John.

Thanks for your thoughtful reply. We do have large views, and a large lot that will not allow perimeter homes to affect our viewshed. Architects around here get b/w 5-12% of the total building budget for plans. I'm trying to avoid that route as much as I can. If I can find plans that are mostly suitable, and adjustable to our exact needs, that would be ideal.

Thanks!

Look up a guy on this site who has not posted for a while. His name is Bill Chaleff. You can also google his name and check out his web site. I wish I had done that early on. He has some pretty cool stuff.

House wish list for Eric Anderson

Size: at least 1000 ft^2 of interior space to meet current zoning regs in town.(does not include basement)  likely a   ranch with full basement optimized for a workshop

Themes for house:

 Open floor plan well lit,  sun tempered, well ventilated, simple, low cost, high quality.  Universal design principals for space and door openings.  Multifunctional, Minimalist theme.  Green when practical, minimal tax assessment ease of maintenance.

Sections:  Interior details, basement shop details, exterior details,  construction details hvac,  plumbing, Solar

Rooms will be 2 bedrooms, single bath, kitchen/ eating, entrance and living room, open functional basement

Interior details

Bedrooms

1 large bedroom at least 12X12 with lots of closet space 

1 smaller guest bedroom with usable closet doubles as a home office.

Both will have ceiling mounted fluorescent lights  Master bedroom will have ceiling fan and wall mounted AC  ability to cool only one bedroom.

Wood floors

Entrance/ Mudroom

Entrance to house has place to set objects down

 Bench for dressing, Closet for coats, shoes, etc easy access to kitchen.  Lots of storage space

Tile or slate floor

Kitchen 

Theme is easy to cook and clean designed for single  cook.   Open to main house.

Tubular skylight 10-14”

Single lite 36X80 french door (glass door) on north side  second legal exit from ground floor

Cabinet depth efficient fridge-freezer

Sink and  efficient dishwasher   No disposal. (No cabinet over sink )

L shaped counter top with eating space on backside for 3 people 

Pendant lights above eating space

30” Gas stove- oven range unit. Manual light capability.   High capacity vent over stove quiet  Likely fantech or Nutone.

 Quality cabinets light color, birch or oak  Granite tile countertop wood edging with epoxy coating  Likely 24” tiles or 25.5” tiles with no edging

Built in coffee maker superautomatic, moderate size microwave

I would like to preserve counter space by placing microwave in a wall mount with outlet behind it

 Reasonable amount of pantry cabinet’s  Well lit

Ceramic tile floor.

No formal dining space

Bathroom

Low maintenance

Sink and 36-48” vanity with large mirror

Shower unit swanstone or Porcelain base or tileready pan tile wall in corner with controls in interior wall 36X48-54”  unit glass front unit

Good quiet exhaust fan with timer or humidity sensor  central in bathroom  I would use either Panasonic whisperlight unit with fluorescent light or Fantech exterior mount fan with FL light.

Tubular skylight 10-14”

Highest quality toilet available

Ceramic or granite Tile floor

Good sized casement window

Task lighting for sink

Living room

Natural light from southern windows

Wood floors

Variable lighting for reading and hanging out

Ceiling fan

Wood Stove centrally located along the wall with the bedroom designed to heat whole house.

Sized to accommodate 1 couch and 1 chair  woven matt syle rug.

Space on wall to add television

Ability to all small dining room table for eating in larger groups

Room in basement that contains boiler, hot water tank, solar tank

Washer dryer, tub sink

Minimal doors; 2 exterior, 4 interior.  Interior doors to bathroom will have translucent panel if possible

Interior 36” wide for universal design 2 for bedrooms, 1 bathroom one to basement .  All doors will have lever handles.

Basement

Basement will have sheetrock walls to cover the polysteel foam walls.

The basement will include a high efficiency washer and propane dryer, oil burner and indirect water heater,  As much as possible the plumbing, electrical  and HRV will remain exposed for easy maintenance.  The majority of the  space will be utilized as a workshop.  Eventual there will be a storage area walled off, but not in the initial building.   The basement should have a walkout on the west side the (Not for cars)  The ceiling will not be finished and the floor will remain bare concrete. Note:  I don’t want to be assessed as having a finished basement.  The way the rules are written, if any 2 of the 3 surfaces (ceiling, walls, floor) are finished it is considered as finished space per the assessment.

Basement floor. Consider using epoxy floor coating per Dave f.  He and I would install it.  Basement floor must be poured at least 1 month prior to epoxy encapsulation  This must be done at a later date as it will change the assessment to finished basement.

Exterior

Outside will be oriented 192° Magnetic long axis for max solar gain.  Clearing will be extensive to the south in a fan shape for max solar gain. I will take into account when the leaves are off trees relative to how much I clear.  Max exposure from 10-3 I will use solar pathfinder to determine clearing levels.  Absolute minimum clearing on the other 3 sides.  To preserve shading.  Consult Tyler Thompkins re landscape architecture.    House to blend in with surroundings  think earth tones.  There will be no lawn.  Anticipate low ground cover over septic and south exposure area.

Main entrance to house off of south side.   Short walkway to driveway.  Potential for a ramp to front door.

Drive way gravel large enough turnaround to accommodate emergency vehicles

 K turn  acceptable.  Not available  max vehicle of fire dept =________

Overhangs will be 24” all around

Small porch on the north side at ground level.  Space should accommodate  42” round table and chairs.  Separate spot for Adirondack chairs.   could be patio also.  Room for outdoor kitchen and outdoor shower (phase 2 of building process)  Chin up bar and room for stretching and sit-ups desirable.

HVAC

Heating

  Oil furnace with baseboard heating.  I want efficient unit with outside air supply.   Mark Marzialo will do heat balance calcs and  order and install system with me Radiators will be on main floor and will use copper stubbs into basement.  The main runs of tubing will be Pex-Al pex probably ¾” 

   2 zones on main floor(bedrooms, and remaining space).  In basement 1 zone with a fan type radiator for occasional use, one zone for indirect very small hot water tank   Programable thermostat, outside temp reset

Consider Propane?

Metal chimney through chase

Wood Stove centrally located along the wall with the bedroom designed to heat whole house.  I am going to install one the Doreen is giving me

Passive solar, south wall will contain ~ 80 ft^2 glass. Minimal glass on East, West and North faces.  High solar gain glass on south side, Highly insulated glass on other 3 sides Kohltech would be my first choice.

Recirculation type Solarsheat 1500 g 2 pack  solar airheater  with the heat directed into the basement

Ventilation

Windows on all 4 sides of the house are casement, openable to provide cross flow in any breeze

HRV Air exchanger with heat exchanger for air quality.  Located in basement draws from bathroom and kitchen exhausts into bedrooms.  Should the exhaust and fresh air supply be located on north or south side?   south I think.  Must have defrost mode.  Must also have a good programmable capability

Bathroom has a 150 cfm capacity vent fan quiet

Kitchen stove has a vent  3-400 cfm  quiet

Whole house fan in center of house  ceiling 1000 cfm R38 unit low power draw summer use only

House should have pressure balance air supply when woodstove is operating.  Consider room to room vents for pressure equalization.  Must be closable for summer bedroom AC

AC in bedroom only

Should I install a dehumidifier in the basement?

Plumbing

Supply side

Well by Stavins brothers including pressure tank and installation.

Plumbing and hot water and solar tanks are centralized in basement directly under kitchen and bathroom. 

Distribution system will be Manblock home run system with a combination of 3/8 and ½ inch  pex tubing.  The tubing runs can all be kept down to 10 ft or less.  The lines will be run exposed and utilize the utility chase as much as possible to make maintenance easy. There will be no tubing splices  The water lines will be as follows:

Cold: 11 total kitchen (sink, refrigerator, possibly coffeemaker) Bathroom (Sink, Toilet, shower)  Basement  (Sink, washing machine)  Outside South, and north sides of house, one on north side to outside shower.

Hot  7 total kitchen (sink, dishwasher) Bathroom (Sink, shower)  Basement  (Sink, washing machine)  Outside north sides of house to outside shower.

I will leave a few open slots for additional lines down the road

Drain waste vent

ABS tubing

I want to use a single vent/waste stack up through the utility chase.  The biggest difficulty I see is the shower drain is directly under the stairway base.  Because I am using 9 ft ceilings, it should be ok clearance wise.  I will need a plumber to do the layout for this.   Will get the septic offsets from mike turner.  I want a clean out in the basement  placed so an additional bathroom could be installed in the basement at a later date.

Solar domestic hot water

I am anticipating using AET’s   indirect IPV system pressurized glycol loop solar system.  This is the simplest system using a PV array to power the pump.  I think I want the 40 ft^2 collector area and 80 gallon tank.  System will be installed in series with  a small indirect tank warmed by one zone of the boiler.  Include anti scald tempering valve

Alternatively I might go for a small propane tankless hot water heater System will be installed with double isolation valves so hot water can come directly from the solar tank in the summer, but the indirect tank can be used as a stand alone if the solar system has problems.  Peter Ashly will do the install if I have problems.  I will run all copper tubing to the collector on the roof due to possible very high temperatures

Foundation

Assumptions 2 story building light frame construction

Walls are 40 ft X 28 ft OD.   136 linear ft

Assume soils are 2000 lbs per ft^2  ask Mike Turner again for insight on this.

Footing  table 403-1  width =12”   height =8”

Mix for  footings and walls 3000 psi  96.75$ yard  need 8 yards footings

Reference 402-2

Footings must be below frost line =42”

Foundation wall assume 9’ wall 7’ unbalanced backfill height

Table 404.1.1(2)

Need 8” nominal wall thickness

Vertical reinforcement  #6 32” OC

The goal will be to use poly steel ICF forms.  This gives me R20 walls for the basement.  I would use Polysteel’s reinforcement schedule.  Polysteel references costs on square ft of wall installed at 10$ ft^2 nominal  Estimate from polysteelnortheast.com is  including footings,

Waterproofing is 0.90$ ft^2  assuming Tough and dry application.   Probably will get Dave Fortier to spray it  ~$0.45  ft^2.  Suggested alternative is a peal and stick 0.040 thick membrane.  Same 0.90$ ft^2 cost.

The parts that are exposed above grade need to have the foam covered.  Suggestion is to use synthetic stucco system  2.50 ft^2$ installed. 

If I use insulated concrete forms applicable reg is 404.4.1

Need to meet provisions of aci 318

Foundation drainage shall be provided and shall drain to daylight. 

Underneath the basement floor will be  4-6” gravel, then 2” formular  extruded Styrofoam insulation then 4” 3500 psi concrete.

There will be one floor drain near the boiler and water heater.

There will be footing for 3 piers on centerline of the long axis located 10’ OC.  These carry only the load from the first floor, No loading from ceiling is transmitted

 First floor=28X40 = 1120 ft^2 times 60 lbs/ft^2  20 lbs dead and 40 lbs live

67,200 lbs total load of first floor  ½ of this is supported by the center beam

33,300 lbs 

with 3 center columns there is a total of 5 support points = 6,700 lbs per column

Since the load bearing capability of the soil is 2000 lbs ft^2, you need 3.35 ft^2

Make the column supports 24X24”

I want the basement to have a walkout door on the west side.  This implies the grading shall accommodate this.  The door shall be a 48”-72” wide  single or double French door to accommodate woodworking machinery entrance  Definitely no garage door.

I would like a reasonable window ~ 4X4ft  on west side   Possibly several window on south side

Specifications for framing

Ground floor

I intend to use Ijoists for flooring over a center beam

Center beam lvl built up beam  5 ¼ X11 ¼

28 ft span

40 lbs live load

20 lbs dead load

everything is designed to l/480 deflection so there is no issue with tile/ etc

I will use 3 laly columns which yields a column spacing of 10’ (span)

Using span tables from Ilevel true joist for floor girder beams

40lbs ll 20 lbs dl 28’ span  3 ½ X11 ¼ lvl beam  gives l/360 deflection

I am increasing it by 1.5X to get to L/480 deflection

Main center floor girder will be 5 ¼ X 11 ¼  Dropped beam.  Actually it will be 3 sections of 1 ¾ X 11 ¼  LVL

Floor joists will be trujoist tji210  9 ½” depth 16” oc  28 ft long

Joist will be doubled under wall spanning the whole floor

For subfloor I can use 7/8 OSB with no issues.  It will be glued and nailed

I will use the rim joist material and joist sections to carry the loads from the walls and roof loads.

Walls

2X6 construction  using 92”studs  24” OC for the 40 ft long walls.

If it is cost effective I will use  EL top and bottom plates so they are continuous pieces.

Build corners using 3 stud warm corner usning formular insulation

For the 28’ walls I will use 2X6  92.5” studs

Standard double top plate

Basic wall section should be  drywall, studs and fiberglass insulation, exterior osb or plywood sheathing 3/8 or 1/2”  with 1” polyisocyanate insulation with seems taped, then 15lb roofing felt for the water drainage plane then mesh and finally vertical wood siding shiplap eastern white pine barn siding with both sides stained prior to installation

For the interior partitions I will use 2X4 construction 24” OC

The roof will formed using trusses  I will use a basic scissor truss 24” OC.  I would like 5/12 roof and 2/12 ceiling pitch.  The overall span will be 28’ with a 2 ft overhang on each side.   I would like to use a gable truss for the roof over the bedrooms.

At the ends I would like to use a dropped gable end truss so I can add outlookers and have a 24” roof overhang on the ends.  What are the truss manufacturer’s recommendations for this?  My plan is to minimize labor involved in installing the trusses.  I will need the truss manufacturers truss bracing schedule.

Because these are scissor trusses special considerations will be necessary to deal with flex.  I do not know how much of a problem it will be with the trusses I am selecting.

I am assuming I will use the simpson movable truss connector on one end.  Probably the end on the south side (no interior wall connections on the out side for flex to be a problem. 

So to summarize the truss specs, I need:

Quantity 19

Clear span   28’ 0”

Overhang 2’ 0”

Pitch 5/12

Ceiling pitch 2/12

8” energy heel

ends plumb cut

Quantity 7 gable trusses same pitch overhang and energy heel

Quantity 2

Dropped end gable trusses (not scissor) that will accommodate 2X6 outlookers

Roof

Roof will be asphalt shingles 50 year architectural shingles.  Over 30 lb felt.  I will use 2 layers of water and ice dam ~ 6 ft of coverage to be safe.   I will buy the starter shingle pack and roof vent at the same time. The sides will have cedar shingles angles to keep water from dripping of the sides.  John Shean will order the stuff for me on his account

The following will be openings in the roof:

1 plumbing vent 4” ABS on north side

(2) 6-8” Metal chimney vents that will extend 3+ ft above roof.  One will be located in the service chase on the north side backing up to the kitchen.  One will be on the south side central along the bedroom wall (for the wood stove)

2 sun tunnels on the north side one above the  kitchen one parallel to bathroom These will both be on 24” risers which should give them enough clearance to get direct sun even in the winter  As an option, can I exit the sun tunnels on the south roof and just make a sharper bend to get to the opening in the ceiling?

One opening for the solar domestic water heater lines.

4- attachment points for the solar panel

Windows and exterior doors

I would like the windows on the south side to be double pane Pyrolytic loE with argon with a high solar Gain    Kohltech “Solarglass” is my first choice.  The other 3 sides can be argon  or krypton filled double or triple pane with soft coat LoE coating on both panes. Kohltech “energlass” would be good.  All windows will be Casements.  The only 2 that will be fixed will be the center window of the triples on the south side

Both entrance doors on the ground floor will be   insulated single lite glass doors.  The basement door can be industrial type but well insulated.  All doors will have lever handles

Front entrance and Basement doors will have keypad locks to eliminate door key  See Paul Brazau for the door locks  

Electrical and lighting

see spreadsheet  All lights fluorescent where possible

Multimedia and house Automation

The Wall outside the bathroom should contain all the house automation stuff

This includes thermostat for main floor, HRV control, ceiling fan, whole house fan

I would like in wall speakers in kitchen living, room, bedroom and on the north side exterior with individual sound controls. 

Cable hookup wall jack in living room

Multi media cable to both bedrooms, kitchen and living room.  Main junction and panel will be in the basement

Insulation details

Basement floor R 8  2” ridged foam insulation

Basement walls R 20  ICF construction

First floor walls  Drywall- R 19 fiberglass insulation +  sheithing1” polyisocyanate exterior sheathing over  OSB  ~ R25 with minimal thermal bridging  Airtight drywall insulation

Windows  R 3-4  (solar gain depending on orientation)

Ceiling  Minimal penetrations carefully sealed  drywall then 1” polyisocyanate then R 30 fiberglass bats.  Blow in additional fiberglass or cellulose insulation to make it R50

All ducts will be in basement or in walls conditioned space and will be min R4.

 did I miss anything?