At Home In The Woods

[jimmyj]

What a great attitude you and your wife have. God's with you so live your dream. Nice pics. I see you like hats!

 

[MotorSeven]

Obed, reasl estate is moving again here(wife's a realtor), so if the price is fair, I have no doubt that it will sell. She has been extremely busy here in E TN since the end of the summer.

RD

 

[Obed]

So, in April 2008 we purchased our 30 acres in Anderson County, TN, just north of Knox County (Knoxville). The street runs up a very steep hill and ends at a culdesac. You can see my wife holding a driveway construction permit at the entrance to our property. At the driveway entrance there's a nice view of the Smokey Mountains to the south. We won't be able to see the Smokeys from the house. The house site is on top of the ridgeline. To the north we will have a winter view of the Cumberland Mountains from the house. Like RD who is building his log house, we won't be cutting the trees to get a clearer view of the mountains.

The topo map has a light grey line that highlights the property lines. I've marked the path for the 900 ft driveway, the garden area, and the house site. Most of the property is steep and it is all covered with forest. Along the strip that runs behind the houses on the street, we have a few acres that are not steep and could be cultivated.

The neighborhood has restrictions but our property is not officially in the neighborhood and is not subject to deed restrictions. Our property is zoned agricultural.

 

[Obed]

Road building began in Sept. 2008. We hired a contractor to clear a 25 ft wide path for the road through the woods. I specified that the road would have a crown with a swale on each side of the road. We have lots of red clay which made a great road base. The topsoil was scraped off to the side. I'm very happy with the job the contractor did buidling the road. Using my tractor, I built 3 water bars across the road to funnel water off the road. The road held up without any gravel with very little erosion over the entire winter, the rainy season here.

 

[Obed]

We cleared about half an acre for the garden area. Time will tell whether or not we will get enough sun through the trees for the garden. However, we can always take down more trees if needed. We made use of this clearing for a place for burning. We stacked the tree trunks off the ground and burned the smaller stuff. The picture shows the log stack when it just started. At the current time, the pile is rather large. I investigated cutting the pile for lumber. It could be used for hardwood flooring. However, due to all the other projects we've got to accomplish, the wood pile will become firewood.

 

[Obed]

Winter and spring came and with them came lots of rain. Road building came to a halt. In June of this year, we ran the power, natural gas line, and phone line beside the road. We are running two 200A lines from the transformer to the house, each line terminating into its own 200A panel. One panel will supply power to the main floor and attic; the other will supply power to the basement. The wife wanted the power lines to be underground for aesthetics. I like the fact that falling limbs along our driveway/road won't knock down the power lines. The electric company had to put one pull-box halfway to the house for pulling the cable. We ran the high-voltage electrical line 4 feet deep. The natural gas and phone lines were put in the same trench 2 feet deep.

 

[MotorSeven]

Underground here is $4.60 a foot. At 1,800'........yikes! I am still trying to figure out how to get power to the house without whacking a large swath of trees.

I am a little confused(my says slow at times:>) -"Like RD who is building his log house, we won't be cutting the trees to get a clearer view of the mountains." We are cutting trees for the logs, not a view. However, for our future deck overlooking the creek, I will thin out all the small(under 3") trees to allow a "view" of the creek in the summer.

Oh, and why 400 amps of service? How big is the house going to be? We are going with all wood heat w/hot water coil. All new energy efficient appliances, LED light bulbs where feasable and compact flouro's everywhere else. A solar whole house fan, solar hot water....no a/c. 200amps is more than enough for us, we are shooting for a average power bill of $50......it will be interesting to see if we can keep the footprint small.

RD

 

[ruralruss]

So, in April 2008 we purchased our 30 acres in Anderson County, TN, just north of Knox County (Knoxville). The street runs up a very steep hill and ends at a culdesac. You can see my wife holding a driveway construction permit at the entrance to our property. At the driveway entrance there's a nice view of the Smokey Mountains to the south. We won't be able to see the Smokeys from the house. The house site is on top of the ridgeline. To the north we will have a winter view of the Cumberland Mountains from the house. Like RD who is building his log house, we won't be cutting the trees to get a clearer view of the mountains.

The topo map has a light grey line that highlights the property lines. I've marked the path for the 900 ft driveway, the garden area, and the house site. Most of the property is steep and it is all covered with forest. Along the strip that runs behind the houses on the street, we have a few acres that are not steep and could be cultivated.

The neighborhood has restrictions but our property is not officially in the neighborhood and is not subject to deed restrictions. Our property is zoned agricultural.

Well I guess if you have to give up 61 beautiful acres for 30 beautiful we can let it slide. My wife and I have spent, and still spend, a lot of time hiking the Smokey Mountains. It is a special ecosystem there that a lot of people are not aware of.

I make my living writing software as well. That will drive anybody into the woods!

Russ

 

[ruralruss]

We cleared about half an acre for the garden area. Time will tell whether or not we will get enough sun through the trees for the garden. However, we can always take down more trees if needed. We made use of this clearing for a place for burning. We stacked the tree trunks off the ground and burned the smaller stuff. The picture shows the log stack when it just started. At the current time, the pile is rather large. I investigated cutting the pile for lumber. It could be used for hardwood flooring. However, due to all the other projects we've got to accomplish, the wood pile will become firewood.

Depending on the size of the garden it should do fine. Keep it to the North West side but not right against it. The morning sun is better that the late after noon sun. We have a little less that 0.5 acre in our organic garden. It is enough to supply us about 75 percent of our food.

Russ

 

[Obed]

The 900 ft. underground electrical cost $5000 for the utility company to provide the materials and labor. In addition, we paid our road contractor to dig the 4 ft deep trench and do the backfilling. Plus, our minimum electrical bill is $110/month for 5 years whether or not we use any electricity.

RD, 400A is way more than we need. The main floor plan is 2100 SF with a full unfinshed basement of the same size. There's an unfinished upstairs of about 1000SF that could be finished but we probably never will finish it but use it as an attic. After living in a camper for 12 years and having to live on 30A, we're going overkill on power for the house without any regrets.

We are running the basement on its own 200A panel that is completely separate from the power for the rest of the house. We may turn the basement into an apartment with its own electrical system and install a private meter for the basement. That way, if parents move in, they can run the H&A as much as they want without getting grief from me as long as they pay the electrical bill.

We are installing a high efficiency fireplace with glass doors in the main floor living room. We are running a duct from the fireplace to the main floor H&A return so we can circulate heat from the fireplace through the H&A ducts.