our S.E. TX story and a half

[CjAl]

I have been reading everything for a few weeks. I wasnt going to start this thread for awhile but i figure i can always get responses to my ideas.

My wife and i currently have 13 wooded acres with a double wide in the lakes area of se tx. After a few properties with acerage we have decided we dont want to deal with so much land and pay taxes on it so we bought two lots in the ivanhoe lakes community a few months ago. Its 2/3 of an acre, mostly cleared. Has a water tap already at the street and a power pole with transformer right on the street.
 im giving up some freedom by moving into there. Right now we have no building codes where we are. Ivanhoe doesnt really have codes but they do nickle and dime you to death with $10 permits (every car, a fence permit, out building permit, etc etc. ) i was talking to the inspector and he assured me he will want to see the foundation then i probably wont see him untill he inspects the plumbing and electric. Hes easy going and a nice guy.
 we had our septic test done and was told we have perfect septic conditions. I can use a conventional septic with 180' of drain line if i remember right. I have a guy ready to put it in for $2300.
 i drew up a house plan that ironicly turned out to be almost identical to the story and a half 20x30. Mine was 32 though. Im buying the plans for reference though. I had planned on three girders and see these plans call for twp so its already saved me the $100 the plans cost. Also i had planned to frame the loft as another deck on top of the walls but now i am considering balloon framing. I may raise the walls to 12' and go with a 6/12 pitch roof though. I plan on doing this all myself and i hate heights. Not real excited to do metal roofing on a 12/12 pitch. Also im restricted to 1000sq ft minimum so the loft will probably be extended to 20'. At least when i send the plans for approval, wether or not it end up that way is a different story.
 my soil is all sand. I was planning to use the bigfoot systems bf24 8' apart along the two beams. One in the middle.on.each end wall and one dead center. (im considering a central support log and possibly a ridge beam for the cathederal cieling) those forms are $26 ea. I just had a business deal go south that was funding the septic and foundation. So now im considering wood post foundation. Thinking i might use 4x6 pt posts attached to a 16" square foot with four triangle braces. Then i might spray them with rubberized coating. We have no frost line, rarely gets below freezing for more then an hour or two. But we do have termites. Which is why i was considering concrete piers originally. But our uncles log house, hunting cabin and two other houses are all on wood post foundations.

So last week we went out and cleared a few trees that were in our way of where we want to start building. Four days later i can move again and i realized how long i have been out.of construction and had my fat butt in a seat driving truck.

[CjAl]

The land the day we bought it





after a little clean up.




this oak runs between 16 and 24". I cut it into 18' sections hoping i can get it milled into some ridge beams. If not then it will make nice flooring.



unfortunatly i have more then my share of trees that look like this

[CjAl]

This is my rough back of napkin sketch. Or back of insurance bill as case may be. It is to scale tho. Lol just not complete

[duncanshannon]

 

congrats on starting your build!  looking forward to watching you build.

nicely done on a good posting to photo ratio so far!   

[CjAl]

Thanks, im eager to get started. Plans are in the mail. Just have to tweek them a bit. 

I found an old motorhome i can pick up cheap so im thinking i might just buy it, move out there and put the for sale sign on my house.

[dablack]

Looking forward to the rest of your build.  We are in E. Texas as well (Lufkin) and our old Houston house just sold Friday.  Over the next week I will be checking our credit and start looking for a land loan.  Then we will buy the 2 story universal plan and get to work. 

Where in East Texas are you?

[CjAl]

My house now is north of woodville. The new property is south of woodville.

I'll sell you 13 wooded acres.with a spring fed pond and a double wide for $71k lol. There is enough timer on it to build 10 cabins

[ajbremer]

Hi CjAl,

I thank you for posting your build here and I'm sure your excited about the project.

I did what your thinking, I bought a motor home, put it on my land and then started to build using countryplans 20x30 1 1/2 story plans. Very many learning experiences trying to figure out all the different systems of the 1985 Fleetwood Pace Arrow motor home we bought for $3,200.

It looks like I'll be spending the first part of the cold weather here in this motor home, oh well, their pretty cozy though. I can walk out of the motor home and take 10 steps and be at my build.

All the best to you sir, thank you.

[CjAl]

We dont have much of a winter here fortunatly. Im actually wishing winter would hurry up.so.i can start building. Im from wi originally and its too hot in tue summer to do much of anything. Winter here is like fall in wi. The build will be slow as money is very tight but i need to get it going as i dont know how much longer we will be able to live where we are.

I wanted to get out to the property yesterday but i ended up having to work on my old suburban. I got rid of my 2010 dodge two months ago to free up more money for the cabin. The payment was HUGE, more then my mortgage. But so far ive spent just as much getting the suburban running. It had been parked for two years. Yesterday i put a new grill and.lights on it and painted it all. The old lights were so bad the truck was undrivable at night. Its has 210k on it, i paid a grand for it and drove it two years. Ive replaced all the brakes, the exhaust and the grill and its the first money i have spent on it so i cant complain.

There is now more paint on the front end then the rest of the truck. Lol it suffers from early 90's gm.paint delamination. Since we like pics so much.

[dablack]

CjAl,

Thanks for the offer on the land but that would be too long of a comute for me.  HA!  I'm trying to keep it to 30 minutes or less.  I think I could make it in from Zavalla in 30 minutes but not Woodville.  I'm pretty sure that would take an hour.

[CjAl]

It was only a half serious offer. My address is actually colmesneil. I say woodville because.whos ever hear of colmesneil.lol woodville isnt much better. Its 45 minutes to lufkin in my semi truck. I run port arthur to tulsa twice a week.

[dablack]

I could tell you were joking but we are looking for land right now.  45 minutes isn't too bad.  I went to college in Beaumont and still have family in Port Neches.  Right now I'm looking toward Nacognoches.

[CjAl]

Mabey someone can help me with this.

Im considering stretching the walls to 12foot and using an 8/12 pitch. I dont like heights and my fat butt could get alot of speed going sliding down a 12/12.

Would i.need to change anything to strengthen the walls to make them that tall? The floor joist for the loft will be.as low as i can make them without bouncing my head off a ceiling fan, probably 7'6".

Im already planing to run a set of posts and beam.down the middle so.i can go down to 2x10 joists. And there will be a load bearing wall over that beam so i can go probably 2x8 on the loft floor joists. SO i might run a ridge beam but if i can get away without it i would like too, it would save me a rental fee on a hi lift

[Bob S.]

I think this has been discussed on this forum before. If I remember right if you go with 12' walls and you use a ridge board you have to go with a full loft over the intire house,  you can not have a open cathedral ceiling over the living area. If you wan't the cathedral ceiling then you must use a ridge beam or engineered trusses.

[CjAl]

A full length loft would be a second story. Lol i dont see how it would make a difference as long as you had the collar ties every four foot over the open area. Its a not a full cathederal i know but its close enough.

I have a 1000sq ft minimum so my loft will end up being very large already. Im looking at 640sq ft on the lower level so i need at least 18' of loft. I will probably end up at 20' with a section cut out for the stairs. That would leave two collar ties over the open area.

But if you can point me to a link that says otherwise i wohld appreciate it. I havent seen anything discussed about 12' , 2x6 walls.

I could also build the loft side walls platform style instean of baloon framing if it would help. That was my origional intention untill.i found this site which kind of sold me on baloon framing. Seems to me though the baloon framing would actually be better for the taller wall.

[Bob S.]

I think the collar ties work with 10' walls but not with 12' walls. Maybe Mt. Don or Peg can give you more info.

[MountainDon]

The maximum laterally unsupported wall height under IRC is ten feet. Taller than that requires an engineer.    IRC Table R602.3(5)

Note: Collar ties are not rafter ties. Sometimes there is confusion between the two. Their jobs are different and not interchangeable.

Collar ties are placed in the upper third of the rafters. No lower than 1/3 down. Their job is to keep the roof peak tied together in high winds. Steel straps over the peak and nailed to the rafters can be substituted.

Rafter ties are placed in the lower third of the rafter. rafter ties frequently do double duty as ceiling joists. For that they are usually placed on top of the wall studs. Rafters and rafter ties must be well nailed (charts in the IRC) and there should be a solid (hurricane tie) connection to the supporting wall framing. There is no substitute for a rafter tie in a standard rafter roof. Dropped loft floor joists / ceiling joists do not qualify as a rafter tie. Note that as rafter ties move up to the maximum 1/3 height the rafters will have to be resized upwards. (charts in the IRC footnotes; always read the footnotes.)

[MountainDon]

[CjAl]

Note: Collar ties are not rafter ties. Sometimes there is confusion between the two. Their jobs are different and not interchangeable.

Collar ties are placed in the upper third of the rafters. No lower than 1/3 down. Their job is to keep the roof peak tied together in high winds. Steel straps over the peak and nailed to the rafters can be substituted.

i realized i said the wrong term after i wrote it but i wasnt near my tablet to fix it. I did.mean rafter ties.




Btw i got my plans today.

[MountainDon]

Okay, great!    I just don't like to let the wrongs terms slip by becuase it can cause great confusion.

[CjAl]

The story and a half plans use the loft floor joists as rafter ties. You just said you cant do that? Care to clarify?

Or are you talking about platform framing?

[nysono]

I have 1/2 loft, 12 ft walls, balloon framed but engineered scissor trusses.

[CjAl]

Could someone point me to a chart or something that can help me figure out what size.ridge beam i will need for a 20x34 with a central support.

[CjAl]

I had found a 31' 1985 winebego that was described as having electrical problems for $1500. The problems consisted of the generator not trying to start remotely or crossover. Both of which im capable of fixing. i just called him back.and he sold it an hour ago. Im not happy today.

[ajbremer]

What a great deal that would have been!

I bought my 30' 1985 Fleetwood PaceArrow for $3,200 just some months ago and I thought that was a great deal. I redid the carb on its 454 and it turned out real nice. Its got a few small leaks at the roof but other than that, all systems go.