hello from new member

[tesa]

howdy from beautiful grimes county texas!

hoping you wont mind a newbie with limited building experience but willing to listen, and learn

i've poured over all the archived posts, and have already taken pages of notes.

recently the proud owner of 1/2 an acre in grimes county texas, home of the texas reanissance festival, and no building permit
department!

i'll throw the first pitch by giving a wee description of my current project

i'd like to build a carport type structure to house my RV. i'll be harvesting the rainwater off the roof, so its a must prior to
re-locating

payed cash for the land, and the sooner i can actually live out there, the sooner i can pocket the rent money and stock up
for building expenses

we also plan to stay off-grid, since we're well over 500' away from any power pole, and the local power company said
plan on at least 5K-8K for power, i'm sure i can get a tiny solar system for the RV for that, since the RV already has a battery,
and an inverter (yea!) and we were given (yes that's right, given) several deep cell batteries, and have already budgeted for
a generator for temp power 'till we can afford the PV system

i've already got the guttering system and cistern plan, but not purchased yet and have picked out a wee solar pump for the water too

my problem is i can't find any hard core information about building the darn "carport"

most of the plans on the net aren't my exact size 15' x 30', and all the books i've checked out of the library don't
offer anything that big either

since the county i'm in doesn't have a permit dept. they are no help either

i've been advised to use 4x6's for the posts placed 6' o.c. and told i could use 2x10's for the roof, but i'm not sure
the fellow at home depot really knew, and i'd hate to build something that would fall over with the first texas storm

any help is greatly appreciated, and i thank you in advance for your input

tesa

[Redoverfarm]

Tesa  here.  It sounds like to me that all you actually need is a "pole barn" ,  With no wider than your span 2"X 6" or 2" X 8" should work fine for the rafters.  With a 8' span on the walls you should get by with 6'X6" for the support post.   A shed design would work better for rain collecting as it would all shed off one side but a gable roof could work as well with a connection from one side of the roof to the other with the downspout whether on one end or underground.  I would try to use a steel roof rather than asphalt for collecting water especially to drink.   The power seems a little high.  Is that a "undergroound rate quote".   Here they will run it one span free from their current pole location which is about 400-450ft.  That is unless the owner of the other property has to have it put in and there was an agreement that if anyone hooked onto his power that he would get a refund.  If it is underground then consider above ground to the last 100 feet then drop it to your structure. 

[muldoon]

howdy tesa, were almost neighbors.   I live in Houston, about 30 miles south of you depending on where in grimes your at.  My sister lived in Magnolia, and I have frequented the big plantersville celebration for most of my adult life every fall. 

For the structure, you probably should consider looking for pole barn plans instead of car port plans.  Then decide later if you want to add walls around the thing and enclose it.  You should be able to find good details on building a simple structure thats sturdy enough for our weather.   That being said, 15' x 30' is an oddsize, you might find more with even number increments.  ie searching for something like a 16' by 30'. 

Good luck, post some pictures when you can. 

There are quite a few few solar users on the board, maybe they'll chime in and offer some advice on simple setups. 

[tesa]

regarding power price quote:

well, they said we'd have to buy the transformer, and the pole, since we're so far, my notes are old, my original call was
several months ago, maby even 6 months old, so maby i should call again, but, if i'm gonna jump, i'd like to go ahead and
jump off grid, i didn't see the point in paying for power, then once we get the house build, go off grid, so i figured i'd
just do it.  hehe

pole barn, hum, i'll have to search that

i know my 15' width is odd, i guess an even number would be better for the lumber, but i thought i had heard/read someplace
that lumber up to 16' was basically stock at most places, but you know, i've never been to a real lumber yard, i bet thay
have all kinds of things i haven't seen yet, maby that will be my next field trip

see, you kind souls have already helped

and i will get some pictures up as soon as i can, we've only just started to clear the land, but do have the spot
for the RV cleared, just waiting on a culvert, which should go in within the next few weeks or so

after the budget recovers from the holidays

tesa

[Redoverfarm]

Tesa  I would say off the top of my head the longest demensionsl lumber you would meed would be 16'  with the exception of the poles which would be what ever you needed to get it high enough to drive or pull under.  Even a 16' wide 10/12 pitch uses less than a 12' rafter on each side.  A shed in that demension is more.  Majority of the material will be segmented together to attain your demensions.  Good Luck

Heres a few.  Might look at Univ/Tenn as they have several ag barn plans

http://www.abcopolebarns.com/1.html

http://www.coolhouseplans.com/housestyle.html?Specified=PlanType+%3D+%27Barn%27&Special=PlanType2+Like+%27%25pole%25%27&Title=COOL+Pole+Barn+Plans%21%21&ordercode=&SponsorID=&S

http://bioengr.ag.utk.edu/Extension/ExtPubs/PlanList97.htm#Machinery%20and%20Supply%20Storage%20PlansearchURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coolhouseplans.com%2Fhousestyle.html

http://easiplans.com/

[phalynx]

Howdy Tesa, We probably used to be neighbors.  We moved from Austin county to Lee county.  What power company are you dealing with there?  that 5-8K sounds EXTREMELY off.....  If you are using dealing with Bluebonnet, 500 feet will cost about 2400....  If dealing with Reliant (HL&P) they have their own line crews and the 1st 3 poles are free..  I would be interested in that.  You might have just been given really bad info from them. 

On the homestead, a pole barn is a simple choice...  Very easy.

[glenn kangiser]

The pole barn with treated buried poles will save a lot of work because if you stick frame it you are going to have to build a foundation and wind bracing will be a problem in a narrow building unless you make it wider.  With the pole barn you won't even need a concrete floor unless you want one.

to the forum.

[glenn kangiser]

A place I have bought solar from has kits and good service.

http://www.partsonsale.com/campers2.html

linked on this thread... http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=4740.0

[ScottA]

 

[tesa]

thanks so much for all your links, i'll be doing some net surfing today, and hopefully i'll find some stock plans that will
meet my needs

also on the list of things to do today is call the power co. again

i think it was some local co-op, i'll have to dig out my notes again

i do remember them sayin' i'd have to pay 200 for the engineer to come out and give me an estimate, and that was
non refundable if we dicided not to go with grid power

i remember them also sayin' i could pay 1/2 in cash, then they would finance the rest for 12 months with no interest

but its worth another call to clarify those charges, as i know i can't run power tools on the PV system, so it might save
the cost of the generator if we were grid tied

geeezzzz, the decissions begin

tesa

[harry51]

Welcome, Tesa!  It might be a good idea to make a scale drawing of the carport/pole barn with the RV outlined inside, showing how the building would look with the RV under it looking from the side and from the end.

If your RV is 8' wide, a 15' wide roof will overhang 3'6" on each side, if the RV is exactly centered underneath. Because the roof will likely have to be quite tall, it may be that a bit wider would offer a lot more protection from wind-driven rain and sun coming from the sides.

However, a narrow, tall building can also be weatherproofed with siding on the weather side, which doesn't even have to come all the way to the ground to make a big difference. If rain/snow isn't a problem, maybe some sunshade material would be sufficient to keep the RV from turning into an oven in the summer.

[glenn kangiser]

Depends on the solar system and how much you want to put in to it on what you can run, Tesa.

Texas has lots of sun.  I run everything a normal house would run and more I think - even a welder.

I'd recommend that for long term use you plan to go with a 24 volt system and sine wave inverter rather than wasting money on a 12 volt system if you go solar.  Then you can run power tools.  A generator will still be necessary for no sun days. 

Solar does not work out cheaper that reasonably priced grid and you will be committed to taking care of it the rest of the time you have it - you will be your own power company and you will be full staff unless you pay someone outrageous amounts to maintain it.

[tesa]

well, i've spent 1/2 the day searching for stock barn plans that meet my needs, have sent an inquiry to a place in dallas to see if
they can design me something, we'll see

still waiting on the synergy power co-op to call me back, to confirm my original quote

patience is a virtue i do not possess  LOL

tesa

[phalynx]

For electricity, the quote should work out to something like 1200 per pole.  Each pole spanning a max of 350'.  If you were 500', you'd need 2 poles to get back to 350'.  Ask them to stretch it to 375.  That would put you 125 feet from your home which you can run on low voltage line (post transformer up to 200').  You really should only have to spend 3K max with meter loop..  I'd be on them if they try any more than that.

Also, ask about a discount if you are building a home.  Our co-op gives us a 1200.00 credit if you are building a home.  Don't say barn, say home.   

[n74tg]

Welcome Tesa, you will find a lot of good people here; knowledgable too.

I used to live in Houston myself (oil industry) and made it to Renaissance Festival several times in the 80's and 90's.  Do they still have the pub where they sing "adult" bar songs from the past.  We spent a lot of time in there (and quite a few bucks too).

Good luck on your project.

[tesa]

yes, the sea devil tavern, great place to have a laugh, and drop a few greenbacks

my beautiful blond 16 year old daughter is NOT allowed anywhere near that place, especially late in the day, when
the folks are drunker

we camp every year, along with about 12 of our friends, we usually camp all weekend, but only go into faire on saturday

we spend sunday in recovery

over the years, its gotten more expensive, but still fun

our property is almost directly across the hwy from them, and the month of october can be ugly but we've discovered a "back road"
that gets us into magnolia without dealing with 8 miles of drunks

tesa