Sold home and new home build

[ChoppyChoppy]

9x16 is bigger than both my bathrooms and laundry all together!

Bathrooms are 5x8 and laundry is 6x5

 

[al-k]

I contacted a conex company about buying a box

A 40' box around here is from 2000- 2500

 

[anlrolfe]

Tall shitters are handy even if you aren't old. My folks have a lift kit toilet, they put it in after my Dad got a hip replaced (and he's not that old). I find it's way easy to use than a low boy toilet.

The one we have in the shop feels like I'm kissing my knees. Thankfully there's a heavy duty pull bar in front of it, cause it'd be a son of a gun to get up!

Put in 3/4" plywood blocking in walls for grab bars and make 1 (master)bath handicap access. You just never know.

 

[anlrolfe]

Laundry room size disparity?

Are you using stacked front load washer and dryer? I've personally got an old set of maytag neptunes on a pedestal which makes it nice height wise but spreads things out horizontally. If space is an issue go high(vertical). Problem with that is you nearly have to get on all fours to fish stuff out of the washer.

 

[CaseyForrest]

Perhaps instead of trying to rework the existing design, just add the sq footage needed and make it a mud room at the same time.....

sent from a field

 

[NSMaple1]

9x16 is bigger than both my bathrooms and laundry all together!

Bathrooms are 5x8 and laundry is 6x5

Those were my thoughts also.

Our main floor laundry/half bath is 7.5' x 8.5'. I am sure that if we had stacked the laundry (they aren't now, they are side by each), a shower would fit in there no problem. If we left them alone & doubled the room size, we could have a shower and jacuzzi in there with room to spare.

 

[kyle1!]

What doors and windows are going to be used in the new build?

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Those were my thoughts also.

Our main floor laundry/half bath is 7.5' x 8.5'. I am sure that if we had stacked the laundry (they aren't now, they are side by each), a shower would fit in there no problem. If we left them alone & doubled the room size, we could have a shower and jacuzzi in there with room to spare.

My folks are just the 2 in the house now. We were 5 in the house growing up, it's about 1000 sq ft. I suppose 2k if counting the basement, but that was not finished. One part was firewood storage/wood stove, water heater, etc another part was a small wood working work shop and a small area was sort of a pantry for stuff like toilet paper, canned goods, chest freezer, etc.
I do hate not having a basement on my house, or even a crawl space, just for the storage. All my utilities are in the attached garage and storage either is in there or in a shed out back.

Anyhow growing up I never felt it was small. We spent lots of time outside, but even playing inside we made it work just fine. Visiting now it feels a bit small, but I'm used to the larger rooms and taller ceilings in my house.

At this point it's plenty large for the 2 of them. It's cheap on heat and power. My Mom has talked about maybe in the future moving into something smaller and less work, like an apartment.

My aunt (Mom's sister) and her husband moved to the house they grew up in. My grandfather farmed on ~200 acres (he was one of the biggest farmers in the area at the time, this is before the mega farms of today).
Anyhow, they gutted the old farmhouse and turned it into a McMansion along with several huge heated outbuildings.

The couple times I've visited it was winter and if it was pushing 60* in there I'd be surprised. I'm not sure how they heat it now, but they were using wood and it was something like 30+ cords a year.
It's just 2 of them in this place, it's probably 4000+ sq ft.

To each their own, but myself I'd rather have less to heat and clean, especially as the years go on.

 

[muddstopper]

I think its kind of funny in a way. She started out wanting to build a 900sqft house. I said from the get go that wasnt going to work. The problem is she has been looking at house plans for several years and has to many ideals. She kept telling me what she wanted and she had seen it in other house plans.. I told her I couldnt read her mind, where is that plan you keep talking about. Well, she had it saved on her computer and I made her make a copy. Once I looked at it, it was a simple adjustment. I took the measurements and started on the front wall and started drawing the lines. Except my rooms where 16ft wide already and her plan had 13ft wide rooms. So instead of bedrooms that where 13x11, I have bedrooms that are 13x16. Once I was done drawing, she said thats it! Whoopie. I told her to make copies of the drawing and then make any changes she wants on the copies. House has grown from 900sqft to just over 1300sqft. With garage, it will be 1700sqft. Now I think I am going to redraw the house with just the 13x13 bedrooms and see if she can live with that. Long way from 900sqft.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

I think its kind of funny in a way. She started out wanting to build a 900sqft house. I said from the get go that wasnt going to work. The problem is she has been looking at house plans for several years and has to many ideals. She kept telling me what she wanted and she had seen it in other house plans.. I told her I couldnt read her mind, where is that plan you keep talking about. Well, she had it saved on her computer and I made her make a copy. Once I looked at it, it was a simple adjustment. I took the measurements and started on the front wall and started drawing the lines. Except my rooms where 16ft wide already and her plan had 13ft wide rooms. So instead of bedrooms that where 13x11, I have bedrooms that are 13x16. Once I was done drawing, she said thats it! Whoopie. I told her to make copies of the drawing and then make any changes she wants on the copies. House has grown from 900sqft to just over 1300sqft. With garage, it will be 1700sqft. Now I think I am going to redraw the house with just the 13x13 bedrooms and see if she can live with that. Long way from 900sqft.

That's plenty reasonable of a space. Not sure where I saw it was gonna be in the 4500sq ft area.

Now a 4500 sq ft shop, sounds big. Ours is about 5k and I'm still working outside!

 

[muddstopper]

Grading contractor called to let me know he was moving his skidder over to my place today. Now if it would only quit raining. Took house plans to my buddy that is drawing up the blueprints. I think we have everything sorted and what she wants. At least for today, could change any minute, I hear thunder rumbling. Took off to Cleveland Tn to look at some doublewide trailers. Not considering buying, but those moble home builders know how to use every inch of available space. I took a tape measure and was able to compare some of our ideals to theirs. Sometimes seeing the size of a room and the actual layout helps with decision making.

 

[muddstopper]

Still doing a little pre planning. since we have actually been designing this home for probably 20 years, we kind of have most everything we want accounted for. Heat pump guy is supposed to meet this week, just to make sure the floor plan will work with a heat pump. The one thing we have decided on is a free standing wood stove. We havnt decided which one. So a few recommendations would be nice to have. Total sqft is 1300sqft. This is not a open floor plan so secondary duct work with duct fans to move the air around in the house is being planned for. We want to be able to see the fire, and want to use 20in lenght wood. I am thinking about a front and side loading stove.

Future plans call for air conditioning by heat exchanger plumbed so I can use creek water and a low voltage pump for circulation. I plan to use the same heat exchanger to run solar heated hot water for heating to help heat the house. Heat exchanger is added into exsisting duck work with the heat pump fan moving the air. Wont be able to cure meat or fry eggs with this hvac system, but should lower electrical demands.

Wife and I laid out the foot print of the house today. House will be N/S front to back layout to take advantage of roof for solar collectors and possible solar electric panels. I am not fully sold on the solar power just yet. Panels and equipment are still pretty high, but I want the option to install them later if the prices ever comes down.

 

[Marley5]

I've built 3 houses in 33 years of marriage, 3 years off my life......homeless wouldn't be a bad deal in comparison. Lol

 

[DSW]

One year per house build? That's not bad.

I personally know contractors with crews that will spend nearly half a year to do a decent size addition.

 

[NSMaple1]

An efficient heat pump would air condition also, economically. If I was building new I would use a couple of cold climate mini-splits and a decent wood stove for supplementary heating.

 

[muddstopper]

I will get to try out the mini splits. The house I will be moving into while building my new house is very old and only has gas heat, no AC. We bought one of those small portable 110v air conditioners and instealled it in the living room of the old house a few years back. It would cool the living room, but that was about it. Since this is a temporary living arrangement. I think the current AC with a mini split will be enough to make the house tolerable. I wont be to fond of the gas heat this winter.

 

[NSMaple1]

We put two mini-splits in, in November. Daikins. Very impressed so far. I still burned wood full time in January-February, but infrequently the rest of the time. They cut my wood usage big time, and I didn't have to worry about getting a fire on if I didn't want to - pretty well stopped all together a couple weeks into March. Generally speaking, I think our power usage was no more than 35kwh/day, overall average, since putting them in, and should be at around the 3 cords of wood range. That's with the split use and ordinary electric hot water heater when not burning wood. We have 2700 sq. ft. in two storeys on top of another 1500 unfinished basement. Should be seeing how they do in A/C mode soon, which was another reason for getting them - if summer ever hits here. So far I have only had them on dry mode, the odd day when it's been a bit humid - that alone makes a surprisingly big difference.

EDIT: Just checked the power bill I got yesterday. Average over the past 180 days was 29.3 kwh/day.

 

[muddstopper]

Well things have been hectic the last couple weeks. We close on the sale tommorrow. I am still a long way from moving out. My road has been cleared and roughed in. Supposed to bring in the dozer tomorrow. After the closing, I have to buy my septic and well permits and then get on the list to have the power dug in. We have been looking at campers, but havent tried actually buying one. No use until I have power water and septic. We did clear a area big enough that I can put a camper up close to the actual house site. I also bought a 12x20 storage building. I was having a hard time trying to find a storage building I could rent. I stopped by a place that sells storage building and metal carports to see if I could rent one of their sheds and they just happened to have a one they had just repoed. Took the wife out to look at it the next morning and she was tickeled with it. Said she could put her washer/dryer in it. Well that just opened the door to buying a large camper as a washer/dryer isnt usually in a camper trailer. That will save me a bunch of money not having to pay storage rental fees as well as not having to pay big money for a place to stay while building. I see a future workshop for my tinkering. Wife says she will use it to store the freezers and wants to install a stove to do her canning. All I got to do to win this argument is get a little grease in the building and she wont want it anymore.

 

[anlrolfe]

When they drop in the septic tank would there be any way to install a Tee, possible clean out, or temporary extended near the camper to drop your soil lines into?

I've hauled water, no big deal but hauling and handling septic.....

 

[muddstopper]

I'll hook the camper to the septic and the well. No hualing for me.

Pulled the permits for the well and septic and filed a request to have the power installed today. The power company engineer is supposed to call so we can meet at the site. We where supposed to close on selling today, but their was some screwup so it didnt happen. Called a little while ago and rescheduled for tomorrow morning. I drove by the new site and the dozer was setting there. I didnt stop, it was pouring rain at the time and it didnt look like they where doing any work.