New house w/garage build

[JeffD]

Well my fiance and I are FINALLY starting to build our new house. I have had the land for a about 4 1/2 years now, and we decided to build a while back. The planning stages took alot longer then I thought they would, but we are finally starting. We closed on the construction loan last Thursday, July 17th. Friday the Excavator was delivered, and we had 1/2 the hole dug by Late Friday night, and finished up on Saturday afternoon. The concrete guy was there to help shoot grade, and get his set up ready for the crew to come in on Monday the 21st. Yesterday (the 21st) the concrete crew showed up, and footings are complete. They figure the walls will be ready to pour on Thursday, and we can backfill by Saturday.

Here are a few pics. Enjoy.

Jeff

 

[JeffD]

House side dug, and grade checked. Also this is the house/garage floor plan. The Garage will have a spancrete floor, with a 30x46 lower garage with access from the side.

 

[Brickout]

Nice plan, I look forward to seeing the progress.

 

[thammel]

Hi,

Neat plans! I love the good garage size. You'll never regret it! Before you go too far, I have a couple of suggestions;

1) The easy one - in the master bath, think about swapping the toilet and shower locations. That way you can have a private toilet with a door (nice to have) and could make a larger custom shower.

2) More costly but something to think about. Push out the great room wall to the reear of the rear porch. This will give you a larger great room and more of an open feeling with the nook where you'll probably eat most of your meals. You can always tack a porch, or deck on to the rear later.

The bonus room up top is great and gives you a 4th bedroom.

Cool!
Tom

 

[JeffD]

The master bath is going to get changed around some, as I didn't want to have the designer change more things, and charge more money...

As for extending the great room, it's not going to happen. Footings are already in place, and floor trusses are ordered. Besides in 2 years it will be just me and the wife living there, with a unfinished basement, that will get a home theater room, bar, and a place to put a pool table. Right now, I just need to get the main part of the house complete, and livable. As for the bonus room, that will only be accessed throught the garage, and will not be heated, so storage only. (i'll have a high enough heating bill the way it is)

Jeff

 

[blkhonda1991]

The master bath is going to get changed around some, as I didn't want to have the designer change more things, and charge more money...

As for extending the great room, it's not going to happen. Footings are already in place, and floor trusses are ordered. Besides in 2 years it will be just me and the wife living there, with a unfinished basement, that will get a home theater room, bar, and a place to put a pool table. Right now, I just need to get the main part of the house complete, and livable. As for the bonus room, that will only be accessed throught the garage, and will not be heated, so storage only. (i'll have a high enough heating bill the way it is)

Jeff

wont really need the designer/architect to do it for you at this point if you are set on minor changes in the bathroom, just have the contractor build it the way you want it, btw any elevations?

 

[JeffD]

I am the contractor, so yes making changes is simple. IF I was to ask the designer to make changes though, they charge through the roof for something simple, and I didn't want that. We will just wing it, when we get to the point of framing the walls.

 

[JeffD]

btw any elevations?

Here is what the house will look like when completed.

Jeff

 

[sharpshooter]

Very nice looking pad man....

 

[blkhonda1991]

Here is what the house will look like when completed.

Jeff

nice house...im glad you went with something that doesnt have a house hidden behind a garage

 

[drivinhard]

They figure the walls will be ready to pour on Thursday, and we can backfill by Saturday.

Great build!

Pouring walls on thurs and backfilling on sat!?!? Wow. Depending on how big of a machine you'll be using to backfill, or how close it'll be to the walls, I would recommend waiting till your framed up before you backfill. That helps the walls strength a lot. I've seen a lot of cracked poured walls from early backfilling. Just something to think about.

Keep us posted, we just finished up our house/shop in April. Your front yard/grading looks about like ours did.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14932

 

[JeffD]

Well here are some updates. The Concrete guys kept there schedule, and were first class guys all the way. Great to deal with, and everything looks perfect. They did get the walls poured last Thursday, but were not able to strip the forms completly off until yesterday. Was not a big deal since I had a roofing job to complete during that time frame. Went out last night, and EVERYTHING was cleaned up, and it looks great. We will be backfilling starting Friday, and will start framing Sunday.

Jeff

 

[JeffD]

Great build!

Pouring walls on thurs and backfilling on sat!?!? Wow. Depending on how big of a machine you'll be using to backfill, or how close it'll be to the walls, I would recommend waiting till your framed up before you backfill. That helps the walls strength a lot. I've seen a lot of cracked poured walls from early backfilling. Just something to think about.

Keep us posted, we just finished up our house/shop in April. Your front yard/grading looks about like ours did.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14932

Backfilling last weekend was the plan, but things changed when they could not finish stripping the forms on Friday. Since it will be a week after the pour, and the from wall of the garage is 12" thick, and full of rebar, it's not going anywhere, so I was told by the concrete guys.

Your place looks very nice. I like the rolling landscape.

 

[Mr. Welsh]

I like the front porch. Keep us updated.

 

[JeffD]

Been a while since I have updated everyone on the project. Things are moving along fast. The backfilling was completed on the 2nd of August, and we got a start on the framing on the 3rd. The framing crew is doing the job as side work, and are only working on the weekends. They move fast, and work hard all day long. In one day they got the walkout wall complete, and all the floor trusses in place, and the flooring down for the main level.

During the week, I was given some "homework" and had to do some bracing, insulating, and other misc stuff. This last Saturday the framing guys arrived at 7:00am sharp, and got to work right away. In the last 2 days the stairway, main level walls and interior walls of the house were completed. The roof trusses were prepped, and the garage walls subbed up.

The spancrete is scheduled to arrive this Thursday. Friday night we can start putting up Garage walls, and Saturday the crane will be here to hoist up the trusses. They figure another 2 weeks and the framing will be done.

Anyways here are some updated pics. Enjoy.

Jeff

 

[JeffD]

Got the roof trusses on the house last night. Starting to look like something now. Today the spancrete for the garage is being set into place, and we can put the garage walls up this weekend. Here is a updated picture I took with my camera phone last night.

Jeff

 

[SnyperBob]

Wow, looks great! Congrats on the new house

 

[TejasBimmer]

Great looking plans...I really like the look of it.
Congrats and thanks for the pics!

 

[Nodak7mm]

Awesome build there Jeff,

How many sq ft (house)?

Nodak

 

[Hardware]

Looks great!

 

[MXtras]

Very nice.

I will be in your shoes within the next year if all goes to plan. I have a bazillion questions about the process and the loans!

Keep us up to date.

Scott

 

[JeffD]

The house is 1800sq ft, and the garage is 1200 sq ft on the main levels. The spancrete was set into place last Thursday, and the framers are just about done with the house. They have one more weekend to go on the garage, and the other subs can move in and get to work. I'm very happy with how it is turning out. I'll post more pics later, when they get developed. For now here is the latest with my camera phone.

Jeff

 

[JeffD]

OK it's been a while so here are some updates for those interested. The house is coming along nice. The spancrete was set into place a month ago, and the garage walls could be put up, and then the trusses. We went with attic trusses. Anyone thinking of going this route, DO IT. We gained so much extra storage space it is unbelievable. Right now I am in the process of roofing the house. The garage is done. That was not a fun job...

Anyway, here are the pics. Enjoy.

Jeff