14 X 24 Builder's Cottage in upstate South Carolina

Started by roadtripray, January 02, 2013, 11:59:58 AM

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CjAl

Sounds like a box of matches would have saved you a ton of headache

love2teach7

Hi there,

I'm looking into building a builder's cabin but want to make sure of a few things before I buy the plans since I'm not very handy... yet. Just wondering the height of your loft both in the center and at the edges? I want to know if I will be able to fit a dresser against one wall as well as have a queen/double bed up there too. Please get back to me... hope you're moving along well!

Dawn


roadtripray

Hi Dawn,

Sorry for the late response, but I've been dealing with a handful -- really two handfuls -- of issues not related to building a new home, so that had to be sidelined.

You have to determine your roof pitch.  If you have a 12/12 pitch (12 feet of rise in 12 feet of run) the math is super easy.  In my jurisdiction I am limited to 10' sidewalls.  so if I "cheat" and have my 2nd floor at about 7'6" above the bottom floor, that gives me 2'6" of space in addition to whatever I get under the slope of the roof.  Since the BC is 14' wide, the midpoint is at 7' from the side, and would be 7' above the top of the wall.  so at the very center you're looking at 9'6" (plus the top plate and minus the drywall for the ceiling, etc.)  If I recall correctly the square footage of a room is determined to be the heated space with at least 5' of head room.  Since the side wall gives me the first 2'6", I just need to move away from the side wall of the house 2'6" more to get a total of 5' of headroom.  SO that means a total of 5' of the width (2'6" on each side) is under 5' tall.  14' wide - 5' = 9' of the width in the loft would have at least 5' of headroom.

I'm actually thinking about changing my plans and building an "L" shape similar to Victoria's cottage, but I'm thinking about using the Builder's Cottage as the size of the bedroom wing, if you can picture that.  I've already bought the whole enchilada plans kit that includes the builder's cottage. 

I just got the job offer that I've been waiting for today, but I don't believe in counting my chickens before they hatch.  If everything goes well and I get the offer letter, I am tentatively going to start work July 29th.  At that time I'm going to hire somebody to come in and grade and dig footers, so hopefully I'll be getting started soon.  Better late than never!

Peace,
Ray

roadtripray

Let the demolition begin -- er -- resume! ;D

I met with a contractor with heavy equipment today and he's going to tear down the existing homes that I haven't been able to do by hand and we're going to burn what we can and dispose of the rest.  So I'll have my demolition done by the end of August and will have my demo inspected by the county by Labor Day hopefully.  If I get this done I'll be ready to dig footers sometime in mid September to mid October hopefully!

I guess this means I better hurry up and get my plans finalized! ???  It looks like my stalled project may get going after all.  Amazing what full employment can do for speeding up a project.  But when I had time I was able to get a lot of lot cleanup done that really needed to be done by hand, and I was able to get the well working, get plumbing to both septic tanks on the lot, etc, so it wasn't a total stall.  I even managed to plant sweet 'taters and added to my flock (I now have 3 roosters, 5 hens, and a kitten).

Peace,
Ray