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Building a modern home in the woods

johnnyrodgers.is

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Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#441

Post by bradlys »

ziggus wrote: post #235
mizay7 wrote: post #119

Always intrigued by this idea. But the thing that I never see addressed in these discussions: what's the plan for schooling? just do small local rural schools? do online supplementation? This is the sticking point that keeps me from going far down this path.

It appears that this is a second home, not their primary residence.

Yep. It’s weird because it definitely sounded like it was their primary home from the article. But - it sounds like it’s just a ski resort home that’s a bit far from the resorts…

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#442

Post by bradlys »

Gravityloss wrote: post #375
jfk13 wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't necessarily look to someone who thinks their house needs a 400A power supply for energy conservation wisdom.

I wasn't looking for wisdom but potential explanation...

Build channel by Matt Risinger on YouTube is good.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#443

Post by CalRobert »

revnode wrote: post #389
dan-robertson wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The choices don’t seem particularly shocking to me, so I don’t understand why they seem so obviously bad to you. For placement of bedrooms, I think the question is where else to put them. I guess they could have the office/4th bedroom next to the master instead but what the rooms for is obviously somewhat subject to change. For the bathing part of a bathroom being near bedrooms seems logical. There appears to be a sm…

> The choices don’t seem particularly shocking to me Did you see all the glass? And the snow? Those two don't go together, even with triple glazing. Then again, if you have major $$$ to spend on heating, I guess it doesn't matter.

With 15 acres they may have a good size woodlot.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#444

Post by CalRobert »

Litost wrote: post #381
worik wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like you do not have the building inspection hell of many places. Local governments often insist that every aspect of the build is documented before you start (which is unachievable) and any deviations from the plan require stopping work and re-documenting at vast expense in professional fees and charges from the state.

We tend to be quite building inspection heavy over here in the UK but I gather if you work with people who know the system well, you can get off-grid style buildings built. Hopefully this is quite a useful example that featured on two episodes of Grand Designs. Original: https://vimeo.com/28848933 Revisited (apologies for the C4 link which requires hoops to watch): https://www.channel4.com/programmes/grand-designs-re…

The UK (and Ireland) both make it default-illegal to build things and then you have to beg a bunch of church elders on the council to let you build your house, and they'll decide if it's pretty enough, but there is _one_ cool thing the UK is doing - http://www.oneplanetcouncil.org.uk/ - making it easier to do off-grid living in Wales.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#445

Post by aliswe »

adamcharnock wrote: post #122

I've done this in Portugal, but on a smaller scale and pretty much with only my own labor. I purchased 6 hectares (15 acres) for mid-5-figures. I've built an A-frame studio house for around €10k (excl tools), and installed a 5kw solar system for about another €10k. The house has air conditioning and underfloor heating (water-based, heated using wood from the land). I've also brought a 50-year-old tractor and started…

this is obviously awesome, I just want to ask you if you see the idea of a 50-year-old tractor harmonizing with the idea of an ultra modern sustainable home and energy source?

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#446

Post by jaclaz »

KptMarchewa wrote: post #341
jaclaz wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But 200A in EU is roughly 44-50 kW, a common contract for a flat (here in Italy) is 3 kW, if you have a heat pump and/or conditioner it goes to 4.5 or 9 kW. I have seen (largish) villas with 20 or 25 kW, but everything more than that - like 100 A or so - is definitely beyond common use.

>3 kW So kettle + oven and you blow your fuses?

Yep, 3 KW is the "minimum contract" (but still very common for small flats) though there are of course no fuses anymore but a current limiting switch that trips and that can be re-armed, it allows peaks of about 20% more than target, older versions of these switches allowed higher peaks, so when they started replacing it with the new version which is more "strict" many contracts were upgraded to 4.5 KW because the limiter was tripping very often.

Traditionally the oven was (only in the last years electic ones have become prevalent/ubiquitous) gas-powered and that electric kettles are not common, so the typical tripping scenario is now electric oven cooking+ironing or (say) iron+dishwasher+washing machine.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#447

Post by earleybird »

dleslie wrote: post #295
dahfizz wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there forest fires as far north as Vancouver? It gets wet & cold up there. I though forest fires was mostly a California problem.

Oh yes, yes there are. Millions of hectares burn down every year: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_British_Columbia_wildfire... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_British_Columbia_wildfire... Last year an entire town disappeared: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-sept-7-2...

We have two seasons in BC, Avalanche[0] and Wildfire[1] - other than that, it's the "Best Place on Earth"

[0]https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation/driving-an...

[1]https://www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/f0ac328d88c74d07aa2ee...

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#448

Post by prawn »

thatfrenchguy wrote: post #210

First comment from my partner was “I don’t know if this is the Parasite house of an Apple Store” :-). But really, so many weird decisions here that make no sense: why would you put your kid’s bed next to your bedroom in a new build? Why the bathrooms next to the bedrooms for your kid? Why cement floors and no floor heating? How did you end up at 400A/96kw of service (my car charges slower than that!). Why not buildin…

I think it's a beautiful house.

Having the family bathroom near the children's bedrooms is pretty common in floorplans, at least in Australia.

They have a wardrobe between them and the kid's room which would mean an insulated wall, soft clothing that would muffle sound, and then perhaps sliding wardrobe doors. That might help. We have a similar format in our house, but a dressing room in place of the wardrobe.

I suspect that once kids are old enough to be aware, parents are typically a lot more careful with their timing...

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#449

Post by dandellion »

Kluny wrote: post #425
thatfrenchguy wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> or placement of bedrooms, I think the question is where else to put them. I guess they could have the office/4th bedroom next to the master Do I really need to tell you why it’s better to not share a bedroom wall with your children? :). If I had a choice, I 100% wouldn’t.

The walls are concrete, there's probably no sound transference at all.

Also we don't know that the kids are not deaf.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#450

Post by prawn »

chris1993 wrote: post #311
cols wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good luck to you! It is truly beautiful out there, even still. If you clear out an acre or two around your house and have some kind of fire line you'd probably be fine. I'd be concerned about the road to your house and how accessible it is to a major hwy. Several folks died after being trapped on North Fork Rd and it's not hard to see why. It's a super tight, two lane road that goes for miles and miles. After the fir…

Unfortunately even a clear couple of acres won't protect against ember attack. The house can be built to be fully fire-resistant and you're still faced with stay-or-go decisions when the next fire arrives.

Do American houses in risky areas have roof-sprinkler systems? To keep the roof wet to deny embers a foothold?

https://www.google.com/search?q=roof+sprinkler+fire+australi...

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