3R Home and Barn Project

[machmeter62]

Originally Posted by 3RRL

Thanks guys for your comments.
David, you'll have to stop by and see the views in person.
Hi machmeter,
The main electrical service is a 200 amp panel which will be located at one corner of the log home. All the electrical is buried underground, as that is the code out here. So no need to worry about falling trees. Just have to worry about me digging it up accidentally for some reason. (but I have it marked on a master map)

The switches are pocketed out in the logs. At this point I don't know if the wiring inside is through conduit or not? But I know the outside underground is. They are large drilled holes through the logs down to where the wiring comes from. One reason to get all the electrical (and enough outlets) correct at the start. Better too many than not enough.

Regarding the "R" factor, I don't know the equivalent rating, but I know it is substantial. I had the fire marshall out and he was especially impressed with the "heavy timber" construction because it adds to the fire rating. It will not burn through nearly as fast as a stick home would. Same for insulation attributes. It will take quite a while to heat the home, but once it's "at temp" it's easy to keep it there. So I'm thinking the "R" factor is significant.

The home will have HVAC and ducting throughout, but we don't know how much the air conditioning or heating will actually be used. We plan on the wood stove for our primary heating and the many fans for cooling. But if we need to instant heat or cool, the HVAC is in place.

The roof is metal as you know and helps with reducing fire since burning pieces that fall on it will not set the place on fire. It is suspended and insulated. Don't ask me details about how (cause I don't know), but when they do it, I will post photos.

Rob: Unless you are already commited to a roof metal design/color, I was in Sun Valley, Idaho a few years ago, where they are used almost exclusively. They are beautiful roofs on very luxurious homes! If you are going to stain the exterior, you would be able to color coordinate the roof too? Believe it or not, one of my favorite roof colors there was, a light powder blue on a structure similar to yours; there may be some listings on the internet to observe? I really enjoy all the photos of the project too!

[3RRL]

David, those metal roofs are favored here by the fire marshal for that exact reason. Fire out here in California is a big deal. Seems like we always lead the nation with excessive wildfires. Fortunately, we have quite a fire break between the forest and our log home too. With the metal roof and the "heavy timber" logs, we scored high brownie points with the local fire marshal dude. Now he is my pal.

machmeter,
I know about the color coordination for the roof and was tempted by that blue color you describe. However, we elected to go with Hunter Green, which give a similar striking color coordination to the sightly stained logs we are contemplating.
We are going to a Log Home show right now to get some more ideas.
Thank you for the suggestion.

[billbill1]

Rob, being off grid like you are, will the HVAC unit be total electric? Won't cost you anything to run if it is and you can get the house up to temp and use the wood heat to keep it there. Slick set up you have going and I know you'll all love the place when it is finished. The metal roof is very popular in this area too (among the wealthy-just like it is out there-he he) I didn't use it when I built for that very reason. Please continue keeping us updated, very interesting.

[3RRL]

Hi Bill,
Great to see you still kicking and harassing me. I love it.
Yeah, we are trying to keep all commodities such as propane out of the picture or use as little as possible to meet our meager life style. Everything has to fit into the retirement budget. I guess I'll be eating lots of soup from now on?

[MtnViewRanch]

Originally Posted by 3RRL

Yeah, we are trying to keep all commodities such as propane out of the picture or use as little as possible to meet our meager life style. Everything has to fit into the retirement budget. I guess I'll be eating lots of soup from now on?

Pinto beans man, pinto beans. Or generic peanut butter and stale bread, works for Dougster.

[bones1]

Fantastic place you have there Rob. I hope you're not near any of those fires out there.

[3RRL]

Originally Posted by bones1

Fantastic place you have there Rob. I hope you're not near any of those fires out there.

Thanks for the concern and luckily my residential home is in between all those fires, but not in them. I'm thinking Brian (MtnViewRanch) might be more affected than I am? How close are they to your Brian?

[MtnViewRanch]

Originally Posted by 3RRL

Thanks for the concern and luckily my residential home is in between all those fires, but not in them. I'm thinking Brian (MtnViewRanch) might be more affected than I am? How close are they to your Brian?

Luckily for us, this time the fire is west of us and with the Santa Ana winds, it blew it to the west, so we don't need to worry, I hope. But with the winds that we have around here we are never really sure until the fires are all out. They have called in all 6-C130s that the military has for fighting fires to help out. They will have 34 fixed wing bombers and 40 helicopters working on the fires in Southern California. They are saying that it will be November before the fires are completely out. Supposedly there is a 747 that has been made into a bomber that can drop 30,000 gallons of fire retardant. THAT would be something to see. I've seen that plane on TV, but never in the air.
Hopefully all will be well.

[Spiveyman]

Hey Rob, I was thinking about you today, I saw some CA fires on the TV. Glad to hear you won't be affected, although I know many will be. I looked back through to see if you mentioned it, and if you did I'm sorry I overlooked it, but how will you fill up that 5,000 gal tank? I presume it's not full right now. Also, how big does a fire break have to be to stop one of those raging fires? We don't really have fires out here like you all seem to. We had a pretty bad drought this year, but I've gotten about 8 inches of rain in the last 2 days and there's about 3 days more rain to come.

I also hadn't thought about the benefits of a metal roof with respect to fires... smart thikning.

[MtnViewRanch]

Originally Posted by Spiveyman

Also, how big does a fire break have to be to stop one of those raging fires?
I also hadn't thought about the benefits of a metal roof with respect to fires... smart thikning.

I don't know about Rob, but where our property is, back in 2002 in the Pines fire, dozers cut a 1000' wide fire break next to the highway that is another 60' wide and the fire jumped it. So to answer your question, I don't know other than it needs to be wider than 1060'. My neighbor has video of that fire going over his house. Actually his whole property and the 2-60' fire breaks that were on the outside of his property lines. (800' total) Oh, by the way, neighbor lost nothing in that fire because he stayed at home and was there to put out anything that might have gotten started and because he doesn't have all that much to burn.