Maybe starting a new house build

[bmxdukie]

Has anyone on GJ ever built a single floor (either slab or crawlspace) 3 bedroom bungalow with a garage, and a large family room separate from a living room? If so where did you start?
I need room for my pool table and pinball machines but would prefer no stairs.

 

[Capt Crash]

My wife and I built a 2100 sf ranch style house 3 years ago. It is on a crawl space and was built with SIPs. I was the GC on the build. We couldnt find a house around us that would work for what we wanted so we found some property and built it ourselves. We then googled free house plans and literally printed out and compared hundreds. We would go through the plans and my wife and myself each would throw away some until we found 4 or 5 that we liked and then we tweaked them until we decided on one. Then we found engineers, and a company to build the SIPs, and continued from there.
For us we had to have 30% down to buy the land, and then 20% of the total finished house cost before the banks would even consider our loans. The first bank that helped us buy the land was good, until it was time to do the construction loan and then they almost went out of their way to keep us from getting the loan, but once we switched banks we found one that was much easier to deal with.
Brian

 

[Ak Jim]

I’d consider Pacific Homes. They have an in-house architecture department and design anything you would like in the house. Also they can be dried in in about 3-4 days.

Pacific Homes - Prefabricated Home Packages

Pacific Homes prefabricated home packages are 100% custom! Build your home from one of our plans as is, or modify it as little or as much as you like.

pacific-homes.com

 

[MushCreek]

Do you mean build it yourself, or have one built? I did about 90% of the work on our house single-handed, but it's smaller than what you have in mind. To do it right, there's a lot to consider. Do you have land yet? I watched our property for a year to see where the sun rose and set. I carefully oriented the house on the property to best capture the views, and for energy efficiency. I looked over thousands of existing plans, and went on sites such as Houzz to get ideas and bounce ideas off of other people. I went on energy efficiency sites such as Green Building Advisor to learn about that.

I built our house out of ICF, and had 18" of cellulose blown into the attic. It's incredibly energy efficient, solid, and quiet. Due to our sloping land, I built on a full walk-out basement. Since it's insulated by virtue of the ICF, it is usable year-round without HVAC. On flatter ground, I would build on a crawl space. The suspended floor is easier on your feet and back, and it gives you access to utilities under the floor. In FL, everything was on a slab, and I swore I'd never live on a slab again.

The floor plan is crucial to get a house that flows well. We've all been in houses that just don't work well, even if you can't quite figure out what's wrong. In our last house, the so-called dining room had five openings into other rooms, so if you put a table in it, it just made it harder to get to other rooms. The back porch faced west (in FL), so much of the year, it was too hot to use. The master bedroom only had one window. You should try to have windows on two walls of every room, if possible. The kitchen in that house was a tiny disaster, especially as we both like to cook. It had five drawers; our kitchen here has 33 drawers. For some reason, they dropped the ceiling in the kitchen. Why lower the ceiling in a room with heat and steam?!? It was a typical tract home, built by the millions to a price point, with little thought as to what they are like to live in.

I'm not telling you all of this to discourage you; just the opposite. If you can afford to build a house, you might as well make it a good one. Otherwise, just buy an existing home.

 

[firebirdparts]

You start sketching floor plans. You probably ought to start with one that’s complete drawn by somebody else and add your family room on.

 

[bmxdukie]

Do you mean build it yourself, or have one built? I did about 90% of the work on our house single-handed, but it's smaller than what you have in mind. To do it right, there's a lot to consider. Do you have land yet? I watched our property for a year to see where the sun rose and set. I carefully oriented the house on the property to best capture the views, and for energy efficiency. I looked over thousands of existing plans, and went on sites such as Houzz to get ideas and bounce ideas off of other people. I went on energy efficiency sites such as Green Building Advisor to learn about that.

I built our house out of ICF, and had 18" of cellulose blown into the attic. It's incredibly energy efficient, solid, and quiet. Due to our sloping land, I built on a full walk-out basement. Since it's insulated by virtue of the ICF, it is usable year-round without HVAC. On flatter ground, I would build on a crawl space. The suspended floor is easier on your feet and back, and it gives you access to utilities under the floor. In FL, everything was on a slab, and I swore I'd never live on a slab again.

The floor plan is crucial to get a house that flows well. We've all been in houses that just don't work well, even if you can't quite figure out what's wrong. In our last house, the so-called dining room had five openings into other rooms, so if you put a table in it, it just made it harder to get to other rooms. The back porch faced west (in FL), so much of the year, it was too hot to use. The master bedroom only had one window. You should try to have windows on two walls of every room, if possible. The kitchen in that house was a tiny disaster, especially as we both like to cook. It had five drawers; our kitchen here has 33 drawers. For some reason, they dropped the ceiling in the kitchen. Why lower the ceiling in a room with heat and steam?!? It was a typical tract home, built by the millions to a price point, with little thought as to what they are like to live in.

I'm not telling you all of this to discourage you; just the opposite. If you can afford to build a house, you might as well make it a good one. Otherwise, just buy an existing home.

Wow! Thank you for the info..
A little background.
We own the lot (2ac) next door to our current house. I designed our current home, and had a contractor build most of it.. needless to say, I am very handy. But a broken knee at the start of our first house so that took me out of the game.
They say you build one house, then make your next perfect. So tgat brings us here.
I have watched and maintained the other lot for 7 years now. However, as we are older we are trying to avoid stairs as much as possible (re:knee).
I too am thinking of position and flow. But i am really looking to add a main floor family room that doesnt look foolish
I think playing with plans will be my best bet so far.
Thank you for the informative posts. If anyone has anything more to add please keep them coming!

 

[Stuart in MN]

Single floor living is smart as you age. Also think about wider doors (36") and grab handles in the bathroom by the shower and toilet. My brother's house has the washer and dryer in the main bathroom, which I think is a good idea - it consolidates the water supply and drain requirements.

A good architect who is sympathetic to your wants and needs is probably necessary in the end, but it's worth spending time beforehand working out your ideas on paper so you have something for them to work with.

Since you're in Canada, energy efficiency is important. ICF construction as mentioned earlier is worth considering, other options SIPs (structural insulated panels) or sprayed in foam. These things may be more expensive than regular construction methods, and it also depends on what your local contractors are familiar with. I think in floor radiant heat is ideal. Ground source heat pump heating would be great too, but again cost is a factor.

Since this is a garage forum, make sure it's large enough for our needs. In floor radiant heat there is great too, and consider making provisions for electric vehicle charging to future proof the place.

 

[bmxdukie]

Yes I never even thought about electrical requirements for future cars! Thanks!

 

[billconner]

If this is your "forever" house and since you seem to care about it's look and feel, I'm going to recommend looking at A Pattern Language, a book by Christopher Alexander. It talks about a lot of house and building features from the perspective of what people like. There are so many but I recall thick walls is one, and windows on at least two sides of every room. Lots more, but skimming through and reading about those that grab you can make a huge difference. Library or I saw it under $20 used on line.

 

[loganb]

Depending on your longer term plans, adding on/remodeling the existing house to enable single floor living is likely cheaper than building new

 

[MushCreek]

+1 for A Pattern Language. Some of the ideas don't fly, and some of them contradict other ones, but it really gets you thinking.

 

[buzzworth]

Have a detailed plan for what you want before sitting down with an architect or designer. Remember, you will run out of money before they run out of ideas.
If solar is a consideration, roof design and be sure there is a way to run all the support lines.

 

[Stuart in MN]

+1 for A Pattern Language. Some of the ideas don't fly, and some of them contradict other ones, but it really gets you thinking.

It was written in 1977, so some of the information in it is going to be outdated. Still, an interesting book with some useful ideas.

 

[billconner]

I'm sure if planning a house, and you spend a little time with A Pattern Language, it will affect your house planning and most likely for the better. A lot of it are reminders if features or ideas we've seen and liked.