hello
don’t know much about building a house but here I am, a new landowner. what a canvas. I’m at a low end of the learning curve but picked up a great bookHow to Plan, Contract and Build Your Own Home by Scutella, Richard. I’m learning about foundations to joists and different styles of houses and it really is a good book to learn about all the systems and the endless complexity of building a house put in such a clear way.
I wanted to check in here every once in a while to learn and possibly get some feedback.I’ve bought a beautiful 3.2 acre wooded parcel in the Hudson Valley and have limited budget and wanted to either build my own house along with a builder,start from designs like those seen on this web sites and expand later, the plans are customizable.
http://sunplans.com/html/list.php3
with the costs of energy the savings are considerable perhaps $100 per month and impact on environment is more benign.
I don’t think I could do much better. Am I wrong? Any suggestions for house plans? or what to read on the subject. Thanks
Replies
Rico,
Since you're already at this site, go buy the CDs with all the previous versions of Fine Homebuilding. No kidding. I've been reading this magazine since 1995 and it has helped me both while building my own home as well as professionally in my job.
Having the CDs with all the old issues are a great reference. I still have to rifle though hard copies but having the CDs would be awesome especially if you are new to the building industry for the search capability.
Mike
Rico, Welcome to Breaktime.
Considering the undertaking you are embarking upon, you could do no better than to heed Mike's words of advice.
Cheers
be staying plugged in here.
Edited 12/14/2004 3:08 pm ET by rez
Interesting website RicoOne thing guys. Aren't the CDs a sort of "Best of". How comprehensive are they (I gather you think they're worth the money).Tom
As to Rico's position right now that's the best bang for his buck.
One statement or paragragh can save a lot of headaches and many dollars.
it's a war out there.
Welcome to BreakTime, Rico.
I have had a couple different builders caution me about online plans. Their main argument against the online plan is that it often has many neat architectural elements that really jack the price up. Things like complex roof layouts and floor plans. They referred to it as the difference between a 'architect-friendly' plan and a 'builder-friendly' one.
But I have to say that the 3 houses I looked at on your link don't look bad.
A link I had posted a few weeks back:
http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumerinfo/heatcool/hc_space_geothermal.html
Has some good general information on geothermal heat pumps. Geothermal combined with super insulation and passive solar... can sure do wonders on reducing energy usage.
And keep hanging around BreakTime. There is a wealth of information to be had here. Both in asking new questions and by going through the archives for old messages.
From my perspective (I'm just a p-t remuddler), I think the thing that took me the longest to learn was when to do something myself and when to call in the pro's. I would get stubborn about doing something because I KNEW I COULD DO IT... but I'd waste WEEKS doing it when a pro could have come in and done it all in a couple days. Your time is worth a lot.
And I have heard of people who sub-contracted out ALL the work and still managed to save money. Depends on their aptitude and planning abilities. For other folks, they spend more by trying to do it themselves.
Edited 12/14/2004 5:52 pm ET by JohnT8
thanks much for the welcome. i will look seriously into getting the back issues. it's 150 clams for 600 articles (are you people schills for the magazine?) ,and one year using the website archive. that's a pretty good deal considering that this winter i'll be doing quite a bit of research. and getting myself familiar with this new world. reading these forums will also help. thanks for the suggestion i'd like to come up with a house plan within the next 6-8 months. to tell you the truth i'm not very familiar with the mag and would not build my own house, i'll have to work with a builder. I will be there to help build my own house however. This might sound stupid but if you were to heat a home in the northeast and did not have enough sunlight to build a passive solar home what technology would you use? i've become familiar with geothermal heatpumps like mentioned. and it is a method used widely in europe but not here. I can't see not using it. heated floors in winter are a very nice thing to have.. but this will not heat the home entirely, wood or pellet stove?
Rico,
As a suggestion, you might want to study up on spray foam insulation and in-floor radiant heat.
be warmed
The people I've talked to who have radiant flooring are happy with them (assuming it was installed correctly). And geothermal is quite capable of handling radiant. However both radiant and geothermal add a lot to the construction cost.
In my area, I wouldn't want to go without AC, which means that I'd need ductwork of some kind. Well, then you have two separate delivery systems... ductwork system and radiant system...which adds thousands of $$ to the overall price. I believe there are combo-geothermal units which can power both radiant and forced air, so maybe that is a direction to look into. That would also allow you to have forced-air heat as a backup for the radiant floor.
A huge factor is how long you plan to stay in the house. If this is going to be your residence for the next 30 years, then its a no-brainer to include radiant floors (for comfort) and geothermal (for efficiency). But if you're only going to be there 5 years or so, you'll probably not have paid off the additional expense.
There have been other threads about wood stove vs. pellet stove. Do a search on the archive. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. For instance some people like pellet because they can load the hopper up and not have to deal with it for a length of time. But on the down side, if the power goes out... that electric hopper isn't going to work. And you're pretty much stuck buying your fuel by the bag at places like Lowes. Whereas with the wood stove, you can buy fuel just about anyplace..and in some cases can get your fuel with just a little sweat equity. But in either case, I wouldn't want to be chained to my woodstove/pellet-stove. I would want an automated system that was capable of heating the home, and then just use the stove when it was convenient.
But if you start out with a well insulated/sealed home, you are really ahead of the game.
And the sooner you are happy with your floor plan... the sooner you can make changes to it ;) Better to change it 2 months prior to starting construction rather than DURING construction.
Sounds like you're heading in the right direction.
jt8
Again, thanks for the advise. I hope i last thirty years. but i plan to live and die there unless something unforseen happens.i like the idea of low energy usage and building for the long run and will probably spend the extra for the radiant floor. it can only be a good investment in both the home costs and energy usage. I am concerned about hot summers. perhaps a portable airconditioning unit can be carted around the house to endure some of the worse times to come to the aid of the thermal pump. otherwise, sweat it out. here's some pictures on installation of radiant heating tubes into the foundation in an Enertia home kit. these homes caught my eye but decided one had to be either off the grid entirely or in a colder and remote climate, but czech the houses out. I really like the idea of daylit basements.http://enertia.com/bc2.htm
If I had the $$ to throw around, I would build a net-zero house. A home which, even though it is on the grid, produces as much energy as it consumes.
Super insulate/seal it. Passive solar elements, geothermal heat pump, good windows, maybe solar water heating... and finally maybe an active solar or wind unit. So during the day, my electric meter spins backwards. At night it either draws off the batteries, or simply spins the meter forwards.
But that 'dream' house would cost a pretty penny.
jt8
Edited 12/17/2004 5:31 pm ET by JohnT8
But that 'dream' house would cost a pretty penny.
If you leave off the geothermal and the large electric generation, the cost can be in line with (or less than) traditional housing. Then it's just a matter of: is the remainder worth it to you? Doesn't have to be all or nothing.
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
If you are planning to use solar panels or geothermal or wind turbines this stuff costs serious money. If budget is not an issue, yes, wind turbines and solar are a nice complement to each other. Geothermal is a clean way to heat/cool a home. I am in planning phases of a new house and am enticed by all these things, but then when I hear how much they cost, you have to pick the ones that you believe will be the best value. I think it makes most sense to do geothermal with ducts and fan and not radiant floors; otherwise you've got some expensive redundancy (ductwork for cooling and radiant floors for heating). Are warm floors so much better than warm air coming from ducts?
Anyway, some states and power companies have very generous incentives that give owners rebates and cash back for using these technologies. Check out your power company's website.
>Are warm floors so much better than warm air coming from ducts?Yup.
Dave, unsure if you were writing to Rico or JohnT8, but my house has neither radiant floors nor heating ducts. We don't have any heating system at all, other than our large earth mass. And a small wood stove that we occasionally use evenings. We don't even bother to cover our 300 sq ft of glass at night. Diurnal temp swings are typically 3-4°.
A similar house for a client came back with an appraisal 50% higher (while ignoring the energy features) than the construction cost. Instant equity. Common commercial construction, steel and concrete, was the key. No help from the electric company, who rewards greater consumption.
A couple of years ago I was consulting on a traditional house that needed a new heating system. Ground source heat pump was considered, and then rejected as way too expensive. House already had radiators, got a new boiler. They had dreams of alternative energy applications, but with a traditional ranch house the retrofits proved prohibitively expensive.
I'm sure that Cloud's right about radiant floors. I've never known anybody who didn't like them, as long as they were well insulated underneath to minimize heating costs. Catastrophies of heating cost I have encountered, leading to the abandonment of radiant slabs. That was bad design, not a failure of the concept. If you're gonna buy heat, it's only reasonable to conserve it.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Another welcome!
I shell out over $200 in property taxes to support the local libary. Ours has FHB back to 1985 or so.
I'd suggest seeing if your library has back copies of FHB (and the generalized Taunton books) or if they can get them from inter library loans.
Your profile shows you are 50 YO. If you were under 35, I'd suggest what others (and myself when in 20s) have suggested and done, and that would be to do EVERYthing yourself (then you become like a lot of us here and know-it-all<G>). Being 50 kinda puts a crimp in being able to work 18 hour days for 2 year though. (Kids at home would also be an impact)
IMHO your best investment, assuming you have confidence in your own intelligence and capabilities, would be to DIY ALL of a GSHP (it is NOT geothermal unless you can use ground water directly for heat) GSHP = ground source heat pump, the use of the geothermal terminaology for GSHP is one of my pet peeves. You do have enough land for GSHP. A GSHP WILL heat your entire house, wood backup is nice, go witha plain wood stove if you have your own wood. .
You can take a EPA test on line (25 questionopen book multiple choice) and get an EPA 609 refrigerant liscense for $25 that will let you buy R22. Previous suggestons for buying HVAC off ebay are good, bought a 4T air-air scratch and dent that way for under $1K and it worked fine (both from Desco, not shilling, just recounting experience, have not bought any water to air or water to water HP from ebay). You will need to invest about $600 in HVAC tools (much less if bought used on ebay or classified adds) You may need to spend $8K or so on a used backhoe for GSHP trenches unless you are able to get a good ground water flow and water rights. So, a GSHP would run about $10K installed and you have the backhoe for other uses and the HVAC tools, etc.
Again, get HVAC books from your local library.
Good luck.
junk- thanks for the information. i've copied your post to refer to for further study.-great advice again. others have mentioned using the FHB library here and i am considering buying the cd it'll have 600 articles to access. i want to learn as much as possible before i start talking to contractors and builders and before I decide what the heck kind of a house i’m going to build. . this will be my first and only home but i've found a really nice site if i do say so myself. i am 50 but
i want to build as much of it as i am capable and keep learning. that’s why i’m here. I’ll hire younger and experienced builders. and do what I can without getting in the way. Now it’s catching up on reading about all this.
I didn't mention that the house site has ####10,000 yr old granite boulder on it. 18 ft high and 24 ft long?
thanks again
hello again
as recommended i bought the the fine homebuilding 600 article cd and one year access to the archive for $99. I look forward to getting it soon. thanks again. merry xmas/ happy channukah. here's the sale site for the cdhttp://www.craftsmanstudio.com/index.htm
Okay, it's many months later now, and I am in the same situation you were, back in Dec. 2004. I am just about to purchase some land, and plan to spend the next year or two planning the perfect house.
So, my question to you is, was it worth buying the CD? Did you decide to buy a Sunplan? And in general, where are you in the process?One thing nobody mentioned when you were asking about wood stoves, was the possibility of a masonry heater. I'm pretty intrigued by these myself and wonder if you've come across them in your travels over the past 10 months.Sandy
Masonry heaters are awesome. I'm surprised more folks don't have them here in the States. Google "MHA masonry Heaters" and see what you find. Fine Homebuilding Masonry is a book I found at the library that has plans.
Treat every person you meet like you will know them the rest of your life - you just might!
It's nice to get some validation about masonry heaters. Do you have one? I'm dying to see one in action, and have a couple of possibilities around here - I'm just waiting for it to get really cold.I had already googled and discovered the MHA site. It's wonderful.Sandy
It's nice to get some validation about masonry heaters. Do you have one? I'm dying to see one in action, and have a couple of possibilities around here - I'm just waiting for it to get really cold.
Calvin had mentioned them in this thread:
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=64199.70
jt8
"Real difficulties can be overcome; it is only the imaginary ones that are unconquerable. " --Theodore N. Vail
Yes, I built the one in the FHB masonry article, minus the fancy blower and sheet metal mechanism. It heated well.
I had the chance to help Norbert Senf build one of his kits once, and that gave me the confidence to put one together. I saved a bundle by using just firebrick and cast refractory slabs.
One BIG fire and it radiates heat all day and night. The kids can cozy up to it and not get burned, and everyone wants to sit on the hearth in the winter. Masonry heaters are great low tech design. Almost no smoke from the hot fire either, so enviros are happy.
Were building a house now, and I have a spot reserved (as in 12" footers) for the next masonry heater. I don't think I'd have a house without one.
If you search the archives, I put pictures up here recently of the last one.
Treat every person you meet like you will know them the rest of your life - you just might!
Hi Rico,
Im building a 4000 sq ft house. We are on a 150k budget, I purchased a geothermo 4 ton heat pump off ebay, works ok...but needed to add an electric duct heater to take the load off the HP on really cold days.
Have been living in the house for 2 months, It is abit drafty. The heat produced by the Hp is never over 70 degrees.
We have done all the work ourselfs, Im a builder in Michigan so know quite alot about building. What I dont know I learn. We just made our
own concrete countertops! That was fun. I have installed the two big ones. One weighed 540 lbs the other 680.
We paid an excavator to dig the basement and to backfill. The only other
contractor we have used is the carpet installer. Mainly because my knees
hurt alot and I didnt feel like kicking the carpet streacher.
I was going to work 3 days on my company and 4 days on our house. Last
December I figured that it was going to take forever so quit working and have been just working on the house. We started 14 months ago and are about 75% complete.
We even did all the electric and plumbing. We also made our own ductwork using a fibeglass duct board.
Im extreamly happy with the whole project except the heatpump. Im not
thrilled about using an electric heat duct. It just seems like its going to get very costly. We do have 3 gas fireplaces and one wood burner. The wood fireplace is a 42" heat-n-glo. We purchased it off ebay for $250.00. Brand new with a blower, but no glass doors..You need glass doors otherwise the heat in the house is going up the flue.
We just purchased doors off ebay for $65.00.
If you build you can save alot by looking for deals. We purchased our lumber package all upfront, Right after we did the Iraq war started and lumber went sky high. We were lucky because we were locked in.
Huricanes in the south also will boost lumber prices.
Anyway, good luck. Let me know if you have questions.
thanks robteed
yeah come to ny and build my home 2,000 sq ft for $85,000. 4000 sq ft is a very large home. that might be one reason the place is drafty. in ny its about $ 150 per square foot to hire a builder what i’m told. i’ve got a long driveway to make, a well and sceptic system. I dont’ know much of anything other than It’s going to cost alot of money.
Hey Rico,
I guess I didnt explain myself well. The draftyness was because the
house wasnt all closed up and insulated. The heat pump worked great
concidering that fact. Good luck on your house.
Rob