Home Schooling Community Helps Family Raise Their Roof

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The author, Henry Burggraf, and his family built their raised foundation in one year.
The author, Henry Burggraf, and his family built their raised foundation in one year.
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The Burggrafs chose to build the house on stilts because it faces a 40-foot-wide creek that used to run through their property.
The Burggrafs chose to build the house on stilts because it faces a 40-foot-wide creek that used to run through their property.
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Six families helped the Burggrafs raise their home after five work sessions. The Burggrafs continue to add onto the home by saving money and then building with what they can buy.
Six families helped the Burggrafs raise their home after five work sessions. The Burggrafs continue to add onto the home by saving money and then building with what they can buy.

We bought some farmland about 10 years ago in a remote location in east Tennessee. We were looking to get out of a tourist area and get away from the traffic. We had been home schooling our boys (who were about 10 and 12 at the time), which plays into our story.

We had looked into different ways to build debt-free for years. We had been renting for years and praying about building. Our first plan was to build a small cabin and move into it so we could be on the farm. At the time, we lived an hour and half from the farm, which made for a long trip to go work on it.

As physical education for our boys, we had enrolled in a karate class. We met a man named Joe in the class, who also home-schooled. Joe did construction. He heard us talking about building and wanted to know if we would be interested in trading hunting rights on our property for him to frame our house. I jumped on that offer.

Up until that time, we had started putting in the foundation and first floor. We were building the house on stilts, as it was facing the 40-foot-wide creek that used to run through our property. It had taken us one year to get this done.

When Joe made his offer, I came up with the idea of having a home-school house raising, based on old barn raisings of years gone by. We contacted home-schoolers we knew and asked whether they would like a learning project for their family. About six different families helped over time. In the first work session, we raised all the first-floor walls. We were able to get the house under a roof after five work sessions.

  • Published on May 14, 2014
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