24' wide

[Billisnice]

How much  more world the cost be to increase the 20' wide to 24' using the universal plans?   

[John_M]

How can we establish world peace?  Who was the best Major League Baseball Player ever?  How much does the cost change to go from the 20' wide to the 24' wide?

There are some questions in life that have no answers!!

Seriously though, you will find that there are so many variables to consider, that an honest answer would be difficult to come up with!

Going to 24' wide has a whole new set of issues to contend with from an engineering standpoint as well. 

Maybe others have somemore insight, but it seems this type of question gets asked often and there never seems to be a final answer given!!

Good luck with your project!

[glenn kangiser]

You would need to have redesign - load calcs - beam sizing etc. if width is changed.  Length is easy -- as loadings remain the same.

[ScottA]

Why do you need a house wider than 20'?

[peternap]

Ask my wife Scott. Why do we need a house wider than 50 feet?

Maybe others have somemore insight, but it seems this type of question gets asked often and there never seems to be a final answer given!!

John...there is no answer. You can figure the framing materials to the penny but as we all know, that's a very small percent of the cost.

[ScottA]

Seriously Peter I could live in a camper if not for the wife complaining.

[peternap]

Seriously Peter I could live in a camper if not for the wife complaining.

Me Too!

[CWhite]

After living in a camper for the past year, my 20 foot wide house seems huge!

Christina

[Billisnice]

24 by 36 with an upstairs will make the room bigger for enjoyment.

[bobtheengineer]

The whole issue is primarily the roof system.  Its pretty easy to figure out what you need to do for floor joist support, it wouldn't be practical to span the entire 24' anyway.  The rafters and collar ties would be where the design work would be required.  The walls wouldn't change much, if at all, maybe just the door and window headers.

I have been looking at floor plans, and its alot easier to cram everything in, in a 24' width vs a 20' width.  It also helps when you have an attached garage next to it.  The garage size doesn't overpower the house size.

[Billisnice]

If you are going to built a house why not add enough space to make it so you do not have to fall in bed every night and climb over furniture and stuff in the bedroom,  if you have one master on the first floor. 

When you get older or have leg problems climbing stairs will be less and less fun.


If appears to me a few more $ and you have a much better house to live in.  Maybe we should have a 24 by 36 challenge.  One bedroom on the first floor and 1.5 baths to get large comfortable rooms on the first floor.  Pedestal sinks in the bathroom to cut down on mold, etc.

[John_M]

I think the idea here at this website is mainly to discuss and build small homes and cabins.  Most people here are building recreational types of places to vacation or spend time on weekends or hunting trips.

We are all obviously free to build whatever we want wherever we want however!

I am in the process of building an 18 x 32 1 1/2 story cabin in Western New York.  I like the idea of a small little place to get away too.

If this is a primary residence you are building, then perhaps a bit more space may be what you are looking for.

There is also a mindset here that a lot of these structures will be self-built, which if you keep making them bigger and bigger, makes it a bit more challenging for the do it yourselfer!

Whatever you decide...Good luck!

[MountainDon]

Hey billisnice. Anything is possible. Some things just demand more money.

You could go to a 24' wide design but as indicated above that does change some of the fundamental structural design. How much of this are you planning on doing yourself? Many of the owner-builders here have done everything themselves, but depending on your abilities it's no crime to farm out some sectors of the construction.

If you are planning on doing most of the building yourself probably the easiest way to get the extra width is to insert a central beam lengthwise. Then you can use 2x8 or 2x10 joists. You could also go with floor trusses but that's going to be more expense. As well trusses require more of a crew to handle.

You can probably find a local truss manufacturer and get an estimate over the phone if you give them the building dimensions. Their price would usually include the cost of the engineering report you'd need to get a building permit for this type of component. Ditto on roof trusses. You could then compare that cost to the cost of materials for the standard 20 foot design width and decide if it's worth it.

Are you planning on a full basement, crawlspace or n grade slab? Johns plans cover all of those. And the nice thing about his plans is his plans come with authorization for modification/customization.

[Billisnice]

20 by 40 = 40+80 = 120 feet around the perimeter

24 by 36 = 48+72 = 120 feet around the perimeter

The outside walls should require the same amount of lumber and materials and get an additional 144 sq ft.  24 x 36 will give you good size if you only have one bedroom.

me rambling...lol

[Billisnice]

I think an additional 64 sq feet.

[FrankInWI]

I like the explanation of who tends to haunt this forum, and what they tend to have in common.  I'm not quite in the mainstream with that, but I have always been welcomed.  I did happen to buy the 1 1/2 plan for the upcoming house too, but I don't think that was required to get the neighborly treatment I have here. I try not to push it too much....mostly this is for the types of places you mentioned, but there is some variance accepted.
Bill, I owned land in northern wisconsin we camped on for 4 years. Suddenly I had some money available (not free...just got a great loan opportunity) but by the time I got to actually pounding nails, the winter was staring us in the face (northern wisconsin).  I contracted out the slab (high ground water, no piers possible) and we took it from there for the first story.  We built a 24 X 28 garage w/loft.   Cause of winter....and loosing my sons to school, I had to jump to trusses.  I did gable trusses that included the 28' lower floor joists.  I doubled all but the gables trusses up and left 2 8ft gaps in between two areas.  There we ladder framed the floor, and built end walls for dormers and went with rafters.  Got a few superb windows from Habitat Restore, and bought 4 more for up there.  The place turned out fantastic (althought the inspector hasn't seen it yet!!).  Lipitor was attacking my muscles, and my back went out on me too....it was just too much.  I had the name of a reliable carpenter who did side work.  We were about to loose ALL workers to the deer hunting season here, but he got laid off the week before.  I grabbed him and two of his co-workers and with them, and a Lull lift, they made a miricle in 3 days. 
I'd have loved to do it myself, as it is I've done a ton...including the whole first level, the HVAC, the electric service, etc.  Sometimes a guys got to call for help though.  It was the first time I hired in subs too.  All new to this city boy.....  generaly nothing in writing and all cash...
Bye the time I do the 1 1/2 next door to this garage / loft, I'll be retired and have all the time in the world.  I plan to do it myself, but we'll see.  Good luck, read a lot, talk a lot, and dream a lot.  It'll come together for you.

[MountainDon]

The outside walls should require the same amount of lumber and materials and get an additional

Right, the perimeter material will be within a framing member or so of being the same. What's going to cost more is the structural members that hold the whole thing up as 24 ft is too wide to use the methods in Johns plans. Or any other plan.

[John_C]

A better starting point for a 24' wide house might be John's 24' wide solar saltbox.  There are a lot of 24 x 36 plans available.  The structural details will be different than the 20 x 30 to accommodate the different loadings

If you want the greatest interior volume for the least wall a square house will be "more efficient".

[jmygann]

I currently live in a 20' wide and like it.  .... wife and 2 kids.