Tuesday, August 1, 2023

Getting Started

I have to admit that this is probably the worst time to build a home I've seen in my lifetime, with the possible exception of the late 70's or early 80s, for a few reasons:

First, as stated in testimony to Congress long ago by Mike Rowe (host of the show Dirty Jobs), we've been selling a bill of goods to recent generations of youth, teaching them that white collar work is preferable to the trades, and now we have a serious shortage of skilled and talented construction workers, while increasing numbers of white collar workers are having difficulty finding jobs in their field. In short, someone forgot to tell young people that not everyone can or will be Steve Jobs, and now the few contractors that can attract talent know what they have and charge excessively for it.

Second, due to the ineptitude of our politicians in handling the Covid debacle and effectively doubling the money supply overnight so the house of cards they built didn't implode, inflation has skyrocketed to a level not seen since the late 70s and early 80s. This has led the Federal Reserve to drive up the Federal Funds Rate to counter that inflation, much as Paul Volkler did out of critical necessity in the late 70s. Mortgage rates are now at their highest level since I bought my first home in 1998. I paid 8% interest on that note, which I thought was usury at the time, and something tells me that unless we fall into a deep recession and interest rates are brought down again I'll be paying at least that much to finance this project. This is particularly galling as I will be forced to borrow several times the $125K I needed for my first home.

Third, supply chains the world over are still in disarray. Just-in-time inventory is another one of those ideas that looks good on paper but falls on its face in the real world. The bean-counters have spent the last 40 years patting themselves on the back as they've managed to extract all possible efficiency from our supply chains but now they have no buffers to speak of, collapse quickly when shocked, and take forever to recover because of the need to backfill the demand. Many people saw that for the first time during the Covid debacle and the electronics industry, fully dependent on the far-east, is still suffering for it. It can take months to get things that once took at most days or weeks. This is presenting real costs to builders, who must now either plan far ahead or intentionally build delays into the schedule. As most construction loans expect to convert to conventional loans in at most a year, I have to be careful about the size and scope of the work I intend to tackle in this project so I can complete the work within that timeframe.

Site Plan

The property I purchased is approximately 8 acres and square, the front half of which is mostly level but gently sloping downward toward the road. The back half climbs toward the peak of a ridge with an estimated elevation change of approximately 100 feet, though I'll confirm this when I can fly my drone up there or I have a friend do a LIDAR sweep of the property.

The prior owners partially cleared areas on the front half of the lot to facilitate the installation of a driveway leading to what would be their home, an area they intended to use for farming, and a path connecting the two. I would naturally prefer to leverage those areas, though my site plan is different and I know I'll need to do some additional clearing.

Ultimately I plan to build three structures: a moderately sized utility building placed near the road, a larger barn / workshop near the end of the existing driveway, and a home designed to match the mountain setting that includes an attached garage. The original justification for three separate buildings was to place the most volatile services and systems in a smaller "sacrificial" structure that will minimize my losses in the event of a fire.

The perk is that this plan will allow me to build the utility building first to get a foothold on the property and use the building as a construction office, as well as a storage depot for tools, materials, and supplies that might otherwise walk off the property during an extended build timeframe.

Utility Building

This building will serve as the demarcation point for all city utilities (water, power, and fiber Internet) and allow me to meter and distribute the services to the other structures on the property. Should I go with Plan B, the utilities will terminate in the Barn.

The foundation of this building will be a traditional footing and stem wall, with the top of the footings at least two feet below grade, as the frost line on the mountain is 18 inches. The stem wall will reach 2-3 feet above grade, mostly to keep the wooden structure as far away from moisture and pests as possible. The stem wall will be poured as that is the fastest way to get it done.

The walls will be framed conventionally with dimensional lumber, likely 2x6 or possibly 2x8, as insulation or wind loading requirements demand. This building will support two garages with a ceiling high enough to allow me to park and work on farm equipment, likely 15 feet. If I elect to build the barn at a later date I'll need to install a vehicle service lift in this building and make the ceiling height 15 feet.

The roof will utilize trusses as required to minimize on-site labor and provide a clear span below. They will be designed to permit the installation of R38 equivalent mineral wool so that the entire interior volume is within the conditioned envelope.

I also expect to own an electric vehicle eventually, which will be strictly parked and charged in this building. Combined with the two car garage attached to the home I'll have four garages even if I don't build the barn immediately. This will allow me to move all of my cars to the property as soon as the home and utility building are complete and have a spare garage for any equipment I might purchase or for a guest's vehicle.

I also plan to install a diesel backup generator and associated fuel tank(s) in a fireproof room integrated with the building as I want the generator and fuel to be protected from the elements as well as potential theft. As this building is a garage and not attached to a dwelling I expect that I'll have to satisfy a variety of NFPA codes to get this done, including fire detection and suppression, but I don't see this as insurmountable. Worst case I'll just buy a fully enclosed generator and put it on a pad behind the building.

Because of the need to keep various networking equipment at acceptable temperatures, the space will be climate controlled, probably via some form of forced air heat pump or mini-split system, as that is the most efficient and cost effective way to do it in this property's climate zone. I am inclined to install a mini-split in the server room as that room will require tighter control of the temperature, and then install a conventional heat pump forced air system for the remainder of the structure to be used only when I'm in the facility working on equipment.

Barn

This structure will be built primarily to support my personal and business efforts, with sections for office, laboratory, and manufacturing space, as well as an area to work on my vehicles.

My initial plan is to build what is called a "monitor" style or "raised center" barn. Historically, designs of this style typically incorporated a very high timber framed ceiling in the core of the building or a raised loft / second floor. I was initially drawn to this design as I originally planned to use a loft as my permanent residence initially, and then build the home some time down the road. But then I realized that the costs to implement that design would reach a point near or exceeding that of a simpler single-story barn structure and a traditional home. When I also considered the reality that the property would be more marketable with a traditional home, should I decide to sell at some point, I decided to go with a simpler single story barn structure and a traditional home design.

The core of the building will be roughly 40x60 with a ceiling height of 15 feet to support service lifts, palette rack storage and heavy equipment. On either side of the core will be some garages, office space, and utility rooms. As these sections do not require high ceilings, they will leverage a shed style roof at the same or similar pitch to the gable roof over the core of the building. Windows will be installed on the sides of the core between the upper and lower roof sections, thus adding a lot of natural light to the building, the goal of which is to minimize the need for artificial lighting.

I am also entertaining a style of roof that is continuous from one side to the other, but with two different pitches. This would eliminate the cost of the windows (and, unfortunately, the light they would provide) but simplify the installation and maintenance of a solar plant or working on the roof in general.

To keep costs down this building will be conventionally framed with footings down approximately 2-3 feet and a stem wall extending 2 or 3 feet above finished grade, standard dimensional lumber for the walls, and trusses for the roof to produce a 40 foot clear span. As is the case with the utility building, the trusses will be designed to support the load of a solar plant and topped with 3/4 CDX.

Home

I'm hoping to build something in the style of a mountain home. As an engineer I love seeing the internal structure of things and I used to enjoy woodworking, so timber framing has always appealed to me. Full timber frames are exceedingly expensive, however, so they're not worth considering on this project. Modern post and beam construction generally strikes a balance between cost, beauty, and ease of installation as the structures are pre-engineered and put together onsite with bolts and metal reinforcement plates which are exposed in the final structure.

I'm debating whether to build a full basement under the home. I realize basements are far more popular in the northern states and almost never done in the deep south near the coasts because of the high water table, but on the mountain I don't need to worry about the water table. Basements are expensive but they are also the cheapest way to add square footage and they provide a clean, dry, and easily accessible space for the installation and ongoing maintenance of utilities (HVAC, plumbing, gas lines, electrical, etc.).

The proposed home site slopes downward a bit toward the road and that means I wouldn't have to dig as much even if I decided on a 9 foot ceiling in the basement. In fact, I'll likely have to bring in fill whether I spec a slab or full foundation. This is important, as I learned from my neighbor that there were areas of sandstone on the mountain that could cause issues if trying to dig as required to provide a full basement. If I decide to go with Plan B and build the Barn at the same time as the home, I may not have the budget for a basement so in that case I'll just spec a stem wall similar to the other structures and put the HVAC in a utility room.

While I feel that vehicle garages attached to a home present a fire risk, particularly when charging an EV, the reality is if I ever want to sell this property the lack of an attached garage would be a turn-off for most potential buyers. I also considered how annoying it would be to park the car elsewhere and walk several hundred feet to the home with groceries in hand so I have decided to include in the home design a weatherproof connector that leads to an attached garage.

The connector will incorporate an informal entrance including a mud-room with bench seating and closet space, as well as a utility room that will be sufficiently large to house the HVAC equipment, washer and dryer, and several freezers I plan to use for long term food storage. Should I decide to incorporate a full basement in the design, I'll reduce the scope of the utility room as the HVAC equipment and freezers will go in the basement and the connector will provide access to the basement through a set of stairs and possibly an elevator.

The garage itself will be nothing special in that it will be designed only to house average sized vehicles with at most a 9 or 10 foot ceiling and likely serve as the connection point for all utilitites.