House design suggestions

Now is your chance to save money for years to come by building a well-insulated and airtight house. Check out this website: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/guest-blogs/pretty-good-house
With a wood stove fueled by wood cut from your own land you can then keep future heating cost down. Or look at a central system like a wood furnace or boiler. Augment that maybe with a heatpump for the times you are not at home. The initial investment may be higher but you will certainly make up in saved energy cost and increased comfort.

We recently moved to an older home with standard doorways, staircase etc. My long time previous home had wider doors, wider halls and entryway, and a wider staircase. I never realized how much easier that made life, from moving furniture, having a home full of guests, and I might guess heat flow to different rooms too.

I'm considering something similar, but more like a barn/garage with a finished living section. However I can't afford anything fancy yet, and plan to build a nice house next to it later (perhaps if I can bring another income into the family in a few years). My efficiencies will be in more simple design elements that wont come at a huge cost, like smaller living space, open floor plan, square floor plan, lower ceilings, etc. To get just a measly amount of land and woods around here is ridiculously costly, at least to what I was used to where I'm from. But there really isn't any way around getting the land first, so I'm going to focus on that search and hopefully be able to afford a more simple living space. I hope the land itself will offset some of the costs by being able to cut my own firewood, hunt deer, perhaps sell hay if there is a field, and have large gardens and orchards, etc. But I love reading about these ideas of super efficient and even off grid homes (like in the green room too) and hope to maybe incorporate some of them, and definitely keep them in mind for the future house.

A major item to incorporate is a center chimney exiting at the peak of the roof. Its going to yield major benefits. Stress skin construction goes up quick. Hard to beat for air tightness. Spend time coming up with a full insulation system for the basement, walls and floors.

Feeding10 said:

Considering relocating to idaho. To get a large plot of land, build something for my large family (8 kiddos) I am considering building a barn house on former farmland. Having lived in the desert most of my life, looking for suggestions on affordable design options to optimize keeping my crew toasty.

Newbie to freezin' weather, so appreciate your inputs.

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I'm considering a move to Idaho too. Where are you thinking?

Feeding10 said:

Reading so many forums indicate that the basement is not the best location for a stove

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Depends.
If the basement is not well insulated and sealed the heat is wasted to the ground or air outside.
However, a well sealed and insulated basement is a great place for a stove as it allows the bad aspects of burning (fan noise, woo and ash mess, etc.) to be relegated to a maybe less-used living area while nice warm air quietly and slowly flows upstairs to living areas.

If you have 8 acres and your property is not solid rock you should be able to put in a geothermal system for the same cost as a traditional heating and cooling system. Your stove will simply be for ambiance then.

If you have plans of being in the house for a long time, no steps or stairs. Just had my knee scoped. Rough getting up 4 steps just to enter my housr. Also I'm only 49 yrs old and arthritis in my knees is getting bad. I do not like stairs. I have a two story house, and making plans( not for quite awhile) to close off the upstairs. Wider doorways and access points. Not a bad idea. You never know who might need a wheelchair.

R-40 walls, R-60 ceilings. If I was to do a wood stove I would have it centrally located on the main living floor. With a plan to move wood easily into house. If you have no steps from outside, a wide doorway with a nice 2 wheeled wood cart works nicely.

But 8 kids? Probably not a 1000 sq/ft ranch? A nice pellet boiler or gassification boiler with storage plays very well with radiant floors or low temp emmiters.

I also have air sourced heat pumps. Even up here in northern Maine they work well. But do need another source when it dips below zero, but my house has only R16, maybe 18 walls. Only if......

flyingcow said:

If you have plans of being in the house for a long time, no steps or stairs. Just had my knee scoped. Rough getting up 4 steps just to enter my housr. Also I'm only 49 yrs old and arthritis in my knees is getting bad. I do not like stairs. I have a two story house, and making plans( not for quite awhile) to close off the upstairs. Wider doorways and access points. Not a bad idea. You never know who might need a wheelchair.

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2nd this.
Some newer multi-level homes are being designed with closets above one level above those on another with the capability of installing a residential elevator later. Its costs little or nothing to do and can keep you in your house longer with lower ultimate expense.

You're gonna need to build a motel.

flyingcow said:

If you have plans of being in the house for a long time, no steps or stairs. Just had my knee scoped. Rough getting up 4 steps just to enter my housr. Also I'm only 49 yrs old and arthritis in my knees is getting bad. I do not like stairs. I have a two story house, and making plans( not for quite awhile) to close off the upstairs. Wider doorways and access points. Not a bad idea. You never know who might need a wheelchair.

R-40 walls, R-60 ceilings. If I was to do a wood stove I would have it centrally located on the main living floor. With a plan to move wood easily into house. If you have no steps from outside, a wide doorway with a nice 2 wheeled wood cart works nicely.

But 8 kids? Probably not a 1000 sq/ft ranch? A nice pellet boiler or gassification boiler with storage plays very well with radiant floors or low temp emmiters.

I also have air sourced heat pumps. Even up here in northern Maine they work well. But do need another source when it dips below zero, but my house has only R16, maybe 18 walls. Only if......

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Not to get off track . . . but get well soon. My wife used to work on the ortho/neuro floor and she said knee surgeries were pretty rough in terms of recuperation . . .

Open ceiling? You will waste heat even with fans. Lived in a similar property in the snowbelt. A barn with many rooms would be best.

firefighterjake said:

Not to get off track . . . but get well soon. My wife used to work on the ortho/neuro floor and she said knee surgeries were pretty rough in terms of recuperation . . .

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Thanks. The knee was a piece of cake. My rotator cuff earlier this summer? Rough one for 4 or 5 days. This was my second cuff in the last 5 yrs. I fell each time and tore them all to heck.

billb3 said:

You're gonna need to build a motel.

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With bunk beds..... just have two bed rooms, or I should say bunk houses.

Berm & earth sheltered homes are pretty cool. And easy to heat.

Minimize surface area of exterior walls, minimize the sq footage of the roof, good air sealing and insulation especially in the attic, and try to eliminate north facing windows and minimize east and west facing ones. Two stories are nice for heat stratification, close it off during the day to heat only the living area's and open it up at night so the heat rises to the sleeping area. Find out the average wind direction and orient windows and rooms so you can cross-flow cool your house during the warmer months. And finally try and keep all plumbing on interior walls.

Plumbing on outside walls? Up here really never heard of doing that.

flyingcow said:

Plumbing on outside walls? Up here really never heard of doing that.

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In those real warm climates its typical to put your water heater outside or in an unheated garage, run plumbing lines through the attic, etc. Crazy to think about.

flyingcow said:

Plumbing on outside walls? Up here really never heard of doing that.

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Down here in balmy Boston... the 1920s 2 family rental house we lived in previously had the water pipes running in an outside wall to the kitchen sink of our second floor apartment. I used to have to go down to the basement and use a heat gun to thaw it ever time the temps dipped into the single digits

jharkin said:

Down here in balmy Boston... the 1920s 2 family rental house we lived in previously had the water pipes running in an outside wall to the kitchen sink of our second floor apartment. I used to have to go down to the basement and use a heat gun to thaw it ever time the temps dipped into the single digits

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Never hurry when thawing pipes and always know whats the quickest way to shut off the water. The biggest torch is usually not the best choice.