Building a house.

Heres a rough idea of what Im looking into.

http://www.archwaypress.com/catalog/?target=product&product_id=2042

 

Eliminate the hip and you'll get more living space. Also with only being 24' wide you would want a 12/12 roof pitch to gain decent headroom. I would suggest modifying it to go a little wider maybe up to 28' and turn the stairwell to go along the back wall and then turn and run along the sidewall. Then there would be less interference of the stairwell in the garage space and more usage of the room upstairs. Of course, this stairwell configuration would only work with gable ends not a full hip.

 

Thanks I'll definately consider it.... but whats a hip? lol I'm new to this.

 

I can do better than that!

 

Time, Quality, or Money. Pick 2.
if you dont have money, it will take more time, and still get quality. You can do this for cheap if you have the patience, but it will be more satisfying to live in a house you built that you dont owe the bank a shitload of $ on.

maybe buy an old RV and park it at the site to live in while you build a house.

Dumpster Diving at construction sites can yield a lot of perfectly good plywood and lumber, pipe, electrical, etc etc. you might ask first... You'd be surprised what perfectly good material ends up in the dump. I built an 1800 sf home, 75% recycled. Old garage doors for walls, concrete formwork is now the roof. white oak wood flooring throughout, all recycled. Pipe turned into railings. And, it doesnt have to look bad either if you do it right, be creative.

Check any Habitat for Humanity Restores or other reclaimed building material stores in your area- you can get windows, doors, flooring, sinks, tubs for cheap. talk to Demolition contractors and see if they know of any place that will yield material.

Craigslist Materials section works well.

INSULATE INSULATE INSULATE. just when you thought you were done insulating, insulate some more.

Depending on the area, codes and inspectors can be a bitch. check that stuff out.

Use materials from the land. Do it old school with a rock foundation, and timbers used from the land if you have them available. Find a Mill to hewn them for you. Post and Beam construction like Amish Barns. but insulate the hell out the ground floor and walls, especially the roof. put your taco in 4wd and drag some logs out.

Get some used books at a used book store for cheap, ones written in the 70's usually cover a lot of info applicable to todays codes and energy efficiency requirements which will save you a boatload in the future.

Good Luck!

 

I would go with a gable end..... The hip roof is going to cut your space in half... I have worked on three buildings like you are looking into the make a very nice start!

 

So it always leaks?

 

adobe ftw...

 

Hip roof has the more triangular sections as opposed to a gable roof which looks like an partially open upside down book.