Building house, house plans?

TBItoy · Jul 6, 2016

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I hope to start building another house (gonna call it my wife's house, since I get to reclaim the shop house) in a few years.

Really for us a basement is the most important feature we want.

I've been looking into basement construction, block vs poured vs prefab walls... opinions/experience on any?

Only thing I have been in were block, and they all leaked or had problems. I know this can't be the case with every block basement...

jeeptj99 · Jul 6, 2016

I spent 7 years of my life in the building material world here's my little bit that i picked up:

put money in insulation
get good quality windows (dont be fooled by the builder grade windows are just as good **** trust me they aren't)
a foil backed roof sheathing will pay for it's self in 3 years time
be prepared for a lot of unexpected expenses, it's amazing how those 50 2x4's magically got used somewhere in the house
if you build in the winter your lumber bill will be more expensive, mexicans gotta have a fire going at all times

just a few things i picked up on. If you get questions feel free to ask. Just remember that your least insulated places in your house are your windows and doors.

LightBnDr · Jul 6, 2016

In my experience having your "friend" build you a home will leave you disappointed after you move in and live there for a year.

I recommend interviewing at least 3 custom builders in your area. It will blow your mind how they can all build in the same place but be all over the place in their abilities, sub contractors and styles. Plus you want a builder that makes you feel good in your gut every time you talk to him. Not a guy who says he can save you thousands.

Ask a million questions to your builders. Get online and look at some lists of things to ask before you pull the trigger.

I have found that each builder has their own favorite guy to draw plans. So if you find a set online, I strongly recommend not having that sight draw for you until you have chosen a builder and he gives a green light. They love to pick apart things in your pre drawn plans. It can be related to lack of experience or poor material quality etc.

You'll find that your builders architect should be around the $800-1000 range. $2k for an 1800sq ft plan is a bit silly

Also do your own research on your 30x40 shop. Know your local pricing. When you sit in the builder interview and show you are educated it will either put your builder at ease and in check or freak him out and not want to deal with you. That's a good thing. That's a sign he'll drag his ass and cut corners and change pricing on you in a heart beat.

Plus your 3 interviews will show you if a builder is $20k cheaper, that's most likely in lesser quality construction. Then you make the decision whether you want to skimp there. Good luck man. You need to marry up before you build. Lol

jeeptj99 · Jul 6, 2016

The best advice i ever got was "the bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of a low price is forgotten" a custom home builder told me that.

mdo817 · Jul 6, 2016

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I am am in my 2nd house, fixing to move into my 3rd and final home. I had my first house built, builders plans, with my changes. I was somewhat of a newly wed when we did it. Some of the same things we fuaght about while we were building it were still getting thrown around when we got divorced a few years later. Building a house is like someone previously posted, very stressful on a relationship. I swore halfway through the build that it was the one and only build I would ever do. I have lived up to that statement. There is another thing no one else has mentioned, when building the house, you still need to bring final landscaping into the equation, it aint cheap, and sometimes can really suck getting it established. Not trying to say "don't build", but don't get discouraged out of the gate looking at used houses. If you decide to buy preowned get a good agent, write down what y'all want in a house, let the agent look at the same time y'all burn up the Internet looking. They have internal leads sometimes that don't show on Zillow, Turlia...

86chevota · Jul 6, 2016

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TBItoy said:
I hope to start building another house (gonna call it my wife's house, since I get to reclaim the shop house) in a few years.

Really for us a basement is the most important feature we want.

I've been looking into basement construction, block vs poured vs prefab walls... opinions/experience on any?

Only thing I have been in were block, and they all leaked or had problems. I know this can't be the case with every block basement...

1- make sure the site is preped so that water drains away from the house and use foundation drains and gutter drains . Most problems with leaking basements and homes with water damage start here :dblthumb:

2- use block
3- use floor trusses !!!! Take notes on the floor trusses! Yes it cost more up front but it will reduce framing time and material waste.

88pathy · Jul 6, 2016

Finishing up our new house now out in Scottsboro. It is an open floor design. Living room, dining room, and kitchen all open together. First time builder. Hired out the foundation, drying it in, sheetrock, paint, and septic. We did all the rest. 2370 heated sq ft with a 15 x 15 safe room/basement. Additional 550 sq ft of attic space with stair access. Plan to finish that out one day. We went with board and batten vinyl. Brick wasn't in the budget. My wife found a southern living design she liked (Tucker Bayou House) but we wanted a single story. I found some free software online (floorplanner.com) and designed it myself. That's all I gave my builder and it turned out pretty good. Also built a 30x40 shop.

As stated above:
plenty of storage/ closets
36" doors everywhere
wide hallways
best insulation you can afford
outlets everywhere
metal roof
hit up any local salvage stores (Dixie salvage, southeastern salvage etc) you can find great deals on supplies from these places
set up accounts with your material supplier and concrete company ( I went with city lumber and Kirkpatrick concrete) you can get a good discount with an account
do as much as you possibly can yourself, with some help from buddies. you can save a lot of money
make it a simple design. the more angles you have (gables, pitch changes) the higher the cost

ROKTOY829 · Jul 6, 2016

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86chevota said:
1- make sure the site is preped so that water drains away from the house and use foundation drains and gutter drains . Most problems with leaking basements and homes with water damage start here
2- use block
3- use floor trusses !!!! Take notes on the floor trusses! Yes it cost more up front but it will reduce framing time and material waste.

What is the advantages of the trusses verses 2×12's?

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CHASMAN9 · Jul 6, 2016

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ROKTOY829 said:
What is the advantages of the trusses verses 2×12's?

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Trusses will have nearly 0 deflection and offer a Silent floor system, so no squeaking while tip toeing into the kitchen for that late night snack. The drying process of 2x's creates crowning of the wood and it's natural fibers will bend back and forth and give you uneven flooring and will show up in the final product. :dblthumb:

84mallcrawl · Jul 6, 2016

talk to your power company about incentives for building in better insulation geothermal HVAC. also good accountants may be able to tell you if/what tax breaks there are for building an energy efficient home, maybe a tax break will help offset the cost of building "Greener"

biggin · Jul 6, 2016

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CHASMAN9 said:
Trusses will have nearly 0 deflection and offer a Silent floor system, so no squeaking while tip toeing into the kitchen for that late night snack. The drying process of 2x's creates crowning of the wood and it's natural fibers will bend back and forth and give you uneven flooring and will show up in the final product.

Plus plumbing and electrical will be much easier with trusses.

jeeptj99 · Jul 6, 2016

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are you guys talking the wooden i joist or the actual trusses? a good engineered floor system with wood i joist will be solid, especially if you use a good sub floor on top (advantec or huber blue). any lumber yard worth a **** will be able to have the plans sent off and engineered. We always did it for free through our vendor but didnt give the lay out until the order was placed or contract signed. it makes it so much easier it comes precut and bundled with plans. Cost a little more but way better and less waste.

86chevota · Jul 6, 2016

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biggin said:
Plus plumbing and electrical will be much easier with trusses.

CHASMAN9 said:
Trusses will have nearly 0 deflection and offer a Silent floor system, so no squeaking while tip toeing into the kitchen for that late night snack. The drying process of 2x's creates crowning of the wood and it's natural fibers will bend back and forth and give you uneven flooring and will show up in the final product.

All of these are spot on. plus if you would like a large open area you can span longer distance without support!!! Am starting to tons of problems with i joist . Am talking fawking nightmares

jeeptj99 · Jul 6, 2016

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86chevota said:
All of these are spot on. plus if you would like a large open area you can span longer distance without support!!! Am starting to tons of problems with i joist . Am talking fawking nightmares

what nightmares? that's what a lot of the guys in this area are going to?

86chevota · Jul 6, 2016

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jeeptj99 said:
what nightmares? that's what a lot of the guys in this area are going to?

The problems I've seen is do to the contractor/framer error! Biggest issues have been not enough support giving the length they are spanned and the wrong size I -joist for the weight put on them. The system works for a normal size house but in the monsters we have been on they have a tons of defection!!! I could go on and on and on.

zukimaster · Jul 6, 2016

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Buy a tiny house on a trailer and park it a Wal Mart

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Toddy · Jul 6, 2016

If the lot is laid out so you can do a basement your crazy not to. If you add up extra cost and look at extra square footage it's stupid cheep.

I wish I had floor joist. I wouldn't have post in the middle of my basement. FYI you can span 30' with out post. I'm sure they can go bigger but I guess that kinda standard.

Plumb hot water to garage. Hook pressure washer to it and clean like hell.

jeeptj99 · Jul 6, 2016

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86chevota said:
The problems I've seen is do to the contractor/framer error! Biggest issues have been not enough support giving the length they are spanned and the wrong size I -joist for the weight put on them. The system works for a normal size house but in the monsters we have been on they have a tons of defection!!! I could go on and on and on.

Yeah that's true. What i always laughed at was when they would cut the flanges off to run a pipe. 10 years from now big momma gonna plop down to take a deuce and fall through. either way dont use SYP lumber. They quality of it has gone to hell in the last few years.

86chevota · Jul 6, 2016

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jeeptj99 said:
Yeah that's true. What i always laughed at was when they would cut the flanges off to run a pipe. 10 years from now big momma gonna plop down to take a deuce and fall through. either way dont use SYP lumber. They quality of it has gone to hell in the last few years.

It's fawking scary how the quality has gone to hell so quick! The ave Joe has no clue of the quality from 20yrs ago til now!