waddicalwabbit
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Let's all go down the wabbit hole
Posts: 125
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Post by waddicalwabbit on Sept 22, 2010 16:05:44 GMT -5
k, Karen. So what state, climate, would you like to be build this thing in?
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Post by karen on Sept 22, 2010 16:17:48 GMT -5
My small future plan would be somewhere in the California high desert, or perhaps a Southerly facing mountain in California. When people think of California, they think San Fransisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, etc.. But there's a ton of cheap land here in Cali, but you just have to move to the margins a bit.
My next residence will be with my boyfriend. But after that - basically when the occasion demands I pay retail rents that will be the time I jump ship and get off the whole suburban track. It's just too damn expensive and wasteful.
But I don't want anarchy though like these folks:
Interesting movie though.
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Post by zendancer on Sept 22, 2010 16:59:14 GMT -5
And I LOVE ZD's builder mind! Nice explanation, ZD. It's kinda fun to hear you talk about housing after your long career at 'pouring concrete'. Waddical: Ha ha. Yes, I'd like to build some truly funky far-out stuff, but Carol tells me that I'll have to wait until I can do it with throw-away cash. LOL. She is going to keep me market-oriented until I have a sufficient cushion for pure play. I'd like to build some super energy-efficient cabins on interesting sites (hanging off cliffs, nestled in big boulders, spanning ravines, etc. I know the market for these kinds of structures would be limited, but no one else does this sort of stuff, so I figure that I'd own the market even if the market is small. People often ask me why we build so many four-story homes (finished basement with two stories and an attic finished into a bonus room with bath). I explain that the footprint is a major determinant of cost, so the closer the home comes to being a tower, the more economical it becomes (less foundation costs, framing costs, roofing costs, etc). Putting all of the bedrooms on a second floor, for example, can knock $20,000 or more off the total cost. Of course, this is only an applicable solution for relatively young people due to the number of stairs. The biggest tax break for young middle class folks in the USA is to buy a home or condo at a good price, live in it for two years, and re-sell it for a tax-free gain (location being the most important factor in this strategy). Right now there are some bargains out there because it’s a buyer’s market. I know two families who used this strategy (moved three or four times) and ended up owning their homes free and clear. They also put in some sweat equity (they painted two of the homes on the interior and installed the hardwood flooring) which speeded up the process. Another couple hired us repeatedly to build homes for them which they’d sell every two years. They put a kid through Harvard using the tax-free gains. We experimented with lots of passive solar and hybrid solar techniques, but 95% of the energy savings came from super insulation and making sure there were no voids or conductive dead spaces in the exterior shell. The correct overhangs on south-facing windows contributed some additional savings. The single fastest payback in energy savings came from super-insulating the electric water heaters (foam sheathing below the unit, armorflex on the pipes coming out of the unit, and an extra layer of R-13). The payback occurred in less than 6 months. Today there are lots of new products on the market designed to improve energy efficiency, and we’ve recently started using a foil-backed roof decking that cuts down on attic heat. We consider 5.5” walls standard, but the market isn’t yet demanding that. With 3.5” walls, there are now high density batts that provide as high an R-factor as is possible with that type of wall thickness. All of these things could be used to build a small cabin with ultra-high energy efficiency. Lots of fun things to think about.
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waddicalwabbit
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Let's all go down the wabbit hole
Posts: 125
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Post by waddicalwabbit on Sept 22, 2010 17:41:51 GMT -5
So Karen. I just sold 4 acres in the Sierra's at 2500' above Chico, CA for 78K. It's lovely there around Chico and it's off the 5 far enough that tourists don't really come there (as opposed to Grass Valley and Nevada City). Yet, there's a big 'alternative' community that you would probly find supportive. Lovely, lovely town and relatively cheaper than most in CA. 86K people. Including Paradise, CA and Oroville, CA probably more like 150k in a 20 mile radius. Just sayin!
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waddicalwabbit
Full Member
Let's all go down the wabbit hole
Posts: 125
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Post by waddicalwabbit on Sept 22, 2010 17:58:59 GMT -5
I'm with you, ZD. Energy you don't burn doesn't need to be created. Cheapest you can buy is what you don't have to buy. I had an insulation and storm window contracting company back in the 80's. Always wanted to build a greenhouse/great room combo house in the mtns near Trinidad, CO with the ability to separate the greenhouse/main bath combo room from the living area to control temps and humidity (mostly glass in vinyl sliders). Small bedroom 'pods' down short hallways off of the main room each perched on the edge of a steep ravine. Front range views to the West. I bought the land, cleared, put in utilities, built a shop building and then ended up getting a divorce. It was the right way to complete that dream in that moment. No regrets, but it woulda been big fun. You can grow tomatoes in January with a set up like that. Yeah, the bedroom pods were less efficient use of space, materials and energy, but little gardens in the pockets between the little hallways and I don't know. Would have been worth it. It was going to be quite small in terms of sq ft.
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Post by ravenscroft on Sept 23, 2010 13:54:48 GMT -5
a fixer-uper with a view
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Post by charliegee on Sept 23, 2010 21:40:28 GMT -5
don't know how to post pics on here and don't know what my dream house would look like but I've got an apartment in the Bronx with a terrace overlooking the Long Island Sound close enough to my kids and grandkids to see them often so I'm pretty much set and pretty much happy ... been living here forty years and plan to die here too ...
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Post by ravenscroft on Sept 28, 2010 12:56:19 GMT -5
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Post by karen on Sept 28, 2010 13:27:45 GMT -5
So Karen. I just sold 4 acres in the Sierra's at 2500' above Chico, CA for 78K. It's lovely there around Chico and it's off the 5 far enough that tourists don't really come there (as opposed to Grass Valley and Nevada City). Yet, there's a big 'alternative' community that you would probly find supportive. Lovely, lovely town and relatively cheaper than most in CA. 86K people. Including Paradise, CA and Oroville, CA probably more like 150k in a 20 mile radius. Just sayin! That sounds lovely. I'll keep it in mind when I move!
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Post by karen on Sept 28, 2010 13:40:32 GMT -5
Have you seen these homes? www.tumbleweedhouses.com/Perhaps smaller than I'd like, but I like the motivation behind it. There has been this story arc in Western society that expects things - including homes - to get bigger and more expensive with each new generation, and it sure seems like people are enslaved to this expectation. And there are powerful social mechanisms to keep them hooked - shame being one of them probably. I've felt this expectation often, and have shouldered a fair amount of shame myself due to not meeting these social benchmarks. Thank goodness that's over and done with.
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waddicalwabbit
Full Member
Let's all go down the wabbit hole
Posts: 125
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Post by waddicalwabbit on Sept 29, 2010 8:33:01 GMT -5
Hi Karen. Yes. I like to have a little bit of elbow room, maybe more than I have now in my 200 sq feet of living space, but not a lot more. I live in my little 29 foot motor home and I love it. My first self built home was not much larger than this. When you're sharing it with someone, it's nice to have a couple hundred feet plus maybe one extra room. With construction costs at around 100 sq foot in most places, you can quickly get yourself where you're into a mortgage and be burdened perhaps by debt. The house I designed and started to build in CO was 900 sq ft and included a rather large greenhouse for food production. There were future plans to add square feet to that via a couple of bedrooms, but I was determined to build it out of pocket and not take on debt. My brother has a 4000 sq foot house for two people. He claims he needs the space for people to come visit plus a weight room and a game room. (if you want to lift weights try digging holes for fruit trees, gardening or getting firewood!) The difference between the 120k he would have needed for a 1200 sq ft house and the 450k he spent building it would rent a LOT of motel rooms for visitors. When designing, it's easiest to just add sq ft. to make all your crap and fantasies fit inside the space. Good design can make a lot more usable space out of less square feet. I might suggest a couple of things. One would be to go to an RV show and see how they fit a lot of living into a few square feet. Another would be that when you buy property, to actually buy a gently used high quality RV to live in while you build. You move it on to the property and have instant bath, bedroom, kitchen with all of the plumbing and wiring in place. Just plug it in and hook up the water and drain tubes and you're home. When the house is built, sell the RV for more or less what you paid for it (or keep it for vacationing or guests. It's lovely to have guests staying in their own building .
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