The Log house Project begins........

[stravis]

I look forward to reading about it. My wife and I have similar plans.

[MotorSeven]

The footers got poured today. Some how we ended up with an extra 2.5-3 yards of crete. I could have raised heck and pointed fingers....or........
......
my wood drying shed now has a concrete floor

The crete trucks had some interesting moments trying to turn around the site...it made me nervous & I was just watching!

RD

[ToadHill]

When I poured the runners for my pre-fab home, I had to rent the biggest bulldozer I ever say to haul them up the hill, we had so much rain that summer that even the bulldozer left ruts in the lawn over 10" deep and about 18" wide.

[MotorSeven]

When I poured the runners for my pre-fab home, I had to rent the biggest bulldozer I ever say to haul them up the hill, we had so much rain that summer that even the bulldozer left ruts in the lawn over 10" deep and about 18" wide.

I never thought about it, but that's prob the only way to get it done if the ground is saturated. At first I was suprised over the lack of a turning radius on the concrete truck, but thinking about all that weight up high...it makes sense.

RD

[scoutcub]

Rick;

Beautiful piece of property. I have a similar property due north of you (in Ohio) that is nearly identical....northern 1/4 is sloped down to a small pond and creek, the rest is wooded. I bought a dozer and started clearing out a homesite. Still debating on what kind of house to build. I will try to do as much myself as I can, don't think I'm as skilled as many of the guys here to do everything!
One question....why block over poured walls? Mostly cost? Looking forward to the project!

Frank

[Ductape]

While a few trees are nice, it only takes a few too many to block the view that can totally change the feel of a place. Being on the hilside like you are, I'm wondering whether you are losing out on an incredible view with all those trees still there. If you took out 3/4 of them, it would still have the same feel, but allow you to see the valley and hillside. The bigger the view, the better in my opinion.

Yeah, unles you live in NH where we have a 'view tax'.

[MotorSeven]

"One question....why block over poured walls? Mostly cost? Looking forward to the project!"

Frank, they would have been at least $5K extra in cost. I know thats not a lot in the big scheme, but with no building loan, $5K is crucial to my build.

As far as the trees go, I will thin all the small stuff under 4", the rest stays as we want privacy over view. It was more important for my wife to be able to see the creek and initialy wanted to build on the creek. I wanted to be up even higher on the next ridge up for a view down the valley. The creek side is the North side of the steep ridge....no sun for 3+ months out of the year(NO Thanks). So, this site is 75' above the creek on the South side, on a shelf that gets full sun year round(well whatever sun that can get thru the trees) & turned out to be a really good compromise. From the "proposed deck" we will have a view of over 300' of creek 75' below us.

RD

[David Devuono]

I am about 5 years away from building my retirement home. You have a great piece of property. Sorry if I missed anything in the thread but are you planning on going off Grid? I have some nice building spots but the cost to bring in Hydro means I would have to look at Wind\Solar\Generator. My son and I took advantage of a good storm to see what it would be like to build something out of logs. It took two years of every 2nd or 3rd weekend in the summer months to build a 10x14 shed! Anyway I am now convinced I will build a super insulated frame home and either Brick or stucco cause I would just croak if a forest fire came through. Also no Evergreen within 100 yards!

The sawmill will be a God send. I notched one side of my logs with a chain saw.

[MotorSeven]

Dave, I have checked into solar...$28K for a grid tired system, add $4k more for batteries. Wind is a no go here and hydro...well, I have a big creek, lots of flow, almost zero head. I am pondering some type of paddle wheel contraption, but that's on the back burner.
So, it looks like my savings will be in no A/C, and all wood heat with a water coil on the wood stove. I don't mean to insult those here on solar, but it seems to be only for those that can afford to shell out big $.

Your shed looks great....but....you have to loose the OSB doors

RD

[westcliffe01]

You might be surprised at how much mileage you would get out of a system like this:
Medium AC Off Grid Cabin Solar Power System

• 6 Kyocera KD135GX-LP135 watt solar module
• 1 IronRidge UNI-TP/08LL Top of Pole Mount
• 6 Lay-in Ground Lug with Stainless Screw (1)
• 2 MC4 10 AWG - 30' cable extension
• 1 MidNite MNPV-3, 3 Position Combiner Box
• 2 CBI OBPV-15 DC Breaker 150 VDC din-rail mounted
• 1 Outback FM60 & Breakers installed on Magnum E-Panel
• 1 WSS Magnum Power Center MS2012/1, 2,000 watts 120VAC
• 1 Magnum ME-BMK Battery Monitor installed on Magnum E-Panel
• 1 4/0 - 120" UL Cable, Battery/Inverter (black)
• 1 4/0 - 120" UL Cable, Battery/Inverter (red)
• 4 2/0 - 12" UL Cable, Battery Interconnect (black)
• 6 2/0 - 18" UL Cable, Battery Interconnect (black)
• 8 UPG UB-GC2 AGM 200 aH 6V Battery

For about $8600 before getting any money back from the government. The prices on this kind of equipment are very favorable right now. A little conservation and planning goes a long way.