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Watermonkey
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Posts:3
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| 04/08/2008 11:58 PM |
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Hi everyone! Love the forum and I hope to learn much from all you builders. A little about myself: I live in Northeastern Washington State and with my wife own a 3000 sq.ft. custom home on 20 sloped acres. We're selling this place to move further south thus cutting my commute time to the city and work. I'm an electronics technician who works in the communications industry off and on -contract work. I've been formulating a plan to design a new house for us for several years now and there are several objectives I want met:
1. I like a large home with many rooms and a separate chef's kitchen to keep kitchen noises and odors contained and keep the cats out and off the counters! Since we both like to cook, I'll have to insist on a six burner modern cooking surface with a small flat griddle in the middle. Lots and lots of counter space and cabinetry, natural light, and ventilation will be needed here.
2. I like very low utility bills and maintenance. So I'm thinking along the lines of ICF and/or SIP construction. I do want to utilize geothermal resources to aid in this endevour but I really don't know too much about it. I do know that I wish to incorporate a positive air pressure inside the building with well placed ventilation preventing radon build-up, dust and air pollutants (the single air source would be filtered with long-lasting, easily cleanable filter elements), and stagnation. Entering through many inlets in the basement, the air should be warmed or cooled long before meeting up with the main floor and main living areas. Unfortunately, in many buildings that have a positive pressure internally, double entrances are necessary to hold the pressure well...
3. Of course the design should take advantage of solar shading and roof pitch appropriate for the nearly 49th parallel we live at. Add to the roof rolls of uni-solar solar panels and one or two solar water heaters to give the radiant and domestic water heaters a boost. The solar PV would simply supplement the utility, making the home earn some of its keep. I sure wouldn't mind getting a check from the electric company for over-production, though. Wood heat, if incorporated, would be a secondary or even tertiary method of heating and be mainly for ambiance. I don't do beauty without it carrying its own weight, though, so if wood heat is incorporated, it'd need to contribute to heating the radiant floors as well.
4. I intend to manufacture my own heating oil from used restaurant oil in the area, so I do want as many appliances that use heating oil as possible, even the cook stove. I've yet to find a residential cook stove that uses this fuel, though I understand it's available in a marine application. Perhaps one could be made for residential use as well... I'm a little concerned about keeping the building cool in the hot summer -we normally get temps over 105 for at least a couple weeks near the end of the season here. Just as we often see double digit negative temps for a couple weeks in January. So this home must be able to handle extremes with ease, and it must be capable of being left alone for weeks or even months (sometimes my contract work takes me out of town for months at a time) at a time without regret.
5. I want to build the home near (and overlooking via the rear) a babbling brook, so it'll be two levels plus a daylight basement and an oversized garage / attached shop. I do want the "Man's room", playroom, space to smoke, cuss, drink, enjoy loud music, play pool, darts, sit at the bar, or watch a movie -all without leaving home! And without the smells, sounds, and carrying-on associated with such behaviors being detected in the other more "civilized" areas of the house. And I'm looking at a 5 - 6k sq.ft. living area with covered concrete deck at the basement level and at least partially covered deck above it.
6. Materials: bamboo flooring over insulated radiant floors, small zones to keep heating costs down. Tile and flagstone in small areas such as master bath and kitchen. Concrete siding, pre-dyed to avoid having to paint the exterior. Natural interior non-painted walls where possible. Wool carpet in theater and other areas.
And, no, I don't have unlimited funds. Is this type of home ever built, except in one's mind? And even then...
I'd sure appreciate any input to my conception. Thanks!
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Watermonkey
Registered Users
New Member
Posts:3
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| 04/29/2008 8:58 PM |
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122 views and no one has any comments on my vision? I find that hard to believe. Let me add another dimension to it: I don't buy into the propoganda of "carbon footprints", but being motivated by pure greed, I wish my home to actually be a negative footprint generating more energy than I consume so I can sell some off to the local utility all the while using the utility as my main "battery back-up". I don't know how much wind there is on the land, but 9 months of the year, there should be ample solar if the south roofs are covered with uni-solar roofing / solar panels.
On another note: Is it still a good idea to encorporate central vaccuum in the building? I just love the idea of having the dirt, dust, and animal hair end up in a canister outside the building in a little shed, to be emptied every month or three... Or even in a self-contained area in the utility room would be good too, but messier.
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neverest
Registered Users
New Member
Posts:13
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| 04/30/2008 8:19 AM |
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| Ok, we've designed some thing alot smaller, wfout the separate kitchen, but main level with walk out basement, bonus room over garage, etc. Going to use ICF for walls, spray foam insulation in ceiling/attic with steel roof, geothermal for heating radiant floors, prob 6 zones or more, hoping to use geothermal for cooling, too, via Valance system. Central vac a possibility, saw one system that had a "vent" at the floor level in the kitchen area that you just sweep the debri up to, and it sucks it up, nice! Like your idea about the "little shed" outside for canister, could be a build-on to the side near the garage, that we intend to have an unheated "closet" type area to house the exterior stuff (garden tools, etc) I think possible reason for no response is that there weren't alot of ?'s?? Like the bamboo floors, we intend to use them in main level, with recycled rubber tire material (ck it out, pretty neat idea) for kitchen and possibly bath areas. Use solar for water heater & assist geothermal, with electric backups, also to run the pump on the geothermal. There are design guys who'll take your plans & design your HVAC system to guarantee you a 50-70% savings. We're hoping to break ground soon, waiting for deal to go thru for the other half of the funds to get this going, selling rental house.. under contract, so holding our breath.. |
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Road Block
Registered Users
New Member
Posts:49
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| 04/30/2008 11:31 AM |
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You really need to find a layout that you like first, then figure out what technologies you are interested in and read the posts ask questions here to help figure out what will/will not work for you. Hire an architect, they are well worth the money. I could have had plans drawn up for $2,000 but I'm a lot happier with the changes and additions suggested by my architect for an additional $17,000.
I found a lot of info at pathnet.org in the technology toolbox and found the details about living with the technology here. The posts here changed my mind about tankless water heaters and radiant heat. The tankless are not the answer for my situation but the radiant will now be incorporated in about 1/4 of the house.
As far a greed goes, I don't think greed is what you are looking for but financially responsible decisions, do the math on everything. That is what we are doing for our house. Sure you could throw in a lot of energy efficient systems but if you are spending $1,000 to save $30/year does that make sense? Not to us. Some technologies may not be ready for primetime yet we are setting up the infrastructure so when the technology gets to a level we are comfortable with we can install it without incurring outrageous remodeling costs. For instance grey water, we're not satisfied with products that are out there right now but expect in a couple of years it will be. So we are installing dual drains now and avoid thousands of dollars in costs later. Our electrical boxes will be broken out to allow for easy integration of wind power systems. The wiring for the whole house automation will be installed even though we can't afford the entire system right now. etc....
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Watermonkey
Registered Users
New Member
Posts:3
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| 05/02/2008 5:53 PM |
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So, you're saying your plans cost you $19,000???? That seems a bit extreme... I'm all for good plans and I do intend to consult with a professional archetectual firm, but, I had no idea they were that expensive! What's the ratio of expenses? Let's say you want a pretty unique 3400 square foot home with two levels and landscaping... What are we talking about here, totat? $120/square foot? $150? I don't think I could go much over $80/foot on that one... Maybe up to $300k, but that's pushing it. Then I'd have to borrow money and that gets complicated when things haven't even been built.
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slenzen
Registered Users
Basic Member
Posts:178
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| 05/03/2008 2:18 PM |
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| Are there standard fees for architects? I talked to one and he quoted 5 or 8%(cant remember which) of the total build price. Ouch! My design will be pretty straighforward, stacked/staggered boxes on terraced lot, modern, flat roof. |
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Alton
Registered Users
Basic Member
Posts:337
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| 05/03/2008 2:33 PM |
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| I retired from teaching in the School of Architecture at Auburn University. Most of the architects that I know charge 6% to 11% fee based upon the percentage of the finished price. The higher the percentage, the more likely the architect is involved with supervision of the construction. |
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Alton C. Keown
Residential Designer and Construction Technology Consultant
Auburn, Alabama
334 329-0957 AT&T Cellular |
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Road Block
Registered Users
New Member
Posts:49
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| 05/05/2008 9:23 AM |
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Watermonkey
Yeah, $19,000 is right and we got away cheap because we provided the basic design and layout. He didn't have to go through the creative process, meetings and drawings to figure out what we wanted. His normal rate for a master plan (which includes stuff we can't afford right now) would have run us $35,000-45,000.
As far as a ratio with the computer programs and up to date pricing you can play pricing games and come pretty close.
$80/sf is fairly basic as far a finishes. In the eastern area you can get a prefab house with standard appliances and finishes for $65/sf, one off custom you're looking at $120+. But if you choose your construction methods and technology wisely then the monthly costs will be lower than standard making the overall cost lower. Which is what I think most people at this site are after.
Our price per sf is going to be significantly lower only because we found some cheap space in the house. The original design did not have an attic, but had a 16 ft tall peak, we sacrificed a closet for stairs and gained a useable 1,200 sf space. We are using hollow core planking for the floor in the garage and excavating under the garage for another 1,200 sf for a cost of $10/sf. I don’t know what we are going to do with all this space (I am getting a 400sf wine cellar) but at least we have it. The house design was originally 5,000 sf and for about $25,000 we are gaining 2,400sf of space. When you consider what our architect has done for the space in this house $19,000 is cheap.
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