20 x 40 1 1/2 Story in NW Montana

[mochamomma78]

Hello!

For the last 10 years, we have been waiting patiently to build our first home. A couple years ago I came across this site and absolutely fell in love with the 1.5 story plans. Ever since then we were looking for property to start our project. A little over a year ago we inherited a little over 8 acres and moved up on the property and decided to winter it out in an RV. Being a homeschooling family with dogs this was no easy task. This past year we also purchased the plans and tweaked them a bit to fit our family.

We originally wanted to build ourselves but came to realize that if we wanted to keep our sanity and our marriage it would be best to hire out the job. We finally just broke ground this last week. Pictures to come soon as soon as I figure out photobucket.

I look forward to getting to know you all! I hope it's ok that I share our build even though we aren't the actual builders.

Stacey

[Redoverfarm]

 .   You might look for another host for your pictures as Photobucket no longer allows the images to be sent to this site or any other 3rd party site without a fee.  There are other image storage sites available.  When you get it all figured out let us see what you have done.

[mochamomma78]

Yes. I figured that out quickly and went to Flickr. Lol Here are our plans.

Edit: Have to use my computer to get the pics to just show up. It doesn't like my phone.


House plans by , on Flickr

House plans by , on Flickr

IMG_3244 by , on Flickr

House plans by , on Flickr

[John Raabe]

For me I needed to right click and open another browser window to see the image.

[azgreg]

I kinda like that bump out for the stairwell. What's the head room on the landing?

[mochamomma78]

I kinda like that bump out for the stairwell. What's the head room on the landing?

Im not sure, but will find out!

[mochamomma78]

We have guessing a 7' headroom on the stairs.

We just finished up the framing and will start roofing here soon. I can't seem to upload to Flickr with my phone. Have a trip to town planned today and will need to swing by a coffee shop for free internet that will actually upload pictures. lol

[Rys]

Love it!

[mochamomma78]

Finally got all the pictures to date uploaded. There will be quite a bit, so I'll just post the highlights. 

IMG_3110 by , on Flickr

The site was leveled and prepared for the foundation. I knew that we had a slope but the extent of that slope was way more than I thought. On the right, they dug down 4' on the left they just took out the grass. after all the years of waiting who would have thought that I would have been so excited to see giant piles of dirt everywhere.

IMG_3136 by , on Flickr

Footers are ready to get poured!!

Cabin Build by , on Flickr

All poured

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Backfilling and unfortunately, we didn't have enough dirt to do all the back filling so we had to move 39 dump truck loads of dirt from one side of the property to the other to finish up.

IMG_3398 by , on Flickr

We have a floor!

IMG_3401 by , on Flickr

By the end of the first day the guys had finished the floor and the side walls.

IMG_3402 by , on Flickr

Walls are going up

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The guys went to lunch so I took a quick look at the inside walls getting built.

IMG_3438 by , on Flickr

All the walls are up and the support for the wrap around deck is going up. I absolutely LOVE the beams.

IMG_3447 by , on Flickr

The bedroom view.

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Trusses up and the starts of the trusses on the porch

IMG_3523 by , on Flickr

all the trusses are done and the sheets on the roof.

IMG_3533 by , on Flickr

Interior to date of the loft

IMG_3535 by , on Flickr

Livingroom and Dining

IMG_3539 by , on Flickr

We noticed the other day that if you stand in the middle of the loft and look out the front window that it perfectly frames one of the apple trees that my husbands' great grandmother planted.

IMG_3571 by , on Flickr


Last picture.. The starts of our woodstove was installed yesterday!

[Rys]

Love seeing all the progress! 
Noticed your floor plan isn't showing any more?
Did you change it?

Rys

[mochamomma78]

Love seeing all the progress! 
Noticed your floor plan isn't showing any more?
Did you change it?

Rys

I accidentally uploaded it again and must have deleted the wrong picture.  All is well and working. Thanks for letting me know

[mochamomma78]

Was a busy morning! We finalized the order on our appliances, ordered our cupboards, purchased the wood stove and best of all the plumbing was finished up! Oh, and the tub/shower was put in. I can't wait to shower in a space bigger than the RVs shower. It's the little things in life.

IMG_3612 by , on Flickr

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[mochamomma78]

Another quick update while I have internet.

IMG_3626 by , on Flickr

The hubs decided to test out the new tub. lol

IMG_3632 by , on Flickr

Soffits and the area under the covered porch were done.

IMG_3633 by , on

Trim was painted

IMG_3661 by , on Flickr

We have WINDOWS!!

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The house is looking awesome! The guys showed up and started work on our roof.

IMG_3670 by , on Flickr

IMG_3671 by , on Flickr

The deer have been hanging out really close to the rv lately.

IMG_3702 by , on Flickr

Our siding finally arrived!

IMG_3711 by , on Flickr

Siding is going on.

I have around 20 more photos currently uploading painfully slow on my phone. I'll update again when they get loaded. If you can't wait you can check out our instagram profile. It is up to date.  https://www.instagram.com/yodeldoghomestead/

[NathanS]

Your place looks great. The contractors you've hired are clearly high quality, even from just how clean the jobsite is kept.

I was also shocked by how much dirt it can take to grade around a house, it's nice you were able to take the fill right off your property, it sure can get expensive in a hurry.

[mochamomma78]

Your place looks great. The contractors you've hired are clearly high quality, even from just how clean the jobsite is kept.

I was also shocked by how much dirt it can take to grade around a house, it's nice you were able to take the fill right off your property, it sure can get expensive in a hurry.

The contractors are amazing! I am usually hanging around poking my head in the house throughout the day to see progress or just to watch. I tell them all if I am ever in the way just yell at me and I will move. Nonyellung yet. Lol They even answer all my crazy random questions that pop into my head.

The dirt that was hauled over was mind boggling to me. I thought it couldn't be more than a few loads.. but every few minutes another truck was passing by our RV with another load. Getting the dirt from so close really saved our budget! Although, the well pretty much took whatever we had saved plus a little more.

[jdindino]

I took a look at the instagram photos, great progress - you are really moving along! Your plan is very similar to what I've been working on (trying) to draft. Main differences are a bit deeper than the 24' and a bit wider than the 40' - so I can make that bedroom a bit bigger, and squeeze in a side-by-side laundry setup.

How deep did you end up going with your well to hit water? I'm pretty concerned here (SE Ohio). Most people in my area that drill end up 200-250 feet, but with 1-2gpm steady (low flow). With that flow, I'll end up doing a 500 gallon holding tank in the basement with a 90 gallon pressure tank to keep up with spikes in usage from multiple loads of laundry plus guests/showers/etc. I need to start getting quotes for the well.

[mochamomma78]

I took a look at the instagram photos, great progress - you are really moving along! Your plan is very similar to what I've been working on (trying) to draft. Main differences are a bit deeper than the 24' and a bit wider than the 40' - so I can make that bedroom a bit bigger, and squeeze in a side-by-side laundry setup.

How deep did you end up going with your well to hit water? I'm pretty concerned here (SE Ohio). Most people in my area that drill end up 200-250 feet, but with 1-2gpm steady (low flow). With that flow, I'll end up doing a 500 gallon holding tank in the basement with a 90 gallon pressure tank to keep up with spikes in usage from multiple loads of laundry plus guests/showers/etc. I need to start getting quotes for the well.

It is going extremely quickly, yet painfully slow at the same time. lol In all reality, we are a little over a month into the build. The teens are planning on a sleepout in the house this weekend if the insulation gets fully covered with plastic.

The estimate for our well depth was a 150-160' with a budget for 300' just in case. We hit water around 400 but it was only 4gpm. With our loan we are required to have a minimum of 5gpm. We FINALLY got a little over 5 gpm at 520'. One good thing though is our static level is at 9'.

[mochamomma78]

IMG_3737 by , on Flickr

Wood stove pipe was installed

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Windows, doors, and siding!

IMG_3771 by , on Flickr

The drywall was delivered yesterday

IMG_3772 by , on Flickr

Insulation was finished up yesterday and the plastic is getting put up.

IMG_3776 by , on Flickr

As of this morning they guys are still working on the roof but the rest of the outside is almost complete!

[jdindino]

The estimate for our well depth was a 150-160' with a budget for 300' just in case. We hit water around 400 but it was only 4gpm. With our loan we are required to have a minimum of 5gpm. We FINALLY got a little over 5 gpm at 520'. One good thing though is our static level is at 9'.

Yikes! I hadn't even thought of that. I will be borrowing some money and not paying all cash, I hadn't thought of any minimum well flow requirements that might be required by a lender. On the road my property is on, I've never heard of anyone hitting 5gpm. 

Rural water is available on the roads that run parallel to me (both in front of and behind), but not my road. They have stated they have no intentions of expanding anytime in the future to my road.

[mochamomma78]

Yikes! I hadn't even thought of that. I will be borrowing some money and not paying all cash, I hadn't thought of any minimum well flow requirements that might be required by a lender. On the road my property is on, I've never heard of anyone hitting 5gpm. 

Rural water is available on the roads that run parallel to me (both in front of and behind), but not my road. They have stated they have no intentions of expanding anytime in the future to my road.

I didn't know we had a minimum flow requirement until the driller said something. After we hit water I told him we could get by with 4 gpm and then he gave me the dreaded news.. lol Definitely, something to talk to the lender about just in case you do have a requirement in your area.

Hopefully you can get a good amount of water on your property. My fingers are crossed for you.

[cbc58]

nice house.  regarding the well - I was talking to a site contractor last week and he said that many lenders no longer accept dug wells.  not sure if that is true or not but he was told that since dug wells can go dry, lenders require drilled wells.  anyone else heard this?

[mochamomma78]

nice house.  regarding the well - I was talking to a site contractor last week and he said that many lenders no longer accept dug wells.  not sure if that is true or not but he was told that since dug wells can go dry, lenders require drilled wells.  anyone else heard this?

Thank you! I haven't heard anything about dug wells before. I can see dug wells drying unless of course it was a natural spring. We have a couple seasonal springs around our property. Unfortunately nothing was in the right location to benefit their use for the house. We do plan on doing a standpoint well over by my garden next year and one in the field for livestock. But we shall see. We had a massive snow pack followed by lots of rain.

The owner of the company we are using visits on Monday. I will ask him about it.

[Rys]

What kind of siding did you go with? Love the color!

[mochamomma78]

What kind of siding did you go with? Love the color!

We went with the James hardie siding. The color is called rich espresso.