Building a 28'x36' cabin-style house with 12' covered porch off gable wall

[justbarriault]

Thanks for looking at my post! We are hoping to have this completed this year and I'd like any tips and hints from anyone that has any! I Built a large shop last year and found that forums are such a great tool, and it was great to be able to show what I had done to give others ideas as well. Here's the situation.

We currently have a 25 year old house here in New Hampshire with a footprint of 28'x48'. The house was built by an amateur and has enough gremlins that we're finding it cheaper to just tare it down and replace it versus fix it, and will offer some added benefits at the same time. Our plan is to reuse that same foundation and put up a 36' long house in it's place, with a 12' covered porch over the front, and design it kind of like a log cabin/post and beam house mix, but stick built.

This should offer the look and comfort that we like, save a little money, be more energy efficient, and have less maintenance. We're putting an indoor/outdoor fireplace on the gable wall that the porch attaches to for year round entertainment and relaxation, we are trying to get the living room/kitchen/dining area as large as possible and have just a reasonably sized bedroom and bathroom on the main floor. We are going to put 2-3 King-style trusses in the living room for looks, made out of 3"x12" wood, either pine or hemlock.

We have a full basement and will be sneaking in the stairs somewhere, still TBD. We will have a loft over the bathroom/bedroom that will act as a 2nd bedroom for guests. Due to the plumbing layout in the basement, we will need to keep all upstairs plumbing on the right side of the house, which will also help save a bit on hot water use and save on plumbing cost.

We are going to use a wide plank laminate floor, sheetrock walls, and then we want an age wood look for the ceiling. For the ceiling our original idea was tongue and groove pine stained, but for fire safety we may use a substitute such as flooring My plan is to use radiant heat but if the project comes in too far over budget than I may reconsider and use baseboard. Roof pitch is an 8 pitch which should be steep enough to shed snow and allow a usable loft, but not excessive to keep heating cost and building cost down.

A few things I'm hoping to gain for knowledge out of this forum are layout measurements, which I thought would be easy to come by but it doesn't seem as easy as I expected, lighting ideas to be efficient but yet light the area adequately (our current house is open concept but it's dark unless you turn every darn light on which is a waste of electricity and would create additional install cost).

The farmers porch will be over our basement, and exposed to the elements, and I'd like to come up with a floor covering that fits the house, isn't too slippery when wet, but yet won't rot the framing underneath. I was originally going to do a rock veneer  for the fireplace to the ceiling inside and outside, but think I may just do the mantel area with rock and use wood above it at this point to save some money, and am open to suggestions on who has seen or used these fireplaces as they are not very common here.

As far as the roof structure, I'm battling a few things. I want this house super insulated, but the ceiling is a bit of an issue. One way is to use the energy trusses that allow for more insulation, but my carpenter likes to use just a ridge pole design, which although will be cheaper, I'm not sure how I would get a decent R-Value. I am waiting for a quote on closed cell spray foam for the ceiling, but I'm expecting $15k-ish and although I know I can save some money in other places due to not needing venting, that's still a big chunk of dough. I know this is a lot in one post, especially my first post, but I assure you any help is greatly appreciated, and I am good about posting pics and info regarding the project

[akwoodchuck]

You can stick frame your roof to code, then furr down to get insulation depth....for your porch I'd frame it to slope a couple inches away from house, sheath and waterproof it with bituthene, then tapered sleepers and decking on that...works good.

[ChugiakTinkerer]

Welcome to the forum!  This sounds like a great start to an Owner-Builder thread.  You might ask a moderator to move it over to that sub-forum.  That way all your questions and answers can be found in one easy-to-find place.  Also, if you update your profile to show your location it will help remind everyone of your local conditions and should lead to more informed and helpful advice.

I am planning a 1.5 story cabin with a half-loft and cathedral ceiling throughout.  If you're opting for stick-built rather than timber frame structure, my recommendation would be for raised heel scissor trusses to give you the pitch you want as well as the insulation space you need.  Manufactured trusses are designed for your specific engineering requirements and can be delivered from the truck to the top of the walls.  You can let the engineered trusses do the structural work and add the timber king trusses for show.

Edit to add: I've looked at my insulation options and current prices I am seeing for materials are as follows, in cost per R-value of insulation per square foot.

• Faced fiberglass - $.03
• Unfaced rock wool - $.06
• Blue board XPS - $.13
• Poly-iso sheathing - $.19

All these have labor costs associated with the install, plus a vapor barrier is needed for the unfaced rock wool.  If you're willing to put on some PPE and do the install yourself you could save quite a bit of money, at the expense of your time.