30x40 Earth Berm in Michigan (In the planning stages)

[HomeschoolMom]

(Note:  I hav changed my plans since posting this post)I have been watching this forum and decided it was time for me to committ to a plan.  What better way than to post it on here.

I really wanted a post and beam, but I don't think we will go that way.  I want to do as much work ourselves as possible and we don't have a lot of building experience.  (Won't this be a great homeschool project?!)   My brother in law has plenty of experience, so he will be our guild.  (He doesn't know that yet)

We are planning a full walkout basement (wood foundation) which will contain our bedrooms, bath and big walkin closet with laundry.  The main floor has the kitchen, living/dining and bath.  The upstairs will be half loft, half open to below.  We plan to build with 2x6 walls with staggered 2x4 studs with lots of insulation in between.  I liked the idea of SIPS but again wanted to do as much work ourselves as possible.  Our plan is to heat the basement with radiant floor heating in finished concrete floor.  The main floor would simply use a small woodstove when needed.  I also hope to be able to pull off zero air conditioning.

We don't have land yet.  We are going to finish paying off our debt and pay in cash moving forward.  There is a small possibility we could get moving on this next summer.

My goal is to live as small as feasible.  I stand in the garage I have now (24x24) and think, "Can I live in a house this small (obviously with a basement and loft in addition)?"  I think I can.  We currently live in a home that is just under 1500 sq feet plus a full unfinished basement.  There is a lot of wasted space.  It just isn't set up for how our family lives.

Here is the plan at this point:

[Redoverfarm]

  Michelle.  There have been some P&B done and maybe you can pick up or a thing or two.  I wish you luck on the land. 

John

[muldoon]

welcome Michelle, sounds like a great plan.  reduce debt, live smaller, build yourself, thats about as solid as you can be.  Were all looking forward to hearing about your progress, keep us posted. 

What part of the country are you in?  What are you looking for in land?

[glenn kangiser]

Hi Michelle. 

I think you are going to find it cheapest to do a conventional structure as in code area, the P&B has to be engineered as it is non-standard construction.

Andrew (Ernest T Bass) and family are in UP MI, and have made a great home as well as doing home schooling.

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=2642

[HomeschoolMom]

Thanks for the warm welcome.

We are currently on 5 acres on a hill in the middle of a field with family neighbors on both sides.  We are anxious to not have family neighbors.  We want at least 3 acres with a few more trees and within 30 miles of our current residence, preferably close to our shop.  (No one likes a long drive to work)

Thanks for the link.  I love the look of the black brackets with the beams.  Is that something I can create with traditional framing?

[glenn kangiser]

There was a company making them somewhere.  I think they are technically not code but some members have used them in non-code areas.  The code approved ones are actually much lighter but Mr Simpson has paid big brother off and had the testing done so his get to be approved.

If you semi-balloon frame and you go 1.5 story or something like that then they would be decorative rather than structural and you would still be conventional framing.  Andrew's is more of a post and beam structure but non-code so they are free to just use good building practices.  Code is not necessarily better.  It is just the minimum allowed by law where it is enforced.

Example - my house is non-code and it has 10,000 lbs on the roof in an 8x8 area (1.5 cubic feet of earth per square foot).  Try that with a code built house.

[HomeschoolMom]

I know that this site really promotes staying 20 feet or under in width.  I am looking at 24 wide.  So is there a big cost savings to stay at 20?

[glenn kangiser]

I'm not sure about all of Johns reasons.  It is about the maximum clear span for easily modified interiors, second floors and lofts.  More efficient use of heating and cooling for energy economy.

John's Solar Saltbox is 24 wide though.  Then you pretty well get to interior footings and bearing walls.  We have dicussed using a narrow plan back to back or front to front to make clerestory window roofs on wider houses, but it could be done as a gable roof or single slope shed roof also. Detached compound rooms in an area where you want to beat the maximum size limit to stay under code if you care, can work too.   

Your imagination is the only limit when using them as building blocks.

[HomeschoolMom]

I got 3D Home Architech 3.0 yesterday and after playing with that, I am a little fearful that 24x24 isn't big enough for a full time residence.  I have some items of furniture (family pieces) that I want to incorporate and I think I need a bit more space.  New plan comming soon!

[John_C]

Not to speak for John, but I don't think it's as much about costs as it is about convenience for the DIY builder.

The 20' width can be done without interior load bearing walls using commonly available lumber.  That allows the greatest flexibility in redesigning the interior.  Any wider and you need interior load bearing walls, engineered trusses, I beams, glue lam beams .......something to reduce the span or carry the load,  all of which complicate the project.

The grandfather cottage and volks cottage are 28' wide, and they could be extended length wise as well. 

[bobtheengineer]

For the 'barn' look, and the roof trusses, you might want to consider something like www.barnplans.com 

They sell plans for a pretty neat gambrel truss, that don't look too difficult to build.

[HomeschoolMom]

I have spent the day thinking about a 20' wide home now  

As far as the plan helper website, do I order my plans and then take them there to modify?

[glenn kangiser]

The plans come with some instruction for modification and John has the Planhelp site where you can get more help and templates too.  If you get the plans then you can post him a question here in Plans Support and he can suggest the best option. 

You can extend the length of the 20 wide easily to any length you need, but width changes change engineering specs.  You can also go with the 1 1/2 story to easily get some good usable space upstairs.

Nice thing about the 20 wide is you can do anything you want with the inside- all support is outside.  No structural considerations necessary to speak of.

[HomeschoolMom]

I am definitely thinking that we are going 20 wide!

[glenn kangiser]

We are here to help.

[HomeschoolMom]

Okay, a woman is allowed to change her mind!  (Hence th title change)  I think I have found a way to do an earth berm (which I love the idea of) with the look we are going for.  I want to take the "Double Shed Cabin"  http://www.countryplans.com/Downloads/Double%20Shed%2026x30-S.pdf and berm it.  I don't know what the dimentions are on that plan but I think I can do a 30x40 and get all the space we need.  I am watching BishopKnight's project very closely. 

[glenn kangiser]

I'm not gonna say anything, Michelle. What good would it do me? hmm