Progress finally

Started by Daddymem, April 28, 2005, 05:33:39 PM

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glenn-k

#50
I can't even imagine an engineer who is not capable of building a house, Daddymem.  I have seen some who wouldn't try.  It may be a little different to actually grab a tool, squeeze the trigger and hang on while the motor makes noise and try to make it follow a thin pencil line across the wood, but I have faith in you.  You are much more adventurous than some engineers,  Heck, we've already seen a picture of you with your tools in the hole. ;D

You'll be a better engineer for it.  Some lucky clients over there will finally get their chance to deal with an engineer who has hands on experience. ;D

Sorry about giving you a bad time--- I do it to my cousin (an engineer) also.  Can't resist.  I'm sure you can do it and do it well if you can work it into your schedule. You will find that there is much more satisfaction in doing it yourself also.  It will be a monument to your abilities for the rest of your life. :)

Amanda_931

Great!  Even if getting started is always scary.


Daddymem

First of all Glenn...how did those pictures get on the internet and where are the posted!!!!  Oh wait, you mean these tools, this hole...http://countryplans.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=01;action=display;num=1114727619;start=0#0
 ;D
No problem with the digs...it could be worse, I could be an architect... ;D  For those of you not in the industry the engineers always complain about the architects and the architects about the enigineers.  Usually it is just a lack of communication between the two.  Most anything can be done, usually one, the other, or both doesn't understand what is required to do it so it is just easier to complain about it.  Then of course there are those darn contractors who just can't seem to read minds (replace with plans if you wish ;D) about the plans.

Sending in a covert operative (my wife) to the Town this week to see what we can do about living on the lot while building.  I find the less informed you appear to be, the more information you walk away with...in other words, "Act dumb" and if you can't then send in someone ignorant of the topic (or capable of acting it).  Fortunately, my wife has a clue about the "gist" of things but only enough to cull the information needed but not able to answer any loaded questions.  

Bart_Cubbins

If you're not allowed to live on the lot, you'll have to come up with another way of securing the job site. Building on weekends, it will take a while to get to lockup stage. In the meantime you'll have a lot of increasingly expensive building materials lying around. SIPs would give you a big advantage in that regard. Even after lockup, you don't want to arrive and find that someone has removed all your windows... which does happen.

Daddymem

Security really isn't much of an issue.  The lot is next door to and visible from my parent's house.  So at the very least we may try to live in a trailer on their lot...just wouldn't have the septic hookup that way.


Daddymem

Well, we have had a big setback.  It appears the Board of Health Regulations I have has a typo.  In my Town we need 150' separation between well and septic, not 100' like the Regs I have say.  So my submitted plans need to be modified.  Problem is, I don't have 150' from my well and the abutting well so our only option besides purchasing more land or clearing up the title for the neighbor behind us so we can get an easement there is to put in an Innovative/Alternative system.

I have chosen the AdvanTex system due to the small footprint and what appears to be high treatment with "low" costs.  Here it is: http://www.wastewatertechnologies.com/advantexax.html (Firefox didn't like their site, IE did)  I should get some design and price information soon.  I'm estimating $15,000 constructed...there goes the garage for several years  :-/  
Here is the State Approval letter for this sytem: http://mass.gov/dep/water/wastewater/w060156.pdf  
Here is a schematic: http://mass.gov/dep/water/wastewater/sfhdwg.pdf
I've seen this in person, it is very small, very sturdy, and maintenance appears to be easy.  Now I have to go out and get an operators license so I don't have to pay someone else to run it.
This weekend I will be adding the details to the plan and it looks like I won't have to modify it too much.  The BOH agent is being awesome.  It looks like if I get this in, he will approve it rapidly.  Let's hope this works.

Amanda_931

Not fun, hope it works!

In Nashville I had city water, started out with a septic tank and soakaway, not standard drain field.  I think it may well have been grandfathered in, though.

The far out alternatives include:

No well--rainwater harvesting (to get great-tasting water you might get to buy it)--but this doesn't help your neighbor much.

(I let my "roofwasher" freeze and to no one's surprise the pvc valve cracked--so I get to replace it before I can catch any more water.  Boo!--although there are frost-proof versions around--I've got what is called the "poor man's version")

The Earthshiptm greywater system which reuses and semipurifies water a bunch of times is lovely, but they've got conventional septic tanks as well.

Art Ludwig recommends the same for his systems.  Not much use for greywater in frozen ground.

Composting toilets of any one of a bunch of varieties.

These guys are at least up in New England--they're the ones with the humongous--and expensive--tanks in the house and swear that they have a system that works in Boston.

http://www.clivusmultrum.com/  

glenn-k

#57
Here we are 100 to leach lines - 150 to a drilled cesspool - so you are 150 feet for anything, eh?

My Firefox seemed to run the site fine- I went through quite a lot of it.  I'm running version 1.0.7  with about 33 extensions.


Daddymem

Did you get the menu on the left side of the page?  That was what I was referring to.  I've got 1.07 with the i-hacked mods


glenn-k

I think I had all of it -- Home -Products- services -about 6 or 7 items -  popup menu on cursor scrollover- all clickable- and linked to more site -

Let me know if I missed anything.

Daddymem

Just upgrades to 1.5 site works fine in that.  I also noticed my script blocker upgraded too...that was probably it.

glenn-k

I upgraded to 1.5 once then went back because there were too many toys -- extensions that didn't work with it yet.  - That was when it was still a beta thiough- I see that quite a few of the extensions have now been upgraded.

Daddymem

I've found most extensions are gimmicks or garbage anyways...you only need a few and those that are worth it now work fine in 1.5.

glenn-k

#63
I don't know about that , Daddymem-- there's just something about having an egg timer on my browser that really gets my attention.



glenn-k


Daddymem

#66



Now the question is...why is it taking so long for them to get information to me!  BOH likes the system, complimented my plans to the point of embarrassement, and said he will go to bat for me at the meeting in January.  All I have to do is modify my plans to show the new components, but I can't do that without details.  :-/ If you go to the web site (with a properly working browser) the details there are for general installations, Massachusetts has some requirements based on the Provision Approval here so I can't use them. *sigh*

glenn-k

#67
UUhhhhhhh, yeah, Daddymem, fortunately now that we did that diagnostic work, browser repair project and got your problem fixed maybe it will be possible for you to get your information and get your house project back on track. (Nice save, Daddymem, I think John may have thought we were goofing off.  PS -you can get a magic 8 ball for your Firefox browser too in case you ever have trouble making decisions.) :P

Jimmy_Cason

#68
:)::) You Guys Crack Me Up!   ::) :)

glenn-k

Sometimes we're funny, Jimmy, but looks aren't everything. :'(


Daddymem

#70
Finally...got my information today.  What I need for a unit is a fiberglass tank, roughly 3'wx4'lx3'h that sits on top of my septic tank.  If I can get it right, I can still go gravity from this unit to my leaching area, I may have some of the tank above grade; I am told we can frame it in, throw some mulch around it and make it a landscape feature if need be.  I think I could drop my system a bit to make it flush, I will figure that out tomorrow morning.
We have a meeting set with David now!  We have 3 different floorplans we like, one like John's Universal but 18'x33'-4", one 18'x30' (or 33'-4") with no bath upstairs, and one 18'x40' with baths up and down and a huge bedroom for the ankle biters to play in.  I'll post floorplans when I get a chance to grab them off my pen drive and laptop.  I can't believe this looks like it is finally going to happen, all because of this forum.  Before coming here I never considered that I could build a house on my own, never broke down a house into the smaller pieces each manageable.  I feel like I know a secret that most people don't know.  It is going to be a long, tough year next year but the rest of our life will be payment enough.  I am so looking forward to working with my beautiful wife like we did when we first met, she and I have so much fun doing nothing. Love ya mommymem  :-*

PDF below if you are interested

glenn-k

#71
Sounds like you're going to have fun, Daddymem.  Wow - you are so fresh. ::)

Did you ever get information on affordability for the filtration/treatment system?  Thanks for the pdf- I studied up on it a bit.

Daddymem

Not all costs but should be $8-9K plus the conventional system costs (~$5K installed).  Around here you can't install systems yourself so I expect somewhere around $15k will get me in the ground and running.  That includes operations and maintenance for the first three years I think, but may be only the first.  Compared to the costs of other systems I have seen, this is pretty reasonable.  I like that with this Provisional Approval they already get 660 gpd/acre loading-it indicates that there is a measure of trust that this system works well.  I have seen the system up close and it makes sense.  Let's hope it all goes well.

Daddymem

#73
On the January 3rd BOH agenda for my variance.  Meeting the 27th with David for floorplans.
Here we are so far:
18x40? 18x33-4?
1st

Divide-able living room to allow adults in one area whilst the rug rats play in another.
Eat in kitchen that allows the dining to flex for Holiday/Party gatherings.
Slider at bottom of picture out to a small screened in eating area????
Closet is a pantry.
Salvaged clawfoot tub.
Brick is wodstove area.
Farmer's porch off top of picture???
2nd

Washer/dryer on same floor as rooms.
Maybe closets, maybe furniture units instead.
Loft over stairs and bath for kids, one bay for adults?
Adults on bottom of picture, future kids room when addition built.
Kids on top of picture, large enough to split or divide cleverly if we can't get the addition done.
Bath over bath downstairs, takes care of plumbing issue.
If monitor heater in basement, put under baths, vent up and down and through walls, use fans to circulate.  Portable AC could work in same fashion.
Fans in both bedrooms.
Window fan at top of stairs for whole house ventilation.
May reconfigure bath-would love soaker tub like John R's.

Chuck_Surette

I was under the impression - on the 18 foot plan, they were going to the scissor stair?