20x40 Universal Cottage w/ basement

[John Raabe]

Ben (Spyke) sent an email with some photos today. He is building an extended version of the Universal Cottage with the truss roof and a full walkout basement. I will post these photos and allow Ben to update his project further as it moves along.



Siding going up.



Upper side



Daylight basement side

[Spyke]

Just wanted to show everyone what I have been doing here in Illinois.

This is the 2nd house I have built using John's plans. The first was a little 12x30 little house with a loft. I started this project in Nov of 07. I have basically done it all alone with a little help here and there. Of course the basement was contracted out. At this point I am finishing the inside and hope to move in in the next few months. If all goes well, I should be living mortgage free by the summer. I had no idea when I found countryplans 10 years it would change my life like this. I really doubt I would have ever tried to build the first house without John and his site.

More pics to follow. I think this is one of the largest homes (2400sf) built using John's plans.

I am happy to answer any questions from others on the site and happy to help you guys out in any way I can!

[Sassy]

Looks great, Spyke!     Was wondering how many sq ft the house was & you answered it!  How long have you been working on this house?  What was your building experience before starting the 1st Little house you built?  Do you have any pix of that?

Looking forward to seeing more pix!  What an inspiring story 

[MountainDon]

very nice spyke. 

[glenn kangiser]

That's great Spyke.  The rafters look like they are rather extra heavy?  Just noticing the tails.

[Spyke]

Sassy, Before I built the little house I had never really built anything except for shelves, book cases and maybe a dog house.

Rafters are just stock 20 footers from Menards, made from 2x4s. I boxed in the tails with 2x8s and distressed them with a hand plainer. Trying to get them to look like big old beams....