Large (over 1000 SQ FT) one room starter home

[archangel]

I need to find an inexpensive, basic designed Large one room starter home that is 1000 SQ FT or larger.

We do want to focus on passive solar with the ability of being off grid in the uncertain future, but for now we need to go the inexpensive rout just to get in while we can.

If the cost is within the budget, we would like to place it on a full basement where all the utilities will be accessed.

The intent is to use it as the main dwelling to purchase a piece of property as a home purchase, not a property purchase as a home attached to a foundation is needed to get financing.

There is already a permit for a 3 bed 2 bath home to be built there.

At a later date (a year or two) we intend to expand the living and basement space on to it.

We will use the first construct as the main, central living space after additions.

Anyone know of someone offering plans for such an endeavor?

[archangel]

103 views and no help yet?

I was thinking a post and beam style, single story barn frame sitting on an expandable basement foundation modified to be built like a home with easily removable walls for any non-permanent walls.

[PEG688]

103 views and no help yet?

I was thinking a post and beam style, single story barn frame sitting on an expandable basement foundation modified to be built like a home with easily removable walls for any non-permanent walls.

  Post and beam is seldom a cheap way to build , these days anyway. Lumber is expensive , beams more so.

  What do you consider "easily removable"?  And "expandable"?

 Your request for one large room is also "odd". What about a bathroom? Does that fit into your plan?

 20 x 50 , with a truss roof , you pick the pitch , theres your 1000 squares. You'll need at least two , one each long wall brace wall panels IF you are building to IRC 2006 . G/L PEG











 

[glenn kangiser]

As PEG said, John's 20 wide design is clear span and can be made as long as you want easily.  Just keep increasing the length with the same support distance  - foundation.

You can divide the inside any way you want.  Changing width will not work.

[archangel]

So, I get the impression that something like a square building at about 32' X 32' will not work because 20 feet is the limiting factor with the standard, or affordable roof trusses?

The initial thought was that we would build the basic, 32'ish by 32'ish square central/main structure, that would have a permanent, open floor plan kitchen built on the north wall.
Next to the kitchen, there would be a permanent bathroom and laundry room on the same north side of the home.

We would put a temp wall up for the bedroom until we can expand.

At a later date (depending on finances and the economy) we would expand 3 of the sides and add the extra rooms.
We plan on having 2 master bedrooms, one on the east side and one on the west side with the remainder of the north side containing two standard bedrooms behind the kitchen.

The south wall will be the sun rooms for solar heat gain in the winter and would be a vented, shaded porch in the summer.

Since we are building from scratch building for efficiency would be our focus.
We plan on adding more insulation and a gray water system, a geothermal heat pump to fit the finished square footage to start.

As far as renewable energy, that will be decided on and added later when we have the house as efficient as possible.

[glenn kangiser]

Trusses would get more expensive and footings would get huge especially in snow load country as all of the load would be brought to the side- likely mid span footings in the floor also.

I didn't see what area of the country you were planning on building in.

[rwanders]

I found trying to design a good floor plan in a 20' wide footprint was difficult----when I changed to a 24' width it suddenly became a lot easier and the extra 4' didn't present too many problems for footings and roof framing----have you considered a 24 x 40 footprint?  20 x 50 makes for some odd proportions in MHO----seems too much like what used to be called "shotgun houses".

[n74tg]

My house is roughly 30x60, so that meant my trusses were 30 feet plus 16" tails each end (roughly 32 feet).  Fifteen regular trusses and one end (gable) truss ran about $1300 if memory serves.  YMMV but I found that to be a reasonable price. 

[Don_P]

If the roof is trussed that does allow greater economic width. Wide buildings with stick framed roofs get into special order rafter lengths. I prefer 24-28' wide houses myself, stairs work well, they have a human scale, comfortable spaces. I didn't know if "shotgun" was known to you all. We lived in a double barrel shotgun when we first got married, a poorly divided bungalow into two apartments.

[archangel]

We will be building in Vermont, so there will be snow, a lot of it, so the roof will be steep enough to shed it away from the doors.

We need an inexpensive home just to get into the land.

There will be 4 to 5 adults (3 generations) and probably 2 kids or more if we ever get around to having them, so we do need a large central family area.

The basement will have a portion dedicated to a generous root cellar.

And don't get me started on the barn/work shop/garage/play room!

[rwanders]

I'm in Alaska so I understand "lots of snow"----I have a 12/12 pitch roof (metal) with very wide eaves. They extend 4' from the walls and when the snow dumps, it leaves a clear area 4' from the walls and my fuel tanks,etc----not to mention a nice snow free 4' walkway. Eaves that wide cana be a problem though, if you are subject to high winds-----would not be a good design for the open plains of Kansas.

[bobtheengineer]

If you are looking for a do it yourself barn design try www.barnplans.com  they sell a gambrel truss design, that can stand up to high wind loads.  28, 32 or 36' wide. 

[archangel]

That barn plans site was real interesting, but my wife would never agree to allow me to build the bones of our home!

The out buildings I can have more say about as we will not be living in them.

Now, if the land we want to buy could be purchased with a home loan, that would be another story!

The mobile home is not attached to a foundation so it has to be sold as land only, so we will need a construction loan to build a house before we finalize the loan.

[John Raabe]

While the largest of my stock plans is 20' wide you could use the Universal Cottage plan as a cut and paste template plan for doing something wider and longer. It is drawn as a two story but you could throw out those 2nd floor sheets and do one story.

That plan comes with full basement and crawlspace foundation plans and details so you could use either one. The 2x6 walls would be fine for a 26x40 (1040sf) floor plan. There is a designed floor system setup for an interior mid-span support beam. The spans are longer in a 26' wide workup so you would have to resize the joists (I'd use 2x10 @ 16" o/c) and recalculate the beams for the floor supports and post placements you will workup. The universal stairway is in the plan and you can move that wherever you want.

Once you have your floor plan laid out you can give it to the local truss company and they will spec and supply the trusses to whatever pitch you want (you can have a pitch on the inside if you wish as well). They will handle the snow load and provide an attic if desired.

To lay this out you could use the template plan from PlanHelp.com if you are willing to buy and learn a simple home design software program. You could then play with different sizes for the house footprint, place interior walls, windows and doors, etc. and then print out new 1/4" scale foundation and floor plans and the exterior elevations. These can be taped into new sheets which will be added to the Universal Cottage details and you are pretty much there.

I'd have a consult with a local home designer or engineer to size those beams and see what needs to be tweaked for local codes, etc.