At Home In The Woods

[Duffster]

Everyone,
Thanks very much for the kind words and wishes. I'm still trying to comprehend what just happened. I do know that I am changed forever, I believe for the good.
Obed

That you are sir.

 

[Obed]

Roof work began last week.

 

[Obed]

I had to include a picture of my tractor, right?

 

[Obed]

If you look at the pictures previously posted, you can see the chimney chase. It is partially sheathed with OSB. The wife and framer had a miscommunication about the location of the chimney chase. The house plans showed an unbelievably large chase for the flue pipes for the basement and main floor fireplaces. After discussions with the fireplace guy, the wife shrunk to chase to 4 feet wide for running two flue pipes. However, the framer put the 4 foot chase centered over the main floor fireplace. The chase needs to be offset a little to one side. The basement fireplace is mostly below the main floor but is slightly offset to allow the basement flue to run beside the main floor fireplace. We want the main floor fireplace flue to be straight (no bends). The basement flue can bend a little. The framer said moving the chase over a little will not be too much trouble. He can move the chase without dismantling most of it. He will need to reframe the chase's opening through the attic floor.

 

[dcyrilc]

Timing hasn't always been my strong point. The wife and I have been married 21 years with no kids. It wasn't until 9 months ago that I finally figured out, contrary to what I'd always been told, that having her sit in my lap wasn't going to cause a baby.

Obed

I don't think it was the sitting in your lap. I noticed that a lot of the pictures have trees in the way for seeing the house and I have a theory here... I think you guys have been sneaking off into the woods when we weren't looking. LOL

The house is looking great BTW. Nice to see that the snow is gone.

 

[Obed]

Last night it snowed again. This morning I cleared the culdesac and part of the road at the end of our street. I'm taking off of work for a week while assisting the wife with our new baby. The bottom of our street faces south as it goes up the hill to the top of the ridge. This south facing part of the street melts quicker than the top 1/3 of the street which is shaded from the winter sun. You can see the shadows of the trees in the pictures to get a reference of where south is. I scraped off the snow at the top with the tractor's front end loader. I also cleared off the driveway for our nextdoor neighbor.

 

[Obed]

I'm tired of snow. I had to remove the snow from the attic this afternoon. After having cleared over half the snow off the attic, the framer's son arrived and helped me clear the rest of the attic. I used the 3'X5' piece of OSB again as a giant scraper. This time it was easier because I didn't have to shovel the snow through windows like I had to for the main floor several days ago. I was able to just push a lot of the snow right over the side. However, most of the attic has a 2x6 plate on top of the subfloor at the edges for attaching the rafters. So I had to push the snow over to the garage where the 2x6s had not yet been installed in order to be able to push the snow over the edge.

 

[dcyrilc]

I guess I opened my mouth too soon about the snow.

 

[scoutcub]

I don't think it was the sitting in your lap. I noticed that a lot of the pictures have trees in the way for seeing the house and I have a theory here... I think you guys have been sneaking off into the woods when we weren't looking. LOL

The house is looking great BTW. Nice to see that the snow is gone.

Hmmm....well it is titled "Home in the Woods"....so maybe a point there?
Yes, you're life is changed forever, I've got 2 young girls that will keep me young for many more years...(or so I tell myself)
Thanks for all the great pics/updates, I'm following this with a vested interest as I will be building in the next few years.
Congrats again, and nice work on the house!!

 

[TrafficCopSmith]

Great thread Obed. I love seeing the progress of the build.

 

[Obed]

How We Got Evicted! (Conclusion)

After receiving the eviction notice 3 years ago and visiting the zoning officer we didn't hear anything again from the zoning office for quite some time. Once my job solidified, we started looking at our property options. We decided to not build on our 61 acres on the plateau but buy a house with acreage nearer to Knoxville. We had trouble finding a place with a house we liked so in the spring of 2008 we bought the 30 acre tract on which we are currently building our house. In the fall of 2008, we started clearing trees for the road, house, and garden. In the summer of 2009 we found out the wife was pregnant so the wife changed the house plans. In late summer of 2009 we finished the house plans and started shopping for contractors.

In Sept. of 2009 we got a certified letter from the Knox County zoning office. This letter was similar to the first letter we had received 3 years earlier. It told us that we could not reside in the camper. This time we did nothing, buried our heads in the sand and hoped the problem would disappear. Within a month we got another certified letter from the zoning office. This letter gave us one week to move or we would be fined $200 per day. That got our attention so the wife went to see the zoning offer to see if we could get a little more time to move. The zoning officer extended the moving deadling until Jan. 1.

When the wife asked who complained, the zoning office replied that they got an anonymous call. Since Suspect #3, Paul, had sold his house, he probably did not make the second complaint. It is quite possible that he made the first complaint but did not complain again because his house had sold. Since it took 3 years to receive the second complaint, I'm guessing that the 2 complaints were made by different people. There are 2 houses near us that are currently up for sell and there is one new house nearby. Based on the timing, my greatest suspicion is that the owners of one of these 3 houses complained. We may never know.

So now we had to do something. Based on the delays in getting the house plans finished, there would be no way to pick a builder and get the roof on the house before the winter wet season started. I had said that I would not build in the winter and had told the wife we would wait until after winter to start building if the house plans did not get finished early enough.

Unfortunately, our hand was forced. Although we would be building our house in a different county, that county also banned people's living in RVs. They officially won't even let you live in an RV on your property while you are building your house. In order to get electricity turned on we needed a building permit. So we went ahead and started the house building project knowing we would have to fight winter weather.

We moved our camper onto the property in Dec. 2009, 3 weeks before the Knox county eviction deadline. We are now living on our property in the camper "incognito". We purposely moved the camper onto the property in after the house foundation inspection was competed. The county's inspection office is the same group that does the zoning so we wanted to delay having the inspector see the camper on the property as long as possible. The next required inspection is the framing inspection. We are just hoping that the inspector will not say anything about the camper and will "turn his head the other way" since we are obviously building and will not permanently reside in the camper. I spoke to a person who lives nearby whose house caught fire. He is living in a camper at his house while the house is being rebuilt. I would have to believe the inspectors know about his camper and have just ignored it.

Another significant reason that we want to live in the camper while building is theft. Our house is back in the woods out of sight of any other house. I have no doubt that if we were not living here that scoundrels would carry off anything that could be carried away. I have a friend who built his house 3 years ago. After his plumbing was installed, someone stole all his copper. His house is in a neighborhood in plain view of other occupied houses. If the county were to tell us we couldn't live in the camper, we would be put in a very tough spot. I believe a person has the right to protect their property and really hope the county does not attempt to prevent us from that right.

 

[ruralruss]

Obed,

If the inspector says anything about the camper tell him it is being used as a construction office. Since you are the GC that is true.

Russ

 

[GT2]

Obed,

If the inspector says anything about the camper tell him it is being used as a construction office. Since you are the GC that is true.

Russ

I had a similar situation. When I built my new garage I needed a place to store all my tools and stuff from the old garage. I bought two of those Costco fabric " car garages" and filled them up.
Well.. on first inspection the inspector says they are against code. I told him they were " job shacks" ( he dident look inside ). He said just make sure their gone before final inspection, I said "done".

 

[brin]

ruralruss is right...Obed ..you should take preemptive action and put a sign on the camper before the inspector comes out....." CONSTRUCTION OFFICE " He probably would just look at the sign and say nothing and if not at least the sign gives credence to your claim it is an office..

 

[Diamondpilot]

Obed,

If the inspector says anything about the camper tell him it is being used as a construction office. Since you are the GC that is true.

Russ

I was thinking the same thing as I was reading. If he ask where you are living give him a family members address. By the time they figure it out you will be in the house.

Chris

 

[jda1961]

While we were living in Charlotte in 2005, we bought 61 rural acres on the Cumberland Plateau located 1 1/2 hour west of Knoxville, TN. The property is very scenic with a mature forest, bluffs, waterfall, creek, and river. When I was hired in 2006 in Knoxville for a permanent position (not contract), I was able to work out a deal with my employer to work 2 days a week from home. With this schedule, we intended to build on our rural property, and I would commute to Knoxville 3 days a week. However, having family in Knoxville, my wife really wanted to live closer to Knoxville. Thus, we now have 61 acres for sale. Unfortunately, the real estate market is not real strong right now. Some pictures of the property are shown below.

thats prime bigfoot country. keep your eyes peeled.

 

[CurlyDave]

A sign isn't going to fool anyone.

My experience has been that inspectors will ignore a lot of stuff if you are good to them.

Your storage trailer is probably OK because you aren't living in it, and the real reason they county doesn't want people living in campers is the sewage issue. Since your septic is already in he will probably let it go, especially if there haven't been any complaints.

If push comes to shove, consider putting the camper up on blocks and taking the tires & wheels off. Depending on your local regulations, this may transmogrify it into a "manufactured home".

You probably won't be allowed to keep it on your property as a manufactured home after you have the house complete, but then you can put the wheels back on and it becomes a camper again, which you are surely allowed to store on your acreage.

 

[Obed]

Yes, I have considered putting up a "Construction Office" sign. On the other hand, I agree with CurlyDave that the sign won't fool anyone. Our fate is really under the good (or bad) graces of the inspector.

Obed

 

[LQPAPPY]

Would think under the law you have a legal right to face your accuser or at least a name and can't imagine they could evict from an anonymous call.

 

[dave1949]

An inspector would have to be a total b-head if he mentioned you living in a camper while inspecting your new house. He can see what your intentions are, your progress and that the issue is self-resolving.

If push comes to shove, I'd use the baby for sympathy points. Kids need to start earning their own way sometime.

Hope Mom and the baby are doing well.
Dave.