! Happy holidays and Merry Christmas to all the castle dreamers and builders out there.

Slow progress, but progress...

Survey completed.  Took a while, but we had some unfortunate difficulty with a simple thing like a cashier's check from the bank that the surveyor's bank wouldn't accept due to the payee's line on the check including my name.  I never saw it, but why the heck the teller had my name on that line, I don't know.  Of course the nearest branch for the bank was almost 4 hours away round trip and there's no way we were going to spend the time and expense for that, so we had to re-scrape together the funds for another check while sitting on the now useless check.  Argh.  And the bank wouldn't cancel it over the phone.  A little early in the game to be running into difficulties, one would think!

At any rate, the surveyor only mapped about 30% of the land in the area of the proposed build site.  It makes sense not to do the whole thing as that would incur additional and unnecessary expense.  Pretty basic layout, a virtually straight driveway directly to the site; the house is first, then the leach field, then the creek, all the appropriate setbacks included.  Progress is progress!

Also, the architect did some checking with the building department regarding our intent of building a small accessory apartment first and then building the house later.  Seems like it was an acceptable idea to the building department, and they suggested that we pull and yearly renew a building permit for the "big house", that way if the regs change in such a way that it would no longer be able to build the second house we'd have the approved permit in-hand and would still be able to build.  Never would've thought of that on our own; just goes to show you that if you're going to build,  let the building department know of your plans and ask lots of questions!  Could save some grief later.

ICF Castle (Scott's Castle)

Scott's Castle

At last, someone has really built a castle of sorts using ICFs.  they obviously didn't do this themselves, but some folks have asked about building a castle with ICF materials, so here's proof it can be done.  The structure here is  over 11,000 square feet, so this is not an inexpensive venture.  Photo from site.

Castles for sale

Just for fun I think I'll post these here.  There are several castle like homes for sale, and several serious castles as well.  If you have a spare million or more burning a hole in your pocket you could have one of your very own.  Some of them are pretty neat from a architectural and historical view, and all of them are just cool to look at.

Landoll's Mohican Castle

I don't know if I would call this a castle or if it's an owner built castle, but it reminds me of Castle Rogue's Manor in style so I'll mention it here anyway.  Landoll's Mohican Castle is in Ohio, not too far from Columbus, and can be retained for events, getaways and various functions.  Looks quite pretty and it would be a neat place to have a look at.  Some of the interior pictures look like they put quite a bit of effort into the look and design, but I hate to say that some of the look has been overdone to the point of being "touristy" if you know what I mean.

Castle Northmoor

Castle Northmoor has been built by Harlan Shaver and is near Kansas City.  Looks like he started the project in the early '80s.  Not a whole lot of information about the project itself, but the tower looks like an addition to a normal house.  The article here implies that Mr. Shaver built most or all of the structure himself.  Pretty cool castle turret!

Unknown Michigan Castle

 A castle in Michigan 

Found this castle on another castle aficionado's website.  I don't know anything about it other than what is posted on the page.  The photo here is from their site.

Flex-c-ment - Simulated Stone

I really hope we can swing an honest stone exterior, even if it means using "fake" stone blocks of cement to get the look.  I generally despise fake stone as it tends to look like exactly what it is - fake.  Monochromatic and repetitive tiling is also a drawback of that type of material.  Obviously some of these man-made materials can look quite good, but you can approach the cost of real stone with the higher end materials.  Here's something I happened across while doing a search for castles on the web, it's called Flex-c-ment and it uses a pressed-in pattern for creating the stone look.  They even have wood patterns too, which I thought was a nice touch for getting the rustic look without the rot.  It's up to the installer to refine the look and add good coloration to get the best out of the end product.  If they had classes to do this I'd consider using this method of getting the look without too much expense.  Searching the internet for faux stone or the like returns several manufacturers making the materials, perhaps there is an upsurge in popularity for this kind of facade.

Need an interior archway built for you?

Just found this site for pre-made ceilings that are shipped to you ready to put together.  I'm not advertising for them, but it may be useful to someone out there.  Maybe one might not have the time or knowledge to put together a barrel vaulted ceiling or a door arch, so this might be a way to go.  The prices seem fair, but that depends on how much cash you've got vs. how much your time is worth.  Have a look.  Archways and Ceilings Made Easy.

Sqire's Castle

We had the opportunity to visit Squire's Castle in Ohio while visiting some friends.  It was built by one of the founders of Standard Oil Co as a gatehouse for his estate, but the rest of the estate was never built and all that is left is this shell.  There is a nice park surrounding the structure with hiking trails through the greenwood.  Quite beautiful, I like the Ohio woods.  Sharply rolling terrain behind the castle would have been a neat place for a hill- or ridge-top castle proper.  A neat little place, I wouldn't call it roomy by any stretch and I think it would have been expensive to condition the air inside during the hottest and coldest months.

The below pic was taken with my phone ( funny that my phone takes neater pictures than my nice camera ) with 360 Panorama.  It was free in the app store, so grab it while you can before they start charging for it if you're interested.