20x30 Planning stage/getting my ducks in a row

[JoshC]

Hey everyone, I've been reading through a lot of the threads and you guys have been such a great resource for information!
I'm looking into building a house on my parent's land. I really like the 20x30 cottage plan(it's just me and my dogs!). We plan on ding as much of the building ourselves as we can. I've talked to our building dept. guy and he was very helpful and my next step is to get a septic engineered(that's what he told me anyway!). I haven't purchased any house plans yet. I have to have stamped engineered drawings for the house. I'm wondering if I should buy the 20x30 house plans from here and have the engineer guy alter if needed and then stamp them or should I just have him draw up a set from scratch? I guess I'm just trying to think of the best way too go about this, I'm not afraid to admit I'm a complete newbie to all of this!
Thanks for any info/help/insight you guys can give me!
Josh

[rick91351]

First off  from Rick and Ellen in Idaho

Second I hope your build goes well for you........

Third what I have found here at my location and having too have two engineered.  You would have to shop around locally and find an engineer.  Here I found one that works pretty reasonable, has a small office down town with no staff.  He is in his sixties has a huge client base and never knew there was a down turn in building.  Whom ever you find he would have to make the decision if he can just stamp or need to re-engineer and re-draw.  After going through two if these I would guess he will re-engineer from the top down.

What I have found is here, he and a draftsman would have to redraw it to the local requirements.  Here that is 120 lbs snow load and 90 mph wind load is the main concern.  After two in the same location they never have addressed soil engineering at all.  Which that is a whole other place in the engineering kingdom.  I have also found that using engineered trusses is a pretty much a requirement.  But that is sort of good news as they can be designed in a cantilever style that allows a loft and can be designed to look like the real thing if that is your intent.  The other thing there is at least locally the truss engineering is included in the truss bid as that engineering is not done by the structural engineer but a engineer at the truss plant.  When you receive the trusses you will receive his engineering as well.  Locally they have to attach to the plans that the local building department has red lined or marked up.  You might call them the master plans that you have to keep on the site.

Now as far as buying John's plans.  I would, they are inexpensive and have a lot other valuable info.  I like walking into the engineer with the real set of plans he can look at.  Plus they are inexpensive as far as plans go.  In fact they are the best buy I have seen and have purchased several from other companies as well.  That said by purchasing them you also help keep this great little forum on the net for free.    Hope that helps                   

[Squirl]

I purchased a set of plans from here.  It gave me some insight into how plans are set up for submission to my building department.  It also supported the site which I have been coming to for answers for the past 5 years.  In the end, I didn't use it. I studied enough books to redesign it to make it the way I wanted it.

I also suggest you read a basic book on framing.
http://www.countryplans.com/books.html
The ones on this page are the most popular I've seen.  I liked the first one, because the color images were easy to follow.

As Rick touched on, the location may be helpful.  In my area, septic is required to be engineered, but houses under 1500 square feet are not, as long as everything is clearly outlined and clearly within code guidelines.

[Don_P]

 
To give the ducks their rightful names  your building official probably meant that the plans need to be stamped by a registered design professional (an RDP), licensed in your state and working within the area of their expertise. Generally this means that and architect OR an engineer can stamp the plans. This may open up more possibilities in sourcing that individual. But, if you do intend on going that route make sure that is what the inspector meant. Semantics, yes, but in my area we also have a young architect that does good work reasonably. More on the legals, I don't want you to think you can hand a set of prints to an RDP and walk out that day with a stamped set. It is illegal for an RDP to "stamp" the work of another, he must design or oversee the design. Generally they can review and seal a set of plans as long as they are doing a thorough review, do not expect one to rubber stamp a set, they do need to give them the fine tooth comb treatment and do expect to pay for it.