Victoria's Cottage - Western Montana

Started by Pat, September 18, 2010, 07:24:43 AM

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Pat

I just spent an hour starting this thread and lost it all with a click of the button. So Now I try it again.

Hi I'm Pat Abbe and I have just finished a modified VC in Victor Montana.  I have kept a blog at
http://victormontana.wordpress.com/
but several members have asked if I can post here to be able to answer questions in a more public forum setting.  So I am trying to re create. Anyway if you have any questions and I actually get this post to publish without deleting it go for it.  Baby steps first. Photos later.
9/18/2010

THE BEGINNING

Hi I am Pat Abbe and this is part of the story about my three year adventure in building and/or owning my first house.


I have been known these past 60 some years as "the renter" and finally decided to find out what everyone has always talked about regarding home ownership. first thing I have learned is that not everything goes according to plan and stuff costs way more than we plan on. Other than that and digging three wells before we got adequate water the journey has been fun. So read on
After I bought the property in Victor MT in 2004 I spent two years researching and discussing what to build. This was before the sustainable building really came into vogue. My original thought was a kit called the Adams from the Wilderness Cabin Company in Canada, but my tastes are simple so I began to look into modifying the Victoria's Cottage from CountryPlans.com. I shelled out the $100.00 to get a set of prints. This was the beginning of a long and winding road that has taken three years to get to 2009. See some videos of the property . http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=N_TLZk4I9MY&feature=related

Like I said I had sort of picked out a couple of designs for a small cabin/house, but nothing definite. As we were not in any big hurry I spent most of 2006 and early 2007 either camping on or walking around the land or picking out designs to build. the Internet is a great source for this kind of information

There were many conversations with my family about what to build or not to build. Brie and Courtney – daughters and Christine – wife had a lot of input. Since we had always camped in tents for the past 16 years one thought was to not do anything but dig a hole for the toilet and enjoy the view. We had already put a driveway in and I was thinking more of some creature comforts plus I had never owned anything except a car so I figured this would be my one chance to own/build a home so I outvoted the three of them and decided that we would build something.

What I didn't realize then was I had opened up the proverbial Pandora's box and "The Girls" had unleashed their true personality as my environmental fascists. Conversations turned to comments like "Well Pat if you are going to build something new it damn well better be environmentally friendly" and "We have to live in this world of global warming and rubbish that your generation has left us with",yada yada yada. Not to say I wouldn't have done this on my own.....eventually, but they sort of sealed the deal.

So thus began my education and search to build a small cabin/home that would leave as small a footprint on the earth as possible. The serious talk began about building responsibly or not building it at all. At least I can honestly say I have gotten some of best input along the way from "The Girls" And the three year quest began.


Okay thats it for now. Someone needs to tell me how to upload photos  from my computer  



"Grapefruit moon, one star shining, shining down on me" Tom Waits

MountainDon

Quote from: abbea on September 18, 2010, 07:24:43 AM
Okay thats it for now. Someone needs to tell me how to upload photos  from my computer 


Pretty much the same way you posted that one image. The image has to be stored someplace on the internet and then the IMG tag for the image is inserted in the forum message. many use photobucket.com but there are others. There is a tutorial, slightly dated, in the Forum News board.
Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.


John Raabe

Hi Pat:

Welcome to the forum.  w*

You have a fine looking project there.



I grabbed this image from your blog (with Snagit) and then posted it for free on Photobucket and copied the image code into this post.

Here's the tutorial: http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=3512.0

We'd all love to hear more!
None of us are as smart as all of us.

archimedes

Give me a place to stand and a lever long enough,  and I will move the world.

Pat

Thanks John
for the heads up on posted images.  Now I will start adding content and photos

Pat
"Grapefruit moon, one star shining, shining down on me" Tom Waits


cbc58

any chance you could post your floorplan?  looks beautiful. 

John Raabe

Here's an even easier way to post an image from another site such as your blog.

Copy the image location (usually on the right click menu) and just paste it between the image brackets (the little picture icon on the tool bar).



These images can't be resized, cropped or edited... and the link will break if the image location goes away.
None of us are as smart as all of us.

Alasdair


freezengirl

Really beautiful home you and the girls built [cool]


phalynx

I love the pictures and the home is beautiful.  I would love to see a floor plan.

Pat

#10
This really stinks.  I just spent another hour writing and uploading and previewing and somehow deleting everything before it is saved.  I guess I will have to learn to save it as I go along.  I am not sure I want to start over so you will get the abbreviated post.  Sorry  but I am getting the hang of it and if I don't become a video for clearing my desk of computer and monitors  there will be progress.

So to start over

In the Beginning  (I just saved that  ...One small step for ......)


Fast forward to May 2009.

We had contracted with a builder and gone over the plans but alas he decide that he couldn't keep to a time schedule because it would interfer with river kayaking and summer hiking. Welcome to the Bitterroot. After some searching I hired Tom Hellem who is the father of Russ Hellem from Energetechs (pronounced En Er Ghetechs) go to http://www.energetechs.com/   who is installing the energy systems. Tom is an experienced builder and has moved to sustainable building the past three years so he brings the practical knowledge that we will need as the house is constructed.

But this took time and we didn't break ground until mid July so we are about 2 -1/2 months behind schedule. Everyone seems to agree that we will have it dried in by December and then we can finish the inside either during the winter or in early spring. My neighbors Hap and Bec are taking photos on an almost daily basis

What did I do wrong above on the <a href> </a> ?  It worked before on the one that I deleted. Help.

Here are some photos


Our first Campsite which lasted about 5 years


View from our deck before it was our deck



Our first fresh air bathroom.  Really good in sunny weather but a bit challenging in rain and snow


The footings  for the basement and the entry (top left)



Lego block construction aka ICF's for the foundation.  Took about a day to create.  Pretty slick



Tubing for the radiant floor in the basement








"Grapefruit moon, one star shining, shining down on me" Tom Waits

Boatz

Quote from: phalynx on September 18, 2010, 10:42:35 PM
I love the pictures and the home is beautiful.  I would love to see a floor plan.

Your house is beautiful! I am also curious what changes you may have made to the floorplan...

altaoaks

 w*abbea, she is a fine looking first home, and with her she should last forever.  your victorias cottage is just perfect, and i would also love to see your floorplan and some interior pics!

Pat

Here are a couple of links to the final floor plans.  
Hope they give some idea on the mods we did.  

Overall  we stayed pretty true to our original sketches.  Enlarged everything by a few feet. this was partially to accommodate the asymmetrical shape I wanted and still have a living room that was 16'  wide.
We made the ridge lines the same to give a 12/12 pitch. We elongated the master bedroom about 4 feet to fit in a decent size bath. (First time in 60 years I have had two sinks one for me and one for the Mrs. which we comment is the same as dieing and going to heaven. We moved the stove to the opposite wall  which I will explain later.  

http://victormontana.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/floor-plans-1st-final-7-2009.pdf

and

http://victormontana.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/floor-plan-2nd-final-7-2009.pdf

"Grapefruit moon, one star shining, shining down on me" Tom Waits


John Raabe

Great story unfolding here!

Yes, I have found too that saving your post as you go and then modifying the copy on-line is a much better way to post. It is too easy to lose a long edit. (I'm not sure why - it can be a particular problem if someone else posts to the same thread while you are editing.)

I love your "grown up" version of the Victoria Cottage ideas.  :D :D :D
None of us are as smart as all of us.

Pat

Thanks John,
I like the "grown up" version comment. Yes when it was done I felt grown up.  For a year it seemed like ever day someone was asking me to make a decision on something I had no idea what they were talking about and to boot it would always cost me several thousand dollars each time I made it.
"Grapefruit moon, one star shining, shining down on me" Tom Waits

ScottA


Pat

#17
A Little Background


Okay need to throw in some philosophy and back ground to the actual plans. Once I learned about  and had opportunity to speak with several people involved in the sustainable building world and after the architect Lucas and I spent many hours going over what I and we were trying to accomplish we settled on a path that we would build from.  It was decided to set our goal of a LEED certified home.  Although we never applied for it (way too much money) we did set our benchmark to follow the LEED certification and we are fairly confident that we would have probably gotten a platinum level especially in regards to the energy conservation (easy for me to say)
Instead of using the "terms dejour" like green or sustainable we coined the term of building responsibly. Because if we truly were green we wouldn't have built anything. Enough said.  Thank you girls.  The art of compromise came into play.

Some specific goals were for and R50 roof and R40 in the walls with the HRV achieving an ACH of .5-.7 (we eventually tested out at a.6ACH/50)

Materials would be purchased locally and all the mechanics were local (except for the Wild Hogs and the kitchen – more about them later). Although we weren't perfect at least we thought all choices through before we decided on a path.

We had one interesting deviation and that was with the Simpson doors which we used for all interior doors.  Simpson Doors are a Washington company and after a phone call to confirm, we were assured that all their doors are made in USA. Well much to my surprise when the finisher called to tell me all the doors were stamped Made in China. Trust me there were words between the two of us and I ended up living with the doors, but as you can see they are getting no cred here from me.  Okay continuing with the story
"Grapefruit moon, one star shining, shining down on me" Tom Waits

Pat

#18
First visit -Sept 18 2009

First I must  digress to the Aspen trees.  My wife Christine (who BTW who actually picked out the location for the cabin 4 years ago has also made it known that the 6 Aspens which are way too close to the construction site are to be considered "Sacred Ground" and advised that anyone who destroyed them it would be their last day on the job site.  It was a focal point all during the year and the source of much conversation and a couple of real close calls (big earth moving machines and one fire that burned through them) but I am happy to report that the Aspens are alive and well as are all of us who worked on the job site.



Well  I finally made it out to the site to see the progress.  Lots has happened since Sept 1.  All the radiant is in and the slabs poured.  We have made a few changes to the framing but with little consequence.  Originally the walls were  2 x 8 plates with staggered 2 x 4  studs to allow an open cavity for the cellulose insulation and eliminate the thermal bridge.  Tom and Lucas decided to change it to 2 x 8 studs and add 1-1/2 of rigid on the outside.  This should accomplish the same or close end result and give a stronger wall.

You can see the first floor framed and a couple of the rough sawn Douglas fir beams.  One of the amazing things is that all the framing lumber and the beams is Doug fir.  Having cut my teeth in house building in the east I haven't seen Doug fir framing in almost 30 years.  It is sort of cool.  On the the flip side to install floor tile in the Bitterroot is anywhere from $8-12 sq ft and I am used to $3 per square as really high priced.  It all balances




Heres me looking like I know what I am doing













Doug fir piles......Sweet



Here is my daughter, Brie, in the old kitchen and about to announce my first grandchild, Baby Rio, born May 30 2010.  


Tom used a crane to lift the walls into place.  This is the West wall of the Living room.


Platform for building walls.  You can just make out the beginnings of Pine Bark Beatle kill who attack the Lodgepole and Ponderosa pines primarily.  It has become a huge problem in the West.  We have pockets of it in the Bitterroots,  but east of us over in Helena and surrounding areas big sections of the forests are all dead. We are constantly cutting down the infected trees and destroying them. You can also see how dangerously close the machinery is parked near the Aspens



"Grapefruit moon, one star shining, shining down on me" Tom Waits

UK4X4


Nice build !


I've just spent the last three days drawing a 20 ft wide T home very similar to what you have already built !



so now I have another huge blog to search through and steal ideas ! and look at how you overcame some of my guessed at problem areas



frazoo

Very Nice!  More proof it doesn't have to have a large footprint to be truly nice!

frazoo
...use a bigger hammer

Pat

#21
1
"Grapefruit moon, one star shining, shining down on me" Tom Waits



Pat

#24
Wow time flies when you have to work for a living.
A few more photos to update the progress.  Actually these photos were taken almost exactly one year ago





The fire


And the Fire Trucks


"Grapefruit moon, one star shining, shining down on me" Tom Waits