The Log house Project begins........

[MotorSeven]

Brandi, that just ain't right.....having a floor all done and trimmed out before mine is finished and my knees still ache:smiley_aafz:. Nice job though!

Pacer, no solid aquifer here, lots of limestone caverns and underground streams. Average well depth here is around 2-300'. It is a crap shoot and I have seen them dug to 900. We try and figure $5-8K for a complete well and a septic installed is $2300.

Wood, $300 a sq ft...Holeey crap. Here turn key is $100-120.....so when are you buying land in East Tennessee?:laughing:

 

[MotorSeven]

Oh, and main floor is done. I stood around after getting it finished yesterday staring at the loft...thinking: "up and down a ladder a hundred times to get that floor up there layed...hmmm, nope I'm headed to the creek for a swim and some

"

 

[brin]

Brandi, that just ain't right.....having a floor all done and trimmed out before mine is finished and my knees still ache:smiley_aafz:. Nice job though!

Pacer, no solid aquifer here, lots of limestone caverns and underground streams. Average well depth here is around 2-300'. It is a crap shoot and I have seen them dug to 900. We try and figure $5-8K for a complete well and a septic installed is $2300.

Wood, $300 a sq ft...Holeey crap. Here turn key is $100-120.....so when are you buying land in East Tennessee?:laughing:

We built our house 7 yrs. ago and the well company charged us $4,000.00 for a drilled well and they guaranteed water for that price but would only guarantee 2 gallons a minute and if you wanted more then it was an additional per foot price until they hit the per gal. minute desired...With our drilled well they hit 25 gallons a minute at 125 feet...so we paid $4,000.00 and our septic was right at $2,300 like yours. Your floors are looking great..

 

[boxygen]

Hey Motor, Looking good. Septic installed for $2300??? Is that doing it yourself? I installed my own septic a couple of years ago and I bought everything on my company accounts and didnt get charged for the trucking of stone or sand and all my materials were about $2000 including a new tank! Around here a new septic goes for about $8-10k at least hired out. I did do a thread on the project if you are doing it yourself, there was lots of good discussion from the members. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/149877-diy-septic-system.html
Are they required to be engineered in Tenn?

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Hey Motor, Looking good. Septic installed for $2300??? Is that doing it yourself? I installed my own septic a couple of years ago and I bought everything on my company accounts and didnt get charged for the trucking of stone or sand and all my materials were about $2000 including a new tank! Around here a new septic goes for about $8-10k at least hired out. I did do a thread on the project if you are doing it yourself, there was lots of good discussion from the members. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/149877-diy-septic-system.html
Are they required to be engineered in Tenn?

Same here, septics cost $7500 on up for low pressure ground lattice work system. The sprinkler sprayer type cost about $5000 a few years ago...

 

[pacerron]

Hey Motor, Looking good. Septic installed for $2300??? Is that doing it yourself? I installed my own septic a couple of years ago and I bought everything on my company accounts and didnt get charged for the trucking of stone or sand and all my materials were about $2000 including a new tank! Around here a new septic goes for about $8-10k at least hired out. I did do a thread on the project if you are doing it yourself, there was lots of good discussion from the members. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/149877-diy-septic-system.html
Are they required to be engineered in Tenn?

I imagine a lot still depends on the "ground perk test" and the number of bedrooms. Some fields require 2 runs, some tanks require aerator pumps.
Like he said about the well, you don't really know till you get started.
Unless he is awfull lucky on the well or doesn't require much water I think the total estimate is way too low.

 

[brin]

Wow ! You guys are paying a fortune for Septic systems and wells....Motor is in Tenn. and I am in Ga. and wells and septic systems do not even approach costing what you are quoting...a well runs about $4,000 unless they run into extraordinary problems and a septic system runs from $2,200 to 2,500 unless the dirt is poor and won't perk...I am shocked at the prices you pay elsewhere.

 

[MotorSeven]

Wow ! You guys are paying a fortune for Septic systems and wells....Motor is in Tenn. and I am in Ga. and wells and septic systems do not even approach costing what you are quoting...a well runs about $4,000 unless they run into extraordinary problems and a septic system runs from $2,200 to 2,500 unless the dirt is poor and won't perk...I am shocked at the prices you pay elsewhere.

Ditto!

Septic's here are all graveless field line, a 900 gallon tank is about $600. Most times the county agent only inspects the soil, no perk test needed & the permit is $500...sorry I didn't add that to the install cost. A 2br 2ba septic is $2800(with permit) installed, 3br/3b is another few hundred dollars.

We have bought/sold/flipped a few properties here and the last well we sank hit 35 gallons a min @ 202'. A buddie just drilled and hit 40gal a min at 250' about 2 miles away. There are artesian springs everywhere, most have good water, but you can hit hard rotten egg water with lots of minerals in it if you are unlucky. It is a crap shoot, the guy behind my place up another 400' in elevation had to go 800'....cost him $10,000. Another friend drilled two wells to 300' on his place and hit 10gal...A DAY.

I have been playing around water witching with two coat hangers. I get a strong crossing of the wires in only one place up near the house. So far my wife and TNMike have also had a "hit" within 10' of the same spot. I don't know if it works, but it's fun to play around with.

 

[brin]

Motor..You are going to put your tank for the well in your basement ....right ? I did...and I also added a double water filter system from Lowes...HD has them too...under $100 will get you what you need to have the filtering system and if nothing else it keeps all the minerals, grit and particles out of your water so your toilet tanks, washing machine, ice maker and dishwasher don't have all that grit to wear them out....makes a huge difference...2 replacement filters run about $12 for the pair...well worth it and easy to install.

 

[MarkV]

Wow ! You guys are paying a fortune for Septic systems and wells....Motor is in Tenn. and I am in Ga. and wells and septic systems do not even approach costing what you are quoting...a well runs about $4,000 unless they run into extraordinary problems and a septic system runs from $2,200 to 2,500 unless the dirt is poor and won't perk...I am shocked at the prices you pay elsewhere.

All depends on location and conditions in my mind. Twelve years ago, 15 miles east of Dahlonega, Brim, I paid 10K for a well and 10K for a septic. It is a difficult site on the side of a mountain so it is all about setting.

MarkV

 

[pacerron]

Ditto!I have been playing around water witching with two coat hangers. I get a strong crossing of the wires in only one place up near the house. So far my wife and TNMike have also had a "hit" within 10' of the same spot. I don't know if it works, but it's fun to play around with.

It works if you believe it works. Sometimes it's something other than water though. Most old time well drillers witch first unless you specify exactly where you want the well. It may just be for show but looks good.
We are in the "Big Injun Sands" at 475 feet and have standing water in the pipe up to 250'. The Injun is an underground river in these parts. A few feet more too far and you get salt water.
The important thing is not so much the GPM as the pumps and draw pipe don't do 40 gpm unless they are very big. The draw down is the important thing. That tells you how much water you have constantly without running out.
Ohio has all the legal well log records available on the net. Tennessee may have also. You can really see how deep and how good your neighbors wells are if you look at the logs and who drilled them. Some folks tend to stretch how good their well is but really don't know. A good or bad well can have a big effect on the value of your property as you and your wife know from being in the real estate business.

 

[bindian]

Nice looking floor Brandi. But, those are some ugly looking dogs you got there.

Like dogs, they are always wrestling with the cat and eat raisins and keep the dust bunnies at bay.:laughing: They are taught to attack socks.............with or without feet in the socks.:laughing::laughing:
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Brandi, that just ain't right.....having a floor all done and trimmed out before mine is finished and my knees still ache:smiley_aafz:. Nice job though!

Pacer, no solid aquifer here, lots of limestone caverns and underground streams. Average well depth here is around 2-300'. It is a crap shoot and I have seen them dug to 900. We try and figure $5-8K for a complete well and a septic installed is $2300.

Wood, $300 a sq ft...Holeey crap. Here turn key is $100-120.....so when are you buying land in East Tennessee?:laughing:

Don't fret too much about it Rick. Vinyl goes down real fast and easy!
hugs, Brandi

 

[dstig1]

Wow ! You guys are paying a fortune for Septic systems and wells....Motor is in Tenn. and I am in Ga. and wells and septic systems do not even approach costing what you are quoting...a well runs about $4,000 unless they run into extraordinary problems and a septic system runs from $2,200 to 2,500 unless the dirt is poor and won't perk...I am shocked at the prices you pay elsewhere.

Buwahahaha! You don't know the half of it! Here is St Croix County Wis, mound systems are almost a given. I am looking at a 20k bill for the septic, and then 10k for the well. Yes, it all depends on where you are... (No those aren't typos...)

 

[MotorSeven]

I had to pause on the house. I have cherry, walnut and ash stickered and stacked in a shed that I milled 2 years ago. It needs a little bit of Kiln time to dry it enough for my kitchen cabinets. So I started building a Solar Kiln today with a few sheets of osb, three 12' 4x4's and a bunch of cedar off the mill:

 

[MotorSeven]

I have scavenged a few sliding glass doors for the glass which (3) will go on the slanted front of the kiln:

Back side which will have a removable door to get the lumber in & out:

 

[tnmike]

What kind of air movement are you going to have in the kiln? Solar electric maybe? Looks great.

 

[MotorSeven]

Yes, eventually a solar gable type fan. But for now a el-cheapo box fan will get this cabinet wood done in a couple of weeks. I will be able to dry a bundle of wood roughly 4x4x12'.

On another subject I am going over 8 different quotes on metal spiral staircases. They have to go from the basement to main floor(over 12') then continue up to the loft(almost 9'). I do not want conventional stairs, and I really think I would be over my head trying to build a spiral that big out of wood. Besides the time involved(a lot) I think the black metal will be a nice contrast to all the wood in the house. So far the quotes range from $2600 to $4,000 for basic metal stairs with a metal hand rail....nothing fancy.

 

[pacerron]

Yes, eventually a solar gable type fan. But for now a el-cheapo box fan will get this cabinet wood done in a couple of weeks. I will be able to dry a bundle of wood roughly 4x4x12'.

On another subject I am going over 8 different quotes on metal spiral staircases. They have to go from the basement to main floor(over 12') then continue up to the loft(almost 9'). I do not want conventional stairs, and I really think I would be over my head trying to build a spiral that big out of wood. Besides the time involved(a lot) I think the black metal will be a nice contrast to all the wood in the house. So far the quotes range from $2600 to $4,000 for basic metal stairs with a metal hand rail....nothing fancy.

What will be the total diameter of the hole in the floor?

 

[MotorSeven]

What will be the total diameter of the hole in the floor?

48-56" depending on how wide I decide to go.