Hurting in places we didn't know we had

Wish we had taken before and after pix of this (what good is a blog without lots of before/after pix anyway?!??!). When they cut the trees for the garage footprint we had some debate about what to do with the logs. A friend said he wanted the wood for firewood, so we asked Karl to leave the cut trees for us to dispose of.

They left ALL of it -- logs, branches, twigs, leaves -- in a huge pile of debris the size of a house! We spent the weekend feeding branches as big as 6" diameter into a chipper that ate them as fast as we could shove 'em in. Saved us some cash, but we've realized we may be a bit old for that kind of manual labor. We got it DONE though! There's nothing left but one more load of firewood, and two big logs that we'll split ourselves and maybe keep or give to neighbors.

We'll tackle walking, bending over, grasping things with sore hands in a couple of days, after some much needed rest and ibuprofen.

Phrase-For-The-Day: Monolithic Slab

Karl-the-Builder has been talking about pouring a 'monolithic slab' for the garage foundation. Figured I'd go ahead and Google it to see what the heck he's talking about. We were looking at the flattened dirt pile in the back yard, wondering if there would be footings or foundation walls to keep it all from sliding down the gentle slope...to the steep slope at the edge of the property that drops 80' off a bluff. Found this drawing and zipped it over to Karl, who confirmed this is the plan, which I also found this morning drawn out on the final plans he gave us (DUH!). Since nothing goes under the concrete slab but plumbing pipes, they'll pour the slab and footing/foundation edges in one big glob of concrete, with the sides framed in so there's a thick edge, like the edge of a pizza but rolled underneath and squared off on the top and sides. We'll paint the exposed concrete 'wall' and plant gardenias to cover it up...maybe build a low deck sometime in the future.

Dirt moving begins...oh my!

Lots of misconceptions on my part getting corrected rather rapidly! I was thinking a little 'skidsteer' kind of front end loader was going to scoot around the back yard moving dirt in neat little piles. This monster has been growling around for three days now! Poor dog is freaking out, especially since her side yard fence has been moved to just around the deck, and her flying leaps off the deck stairs are now into a chain link gate. She shivers at thunder...this thing rattles the windows. We'll all be happy when the monster gets back on its big trailer and goes away.

 

Placement is everything

Our county building code says we have to have a 10' easement on the sides of the lot, and cannot build within 30' (40' maybe?) of the back line. We pulled out a plat from the survey we had done a while back.

This shows the new garage (outline in blue) behind the existing house, with the back left corner right at the build line. Karl says this is what we have to show the county along with our floor plans to get the building permits. Glad he's dealing with all that for us...

I hate it that we have to cut down some of the big trees, but on the bright side -- that'll be a lot fewer oak leaves to rake and bag in the Fall!  I'll replace oaks with tulip poplars, which I like a lot better anyway. I have a veritable tulip poplar nursery going in the yard now, with all the saplings that have started this year. Will move those to their new homes before we start demolition on the house.   

Garage plans are done

Building a new detached garage behind the existing house is our first step. We want to move the driveway and get rid of the 'garage as focal point' on the front of the house. The new house will have a full basement that does not include parking for cars.

We got this 'home designer' software a while back. I've used it to draw a couple of deck plans, but nothing really daunting...until now. Karl-the-Builder gave me some sketches of garages he's built, and we took a road trip one weekend to look at them. After about 40 hours of tweaking, I have the final plan, and it's on its way for estimates.


First floor garage with attached shop.

I can't get these drawings sized to the same  proportions...sigh...

Suffice it to say that the second floor fits over the garage, and the one-story 'shop' on the first floor is attached to the right.


Second floor guest suite above the garage.



Front view

With a bit of struggling and cussing, I got the roof on the plan, and pulled a couple of 3D views to see if this thing will work. It's not perfect -- can't figure out how to angle the end walls so they don't stick up through the roof -- but we think we like it!

I doctored these pix with MSPaint to mask my lack of expertise.



Back view

Have to wait and see what Karl thinks of my roof ideas...

I wouldn't put the modern looking clerestory windows on the front, but having the row of windows in the back will let light into the otherwise dark recesses of the back corner.



The plan!

Here's the plan:  http://www.houseplans.net/floorplans/681900010/

We ended up with a slightly modified version, with dormers on both sides upstairs. We're also reversing it so the master suite is on the right. We love the back stairs, and are considering doing away with the front stairs...not enamoured of grand front staircases hitting you in the face when you open the front door. Since we plan on living in this house forever, we can visualize an elevator in the stairwell going from the basement to the top floor...later...later...

We won't have the garage downstairs. We're planning to build a separate detached garage behind the kitchen (left side in the reversed the plan), with shop and guest suite above.

We're thinking about iron railings for the front porch, continued inside on the stairs and gallery upstairs. Our lot slopes left to right, so there will be a walk-out basement door on the right side, into the 'man-cave' downstairs. Finishes will be granite foundation stone, with brick on the first floor and siding above that.



Rendering copied from the link above...it goes with the house plan we purchased.

Starting out...

Looking and looking for a new house, and not finding what we want or can afford in the area we like. We've been weighing the benefits of moving vs renovating for some time, and it occurred to us that a renovation would cost boodles of cash, and we'd still be living in a 45 year old house. Low ceilings, cracked foundation, garage on the front, no side yard...all things that a kitchen/bathroom remodel won't fix.

This is the house C. grew up in, purchased from his folks 20 years ago. I'm ready for a new home. We love the neighborhood, love our neighbors, and didn't want to lose the benefits of in-town living. Add to it that our house was labelled a 'tear down', so only worth what we could get for the lot...not much to pay off the existing mortgage and put anything down on a newer home farther out of town.

After much knashing of teeth and wringing of hands -- not to mention a few screaming, crying, hissy-fits -- we've decided to tear down and rebuild in the same spot, more or less. With that decision, I went online and found a plan within a day, and C. ordered it the next week.

The dining room table is now covered with large rolls of house plans, tissue, pencils, erasers, rulers and the occasional 'cat helper' to chase things around. Drafting supplies from my art school days and more recently acquired quilting rulers are coming in handy!