Starting New House! Finally!

[KarolinaKubota]

tony123

HAHAHA! I've got 50 hours or so on mine and have learned a lot but I know I have so much more to learn!

KennethBrown

Offend? Me?!??! No way!! I've seen enought of your posts while cruising here to know you have some great insight and I appreciate the comments!

Bedrooms - All of ours are on the main floor. We did that purposely as we are somewhat older than you (42 and wife 46). We've put some distance between us and the kids with their rooms on the other end of the house. (I've attached a VERY ROUGH sketch I did just now as I don't have a set of plans here to copy). We are going to rough plumb the room above the detached garage in case family or kids as they get older need an "apartment".

Wiring - Great comments. We actually have thought of "more" outlets including the closets, but the way you have your outside switches setup is something we had not thought of! Our detached garage is in the 30-40 ft range from the house so that is a great idea! Thanks for that!

Plumbing - We are using PEX! Our plumber recommended it and we liked what he had to say about it!

What is a manifold system?!?!

HVAC - We are going with a split system as well. Bigger unit for the main level and then something smaller for the upstairs.

Drove by the land this morning and there were block everywhere! And sand! And mortar! Hopefully start that today!

Thanks for all the comments!! Hope to hear more and I'll share as we go!!

Michael

[WBWI]

Congrats on starting the new house. My wife and I have been in our dream home since mid July. We enjoyed the entire building process and would do it again if we had to (we certainly don't plan on it...LOL). like you I have the whole building process captured on an online site so it can be easily shared with friends and family.

Our 5.25 acre lot and 700 foot drive got me thinking of a tractor and led me to this site.

[KarolinaKubota]

Originally Posted by WBWI

Our 5.25 acre lot and 700 foot drive got me thinking of a tractor and led me to this site.

Thanks WBWI! And it is so funny you mention this as we have about 5.8 acres and a 600+ foot drive which led me to this site in search of a tractor as well! Too funny!

Congrats to you and your wife on your home!! Did you post some pics/links here before? If so, could you share them again?

Thanks!!

Michael

Oh - we don't plan on doing it again either!

[tony123]

WOW! Some real common threads here.

We moved into our house in mid June. We're on 3 acres with 600' of gravel drive. That's what got me started thinking of tractors. When our first few rainfalls filled all our new ditches with fresh red clay, I knew I needed something more than a mower. Since getting the tractor, I've been able to re-establish all of our swales (and even improve upon what the builder did). Pulled a disc plow to break up everything and seed for fescue. Cleared out about a quarter acre of woods. And various other little things. I know I could have made it here without a tractor, but boys must have their toys.

Enjoy the build process. It will frustrate you to your witts end, but hang in there, it is all temporary. A year from now you'll be enjoying the house and tractor.

[WBWI]

KarolinaKubota,

That red dirt brings back memories. I grew up in NC where we had huge gardens actually growing in that "stuff".

Nope, didn't post any pics but here is a link to my photobucket album. There are a bunch of pics (~800).
CampWI/New lot - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Here is one of the house almost finished. P4280004.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Started clearing trees late Nov. 2006 and move in July '07. Winter weather delayed the build for about 6 weeks. Subzero cold and pneumatic tools don't work well together.

I hope you enjoy your building process as much as we did.

[KarolinaKubota]

Good stuff guys!

WBWI - You house is beautiful! I hope ours turns out half as nice! Thanks for sharing the links!

Tony - Looking forward to the year passing by! I'm ready!

[hunterridgefarm]

Michael,

Congrats on starting the new house. I hope ours is completed by Christmas but...who knows .

It is great to watch the progress day to day. Hopefully your builders won't have 2-3 going at the same time.

Is Seneca close to West Union, SC? I have a customer in West Union and love driving Hwy 11.


David

[KarolinaKubota]

hunterridgefarm

And Congrats to you as well!!

Seneca is about 7 minutes from West Union!

We are building about 5 miles from Hwy. 11 toward the I-85 end of 11.

[KennethBrown]

This is the manifold. You can cut off each fixture from one central location. I have mine under the stairs in a pantry. I still used 1/4 turn cutoffs on all the sinks and toilets as I figured it was only about $30 more for even more piece of mind. The first night we stayed in the new house my 12 yo decided she needed a 30 minute shower while I thought 10 minutes was plenty. After hollering at her twice I just reached in and turned the hot water off to their shower. She got the message.

[KennethBrown]

My house is only about 1860 sq ft. so bedrooms downstairs was out of the question. My porch makes it look alot bigger than what it is though. Your place is HUGE. We had originally wanted a creamy yellow but the colr didn't end up right so we stopped. Now we are going with a khaki color. It should look nice with the rustic red roof. Sorry I don't have a more current pic but this was back in January. Also sadly it still looks very similair to this. Its still 2 tone with no underskirt. We are putting the rails around the porch right now.