BUILDING THE JAMESTOWN

by Danna Shirley

            Returning after our five-year assignment in Japan back to our previous community in Vancleave, MS, we were excited to build our own home. That was not our immediate decision, however, for we had house-shopped in Gautier and Ocean Springs as well but found nothing to suit our taste. We were renting in Bluff Ridge subdivision (Vancleave) when we learned a lot on the next street was for sale. Amazingly, a corner lot in 1997 was just $25,000. It held beautiful tall pines and oaks and had a rolling slope toward the back.

            Our next step was deciding what to build and the floorplan we liked. Steel-framed homes were advertised and living on the MS Gulf Coast with hurricane threats every year made that a no-brainer. We attended a seminar with Tri-Steel Structures, Conyers, GA and learned how to construct using their product. We chose The Jamestown, a four-bedroom, two bath, 2380 sq ft design.

            Our rental house was catty-cornered to the lot we had purchased so it was possible to stretch a very l-o-n-g extension cord and use the power from our house to begin building. Eventually a power pole was installed to complete the project.

            Ron and I were excited to build our own home. We had two teenage sons and they had teenage friends who wanted to earn a little money. Just at the time we started clearing the lot, Ron’s employer began sending him to week-long conferences out of town. The building was slow for that reason and it took almost a year to complete our home.

            I wish I could say everything went smoothly and on budget but that was not so. Ron had marked off the footers with stakes exactly where he wanted them and then had to go out of town for a week. We don’t know w-h-o, but the stakes were moved and the footers were poured facing the corner of the lot. We wanted the house to face the street. The foundation had to be redug and repoured but we had to buy the supplies for the second time.

            Next we bought fill dirt to build up the back of the house which was on the slope. The steel was delivered and laid out on the ground for inspection. All the pieces were there…Hallelujah. My husband began a lesson in steel construction with our sons and their friends and the assembly began. There were no hammers and nails involved; we used drills and screws. I believe we used over 50,000 screws to complete the construction. I tried to do one screw and it shimmied off the stud because I didn’t have enough strength behind it to penetrate. My poor husband’s fibromyalgia flared up during this time and he was in such pain. I was glad we had those strong teenagers to work with us.

We chose brick, doors and windows, shingles and then found form and concrete workers, brick layers, tile layers, roofers, and Ron did the plumbing and electrical. With that done we shopped for the interior; cabinets, lighting, paint, showers and toilets, and finally plants and sod. Along the way I did cleanup; the screws that were dropped, the broken bricks, pieces of steel and lumber, in general just trying to keep the clutter from under foot.

Toward the end when the push was on to complete the job, I worked beside Ron all day Saturday and Sunday. I decided it wasn’t fair to leave him working while I trooped off to church for three hours. It didn’t take long for that mistake to rear its ugly head, along with our tempers. When I started cursing at him I knew it was time to go back to church.

Move-in was November 1998, two weeks after I began a new job at the Ocean Springs Fire Department. All was hectic and frantic to get it done before having to pay another month’s rent.  

After thirty years of marriage and numerous moves we wanted this to be our last home. We even joked about dying there. Ron died in our bed February 20, 2003. I moved to Bartlett, TN in October 2004 to be near my daughter and family. Hurricane Katrina struck the MS Gulf Coast ten months later. I called the man who bought our house and he said they didn't lose a shingle. I was so proud of my husband and sons. This steel-frame home was definitely the way to go. I hope I don’t have to move again but only God knows. I’ll go wherever He says.