Update on new home construction - pic heavy

[O.S.O.K.]

Thought I'd make an update - here's some pics of the house as it looks now:

From front:



Gable end (right side as seen above):



Back of house showing solatube tops on roof:



Solatube on the celling inside:



Cabinets in kitchen, master bath and guest bath:







Electritian working with dirt man to install burried electrical line from power pole to house:





And last, the shed roof that I constructed on the side of my storage building last Sunday - just a small one to start - going to build more on both sides and an enclosed extension off of the front...:





The process has been ongoing - painting, cabinet installation and the electric line being the latest steps...

We are a little over budget but not bad - we are really pleased with the results so far.

The attic is very large - about 1000 square feet and is open and decked - we have a double door on the gable end that will allow us to back the moving truck up to the doors and put the ramp straight out - which will make moving things into the attic very easy - this will allow us to move in stages and save a lot of money on that. The first load goes into storage in the attic and is locked up until we get the next and final load in...

Anyhoo, still plenty to do - final electric and plumbing, flooring, counter tops and wood burning stove install.... plus plus plus...

[chadbr]

Outstanding! Looks great...

Chad

[pokey]

good looking project.

from these i would guess you don't get much snow load.

[oh , nice tractor , too]

And last, the shed roof that I constructed on the side of my storage building last Sunday - just a small one to start - going to build more on both sides and an enclosed extension off of the front...:

[O.S.O.K.]

Thanks and no, no snow to speak of - when you do get some that sticks, it's gone in a day or two - melted.

[rjohns94]

Very nice looking. Coming along very well. Blessings

[Catshooter]

I love the look the steel siding/roofing gives.

Whereabouts is this puppy?


Cat

[O.S.O.K.]

Thanks and we are located in central Mississippi - south of Grenada if you know were that is - I-55 is only 10 minutes away, if that.

[Pitchy]

Say now that`s coming right along, you`ll be moving in before ya know it.

[Hobie]

I don't think you can do justice to the amount of light those Solatubes bring into a house. It is amazing.

[O.S.O.K.]

They are really great for the inside rooms and will save a lot of electricity $$ over the years. Those rooms are like caves.

These are really high-tech, new and improved skylights. Somebody really did a good job designing them.

[Streetstar]

Neat ! --- are the back and side walls built like basement walls ? looks like an efficient way to do it if you have the right property for a house like that (which it looks like you do ) -- makes me wish i had more trees

Those gable ends will look super cool when they start to patina out a bit --- (unless you are gonna paint them, which would also be good -- the better half may or may not like the "rusty old barn" look)

[sore shoulder]

I'm assuming those cabinets are not installed yet? Otherwise, your flooring guy is going to have a fit.


Nice place you've got there. I really like the galvanized corrugated siding accents people are doing these days, wife hates it. Saw an entire house done in it with brick accents under windows and around entry, and it didn't look too bad at all.

[O.S.O.K.]

Again, thanks.

Here are a few more pics which should answer questions:











And the cabinets are installed (not the guest bath yet) but we are the "flooring guys" and are going to be installing tile flooring in the bathrooms, 5" hickory tongue and groove planks in the rest of the house. I believe that the bases are set on spacers... that the flooring goes under... I think.

[Grizz]

That looks very comfortable and very homey. Love the porch area. And the machinery park.

[AJMD429]

I like the metal roof - I'll NEVER put a shingle roof on any building I own, ever again. They are pretty much worthless, high-maintenance, and not very durable, even the "top-grade" ones, vs. a good metal roof.

[sore shoulder]

The last four houses I built have metal roofs. I did the textured concrete lap siding with a 50 year warrantied stain. Homeowners and insurance companies love it. I'm glad shake roofs are outlawed most places, asphalt shingles should be next. Then cedar siding, unless they can come up with a fire retardant stain. I'm a carpenter by trade and by nature, but we should have learned by now that the way we build houses is basically the same way I lay a fire in the stove in winter.

OSOK, whoever engineered that foundation really did a great job, the buttresses and the way they keyed it in is pretty impressive.

[1894c]

so where again is the indoor 50yd. shooting range?..very very nice... :)

[williamranks]

There's something to be proud of. Do you mind if I steal your design for the gable end windows? I never though of casing in two small ones rather than buying one big one for three times the price.
I'm looking now for a TAC type saltless water softener. Gotta get the minerals under control before I put in one of the high efficiency tankless water heaters.

[O.S.O.K.]

Sore shoulder -thanks - we thought they did a great job too. What do you mean by "keyed in"? They poured the wall/retaining buttresses first (used wood panels and metal tab things that fit through the wall to give a consistent thickness), then poured the slab inside of it after the plumber did his thing.

As to design, ideas, whatever - steal away! We got our ideas from others too - that's the way it works

The windows were my wife's idea - she's a smart cookie with this stuff - she designed the house - though, I was giving feedback through the whole process -this was the 4th or 5th "iteration" and it was my suggestion to drop the house down into the basement - my wife came up with the 1/2 cement/1/2 frame wall design... We decided on the metal roof for all the reasons listed above... they last practically for ever and cost about the same as a composit roof. The metal on the gable ends and under the porches was stolen from new construction seen here in Texas. The framer suggested the cyprus siding and trim and we're going with that inside the house too - he says it looks almost identical to pine and is cheaper.

The water there is outstanding - naturally soft. I would go with a reverse osmosis system if we needed that. We had a Renai tankless heater in our last place and it was great, but we decided to go 100% electric and the tankless heaters need to be gas - the electric versions are not good, so we just have a good standard 50 gal tank heater. It's just the two of us most of the time anyway.

After we get settled in, I am going to work on three things in particular - a one acre pond in the draw down below the house, a well and a solar or wind generator system. I would like the opiton of being 100% capable of off-grid living... for lots of reasons. The wood burning stove will easily handle the heating of the house during the 4-5 months that is needed. Cooling is a no brainer - fans alone would be just fine I think - we will see in August!

Other future projects are a car port or detached garage or first one and later the other made from the first... a shooting range with shoot house, expansion of the storage shed/shop... anyway, first things, first.

[williamranks]

The pond is a smart idea. It'll reduce your homeowners premium if the fire truck has a water source.
I installed an attic fan set at 110 degrees. The house cools off a lot faster at night with less heat radiating down from the ceiling.
I'm at 3200 feet in AZ. High 90's yesterday afternoon and 44 degrees this morning early.
I have an RO under the sink that also feeds the fridge, nice clear ice. Gotta make sure to take a mineral supplement every day, the RO takes everything out of the water.

[O.S.O.K.]

Yes and not to mention that it will grow some tasty crappie and catfish too

This place has the best "as-is" water I've ever encountered.

[sore shoulder]

OSOK, the portion of wall that is perpendicular to the basement wall is a buttress that is reinforcing the basement wall. The little walls on the end of the buttress are "keys" that lock or anchor the entire basement wall via the buttress into the hillside. At least that's what I'm seeing, perhaps they are serving another purpose, but that's what I've seen them used for in the past. It's my guess that they did so because of the amount of water wherever you are? The water table seems to be wherever there's a low spot

[O.S.O.K.]

Oh, OK. Yeah, that's what they're for - to hold the wall up for sure. And yeah, probably due to the amount of rain we get there. The soil is sandy too...

I sure hope everything is OK there - I've been away for 4 days now.... a few more and after loading a Penske truck, we're back that way.

[Ysabel Kid]

Looks like it is going to be a wonderful place!

[RIHMFIRE]

I like it!
wheres the man cave?!

[madman4570]

I love it!
You will have a very well built fine home that would make anyone proud to own it
Awesome looking location too.

[O.S.O.K.]

Thanks! Man cave is in the back left - kind of behind the garage - area. It's my office/inside hobby shop - have a heavy-duty exhaust fan going in so that I can cast boolits in there It'll be the reloading/gun room too.

The main shop where all of the dusty, dirty and big projects will be done is going to be in the storage building/shop "complex" behind the house. I'm having it wired for 220 so that I can weld up there too - and have a water line going there too for a sink.

[Sixgun]

Thats the perfect sized house for living an uncomplicated life. Construction is simple, yet strong and will be low maintenance. I especially like the roof! Away from all of the hustle and aggravation but close enough to get on a major highway. That's livin'!

Simplicity has always been my way of living a stressless life. I live in a simple 3 bedroom rancher and could pay my bills by working at a gas station, unlike many people today who need 4-6000 sq. ft. to "show off". (I'll do that with guns )-------------------Sixgun

[kimwcook]

Say now that`s coming right along, you`ll be moving in before ya know it.

+1 Cool.

[Streetstar]

. I'm glad shake roofs are outlawed most places, asphalt shingles should be next. Then cedar siding, unless they can come up with a fire retardant stain. I'm a carpenter by trade .

If shake and asphalt/fiberglass roofs are outlawed, what would most homeowner's use? Metal? Metal doesn't work on a lot of house designs (OSOK's house and similar home's being an exception -- metal looks right on that house for sure) , and slate and tile are cost prohibitive in a lot of areas

A shake roof is one of the most energy efficient roof systems available. They are not necessarilly outlawed (Southern California being an exception, and a few other limited areas ) , but prices have climbed so high in the last 10 years, most people choose something cheaper.

People will blather on about fire hazards, etc etc etc. Truth is, 99% of house fires are started from inside a home, not on the roof (occasional 4th of July horror stories excepted- but thats part of the other 1% ) --- the self ventilating nature of a wood roof allows more smoke to escape upwards through the roof system than a fiberglass based shingle roof with solid sheathing or a metal roof. Sometimes in an emergency situation, the extra few seconds that can buy you may be all you need to get you and your family woken up and out the door.
The real conspiracy is the insurance industry -- they charge a high surcharge for wood roofs not because of any b-s "fire hazard" nonsense, but because they are very expensive to replace compared to a fiberglass roof or a metal roof , and in hail country, almost every roof gets replaced every 10-15 years more or less (even metal roofs) - except for possibly slates and various tile roofs- which can be damaged too, but it takes a special storm

(hopefully, OSOK, you are far enough away from the hail belt that that won't be a problem )

A far bigger problem than wood roofs are the millions of homes constructed in the 50's, 60's and early 70's with sub-par wiring and breaker boxes that are far too small for the stresses people place on their electrical systems now

[GonnePhishin]

BEAUTIFUL House
Is the poured foundation laced with rebar althrough?

[RIHMFIRE]

very very jealous!