Can I put the universal farm house on this lot?

[cedarglen]

I want to put the 2 story 20'x34' farm house on my lot. Previously we had a 14'x20' cabin which was burnt in a forest fire. The lot slopes (a lot) and the existing pad will have to be widened to fit the 6' wider house. On the old cabin the lower level was just storage with a dirt floor. It was on a pier and post foundation. We would like to cut a little farther into the mountain side (about to the exposed roots of the burnt Oak) and make rear and side walls of the lower level out of cinder block (or new space aged stuff avaliable now) and have the rear wall of the house be a retaining wall.  We always had problems with dirt and snow piling up against the back of the wooden house.

My questions are this:
I assume that this is something that is not abnormal? Building code in most places allows for inhabitable living area behind a retaining wall? What materials should I use for this?

[Daddymem]

Yeah, you should be able to do that (of course I don't have all the information, this is just shooting from the hip).  I'd get a structural engineer involved if for nothing else to review what you want to do.  I think drainage would be key. Root intrusion would also be a concern considering how close that tree looks to be from the future wall. Poured concrete with rebar would probably be preferable too.  That would be a nice site for an upside down house if there is a nice view from the second floor.

I should add that if you are in an earthquake area it is a whole different ballgame.

Or...take a look at Glenn's underground home, it looks like you have the relief to be able to do that.  

[cedarglen]

As for the roots, the trees are all dead (and every other tree in a 5 mile radius). Structural engineer review is required on any plans submitted here in my part of CA. regarding the upside down house, I kind of want the living area on the lower level so that we don't have to walk up any more stairs than necessary to get to the kitchen. We already are 50 feet above street level. And yes, we are in an earthquake area. (Lake Arrowhead, CA).

[Daddymem]

This may be of interest then: http://bayarearetrofit.com/Hillside1/Hillside2/hillside2.html

[John Raabe]

The Universal Cottage plans come with information on doing a PT basement foundation which is more easily insulated than a below grade concrete foundation — especially in a smaller house where the 8" of concrete and then 6" of furred interior wall take up a lot of the floor area.

You will need to have egress windows if sleeping areas are in the lower area. You might have to plan for these and have bedrooms with access to the daylight side.

Your engineer will be able to tie all this together properly. The universal cottage floor and roof can span the full width of the 20' dimension. - http://www.jshow.com/y2k/listings/57.html

Looks like that was a pretty nasty fire!

[cedarglen]

Believe it or not what is in the picture is all that was left of the house and all its contents. Then the branch off of the oak fell on top a few days later. 400 homes lost in the neighborhood. The "Old" fire October of 2003.