Starting New House! Finally!

[UpstateSC_Papi]

After a couple of years of "I like this plan", "Wait, this one is better" we are getting going!

I have visited this site many, many times - posting a few times and thought I would try to share our progress as others before me have (and are currently doing).

We are contracting it ourselves and I'll be quite honest, I do not know a lot of the lingo but am fortunate that friends of ours just built this exact house last year and we are piggy-backing quite a few of their subs!

I know there are other "details" I need to share (house size, lot size, house specs, etc) and I will but no time right now.

So... without further ado, some pics. Taken yesterday as we had our footings inspected (PASSED!) and had them poured as well. Should start foundation (block) on Friday.

Thanks for looking!

 

[Bird]

We'll hope all goes according to plan. It's some pretty country anyway.

 

[MrJimi]

Looking real good, we did the same thing in 1999, nothing like digging a big hole and pour all that money in it
Jim

 

[KennethBrown]

We are just about finished with ours. I would say that your on the right track. We did what you are doing, bought a set of plans from a man since we seen them build it. We required his materials list and the names/numbers of his subs too. We used his main sub who in turn allowed us to use his subs. You'll be able to look at your friends house and see what you'd like differently and what they'd like differently too. Its great to be able to do that but even then I still wish I'da changed a few more things. Good luck.

 

[UpstateSC_Papi]

You'll be able to look at your friends house and see what you'd like differently and what they'd like differently too.

We did just that! Tho' we didn't change much. We extended the overall length 2 ft to make the Master Bath a bit wider (well 2 ft wider), changed the garage from a 1 door to a 2 door so that meant widening that 2 ft. There is a 10 ft deep porch off the living room and we wanted a slightly bigger living room so we moved the wall out 4 feet leaving a 6 ft porch. Plan on building a deck off the porch anyway so it'll be good enuff to keep a few chairs covered.

Just a little more info -

We've got about 6 acres with 2 of those in front of the house wooded. Plan is to do some small gardening, some fruit trees on part of the remaining with the rest probably remaining "natural" except for directly around the house.

House itself is what I would call a ranch style. 4 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, kitchen, breakfast area, formal dining, living room, laundry room on the main floor. Upstairs are 3 large rooms which we were able to open up by stick building and making some truss changes from the original plan (our friend did this and this is what drove us to this plan). The room over the main part of the house is 32' X 50+'. We have a 2 year old and an 8 year old so that is their room! The other 2 rooms will become the office/computer room and a craft room for the lady of the house. As seen in the pics they'll be a small basement on the left side of the house. This is directly under the 3 bedrooms on that end. No access from the house, just from the outside. Gonna use it more for a garden room (washing veggies/fruit, potting some plants) and hopefully a work shop for me as I currently don't have a "hobby" but have some things I'd like to make if I had the space to do it. We are also building a detached 2 car garage off the right side of the house, away and back from the attached garage so all can be easily accessed. Tractor, truck, wave runner will reside in that garage.

Speaking of the tractor, this is the first I have owned and I am so glad I have it! From mowing the "field" to running the box blade over the 600+ ft trench we dug for the water line to cover up the pipe, to spraying the entire lot, to lifting downed trees and moving to "to burn" pile, to digging 53 holes for the Thuja Green Giants we planted, etc, etc... EXCELLENT!

Aight - that's all the time I have for now. Thanks again to all for reading and commenting! If you see anything or can suggest anything, please do not hesitate as we are learning as we go!

 

[EddieWalker]

Looking forward to following along on your progress. It's always fun to see a house come together and get ideas from what you're doing.

Hiring the contractor that built your friends house was a smart move. It's going to be allot easier and faster for him the second time, which should give you a better house for less money!!!!

Thanks for the pics,
Eddie

 

[tony123]

Hey Neighbor! Looks great. I know you're having fun with that tractor.

I'll be following along with interest.

tony

 

[UpstateSC_Papi]

Travelers Rest! Sweet! Haven't been over that way since Seneca and TR played football some years back!

Keep hanging out here, I might have to ask you to come over and show me how to use the tractor properly! Still learning!

 

[KennethBrown]

You didn't say where the master BR was so lets say it might be upstairs. If thats the case try to make sure that you have a room downstairs that can be converted to a bedroom in the future. I'm 33 and the wife is 32, we have a 12 yo, a 5 yo, and one due next spring. All of our bedrooms are upstairs. We had what was supposed to be a formal dining room downstairs but I added a fairly big closet/pantry and called it my office. It is open to the rest of the house (no wall or door) so privacy is not really available. The main thought in doing this though is in the future we can put in a Murphy bed if we can't go up the stairs. By that time the kids will be gone (I hope at least ) so it'll be ok not to have privacy. We have a 1/2 bath downstairs and an area right next to it in the laundry room for a corner shower. It wouldn't be ideal to live in these arrangements but it would be better than the couch and a sponge bath.
Research home run wiring. All of my wiring runs back to a central point. Each room has its on line for phone (several jacks in each room) and cable (coax) that doesn't connect together until the service comes in the house. While your at it add more plugs than you need. One thing I didn't do is put any in my closets and I wish I would have. It would have been a great place to charge cell phones, cordless drill, etc. Look into 3 way switches for all over. I have a porch around my entire house with recessed lights. I can control them at either front or back door. I have a detatched garage and carport 48X24 overall with each being 24X24. Its about 50-75 feet inbetween the house and the carport. So the wife would actually turn off the lights and not have to walk in the dark either I wired the two together. I have a wall mount outside my back door and flourescent ubes under the carport controlled by 3ways. She pulls into the carport at night stopping halfway to roll down the window and flip the switch. This turns on the carport and back porch light. When she gets inside the house flips the switch and they all go off. Lots of fun stuff you can do with wiring if you study.
Research PEX plumbing and a manifold system. I absolutely love it. It works out quite a bit cheaper than copper and is simple to run. I can be in the shower, the wife flushes the toilet, and then she uses the sink and the water pressure never drops. One of the best things I done.
I used two seperate systems for HVAC. I have had my stem quit in the old house a couple of times and its rough in Texas without A/C. With two units if one quits I still have a cool area to go to in the house. It was $200 more than a split type system and worth it in my opinion.

I hope I haven't offended and feel free to PM with any questions you may have. Sites such as this made my job ten times easier.

 

[tony123]

hahaha you have me confused with somone that knows how to use a tractor. I'm about as green as they come. Just got my first tractor not a month ago.

I'd be glad to come over and help mess things up though.

 

[UpstateSC_Papi]

tony123

HAHAHA! I've got 50 hours or so on mine and have learned a lot but I know I have so much more to learn!

KennethBrown

Offend? Me?!??! No way!! I've seen enought of your posts while cruising here to know you have some great insight and I appreciate the comments!

Bedrooms - All of ours are on the main floor. We did that purposely as we are somewhat older than you (42 and wife 46). We've put some distance between us and the kids with their rooms on the other end of the house. (I've attached a VERY ROUGH sketch I did just now as I don't have a set of plans here to copy). We are going to rough plumb the room above the detached garage in case family or kids as they get older need an "apartment".

Wiring - Great comments. We actually have thought of "more" outlets including the closets, but the way you have your outside switches setup is something we had not thought of! Our detached garage is in the 30-40 ft range from the house so that is a great idea! Thanks for that!

Plumbing - We are using PEX! Our plumber recommended it and we liked what he had to say about it!

What is a manifold system?!?!

HVAC - We are going with a split system as well. Bigger unit for the main level and then something smaller for the upstairs.

Drove by the land this morning and there were block everywhere! And sand! And mortar! Hopefully start that today!

Thanks for all the comments!! Hope to hear more and I'll share as we go!!

Michael

 

[WBWI]

Congrats on starting the new house. My wife and I have been in our dream home since mid July. We enjoyed the entire building process and would do it again if we had to (we certainly don't plan on it...LOL). like you I have the whole building process captured on an online site so it can be easily shared with friends and family.

Our 5.25 acre lot and 700 foot drive got me thinking of a tractor and led me to this site.

 

[UpstateSC_Papi]

Our 5.25 acre lot and 700 foot drive got me thinking of a tractor and led me to this site.

Thanks WBWI! And it is so funny you mention this as we have about 5.8 acres and a 600+ foot drive which led me to this site in search of a tractor as well! Too funny!

Congrats to you and your wife on your home!! Did you post some pics/links here before? If so, could you share them again?

Thanks!!

Michael

Oh - we don't plan on doing it again either!

 

[tony123]

WOW! Some real common threads here.

We moved into our house in mid June. We're on 3 acres with 600' of gravel drive. That's what got me started thinking of tractors. When our first few rainfalls filled all our new ditches with fresh red clay, I knew I needed something more than a mower. Since getting the tractor, I've been able to re-establish all of our swales (and even improve upon what the builder did). Pulled a disc plow to break up everything and seed for fescue. Cleared out about a quarter acre of woods. And various other little things. I know I could have made it here without a tractor, but boys must have their toys.

Enjoy the build process. It will frustrate you to your witts end, but hang in there, it is all temporary. A year from now you'll be enjoying the house and tractor.

 

[WBWI]

KarolinaKubota,

That red dirt brings back memories. I grew up in NC where we had huge gardens actually growing in that "stuff".

Nope, didn't post any pics but here is a link to my photobucket album. There are a bunch of pics (~800).
CampWI/New lot - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Here is one of the house almost finished. P4280004.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Started clearing trees late Nov. 2006 and move in July '07. Winter weather delayed the build for about 6 weeks. Subzero cold and pneumatic tools don't work well together.

I hope you enjoy your building process as much as we did.

 

[UpstateSC_Papi]

Good stuff guys!

WBWI - You house is beautiful! I hope ours turns out half as nice! Thanks for sharing the links!

Tony - Looking forward to the year passing by! I'm ready!

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Michael,

Congrats on starting the new house. I hope ours is completed by Christmas but...who knows .

It is great to watch the progress day to day. Hopefully your builders won't have 2-3 going at the same time.

Is Seneca close to West Union, SC? I have a customer in West Union and love driving Hwy 11.


David

 

[UpstateSC_Papi]

hunterridgefarm

And Congrats to you as well!!

Seneca is about 7 minutes from West Union!

We are building about 5 miles from Hwy. 11 toward the I-85 end of 11.

 

[KennethBrown]

This is the manifold. You can cut off each fixture from one central location. I have mine under the stairs in a pantry. I still used 1/4 turn cutoffs on all the sinks and toilets as I figured it was only about $30 more for even more piece of mind. The first night we stayed in the new house my 12 yo decided she needed a 30 minute shower while I thought 10 minutes was plenty. After hollering at her twice I just reached in and turned the hot water off to their shower. She got the message.

 

[KennethBrown]

My house is only about 1860 sq ft. so bedrooms downstairs was out of the question. My porch makes it look alot bigger than what it is though. Your place is HUGE. We had originally wanted a creamy yellow but the colr didn't end up right so we stopped. Now we are going with a khaki color. It should look nice with the rustic red roof. Sorry I don't have a more current pic but this was back in January. Also sadly it still looks very similair to this. Its still 2 tone with no underskirt. We are putting the rails around the porch right now.