First Visit

[Fosterdad]

Really Glad I found this board John, this is a great site. I am always so impressed with the dedication peaple are able to devote to these sorts of forums!

We have waterfront property along the West Coast of B.C. Forest running down into the Ocean. Dock is in, cleared enough land to do the septic thing and all looks good. We were lucky to find our only choice for a septic field un-covered 10 feet of the best rich loam on the entire Island.

Now we are set to build. The idea was for a smaller, 24X22 foot cabin though now the wife wants it a bit bigger. 800 square feet she says. ( This will be the future guest cabin )

What I have found on your site, is that there are lot of different plans to look at and think about. And I hope to use as much of the info here as I can.

In the mean time,  I look forward to perusing so much good information from everyone here.

One question:  Is there a forum here for specific locations, and if not, does anyone have expereince building on the West Coast / Sunshine Coast of B.C.?


Fosterdad.

[glenn-k]

Welcome to the forum, Fosterdad.

Probably the Land Stories area would be a good place to start - everyone pretty well checks out all new postings on the board.

[bartholomew]

Greetings Fosterdad. I'll be building on Gambier Island. Whereabouts are you? Do you have land access or boat/barge only? I haven't started the process yet, have to get a geotech review and variance first. But I've been gathering info from others who've done it, so if you have specific questions I might be able to help you out.

[pioneergal]

Welcome to the community Fosterdad!

[Fosterdad]

Thanks. Bartholomew, Pioneergal, John. We are on Hardy Island. Boat access.
Geotech review should happen next week. We always loved Gambier! First place we started thinking about the chance of owning property on one of the Islands. That one is beautiful! Where abouts are you?

Hardy is stunning. Although we have already had a bit of an eye opener. We didnt realize that the property lines dont simply run back from the shore to the center of the Island, but off to a sharp angle. So, while we are ready to build right down in the corner, on top of our bay, the neighbor was doing the same thing! No biggy I guess. We have 14 acres, enough room to grow!

The hardest part is planning in advance. Water, power and septic. Foundations, future building spots. They are linked it so many ways it is hard to look ahead. We have a good builder that has alredy done the dock. ( No boat yet ). He has machines on the Island, and has cleared the area for our first structure. ( We just heard he is buidling for someone on your Island right now! ) ( One of his homes is in last monthes Cottage magazine! )

We are trying to come up with a building plan that will include as much sunlight, and covered out door area as possible while staying within a modest budget. 400 - 600 square feet.

Is your lot waterfront? Are you building yourself?

Fosterdad

[Amanda_931]

Welcome.  There seem to be a handful of people here up in that part of the world, all the way up to islands in Alaska.  

I've got property that goes slantwise off the road--the current road, anyway.  sometimes hard to orient yourself on the land.

Daylight is wonderful.  Probably one of the reasons I've stayed in the travel trailer so long.  Light from at least two directions--so there is very little glare.  There are starting to be books on the subject, some very technical--having to do with maximizing daylight in big office buildings.   But it is one of the Patterns in Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language, has been since the late 60's (or was it the early seventies).

[bartholomew]

Hardy Island sounds great. A bit more off the beaten path so you don't get all the day-trippers in summer.

I'm on the east side of Gambier, facing Anvil Island. Click on the little house icon at the bottom of this message for a Google map. It's high-banked waterfront so getting down to the shoreline is difficult, but that's ok because there's a small beach only a couple minutes walk away. Besides, I was more interested in getting a nice view, and the views are spectacular...180 degrees up and down the sound plus east to Anvil and the Lions. Bottom photo below looks south toward Lions Bay and Bowyer Island.

I will be building myself, except for the septic since the new sewage disposal regulations don't seem to allow do-it-yourself installations anymore. Yes, building on a remote site does require lots of planning. Each round-trip barge haul out of Horseshoe Bay will cost $800+ so I'll need to keep those to a minimum. Of course there's no quick trip to the hardware store if you forget something. And every time you need a professional review, you pay a lot just in travel time. I know one couple paid $1800 for an elevation survey of their building site. I'm hoping I can roll the geotech review and septic testing into a single trip.

John Spick sounds like a real craftsman. I'll be thrilled if my cabin turns out half as nice...



For anyone interested, larger photos are here, including interior...

http://www.spickandsons.com/featured.htm
http://www.spickandsons.com/island.htm

[Sassy]

Beautiful area & views!  I used to go commerical salmon fishing out around the San Juan Islands, down to Anacortes & up towards Pt Roberts.  Gorgeous area, but too much rain & fog for me - spent 12 yrs living by
Bellingham, WA - next to a lake & woods

[Fosterdad]

Welcome.  There seem to be a handful of people here up in that part of the world, all the way up to islands in Alaska.  

Living in Vancouver, I can tell you that just being that much further up the Coast gives you a good idea of the pollution we are creating. The water, skylines and air ( up here away from the City) is unbeleivably cleaner. Not sure how long that will last though, as we are seeing more and more properties being developed.

But we love our place, and the idea of bringing in as much sunlight as possible really is a major design factor. thanks for the tip about the book.

Fosterdad

[Fosterdad]

 Gorgeous area, but too much rain & fog for me - spent 12 yrs living by
Bellingham, WA - next to a lake & woods

Yup, you gotta like the rain. Or not despise it I guess. We woke up last summer in a downpour, on an Island with no contact to the outside, kids and wife in a tent that was filling up with rain water, Dad running around in his underwear at 3:00 in the morning pitch black out ( bit hungover ) trying to set up a new sleeping site. Next morning wife says....." We are building a cabin. End of story!"

And here we go..

[Fosterdad]

Hardy Island sounds great. A bit more off the beaten path so you don't get all the day-trippers in summer.

John Spick sounds like a real craftsman. I'll be thrilled if my cabin turns out half as nice...

Thanks bartholomew. John would appreciate the plug I am sure. He is a terrific guy, and his son as well. I didnt even know they had a web site, though we have been through some of his projects and they are spectaculer. The bridges and walkways are really fine work.

We will building small though, learning, and getting ready to be more hands on for the bigger house down the road.

Yes, the price for professionals is really a major ticket. But then, it is an Island, Your view looks fantastic. I never get tired of the landscape.

Here is a few shots of our view.

[Fosterdad]

[Fosterdad]

[Fosterdad]

[Sassy]

I must say again, gorgeous country/views!  Yes, I was glad I lived up in Washington for the 12 years, figured it probably added 12 years to my lifespan   without all the pollution & not getting sunburned all the time.  When I 1st drove up into the area, I thought, "this is where I've always wanted to live"... but guess I've been a California girl too long & started growing moss so thought I'd better get back here.  I DON'T like the valley, we are in the mountains/foothills & away from some of the smog & most of the fog  .

I had an experience like yours in Yosemite Nat'l Park - 4th of July week - took my 2 sons camping (they were 7 & 9) put up the tent, didn't bother to put the rain tarp over cuz it was so warm, figured we needed the breeze.  Hiked & biked, came back, went to sleep, woke up at 1 am, pouring down rain, had to pack up everything & drive home - the clouds were down to the ground, thick, the roads narrow & windy, took me 3 hours to get home... what an experience... last time I camped there!  :-/ Can understand your wife's sentiments!

[bartholomew]

The rain can get quite depressing when it comes down non-stop for two weeks as it seems to do at some point every winter. But most of the time it's not that bad, a couple rainy days will be followed by a few sunny ones.

I wouldn't want to be a professional fisherman. You start to feel pretty insignificant out in the middle of all that water when the wind starts picking up to 30, 35 knots.

[TitaniunRic]

Hello All

Nice to see so many people sharing info on such a great topic

My wife and I are planning our 1st alt. building a 20 x 28 1.5 story garage/office... then we are going ot use the expierience for this building to plan out our retirement home which will be a earthship/loghome hybrid.

Cheers
TitaniumRic

[glenn-k]

Hi, TitaniumRic

Welcome to the forum.

It will be great to learn more about your project.  Please keep us posted.

[Fosterdad]

The rain can get quite depressing .... You start to feel pretty insignificant out in the middle of all that water when the wind starts picking up to 30, 35 knots.

But then, when you think about floods, tornados and earthquakes, the rain gets a bit easier to take.
Speaking of boats we just might be ending our one year search today. Another thing about waterfront boat access land, YOU NEED A BOAT!

Are you a boater bartholomew?

[Fosterdad]

our retirement home which will be a earthship/loghome hybrid.

Welcome Ric.
Now this sounds interesting! What is a earthship hybred? Send PIX!! Browns Flat is beautiful. I did a quick google for images. Looks like there are hills and valleys, where abouts are you building/landing?

Fosterdad

[John Raabe]

Nice to see these fantastic properties evolving.

Earthship is a catchy name for an earth bermed passive solar style of building. It can work very nicely in the right climate. Glenn could call his house an earthship if he were more of a California yuppie  .

http://www.earthship.org/

The basic ideas have been around a long time and produced some nice organic designs.



This is a high mass, high glass solution that works best for a full time home in dry soils located in a strong four season climate that sees good winter sun. High desert areas of the central and southern U.S. are very appropriate for such designs. Cloudy, northern climates with wet soils and short days with low angle winter sun would have special problems and would not likely reach the expectation of zero energy without great expense.

(If you haven't evaluated your site for solar and found out the most appropriate strategy for your climate get the Sunkit.)

[TitaniumRic]

our retirement home which will be a earthship/loghome hybrid.

Welcome Ric.
Now this sounds interesting! What is a earthship hybred? Send PIX!! Browns Flat is beautiful. I did a quick google for images. Looks like there are hills and valleys, where abouts are you building/landing?

Fosterdad

an earthship/log hybrid is  the merging of  the 2 building systems... we like the idea of the earthship for its off grid capabilities and solid structure... and with merging log home styling into the south facing of the house we can add the  log home  openess  and still gian  from the  light/heat effects from the sun... we are looking at  building our retirement home in the St.Stephen-St. Andrews area of the province.... along the coast... so we can also bennefit from the use of a windturbine.... our curent location in Brown's Flat is great for school access and  fire dept .... only downfall is we're bording along  CFB Gagetown.... with limited acces to the land.

[bartholomew]

Hey Fosterdad, I'm going to leave the boat for now. After the cabin is up then I can see if there's anything left in my budget. In the meantime there's pretty good water taxi service so it's hard to justify the expense of a boat. The idea of being able to boat directly from downtown Vancouver is very appealing though.

Would you depart from Earl's Cove, Pender or somewhere on the other side? Are you on the Blind Bay side?

[Fosterdad]

Oh boy, late response here!
Good news, we got a boat! ( I think its good news)
22 foot Lyndwood. Way under what we had planned on spending and nothing fancy. Just strong enough and fast enough and covered. Get ourselves and our freinds back and forth from Powell River. Supplies as well.

We were going to dock at Eggmont, but have realized that the extra ferry to powell river is just a bit more time, and will help us save on gas as the property is forty minutes from eggmont, 10 from powell river.

Anyways, the property, the dock and now the boat. All sctrached off the list.

The drawings are almost done, and the building should start soon. I wish I was a bit more involved in the work, but with two under ten, and two foster kids in their teens ( and I mean REALLY in their teens ) I just canI think it will be a summer of a lot of questions like " How much would that be?" , probably followed by a lot of " That much? Really?"  

Ah but then the joy of sitting on the beach watching the kids play.

Later.

Here is a shot of the overhead, with news of the sale of our center Island lot.
IMG]http://i3.tinypic.com/wcjm3c.jpg[/IMG]

[Fosterdad]