Hello all,
After much searching and a few let downs we have finally found some land on Cape Breton Island and hope to close on the purchase in about a weeks time. We tried realtors, posting adverts and asking around the local community and finally saw a classified ad for a private sale.
I promised myself that I wouldn't post anything about it until we had closed in case it didn't come together but I'm too excited not to share it!
Although a part of me is frightened I maybe tempting fate by writing this.
It's 28 wooded acres about 15 minutes from Port Hawksbury. There's an all seasons (very important) dirt road and the building site is in a cleared area in the woods. There is a driveway to a flat elevated area with a bit of a view across the forest and perhaps most amazingly there's power, phone, a well and septic system already in place! We snoeshoed up there the other day as the drive had not been cleared. Absolutely beautiful in the snow.
The vendor is selling for personal reasons, he bought the plot as a building site and didn't install the well and septic himself but he has the correct paperwork and it seems to be legit. Here's some pics the vendor sent me.
(https://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh196/alianita/countryplans/lot1.jpg)
(https://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh196/alianita/countryplans/lot2.jpg)
(https://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh196/alianita/countryplans/lot3.jpg)
(https://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh196/alianita/countryplans/lot4.jpg)
(That's the vendors missus not mine by the way.)
I would hope to be breaking ground in late April early May and judging by how pleasent and helpful the planning and building inspectors here are I don't see any major red tape problems. (This has not been my previous experience in the U.K. and it was a surprise that they employ human beings for these jobs here ...)
One query for any well experts our there (Glen?) The well was drilled in 2003 and was tested when drilled with a good flow rate (6gpm) should we have it retested after having sat unused for 5/6 years? Is there any chance it might have stagnated?
Anyhow wish us luck and keep your fingers crossed for us (but don't cause any accidents)
I'll let you all know how it goes with the sale...
Al
Alasdair,
Good luck. I'm not far from you, just on the opposite side in Guysborough County.
Jochen
Alasdair hope everything works out for you. I had traveled the Cape Breton Trail a couple times. Beautiful country.
In regards to the well I am sure others will give their $.02 worth but here is mine. I would clorox the well first and then after 1/2 day pump it out until the clorox smell has disapated. Then draw up a sample to have it tested.
Jochen,
Hello from Baddeck! Where abouts in Guysborough are you? Are you on the Canso strait?
Redover,
Thanks for the tip John that sounds like a pretty good idea.
Al
Can't get away from the Islands, eh? Looks nice, Al.
What John said, Al. If not too deep, a gallon of Clorox should do it - do it after you put your pump in if not there already. 6-8 hours then clean til the smell is gone before drinking.
Pump pipes etc. can pick up debris etc. so it is good if you can also recirculate Chlorine down the well with the hose a bit when ready to use it for real if you have an extra port in the seal - pull it out then water down the hole. Wells if well sealed don't usually have much problem but if not well sealed and sitting then it can get to be a very interesting soup down there. If you want to know more please ask. n*
Wishing you all the best... looks so pretty.
Thanks Homegrown, I hope your search works out soon.
Glen, thanks for the tips I will likely pick your brains about the well set up in a few months when it is visible above the snow!
(I may have found you a new Scottish representative but he's not too computer literate yet... I'll keep working on him)
We're driving out past the lot today and I will try to get some pics of the land in the snow to post,
Al
Quote from: Alasdair on February 06, 2009, 08:23:53 PM
Jochen,
Hello from Baddeck! Where abouts in Guysborough are you? Are you on the Canso strait?
Al,
No not on the Canso strait. I'm living around 1 1/2 to 2 hours drive from Port Hawksbury.
Jochen
Quote from: Alasdair on February 07, 2009, 09:06:38 AM
Thanks Homegrown, I hope your search works out soon.
Glen, thanks for the tips I will likely pick your brains about the well set up in a few months when it is visible above the snow!
(I may have found you a new Scottish representative but he's not too computer literate yet... I'll keep working on him)
We're driving out past the lot today and I will try to get some pics of the land in the snow to post,
Al
Pick'ns are slim but take what you need... (https://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk145/cellaneous/Small%20Eyes/thLoScrigno_cervello.gif)
We'll look forward to hearing from the new Scottish rep and seeing more pix. :)
Glen,
Pickings maybe slim but it's quality not quantity that counts!
Here's some pics from our trip the other day...
(https://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh196/alianita/countryplans/062comp.jpg)
The view from the road
(https://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh196/alianita/countryplans/013comp.jpg)
The driveway
(https://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh196/alianita/countryplans/017comp.jpg)
some critters been there before me
(https://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh196/alianita/countryplans/024comp.jpg)
(https://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh196/alianita/countryplans/025comp.jpg)
(https://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh196/alianita/countryplans/054comp.jpg)
(https://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh196/alianita/countryplans/022comp.jpg)
whatcha think?
We're waiting for a few bits of paper and then putting our offer in next week...
hoping it all goes smoothly...
Beautiful place but looks cold -- colder than here now anyway.
Great having the utilities all taken care of already.
Hi Alasdair,
I've been lurking for a few months. My husband and I are in the final stages of closing on our owner-built (conventional) home in Halifax Nova Scotia, with plans to move next door to New Brunswick and build a smaller place out in the woods :)
Anyway, what prompted the delurking: When we bought our land here in HRM, it also had a well & septic in place. Much like your story, this lot had big plans before personal set-backs lead the buyer to sell. When the well was initially drilled seven years ago, it had an excellent flow rate. As part of the mortgage requirements, we were required to re-test the water. You'll be happy to know that the flow rate was unaffected by several years stagnation.
Welcome to NS you two!
Thanks Natalie,
We will get the well tested as soon as we can find it! Best of luck with your own projects. Care to share a few pics with us?
Al
Wha? And hijack your thread? :)
This is the listing, which is obsolete (officially) as of this afternoon (!!): http://www.sansomteam.com/index.php?action=listingview&listingID=17
I'm afraid it is totally boring (beige vinyl siding -blech) but it was built last year with resale in mind. Our "first foray" - I'm 25 and doing a Masters degree in Biochem, while my husband is a full-time carpenter. It was so fun building it - but we've decided on a <500 sq ft. next time around. I will start a separate thread once we decide the land issue and whatnot. We are also leaning towards much greener building materials next time around. Currently trying to convince him to try strawbale :) A 20'x 20 one-story strawbale or a 16' x 12' timber frame with loft. Decisions...
Did I miss the thread with building plans for this site? Or is it in another section? I'll have to learn my way around the search functions on here, I suppose.
Natalie,
Wow! Your place looks very impressive. Nice job. We are planning a 16 x 28 1 1/2 story style structure to be extended at a later date. The plans are based on John's. We are thinking of going with the "bigfoot" post and pier foundation system and putting in founds for the whole thing at the start.
We think we have enough saved to get the first section closed in this summer, will finish it through the fall / winter and then we will extend as we can afford it. Having just got my residency here I have no credit rating - so we would have to wait two years before we could raise a mortgage (not that we want to borrow anyway!) so this seems like a more economical, easier route for us and a lot more fun too! Good luck in N.B.
Al
Bummer, Al....no blackhouse? hmm
Welcome to the forum, Natalie.
Did you mean John's plans?
http://www.countryplans.com/plans.html There is a link at the top.
The best search is the one on the blue line near the top - there are three I think but it is best.
Glenn,
Yes I bought John's 1 1/2 story and the little house plans. We will be building something closely based on them.
Al
That will be great. Efficient too.
Alasdair, beautiful property, what a find! Looking forward to watching your progress.
(and not to hijack this thread, either, Natalie - WOW! the house your husband & you built is gorgeous! Was it a little sad to be moving out of it? The area is really nice, too - the people who bought it really got a deal! I can imagine how neat your "little" house will look - probably full of custom touches like the house you just sold - be sure & post lots of pix & w* ) Bio-chem isn't an easy field to study - I know I had to study a lot for just the one semester I had to take for nursing - also had to take inorganic chem - I guess if you're good at math it'd help - that's my really weak area :P I'm impressed that you've done so much at such a young age, gee, I didn't even know what I wanted to be at 25 d*
@ Alasdair: I've spoken with some of my international colleagues and can't get over the ridiculous financial hoops one must go through to get some Canadian credit. But going mortgage-free will be very liberating!
@Sassy: I'm more a molecular biologist (I nearly failed out of organic chem in undergrad...), but my passion as of late has been to build, build, build! I can't devour enough books/forums/articles on the topic of green building/tiny house living/real-estate. This time last year we were doing what BishopKnight is doing: pounding nails in sub-zero temperatures & chipping ice off our studs for a house we designed ourselves. It was really a financial decision and I'm so relieved we could sell our "big house" in this uncertain market and won't miss it a bit (way too big for the two of us). Believe it or not, housing & land is even cheaper in our hometown, so that's where we are headed to next. No job market to speak of + family + mortgage-free house = the better deal, IMHO.
I feel Alasdair and others on this forum would agree :)
Glad to have you here, Natalie and looking forward to seeing more of your stuff. :)
Our offer was accepted today and we will hopefully close the deal at the start of March when we have the septic completion certifiacate from the Dept. of Enviroment.
Woo hoo!
went out and bought tools I had been coveting in celebration! :)
Congragtulation Alasdair . Now the work begins. ;D
Buying tools is always a great way to celebrate, Al. Good deal. :)
We finally closed on the land last week. ;D
Our next threads will be in the general and owner builder areas of the forum..
Can't wait to get started ... why isn't the snow melting faster!!
Al
Mother nature has a mind of her own. Congrats on the deal. Sounds like it is just about time to roll up your sleeves . ;D
Good deal. :)
We'll be checking them out, Al
Quotewhy isn't the snow melting faster!!
PS Al, Canada may have hard water... d*
Hard water indeed! There's another 3" of the stuff this morning. Grrrrrrrrr. >:(
Mind you it's more squishy cold and slushy than hard but still...
We had it yesterday - now its gone - maybe yours will leave too. :)
Sadly not :( - more forcast for next few days! [waiting]
That's a bummer, Al but maybe you can think real hard about it while waiting for the snow to leave. [idea]
Glenn - thinking is always hard ... ???
More hard thinking going on ... another foot of snow in the last 24hrs!!! ::) d*
Still it has given us time to gather some materials. We can hardly get around the house we are renting for secondhand doors, windows, showers, etc. Kijiji (more popular than craigslist here) is becoming a nasty little vice for me! We have got some great deals from it but I'm getting addicted to bargin hunting! - How many doors and windows do we really need?
The forcast is looking better for the next week though. It's all in + figures so hopefully we will be able to see the ground this time next week and I'll be able to get out and muck around in the mud :D
Quote from: Alasdair on March 31, 2009, 09:39:54 AM
More hard thinking going on ... another foot of snow in the last 24hrs!!! ::) d*
Still it has given us time to gather some materials. We can hardly get around the house we are renting for secondhand doors, windows, showers, etc. Kijiji (more popular than craigslist here) is becoming a nasty little vice for me! We have got some great deals from it but I'm getting addicted to bargin hunting! - How many doors and windows do we really need?
Oh, man, can I ever relate to all of this! I have sworn off buying windows at least half a dozen times, and we've been thinking hard (between bursts of furious work) for almost three years. We thought hard for over three months just waiting to get the paperwork signed on this informal handshake-deal cash-for-land transaction. We thought hard for another two months after that waiting for the driveway to happen. Then we thought hard through several of our 7-month-long winters, through a few injuries, through months of saving our pennies to rent the excavator AGAIN, through a carjacking which relieved us of a whole summer's worth of building funds...
And through it all, we've been accumulating doors, windows, bathtubs, bathroom sinks,
windows, woodstoves, cookstoves, tarpaper,
windows, kitchen sinks, cedar shake siding,
windows, stove pipe, shingles, cinder block,
windows...you get the picture. We're musicians who travel a lot, so I start checking the local Craigslist for wherever we're going a few days before we leave. Get a gig...buy a door. If we have no gigs, we haunt freecycle and go dumpster diving. You may imagine what our 360 square feet of living space looks like by now, and I keep joking that if we tarp one more thing and lean it against the shed, the shed is going to slide right off its blocks.
But it's all paid for, we have no debt, a couple of dandy outbuildings, a driveway, a well, a septic system, enough rock to build several miles of stone walls, and at least five years' worth of firewood cut, split and stacked, since digging, cutting, splitting, and stacking are the only things we can always do, money or no money. We may even get a house up before we're too old to hobble back and forth to the mailbox.
I'll be looking forward to watching your progress, Alasdair. Mud season can't be that far off. And repeat after me:
no more windows!
I've been fairly good with windows recently...
We have finally got our building permit and a civic number/address so as soon as we have some pics for show and tell we'll start an owner builder thread :D
Al