Help with small home on property

[riptides]

Sigarms,

I commend you for looking out for your parents.

I have two houses on my property. My zoning allows for a "tenant/farm worker/office" building, in addition to the actual house where I reside.
When we purchased the farm, our "tenant" building was first up for a remodel. Our plan was to either use it for our own needs, rental or future parental situations.

Now the plan is to use it for myself, now as a man cave/office building and later as my retirement home. I may rent the farm house out accordingly. Have you thought of a scenario for your future, in this building you are proposing?

Ours is one level, 1000 square feet.

We had another building brought in from an Amish Builder. 400 square feet, on a concrete pad, we utilize it as a pool house. It was a shell only, so I did the insides and what not. It is portable/moveable. That cost was substantially less than a stick build.

 

[Frankenkubota]

The 22.5" rough opening is 24" on center. There is also a 19.2" on center and a 16" on center spacing. I'm surprised at the 25" spacing - I've never encountered that before.

As for doors, I have 3'x 8' doors everywhere (I have 10' ceilings) and the builder charged me something like $2k for 12 doors. However, they all seem to be pressed hardboard with a wood spacer around the edge so I'll be replacing the exterior doors with something more substantial and then figure out what to do with the interior doors.

BTW - if i had it to do over again, I'd use a 42" wide door for the front door. The proportions would look better from the outside on our house and is also a "standard" size.

I did a lot of remodeling over the years and got so sick of rotten everything i decided to avoid wood at all costs. I guess doors come in wood, metal or fiberglass? The wood rots, the metal rusts and dents so I went with the fiberglas$, inside and out. I did go with the middle of the road Anderson windows, 100 series, i guess they are made from wood fiber and resin? or something?

I was going to frame in metal until the quote came back 3x wood! I went with 6 inch exterior walls, 10 ft ceilings and 6 foot soffits to keep everything dry...... and i like the look. Fake stone and Hardi plank siding with hardi soffit and trim. That stuff cost$ real money!

It took me a long time to learn to do it right the first time or....wait, if you can.

 

[buck12]

Big doors are expensive! I'm building right now and have purchased semi hi end brand name exterior and interior doors. I have 10 ft ceilings so i went all with 8 ft door$. Then i figured some day i might be in a wheel chair so i went with 36 in wide door$, everywhere. Not nearly as many options when you get to doors that big.

I spent some serious $ on doors!

Speaking of trusses etc etc. I got a lesson yesterday. went to lowe痴 to buy 2 attic stair/ladder assemblies, 1 for the house, 1 for the garage. They had 6-8 in stock, some wood some aluminum. They were all built for 25 in ruff opening. All 8. So i grabbed 2 of the aluminum ladders, got home and found my trusses have 22.5 in ruff opening.

I'm not blaming lowe's because i didn't do the homework but, seeing everything they had was the same, i sort of figured it was standard. My trusses are on 24 in ctrs. Apparently some zoning allows for wider spacing?

Just another return.

I have been building a cabin and was shocked when I went to buy interior doors. I needed several 32 inch doors. All of the large building supply places said they were special order and the prices were high. Then I found a local building supply place that had a door shop. The prices were much cheaper than Home Depot and Lowe痴 and I had the doors in less than a week. This place also had a cabinet shop and counter top shop. I wound up buying almost everything inside my cabin from them.

 

[Sigarms]

I may rent the farm house out accordingly. Have you thought of a scenario for your future, in this building you are proposing?

Due to multiple variables, we think the house and property should sell, and at worst get back what we paid into it, if not substantially more.

No one knows with 100% certanity what the future holds, but we would like to retire out west (say southern Utah or northern Arizona) down the road. This is the reason why I'm also looking at options for a buyer down the road when we sell the property. Hope that makes sense.

 

[Sigarms]

I did a lot of remodeling over the years and got so sick of rotten everything i decided to avoid wood at all costs. I guess doors come in wood, metal or fiberglass? The wood rots, the metal rusts and dents so I went with the fiberglas$, inside and out. I did go with the middle of the road Anderson windows, 100 series, i guess they are made from wood fiber and resin? or something?

I was going to frame in metal until the quote came back 3x wood! I went with 6 inch exterior walls, 10 ft ceilings and 6 foot soffits to keep everything dry...... and i like the look. Fake stone and Hardi plank siding with hardi soffit and trim. That stuff cost$ real money!

It took me a long time to learn to do it right the first time or....wait, if you can.

This is where I'm an idiot. In my youth I didn't care about how homes were built, I was just having fun while working to support my outdoor habbits.

My wife's grandfather helped me build some things in our current home, and although I'm not an idiot, in hindsight, might have done things differently (although I didn't see it that way in my youth). Give me a hammer and saw, tell me what to do, and I'll do it right the first time, but actually knowing and thinking about the process of actually building something, I'm lost.

My bad.

 

[MossRoad]

Down the basement from the living room, the stairs corner 180 degrees. Don't think a chair would work and I'd have to look, but could look at a elevator, but due to house layout, I'm scratching me head over where it would go and costs.

The chair lifts on stairs can go around 180 degree corners. Landings, angles, etc... they do it all.

 

[MossRoad]

The chair lifts on stairs can go around 180 degree corners. Landings, angles, etc... they do it all.

Also, stair lifts are easily removed and the holes patched when they are no longer needed.

 

[riptides]

Elevators are super expensive. We entertained the idea in our barn. You need more structural support too. And the hole they leave is bigger than a patch job. LOL.

 

[EddieWalker]

...
Speaking of trusses etc etc. I got a lesson yesterday. went to lowe痴 to buy 2 attic stair/ladder assemblies, 1 for the house, 1 for the garage. They had 6-8 in stock, some wood some aluminum. They were all built for 25 in ruff opening. All 8. So i grabbed 2 of the aluminum ladders, got home and found my trusses have 22.5 in ruff opening.

I'm not blaming lowe's because i didn't do the homework but, seeing everything they had was the same, i sort of figured it was standard. My trusses are on 24 in ctrs. Apparently some zoning allows for wider spacing?

Just another return.

Before returning them, I would recheck my measurements. I do not believe there is such a thing as an attic stair that will only fit in a 25 inch opening. Your 24 inch on center trusses are the norm all over the country. Easily 90 percent of every house built has 24 inch on center ceiling rafters. The only other option is 16 inch centers, which I've only seen a couple of times in my life.

 

[MossRoad]

Before returning them, I would recheck my measurements. I do not believe there is such a thing as an attic stair that will only fit in a 25 inch opening. Your 24 inch on center trusses are the norm all over the country. Easily 90 percent of every house built has 24 inch on center ceiling rafters. The only other option is 16 inch centers, which I've only seen a couple of times in my life.

25" is one of the standard size openings that Werner sells.

"While Werner Co. offers a large selection of attic ladders in various lengths and material, they are designed to fit standard rough openings of: 22-1/2“ x 54”, 25” x 54”, 25-1/2” x 64” and 30” x 54.”"

My guess is since everything seems to be out of stock, backordered, etc.... the oddball sizes are all that's left on the shelves at many places.

 

[EddieWalker]

...
However, your idea made make me think of using our attached garage (never pushed that point where we had to think about it). Only about 500 sqaure ft, but it could be a possibility as we do have water out there added you go through the kitchen door to access it (it would be easy to heat or cool which is the one thing I could do myself). Washer and dryer is in a small laundry room right from the access door to the garage from kitchen. ...

I've done quite a few garage conversions, and bid a lot more of them that I never heard back from the home owners. In every case, the biggest issue for them was the sewer lines. Most people don't realize how simple it is to remove concrete and dig a trench for a new drain line. Diamond blades and SDS Max rotary hammer drills have made it very simple, or just renting a saw and jackhammer for bigger jobs. If there is a way to connect to the septic tank, or city sewer, then you can put a bathroom anywhere you want.

If there is a step down to the garage, then it's even easier to build up the floor to the same level as the rest of the house and and run everything under the new floor.

500 square feet is plenty of room for a one bedroom, bathroom living area with a small kitchen.

 

[EddieWalker]

25" is one of the standard size openings that Werner sells.

"While Werner Co. offers a large selection of attic ladders in various lengths and material, they are designed to fit standard rough openings of: 22-1/2“ x 54”, 25” x 54”, 25-1/2” x 64” and 30” x 54.”"

My guess is since everything seems to be out of stock, backordered, etc.... the oddball sizes are all that's left on the shelves at many places.

I stand corrected. I went to https://www.lowes.com/pd/Century-Elite-7-67-ft-to-10-25-ft-Type-IAA-Aluminum-Attic-Ladder/1001276226

and saw this "Designed for rough opening of 25.5-In. wide x 54-In. long"

Which kind of blows my mind since I've never seen this before, and I can't figure out why anybody would build this way.

 

[MossRoad]

I've done quite a few garage conversions, and bid a lot more of them that I never heard back from the home owners. In every case, the biggest issue for them was the sewer lines. Most people don't realize how simple it is to remove concrete and dig a trench for a new drain line. Diamond blades and SDS Max rotary hammer drills have made it very simple, or just renting a saw and jackhammer for bigger jobs. If there is a way to connect to the septic tank, or city sewer, then you can put a bathroom anywhere you want.

If there is a step down to the garage, then it's even easier to build up the floor to the same level as the rest of the house and and run everything under the new floor.

500 square feet is plenty of room for a one bedroom, bathroom living area with a small kitchen.

Heck, our first house was only 720. Two bedrooms with nice sized closets, 1 full bath, eat-in kitchen and a living room. Linen closet in hall between both bedrooms and bathroom. Coat closet in living room over the space over the stairs to the basement. Had there been no stairs, the kitchen could have been 4' deeper, too. You can fit a lot of good space in a small area.

My wife has commented many times that she misses that small house. Had we not had a 2nd child (and not been located in a down-trending neighborhood), we'd have stayed there. It would be a nice sized retirement home if it had a barn/shop out back. :laughing:

 

[MossRoad]

I stand corrected. I went to https://www.lowes.com/pd/Century-Elite-7-67-ft-to-10-25-ft-Type-IAA-Aluminum-Attic-Ladder/1001276226

and saw this "Designed for rough opening of 25.5-In. wide x 54-In. long"

Which kind of blows my mind since I've never seen this before, and I can't figure out why anybody would build this way.

Me neither. That's why I googled attic stair rough opening, recognized Werner's name since we use their ladders quite a bit at my work and home, and saw those sizes. I wonder where those other sizes are used?

 

[buck12]

Heck, our first house was only 720. Two bedrooms with nice sized closets, 1 full bath, eat-in kitchen and a living room. Linen closet in hall between both bedrooms and bathroom. Coat closet in living room over the space over the stairs to the basement. Had there been no stairs, the kitchen could have been 4' deeper, too. You can fit a lot of good space in a small area.

My wife has commented many times that she misses that small house. Had we not had a 2nd child (and not been located in a down-trending neighborhood), we'd have stayed there. It would be a nice sized retirement home if it had a barn/shop out back. :laughing:

Our first house was 900 sq ft before we added on. We still miss that house. After we added on, it was 1600 sq ft. It was a great lay out with no wasted space. If we could have moved that house out of the neighborhood we would have. Our current house is much larger but not acgreat floor plan with lots of wasted space. It is amazing how much difference a good floor plan makes.

Our cabin is 720 sq ft with a 600 sq ft loft. That 720 square ft includes living room kitchen in one room, a laundry closet, 1.5 baths, and two small bedrooms. Again it comes down the floor plan making use of of every inch.

 

[Sigarms]

I've done quite a few garage conversions, and bid a lot more of them that I never heard back from the home owners. In every case, the biggest issue for them was the sewer lines. Most people don't realize how simple it is to remove concrete and dig a trench for a new drain line. Diamond blades and SDS Max rotary hammer drills have made it very simple, or just renting a saw and jackhammer for bigger jobs. If there is a way to connect to the septic tank, or city sewer, then you can put a bathroom anywhere you want.

If there is a step down to the garage, then it's even easier to build up the floor to the same level as the rest of the house and and run everything under the new floor.

500 square feet is plenty of room for a one bedroom, bathroom living area with a small kitchen.

You actually answered my question on sewer lines which did cross my mind, thank you. Thing is, I didn't even think about raising the floor which falls right in line with your line of thinking and makes complete sense.

 

[3Ts]

If you decide to cut/break up concrete slab, check to see what kind of reinforcing (if any) it has. The majority will probably be wire mesh which won't be a problem. Some will have rebar and only be a little more difficult to cut thru. HOWEVER, if it is post tensioned cables that are now being used more in residential construction you'd better find out what will happen before you cut it. The guy that will be doing my driveway has broken out slabs that are post tensioned and said you can feel the whole slab jump when the cable is cut.

The post tension slabs are nice. It does not stop the cracking, but it keeps the cracks together. I have 2 slabs, one with standard rebar, one is post tensioned. The post tensioned has much smaller cracks than the rebar one.

 

[newbury]

Another vote for a stair lift. And if you are buying without medical insurance paying keep your eye out for a used one, they often go for half the new price.
We bought one for my 96? yr old MIL and it's let her continue living in her house (which she desperately wanted to do).
Thread here:https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/406037-94-yr-old-mil-needs.html#post5288222

 

[JethroB]

If you should find a suitable house nearby purchasing and moving it to your property could be an option. I recently had a 20x30 cabin moved across my property for $2500. No damage whatsoever and only took them (professional house movers) 4 hours. Granted it was only a 200 foot move. A new septic was required along with rerouting utilities.

 

[MossRoad]

Thinking about it, this summer I built a 24x24 garage addition on a 5.5" slab for around $8000. Extrapolate that out to a 24 x 30 size would put you around $10,000. 24 x 30 is the same size of our first house.

Granted, this was just walls, roof, 1 service door, 1-7x9 overhead door, shingles, vinyl siding and soffit, and exterior trim.

I'd bet I could do a livable house for $30K in that footprint. None of the interior walls would be load bearing, so they'd be easy to remove in the future for something like a game room with a bathroom and a bar area where the kitchen was.

Lot's of options, that's for sure.