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Posted to OurFarmstead by Mary in Lititz, PA
on 3/10/2010 9:59:54 AM
We spent the better part of an afternoon looking at surplus windows for the shop. Since I had done plans and elevations for the shop, I had a good feel for the windows we wanted. Prior to setting out, I researched our target sizes at a Big Box store so we had that info as a reference to compare against the surplus pricing. The first store appeared to have bulk selections of new white vinyl windows with the surplus store's name stuck on them. Most of the windows were for new construction with plenty of windows in each size. There was also a small section of replacement windows. In comparing their prices with a BigBox store, I didn't think the suspect quality was worth the few dollars in savings. Of course I'm no window expert, so maybe the quality was OK... but to me they looked cheaply made. The second store had a random collection of windows of all sizes, shapes, colors and specs. Ninety percent were replacement windows and a few were new construction. There didn’t appear to be any organization to the way they were stored, and their published inventory list with window locations was useless. But the people in the store were pleasant and helpful and willing helped load our truck, too.
It took a bit of looking, and some flexibility on the design, but we managed to get seven new-construction windows to meet our design requirements for $561. This may not be auction bargain pricing, but I think we had a decent savings. The two large windows are moderate quality, and the five smaller ones are better quality than I would have gotten if we bought new.
And to Michael and Jeff on this forum, thanks again for the input on new vs. replacement windows. We got lucky and found new-construction surplus windows. And aside from the easier installation, we thought the flanges on the windows offer some additional resistance to wind-driven rain.
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| South-East View: Two large windows for passive heat of slab near 12x12 roll-up door. Awning shades them in summer. Four small windows for daylighting in rest of shop, shaded by roof overhang.
Majority of exterior south wall reserved for future solar HW radiant. |
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| North: Lean-to shed shelters north side of shop and adds storage. 3' square is machine vent, not window. |
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Posted to OurFarmstead by Mary in Lititz, PA
on 3/4/2010 9:07:59 PM
It seems like the planning has been taking a long time, with a lot of looping back over the same issues, tweaking things, changing things up to see if it works out better. When I first started serious planning in Jan. 2009 I thought this would all be settled by March 2009 and we would break ground that summer. No way! We got far enough along in the planning to put in the first part of the driveway in the fall of 2009. And here it is, March 2010 and we’ve finally seem to have got it settled.
We have site plan, house plan and farm shop plan. All of these were done by yours truly in Chief Architect. We started the process of getting construction drawings from a professional, using our plans and elevations as a fairly detailed starting point. Overall, I feel really good about the house plan. Its been a long time coming, but I think it will suit our needs well. At 2,300 sq ft it’s bigger than I had originally wanted. But when I added in space for accessible, aging-in-place features and room for out of town family it just kept coming up to the 2,300 mark.
We’ve been planning a farm shop and we’ve decided to build this building first rather than start with the house. It will give us (me) construction site experience and then serve as a storage and launching pad to do the house. Of course Hubby is thrilled that the shop is going up first. In his mind, the shop with a bed in the corner is all that the property requires. But I’m pretty sure we’ll still need to build a house. ;-) We’ve finished the plans for the shop and just need to get construction drawings, which should be a quick thing to do as it is a pretty simple building.
And after several more attempts at computer designing and then actually laying it out on the site, I believe we have the site planning settled too. It took a lot longer than I thought it would but in the end I’m actually glad we were forced to spend the extra time on site. For each iteration we would layout the buildings and connecting driveway and then actually drive it, and walk it and stand there and think how the wind was going to come through and would it be comfortable, and how would the daily chores work out and where were the views and on and on. The weather conditions were very different each time we happened to be there, and it was good to get a feel for the layout on a nice sunny day last Fall versus a brutally windy day in January. Over the several iterations we were able to make tweaks to the plan that I think will really improve the daily living on site.
Our goal is to break ground this spring… or summer...
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Posted to OurFarmstead by Mary in Lititz, PA
on 12/17/2009 2:11:52 PM
Our neighbor to the east bought his parcel shortly before we bought ours. Being a general contractor by profession he promptly put up his house, partially finished barn and fencing. However he neglected to locate the property boundary with the unfortunate result that a portion of the fencing seemed to cross the boundary. Since we weren’t using that land pe se and weren’t going to be building for a few years we decided to take no immediate action. Within two years the neighbor’s property was listed for sale and about a year later he finally found a buyer, a nice Amish family.
Soon after moving in the new neighbor contacted us to ask if we knew where the property line was …since the fencing seemed ‘odd’. Apparently they wanted to plow a section of the western part of their property (which backs up to our eastern boundary) in order to get cover crops in this winter. Since time was short on his planting schedule we all agreed that he should use his best judgment to plow and plant what he believed to be his land. In the meantime, we would schedule a survey for our property. If it turned out their cover crop of radishes was encroaching on our land then he would still be able to plant a crop for the 2010 growing season so as to not lose the effort and cost of prepping that ground.
The autumn weather has been terribly rainy and it took a while for the survey crew to schedule us. I hired them to mark the boundaries with survey pins rather permanent concrete markers. But survey pins don’t last many years in farm fields before they’re forever lost or plowed out. Enter handy-hubby, who made a series of heavy metal stakes, 3 feet long, 2 inches in diameter and with a giant nut welded to the top.
When the survey company notified us that the job was done we headed out the very next day to tackle the task. It was a cold and very windy day – but sledgehammer work has a way of warming you up! We pounded each stake into the ground leaving about a foot exposed, then piled rocks around it and topped it all of with a dab of fluorescent paint. We had just finished when I was surprised to see the survey crew coming up the driveway. It was a bit of a let down when they told us that there had been an error in their pins and they needed to redo the entire job, essentially rotating the perimeter by a few degrees and thereby changing some of the pins by several feet. Bummer. The bad news was we would have to redo all our work. But the good news was we were only dealing with 3 foot long metal stakes and not with a building foundation!
When all was said and done, it turns out the neighbor’s fence erected by a previous owner and the newly placed cover crop both encroach on our land. This is something we’ll need to discuss with them and we feel confident that all being reasonable people we can work things out. I’m glad the boundaries are now known to all and well marked, as good fences really do make good neighbors.
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| Our metal stake in rock pile, surveyor's marker yet to be removed. Yellow line shows our east & north boundaries. Pink line shows misplaced neighbor fence and crop field. |
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Posted to OurFarmstead by Mary in Lititz, PA
on 11/29/2009
I’m not a shopper – except for land of course. ;-) I guess I have interest in land/acreage the way some people have an interest in electronics or designer shoes. But my interest doesn’t carry through to appliances and such. So knowing that I have to source and buy everything for this project – well, a bit daunting. But nonetheless we got our O-B purchasing off to a good albeit unglamorous start with our first purchase; two 250 lb. rolls of geotextile fabric for the gravel driveway we've put in.
Prior to this project, I had never shopped or even visited Craig’s List or eBay – as I said, not a shopper. Now I check out Craig’s List all the time. I’ve seen a few things that would be useful – a nice laundry room tub, exterior steel door. But no purchases yet.
I went to a building supply auction run by Peak Auctioneering. Didn’t buy, but good learning experience. And it is interesting to hear how others on the O-B board have used auctions. Peak will be running two other auctions within driving distance in December and March, so I hope I can get my buyer’s hat on for those events. There is another auction near me that is a regular thing – once a month. It is different than the Peak Auctions in that this regular local auction seems to have more odds and ends – consignments from individuals who happen to have leftover stuff, and some stuff in pretty rough condition. But, if you’re willing to sift through and spend all day waiting for the item to come up, then I guess it could be worth it… If you’re the type that likes shopping, comparing prices and the thrill of the buy then I could see this being really fun. I’m not sure I’m that type – but I’m trying to at least cultivate an interest since buying smart is part-and-parcel of a successful O-B project.
I also regularly visit the websites of the building-supply-surplus places in my general area, such as Ironstone. I’m starting to see trends; new things that come in, go fast… the issues with finding a full set of windows all the same spec for a house, and so on. I got pretty excited over a recent find of a complete set of Andersen 400 Low-E windows for a house – I mean like 10 windows all one size and spec – very close in size to the 10 I need – and then various other windows in different sizes. The sizes were a bit larger than what our draft plan calls for, but would still be doable – actually a nice upgrade. And all for $4K. Wow! So I go to the Andersen site to check out the detailed specs on the windows and find they are “replacement” windows, not for new construction. Oh well. Keep looking.
And then there is the good ‘ol big-box store. I signed up for the sale circulars. But honestly, I’m starting from ground zero on what this stuff costs, what’s a decent deal vs. a real ‘steal’. I moved into my current house over 15 years ago with builder-grade appliances and have been using them happily ever since… so like I said – not a shopper.
So on this recent Black Friday I find I have a new topic to explore, figure out and take action on. That’s the OB experience. It’s all good.
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Posted to OurFarmstead by Mary in Lititz, PA
on 11/8/2009 11:58:36 AM
On the rescheduled day for our driveway install I arrived bright and early before the excavation crew and was shortly greeted by the rumble of a very big truck and trailer. The driver jumped out and hurriedly started unloading the bulldozer, calling out over the engine noise, “I guess the office didn’t contact you?” Gee, that’s not what I was hoping to hear. Turns out they were delayed on a previous job and wouldn’t be starting until afternoon. He was just dropping off the dozer for later today. OK – not a problem.
First Lesson: As per the OB Book, confirm the start date with your sub(s) the month before, week before and day before to avoid surprises at the site.
As per that morning’s chat with the contractor, they would start in the afternoon and I would check in at the end of the day. I drove the hour back to the property that afternoon to find they had rough graded the driveway. It was really exciting to actually see something being done on the property. I must have just missed the crew so I called the excavator to confirm the plans for the next day, including the time John and I should be ready to put down the geotextile fabric. Before I left for the evening I got to enjoy a nice view as the last of the day’s sun lit up the view to the east while dark storm clouds passed overhead. Beautiful.
The next morning a whole herd of heavy construction equipment showed up to finish the work. John and I weren’t needed for at least an hour so stayed out of the wind in the truck cab while John stood out in the cold to watch all the activity. I guess that’s a guy thing.
We got a good price from the excavator on this job, but he didn’t want to handle putting down the geotextile, saying “My guys just hate dealing with that stuff.” So we agreed that we would handle the geo. We hope that the geo will help create a really stable base for a long lasting and easier to maintain gravel driveway. Unfortunately it was a very windy day – not what we were hoping for to spread out 670 linear feet of geotextile fabric. At first the construction guys, while waiting for the first load of gravel to arrive, jumped in and helped out with the geo. It was really nice of them, but they were moving too fast and unrolling too much of the geo before I could secure it – so of course when the stiff wind running perpendicular to the driveway caught the geo – it like some giant black snake 12.5 feet wide and some 60 feet long took life right then and there. I was a little concerned that this was going to go very badly indeed, but some hardy running back and forth, staking down, and indeed lying prostrate on the geo while my good husband dumped buckets of rocks to keep it down soon won the battle. After that, the first dump truck of ballast stone arrived so construction guys let John and I on our own with the geo … which I think was good for all concerned.
Second Lesson: If you’re laying geotextile, bring twice the number of stakes you think you’ll need. Carry a knife to puncture a small hole in the edge of the geo or it will be nearly impossible to pound in the stake. Do not unroll more than you can control and stake in – and in a stiff cross wind you may be limited to 10 foot sections (unroll, stake, move on). When you need to cut the geo to fit it around the bends, be very generous in your overlap sections because you’ll need it when 24-ton dump trucks roll on by.
So we were progressing along and had about a third of the geo staked in when John noticed that the driveway was getting narrower. We had contracted for a 12 foot wide driveway but it appeared to narrow to 10 feet around the first bend. Bummer. I asked the excavator about it. He checked the width in several places and then we all chatted and agreed that he would use the skid loader to carve out another 2 feet where needed. But John and I had to bunch up and weight down the geo that had already been laid to get it out of the way. We were running pretty hard to get it done and not hold things up. But it all worked out. The driveway was widened, we put the geo back in place, and got on with the rest of the work.
Third Lesson: QC! QC! QC! I should have measured the roughed in drive for quality control the night before. I was on the site alone and could have checked the work without offending the crew and then I would have had the opportunity to raise the issue with the boss before work began. I’m glad I got this little life lesson in OB-land for only the price of a little extra sweat.
John and I were able to get the rest of the geo laid out without holding up the crew. It was a production line with John and I laying geo up front, then dump trucks of large stone, then the skid loader smoothing it, then a giant vibrating roller compacting it, another load of 2amod on top of the large stone, more skid loader and compacting … and 17 dump truck loads later …WaLa – a driveway! There was a lot of equipment on site and it was interesting to see the skill of the cross-trained crew jumping from one piece of equipment to the next to keep the pace moving along.
All in all a good first experience on-site. I enjoyed the effort, the challenge, working side-by-side with my hubby, and of course, the having a driveway when we were done. It’s a real motivator to kick it into gear on the rest of the site planning so we’ll be ready for construction on the house next year.
Photos
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| 1) Just me, the man in the moon, and a silent dozer. A half-day delay. |
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| 2) View from the road, roughed in driveway. |
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| 3) View from the end of the 670 ft driveway section. Will do final section next year with house construction. |
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| 4) View from house site at the end of the first day. |
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| 5) Start of 2nd day has a herd of construction equipment on site. |
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| 6) Won the battle over the wind, 1st section of geo staked in. Notice increasing overlap of geo onto grass of inside bend. Driveway was out of spec, too narrow at bend. Bummer. |
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| 7) Rolled back 1st section of geo to enable skidloader to carve out inside bend to meet 12 ft wide spec. A lot of extra effort, but worth it to get it right. |
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| 8) Got it all down! Ran out of stakes and had to resort to weighting with stones. Lots of extra work, but we got it done. Always bring more than you think you need! |
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| 9) 24-ton dump trucks create ruts, even in the compacted surface. Crew came back at the end to fix these up. |
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| 10) You could feel the ground vibration from this roller/vibrator from about 40 feet away. Wow. |
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| 11) We needed to be on hand to fix up geo after construction traffic.
End of the line - for now. Next section to be done with house construction. |
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| 12) End product: Tired feet and gravel drive. More 'fines' in the gravel than we were expecting. But we think it will be OK as we plan to top-coat another 2" after construction and we can use this experience to get a better result on the next section up near the house. |
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| 13) Just a bit of clean up work and this job is done. Top soil pile with silt fence at end of drive. Imagine the bend of the drive continuing around to the right and you'll get a feel for the building site on the knoll. |
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Posted to OurFarmstead by Mary in Lititz, PA
on 10/30/2009
We’re on a rain delay for the driveway, which was supposed to go in yesterday and today. And we’re to get rain each day for the next several days – so we’ll have to wait. But there are always other things to do, such as dealing with the terrace failure problem.
Our property was part of a larger farm that was subdivided into 3 parcels; 60 ac, 20 ac and our 30 acres. And back in the 1980’s a farm terrace system was implemented on this land. The terrace system is a series of ditches, underground drains and grassy waterways – that in 2009 now cross three property lines. The ditches are a few feet deep and wide and run for hundreds of feet, to guide storm water to an underground drain system. I know it sounds really ugly – but if the ditches drain properly and can therefore support vegetation, they pretty much fade into the visual landscape of the acres of farmland. The drain transports storm water down the eastern slope to flow out onto a grassy waterway and eventually to a stream on a neighboring property. In 1980 the idea was to prevent storm water from carrying away topsoil.
This terrace-drain system has definitely seen better days. One drain on the neighbor’s property and about 50 feet from our property line has failed, likely many years ago. The failed drain creates standing storm water about 2 ft deep at the drain and backs up several hundred feet onto our property. The standing water kills the pasture grass we planted, invites invasive weeds and creates a mosquito problem in the warm weather. The tail end of this backed-up storm water stretches into a shallow soggy area very near our planned building site. Bummer.
The easy thing would be to fix the failed drain – except it isn’t on our property and it won't be easy at all. At three feet down and likely filled with years worth of silt, rusty and sitting in a saturated area … well ... it doesn't seem a DIY job with hand tools. I’m working on contacting the new owners of the other lot to see if we can work together on fixing the drain. Barring that, we’ll need to do something on our land to help drain the water. In the short term John and I will try to siphon the storm water out of the ditch down to the next terrace where there is a working drain input. Hopefully we’ll be able to drain off enough to get a better look ... or allow an excavator to look/work … or at least we’ll have some fun playing in the mud.
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Posted to OurFarmstead by Mary in Lititz, PA
on 10/26/2009 10:51:21 AM
The house and site planning has certainly occupied center stage in our planning to date but I have been trying to get a few other things going too. We don’t plan to start building the house until Spring of 2010, but we have a driveway scheduled to go in on Oct. 29th (yeah!) We’re still finalizing the site planning but I feel we’re good to go on the driveway. It’s total length from the road to the house and outbuildings will be at least 900 ft but we are putting in only 670 ft next week. The remaining 200+ feet won’t be put in until construction to give us flexibility in finalizing building placement over the winter months.
Getting the driveway going provided me with a much needed round of practice in getting a permit and contacting, interviewing and selecting a contractor. I also had to prepare, deliver, and get the contractor's signature on the contract agreement and Stipulation Against Liens document (aka Stip). The doc prep took me a little bit of time, but should go faster next time. Getting the signature on the contract agreement was no problem. It reflected his proposal with some added items to be more clear on scope and expected quality - and didn’t have anything a self-respecting business person would have a problem with. But the Stip – well, that was a sticking point indeed. I knew it would be, as he had a negative opinion on signing one when I asked him about it during our initial discussion. After some discussion the doc was signed and I filed it at the courthouse the next day. Wasn’t sure how to do that, but in the end it only took about 45 seconds in the Prothonotary’s office. I think we’re good to go on Oct. 29th.
When we planted our property for pasture grass, I remember watching the skies and hoping for rain. Now were ‘planting’ a driveway and I’m hoping for clear dry weather. Fickle girl!
Photos
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| I tried to show planned drive in blue. |
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Posted to OurFarmstead by Mary in Lititz, PA
on 10/12/2009
Since my previous post I’ve continued to work on the floor plan in terms of refining it and trying to make sure it’s accounting for our needs. I also circled back to site planning again with the more finalized floor plan – along with the detached garage, the run-in sheds and storage building for animals and John’s 30x50 building. Yes, it grew from 30x40 to 30x50! Gee how did that happen? A while back we got a measuring wheel on Ebay and have been noting the distances between buildings for several weeks. We’re trying to develop a sense of the walking distances we wanted between buildings on the farmstead. This isn’t a topic where John and I always agree so we’re working hard to try to get to a consensus site plan. Ha! Ha! – does that sound politically correct or what?
So finally last week we headed out to the property with our site plan in hand to stake the driveway and building. First we staked the house on the knoll, and then used the relative site plan relative dimensions to approximate the locations of the other buildings and long driveway. Florescent colored tape marked the actual building perimeters in the tall grass and made it easier to take in the future farmstead. It was very informative to walk the distance between buildings and to actually travel the staked driveway and turn-around in the proposed gravel courtyard. Its funny how once it was staked out we could see problems with the layout that weren’t so obvious on paper or even in the 3D program. This led to a bit of tension between John and I – as I think he just wants to move forward with the project. Enough planning already! I can see his point, and on the other hand I’m really concerned (some might say obsessively so, but I prefer to think of it a 'very thorough') with getting this as good as we can. In my mind, we only get one chance to locate the buildings. Then we’ll be living with them for a long, long time to come. Anyway, by late afternoon we got it all staked out, made some improvements to the driveway and called it a (long) day.
Back at home with the site visit and staked buildings fresh in my mind’s eye, I tried to improve our site plan in Chief Architect. John and I reviewed my edits and agreed that I would I head out to the property again the next day while John was at work. Working alone was considerably slower but also allowed me time to think about the layout as it took shape. It was another gorgeous windless day and I always love being there. Living there is going to be so wonderful!
I was nearly finished as the sun was setting when a swarm of mosquitoes decided I would make a nice steak dinner. I remember reading on Tanglewood’s blog (on this site) something about don’t stand downhill when you’re stacking logs … well, here’s another gem fur ‘ya:
When you’re pounding in stakes with your Grandpa’s old hammer and find yourself in the main course for cloud of bird-sized mosquitoes, put down the hammer before you start flailing your arms about your head and neck. Ouch!
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Posted to OurFarmstead by Mary in Lititz, PA
on 8/30/2009 2:24:53 PM
I don’t have any kids. My sister has two, and the second one brought into the world via natural childbirth. She’ll probably want to kick me for this – but honestly Sis …your labor was what? 16 hours? 20 maybe? Whereas I’ve spent day and night, night and day, every waking moment and most sleeping time too, sweating and working and gnashing my teeth over this floor plan. And finally, after six weeks, a floor plan is born.
What a relief!
The Chief Architect program I mentioned in the previous post has been invaluable in getting this done. We’ve wound up with a simple two-story rectangular house with a gable roof – can’t get more basic than that. :-) On the west gable end is a smaller single-story rectangle gable-roofed space. The long axis of the house will be oriented toward solar south with plenty of windows on the south side. The single story space (on the west) contains the mud rm/farm laundry/storage area, John’s office and a full bath. The (main) downstairs area has a small guest room (with private access to the full bath), and the kitchen/dining/living areas in an open plan. Upstairs is a small laundry, full bathroom, our bedroom and two generously sized closets, my office area, and a spare bedroom. Currently the garage is detached and situated to the north-west of the house, making it a short trek to the mud-room door at the west end of the house. The overall style of the house is a simple 1900’s farm house. Clean lines, front porch, clapboard style siding, metal roof.
Overall pretty straight forward when you think about. How did it ever take so long to get it laid out?
I think a lot of the time had to do with matching the flow of rooms in the house to our daily pattern of life and to the views and sunlight we wanted in the space. Placing the windows for views/sunlight and still maintaining the exterior look of a traditional farmhouse was quite a challenge. Another time consuming thing was trying to get the house done within the square foot target of under 2000 sq. ft. The first ‘final’ version was around 1750 sq. ft (not including decks/porches). I put it out to a few family members for comments and then made some edits a few tweaks … and the new ‘final’ version is up to 2300 sq. ft. Bummer. Despite the uptick in size I’m pretty happy with the floor plan and elevations. I’ve put the updated version out again to a small circle of reviewers and we’ll see what happens next. I may decide to trim the size a bit.
I may have a floor plan, elevations and 3-D views I like, but I’m still a long way off a set of construction drawings required for permitting and actual construction. I don’t plan to do those drawings as I don’t have a construction background. When I feel I’ve got a final-FINAL floor plan we’re happy with, then I plan to get professional help to make sure the plan is buildable, meets code and to have a set of useful construction drawings made. I’m still investigating how best to do that phase of the design.
Overall, it feels great to have the basic floor plan done though. Happy camper here!
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Posted to OurFarmstead by Mary in Lititz, PA
on 7/29/2009
After the disappointing first round with the architect, I took some time to think it over and see if I could come up with a design myself. I know … this is my second time around as I started out a few months back trying option before turning it over to the architect. Well, if at first you don’t succeed…
When I tried a few months ago, I was attempting to use a home design program from Punch. I’m reasonably computer literate, but I found the program pretty dog-gone difficult, to the point that it became a hindrance. So I decided to just do it on paper. That worked well enough I suppose but was slow, difficult to generate options, impossible to view in 3D without time consuming models. And so on. Enter architect, and you know how that’s gone so far.
So I recently downloaded a free trial of another design program to give this second try. It is Chief Architect v9.0. After about 6 hrs with the download, I was pretty sure this was a program I could work with in a productive manner and get at least a floor plan together. I bought the program and have been working with it for about 80 hours and I believe it’s going better than I had anticipated.
I spent about 30 hours sort of ramping up on the program. That sounds like a lot, and in truth, in just a few hours with very user friendly ‘space planning’ tools and the click of a ‘build house’ button you can get to a custom floor plan. Building roof structures, staircases and such takes a bit longer, but still is surprisingly easy. I practiced with a simple rectangular gable-roofed house. After that initial ramp-up, I spent another 30 hours or so exploring two different floor plan options we were considering. I carried those designs through to a stage to include windows, furniture placement, windows and a generic roof. We were able to study these in various types of 3D renderings (i.e. doll house, glass house and walk through). And then in the past 20 hours or so, I turned my attention to site planning for the house and the two planned outbuildings. John and I were able to look at a several brainstormed ideas on the site plan and discuss the pros and cons of each. This was a very useful exercise. We both seemed to narrow in on one site plan as the best option. Now I’m trying to refine the previous house floor plans into the site plan – and refine issues related to views, prevailing winds, daily traffic (car, truck and people) to and from other buildings.
I’m not certain where this will lead in terms of working again (or not) with our architect. It may be we take our fairly refined floor plan and site plan and ask him to produce construction drawings for us. Or, if we go with a non-framed building envelop (i.e. looking into composite block such as Durisol of Faswall), then perhaps we don’t need the framing construction drawings and can work with a lumber/truss supplier on the roof since the walls would be block. I’m not sure on that yet, and initial prices on Durisol took me back a bit … but that’s a story for another post.
For now, floor plan and site planning continues and progress (albeit slow) is being made. :-)
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Posted to OurFarmstead by Mary in Lititz, PA
on 7/23/2009 1:19:51 PM
We got a draft floor plan from the architect. It was disappointing. Since I’ve never done this before, I’m not sure if what we got is a typical first round result, or if we’re on the road to ‘this isn’t going to work’. I tried to keep an open mind as the architect showed me this initial plan. I tried hard to see the project from his POV and really consider what he was bringing to the table in terms of design.
Getting to this point (initial floor plan) has taken many weeks of waiting – which is another facet of my disappointment. Overall the architect spent about 13 hours so far. That includes both prep (3 hr site visit, reviewing our written notes, two 1-hr phone calls with me) and actual design/drawing. I’m OK with the amount of work produced in those hours (i.e. the concept floor plan), but I’m not OK with that fact that it took so many weeks to get in just 13 hours of working time. He says he spends a lot of time off the clock (unpaid) thinking about a project, so maybe that accounts for some of the in-between time in terms of calendar days – but the pace still seems slow to me.
One drawing, on a topographical map I had given him, shows a hand sketch site plan for the driveway, house/garage, ag-building, small barn. The other drawing shows a floor plan of the first and second floor with some furniture for scale. We had previously agreed that he would do only this initial work and then we would meet – so his scope of work was on-target. I’m glad we did it this way. If he had done elevations and construction details for this floor plan, it would have been even more disappointing due to all the extra money spent on something that won’t work for us.
So, what are the problems with the design? Well, to be fair the architect did accomplish some of the things we had asked for, and that was good to see. But in my opinion, the day-to-day functionality of the house was not good at all. I’m not talking about tweaking the size of a room here or there, but rather of the relationship of one space to another and the relationship of the house to the site. I’m not going to make this post too long by going into all the details. Suffice to say, if this house in this orientation had existed on the land prior to our buying the property – I would not have wanted purchased it.
Our agreement with the architect is straight hourly work – we can pay the bill and walk away at any time. And with about 15 hours into it, I’ll feel OK if we have to move in a different direction – in terms of actual money spent (lost). It’s disappointing, but sometimes despite your best efforts at hiring, things just don’t work out. I feel a lot less OK with the time lost. Whether we continue with him, hire someone else, or go it on our own (design our own home) – the time lost can not be recovered. I think the real question is whether or not, through continued effort, back-and-forth discussion and revisions, we can work toward a really good design that makes best use of the site, fits our lifestyle and stays in our budget. Or is this initial concept a serious red flag, and we should end the working relationship in a professional manner and move on. We’re thinking it over and exploring some options before we get back to the architect.
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Posted to OurFarmstead by Mary in Lititz, PA
on 7/16/2009 11:35:53 AM
The subdivision plan for our property lists a limitation of 10,000 sq. ft. of impervious surface for the principal use. According to township zoning, impervious includes buildings, paving and gravel roads/driveways. Bummer – our proposed house site requires a 950 ft driveway. At 10 feet wide, that’s 9,500 sq ft of impervious gravel before you even get to the buildings! John joked that we could put in a driveway with a tent at the end of it and while that might suit him just fine, I was hoping for a bit more in terms of housing comfort. So, off to try to find a solution.
Several weeks passed with me reading a text on pervious paving (very interesting BTW) and getting comments from a discussion thread on this board. Then we had the good fortune of a chance meeting with a civil engineer working in the area. As it turns out he was a wealth of information on the issue and he was very generous in sharing his knowledge and experience. He described some other projects in our area where the owner got a county wavier on the limitation in exchange for construction infiltration pits. I can’t say I was thrilled to hear that, but at least I learned a lot from the conversation.
So, we were pondering the options when we had dinner with some family members who have experience in road building, including working for the township. They suggested I meet with the township zoning guy before settling on any plan. It was a good idea – I guess I’m somewhat biased against regulatory departments, and have read some nightmare stories from other OBs… But in thinking about it in a more businesslike fashion, meeting with the zoning guy really did seem like a common sense approach. And now having had my meeting with the zoning guy I can whole heartily report that he was extremely helpful and provided us with the best solution of all!
He explained that the 10,000 sq. ft. limitation on impervious is a county subdivision issue, and does not include the driveway or farm buildings – only the house and garage. The definition of impervious that I had read in the township zonging regs does include driveways, but doesn’t apply in our situation. So, we’re good to go with our proposed house site and 950 ft. standard gravel driveway. Yippee! During the meeting we also covered a few other topics so all in all it was really productive.
Lessons Learned:
- Before attempting to find a solution, make sure you understand the problem. (duh).
- With respect to county regs, township regs, conservation district regs and specific deed notes; when in doubt ask the ones in the know, the final deciders (i.e. zoning guy, inspector guy/gal, and so on). At least start there, as it is likely to save time in the long run.
I’m hoping to do the driveway this fall. Fun, fun, we’ll finally get to actually move some dirt!
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Posted to OurFarmstead by Mary in Lititz, PA
on 7/12/2009 6:08:01 PM
John and I met the architect at the site – this was actually a little while back – but I fell behind in posting. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I sure was looking forward to it.
We tromped around a good bit and showed him what we thought were two potential house sites, both with their own pros and cons (from our POV). I had brought copies of the topo maps we had left with him at the first meeting. The maps showed some of our ideas on location (driveway, house/garage, two ag-related buildings, large garden). We’re familiar with the land, views, prevailing winds, etc., but for the architect this was his first (and likely only) exposure to the property. He seemed pretty focused on trying to take it all in. After looking at both sites and some discussion, we all felt that one site was the clearly better choice. It is located roughly in the center of the property, on a knoll with decent views all around. The down side is that this site will require a driveway roughly double the length of the other site. We discussed issues associated with the driveway and agreed that I needed to do some additional research with the township to better understand any restrictions (such as the amount of impervious). I would then get back to the architect with the info I gathered. But overall, we agreed to move forward anticipating the site on the knoll would be the one.
We talked about the conditions of the site – as I wanted to make sure he understood what it was like out there in February, with a 30 mph wind wiping across 15 open acres before it hit the house. We need to make best use of placing the buildings to create usable outdoor work spaces. We need to place the driveway to make it as easy as possible to maintain, in all weather. These things aren’t glamorous – but in my view – are the difference between a pleasurable place to be and work and a place that makes you wish you could go to Florida for the winter! I know we’re not goin’ to FL – so let’s do a good job on site planning.
At one point, the architect asked what kind (i.e. style) of house we wanted. I had provided some written notes and photo ideas in the packet we left with him during our first meeting – but as it turned out he hadn’t read it yet. A bit surprising - bummer. So we discussed housing styles and I repeated what was in my notes - my desire to build a house that took advantage of the views and that also looked as if it might have always been on the site. I didn’t want a house that looked as if it had been ripped out of the nearest subdivision and plopped down in the middle of 30 ac of pasture, among the neighboring Amish farms. Now I’m not saying I want to attempt to recreate a historical house – for one thing the budget wouldn’t allow it. And unless very well done, IMO they often don’t pull it off (you can tell they’re not old). What I wanted was a house that was reminiscent of the history of the region, while accommodating a modern lifestyle and incorporating some basic green ideas (i.e. orienting the house for best advantage of passive solar).
In total we spent three hours at the site. I hope it gave the architect a good feel for the property, and a little more understanding for what we’re are looking for in our house and site.
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Posted to OurFarmstead by Mary in Lititz, PA
on 7/4/2009 7:06:53 PM
I stopped by the property to check on the grass and the need for mowing (aka weeds). I already mentioned about converting our land from (rented out) corn and soybean to a variety of pasture grass. Well we’ve gotten our first hay crop from one portion of it – a milestone of sorts. A neighbor is cutting and baling it for his own use. He was such a great help last year by lending his tractors to us for mowing – and since he didn’t know us very well at all it was quite a neighborly thing to do. So this year he’s getting some hay.
I know this board is more about houses than hooves, so I'll just end with a few pics showing a bit of the process.
Photos
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| March 07: Looking east, after corn, before planting pasture. |
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| March 07: Looking south-west (compare to same view in 6/22/09 post below) |
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| June 08: After planting, before germination, weeds already. My first experience with tractors, 1940 Ford and 8 hr session on hotest day so far that summer. Fun. |
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| July 08: Giant ragweed overtakes seedlings, and John too. John escaped, we weren't so sure about the pasture though. Lots more mowing. |
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| May 09: What a difference. Still mowing to control weeds - but ain't that purty! |
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| June 09: First fist full of hay. :-) Nice! |
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Posted to OurFarmstead by Mary in Lititz, PA
on 6/29/2009 2:43:33 PM
On a cool rainy afternoon John and I met with Architect #3 at his home/office. He lives in-town in an older, smallish house … and over many years he completely transformed the interior. Really, I can’t do it justice in a verbal description. In both creativity and craftsmanship the house was beautiful. He created useful, pleasant living spaces without having a massive interior space. We spent several hours there seeing his home and a few photos of his other work and discussing design philosophy and work strategy.
I liked that he was keen to work on smaller spaces, a smaller project. And he said that since he had done the work himself on his own house - he had a good feel for just what was required on construction drawings to really guide work on-site … without detailing things that were not required. He described himself as an architect who had years of hands-on experience in all phases of home construction. We reviewed his typical drawing package and John spent a good bit of time looking through a set of drawings. The Architect emphasized that he likes to be really efficient in his work and spend his time in design and drawing rather than being stuck in researching, e-mailing, and administrative paperwork. As a bit of a surprise, he is traditional in his approach to building techniques. I’m not sure how I feel about that – is that a good thing or not? For example he says that for the $ spent, a well constructed 2x6 instead of SIP or ICF is the way to go (in his opinion). While we’ve looked at ICF and are interested in it, we’re not married to a particular envelope technology and will likely look for good quality and good $ value.
I brought a little packet of info on our project: functions we needed in the house, target sq ft, topo maps noting best views & prevailing winds, and photocopies from books and magazines showing exterior styles that we liked, and a few that showed what we didn’t like. We didn’t discuss our project much during this meeting … it seemed more about him talking about his work and experience – which was fine. I left the packet of our project with him.
After the meeting John and I discussed what Architect #3 vs Architect #2. I felt like I really hit it off personally with Architect #2 (see prev. post) and felt I would likely have more ‘fun’ working with her (based on the initial phone call). If budget were no issue, I likely would have pushed to at least meet with her and see where that went.
But this is the real world, right?
Architect #3 (the one we met with) seemed to have a good match between his typical scope of services and what we really need and can afford. And he had a proven record of designing, constructing and living in smaller spaces (i.e. his own home, under 2000 sq ft). Since we want a smallish, well designed house to meet our needs and fit the site – it seemed like a good fit. So, we decided to go with Architect #3.
Now comes the fun part… Road Trip …SITE VISIT!
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Posted to OurFarmstead by Mary in Lititz, PA
on 6/24/2009 10:41:47 AM
From my list of potential candidates I phoned two designers and three architects. The sequence of Q&A varied, but in the end I felt I was able to come away with a good feel for what each had to offer. In my mind, it’s not just what they can do (design-wise), but also how well their services/prices match our needs/budget. Here is how it broke down:
Designer 1: Reasonable cost, likely would not offer the creativity and had little interest in doing site plan. No services beyond delivery of the design/construction drawings.
Designer 2: Emphasized his experience with custom homes, but had seemingly unreasonable (?) fee schedule … 50% non-refundable upfront based on anticipated sq ft, the balance as we work through. They own the drawings. Overall I just didn’t think I would like working with him.
Architect 1: Only minutes from our rural building site and recently struck out on his own from a larger firm. He either didn’t have the skills to articulate his strengths/areas of interest (in terms of design) or he hasn’t figured them out yet… seemed generally unenthusiastic about the project.
Architect 2: Located ~2 hrs away in upscale area, specializes in residential. I saw some of her work on her website and really like it. She offers (as a pkg) design AND construction management (CM) for best control over end results (when using a GC). Her typical clients are in the $850k+ range … way, WAY above our budget. We had a lengthy and interesting discussion. We were both able/comfortable challenging each other - in a good way (maybe challenge isn’t quite the right word here). For example, she asked alot of Q about our intention to OB and I asked about her desire to work on a smaller project with a much smaller budget than what she was used to. She wanted to meet with us to further discuss the project. While I was interested in her skills, I did feel that there was a wide gap between her typical high-end projects and what we planned … would she have trouble with us doing the GC? or budget shopping our finishes? or selecting less-Green options in deference to the budget? Although I didn’t set a meeting during that call, I told her I would definitely contact her to let her know our status or set a meeting.
Architect 3: Recommended by a knowledgeable friend, lives & works close by, does residential & commercial. Our phone conversation was fairly good. He charges in a straight hourly (and a very reasonable rate), would do a site visit, help in site planning, the design/construction drawings and phone consulting during construction – but not on-site supervision. His set of services and fee structure fit well with our needs.
I set up a meeting with Architect #3 to see some of his work (including his own house). I figured we would meet with him, and if all went well, go with him. If there were still some question, we would also meet with Architect #2 to investigate that option. So Architect # 3 is up (face-to-face meeting next) and Architect #2 is on-deck. And for now, there are no Designers in the bullpen.
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Posted to OurFarmstead by Mary in Lititz, PA
on 6/22/2009
I’ve been interested in the architecture for a long time and I’ve been reading and studying everything I could on architecture, specifically residential design, for several years. For me, it’s a fun and interesting topic. So naturally, I thought I would do the floor plan design for our house. My plan was to do the initial design/layout and then use a professional’s skills to get feedback and refine it. After all, how hard could it be?
Well, as it turns out, harder than I thought! I’m beginning to think that’s going to be a good refrain for every verse of this project. :-)
I ‘hit it hard’ and spent several weeks diligently working to come up with a site plan and floor plan for our project. The site plan needs to account for the house and garage (with large garden and several fruit trees), as well as a farm shop building and a small barn/run-in shed for a couple of horses, turn-around area for tucks, and using buildings and landscape to create usable year-round outdoor working areas (i.e. break the harsh winter wind from the West). Meanwhile, the house floor plan needs to meet our functional requirements (which we had previously documented), do it in a minimum amount of space, and incorporate passive solar design concepts.
I kept encountering roadblocks in my designs and I wasn’t sure which compromise (for certainly there had to be compromises on some issues!) was the best solution. I think getting an appropriate and well-crafted site plan and design is a very, very important facet to the enjoyment of the end-result.
I won’t bore you with all the details, but after several weeks, I decided to get professional help … um, that is … for the site and floor plan. We’ll still be actively involved but I’m glad we’ll have an experienced person to help move the project along. So once we decided to use a professional for the design, the next issue became who to hire. I read the resources in the OB forum and articles regarding selecting and working with designers and/or architects. I searched the internet, and consulted with friends and developed a list of potential candidates. Next up, phone 'interviews'...
P.S. - Not entirely related to this topic, but two recent pics from a visit to the property.
Photos
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| Looking east. Trees mark south boundary w/ road behind them. In front of trees is a depression (bowl) of about 4 ac. Love that new grass!!! |
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| Looking south-west from proposed building site, across 'bowl' to road. LOTS of good local trail riding - Nice! You can see from location of car, driveway will be a long one. |
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Posted to OurFarmstead by Mary in Lititz, PA
on 6/18/2009 3:48:42 PM
So what is 'small'?
Using our current house as a point of reference, at 1400 sq ft, I don’t think it would be considered large by today’s standards. But then I suppose one man’s shack is another man’s mansion, right? ;-) I’ve spent some time reading up on ‘living small’ and looking at a LOT of floor plans – ranging from 600 to 3000 sq ft. Yeah – that’s quite the range! And I talked with several builders at the Harrisburg Home Show back in 2006. I should say I tried to talk with the builders – because I was consistently told “Oh, we won’t touch anything under 2500 sq ft. and really 3000 sq ft and up is our area of interest.” In fact it was that experience of professional builders brushing-off my project that first led me to the idea of owner-building. And of course once I realized the advantages of an OB house, well there was no turning back. But I digress – back to the size issue.
We’ve decided that we want to keep the house on the small side. We both have interests outside of the house (on our property) that will take some of our overall budget and our time (after the house is done). We don’t want to spend excessive amounts of time cleaning and maintaining a big house or show-place. For us, the house design is about a quality structure that is comfortable and functional, affordable to build, and efficient (economically and energy-wise) in the long term.
Our current home (1400 sq ft) feels like it has plenty of space for the two of us. In truth, it’s got a good bit of wasted space for the way we live. For example, it has two bedrooms that are seldom used as actually bedrooms – but we do use the closets in both of those rooms. Our home has the traditional two eating areas (kitchen and dining room) – although we only ever use one. We would gladly trade the space in one of the extra bedrooms for a dedicated office area for each of us – that we don’t have to clean up when guests are over. And a few new spaces would be great, such as a mud-room and a second full-bath for out of town family visits.
For over a year we’ve been really thinking about how we live day to day and on those occasions when we have dinner guests or out-of-town-visitors. Anytime we come up with a hassle in our current house (like tripping over boots at the front door, or scurrying to clean the bathroom before my Mom and Dad arrive), I make a note of how that could be better in the new house. As a result, I think we’ve come up with a list of functional spaces for the new house. Mind you, this is a list of functions – not rooms. We’re OK with one space in the house serving more than one function, as long as it works day-to-day without a lot of hassle.
So, what is small? Who knows! For us, we’re shooting for under 2000 sq ft and really the smaller the better, as long as it meets our functional needs.
Next Up: Map the functional spaces into a workable floor plan for both us and the site.
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Posted to OurFarmstead by Mary in Lititz, PA
on 6/10/2009 7:57:20 PM
Our farmstead project has been underway for quite some time, in some ways for years. And we’ve yet to break ground, pull a permit or even settle on a floor plan. None the less, we are in active planning, perhaps what would be termed as the ‘early-late-middle planning stage’ … and getting jitters that planning isn’t going fast enough to make it to the target ground breaking in 2010. I’ve learned a lot (and have been inspired!) by the others who’ve posted here, both in the journals and in the other forums. I figured I would try to contribute our little bit, share status with family and friends and also document ‘the journey’ for myself and the hubbie (John).
Getting to this point certainly hasn’t been a straight line and it’s too long a story to tackle all at once. So I’ll just start with where we are…
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Posted to OurFarmstead by Mary in Lititz, PA
on 6/10/2009 12:29:05 PM
The property is essentially a long rectangle (30 acres) located in a rural farming area of south-central PA. The property had been rented out to a local farmer for corn and soybean crops until Dec 2007. It has been farmed for many years, and except for a tree-line on a portion of the south property line it has no trees or shrubs.
In the Spring of 2008 we planted pasture grass. That was a research and sub-contracting effort all on its own! Now that the grass is in its second season, it’s wonderful to see it coming along. Weeds were a major issue last summer during establishment and since we didn’t have a tractor at the property – it was a challenge. We patched together as best we could by hiring out work and borrowing tractors from a very gracious neighbor. This year it’s going a bit easier, now that we’ve made some contacts in the neighborhood and also since the pasture grasses are better able to compete with the weeds...although the weeds will be a battle that will go on for several more years, I'm sure.
Since we are no longer renting out the property for commercial crops, we can have year-round access. We’ve planted a few saplings that my father-in-law had carefully nursed along for us. And we’ve transplanted a few blackberry plants into the tree line. But overall we’re waiting on any significant tree planting until we get more firmed up on site planning.
If it works (?), there should be a google pic of the property below. I've included a few notes to try to give the lay of the land. It's no doubt that building our home is an exciting project - but for both John and I - our interest in the land and it's stewardship is every bit as interesting as the house. We feel very blessed to be able to own this piece of land - for both of us - it is a dream come true!
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