My husband and me decided to build a prow house. He is thinking of building it a little at a time to help avoid having to take out a loan and have us do some of the work ourselves. We have a lot of Amish around that are going to help do the foundation and the frame of the house. My SIL just built a house a year ago and had Amish do the frame, foundation, and outer siding. She then had someone come in to do the electrical and plumbing. Almost all of the drywall she did with the help of her husband, dad, and some friends which cut back on a lot of costs.
I was going back and forth on either a slab or crawl space since we don't want a basement. I decided that I will probably go with the crawl space due to wanting to add wings on later and we are going to have tile floors. I don't want to have something happen and then have someone come in and tear up our tile to be able to get any piping in the slab. I'm also worrying about having a slab crack. Even though it will cost more it probably would be a better option for us.
Next is the heating. I've been looking at the hydronic radiant heating even though that does cost more but would be a lot better in the long run. I do have some questions about it. My FIL said someone over in the village had the hydronic radiant heating and the upstairs had a leak and the people came back with the upstairs flooded. That is one concern I have since the hydronic is the better choice. How often does something like that happen? Would it be better if we only put it in on the main floor and not the upstairs bedroom? If a piece of the tubing does get a leak how much damage might it do to the main floor since we aren't probably going with a slab? I know it would be cheaper to fix the actual tubing with a crawl space but I wasn't sure if it would damage the wood. If we didn't put it in the second floor would the heat from the main floor be enough to keep the upstairs bedroom warm?
If we go with radiant heating should we have the radiant a/c put in also? I know they would be on seperate systems and tubing. Can the radiant a/c be put in at a later time easily if we didn't want it at first or wanted to wait till we got more money in? Does it cost more than the radiant heating to install? Is it cheaper to run verus using just a regular a/c in a window?
Since my husband doesn't really like the log look we are going to go with siding on the outside of the house. I'm assuming that would cut down on the costs instead of having logs and we could put that on ourselves. The inside we were going to use drywall which we can install also. I've noticed with a lot of the roofs that they have wood that runs from the outside to the inside for the ceiling. I'm guessing it is for the looks. I was wanting to know if that is for looks or if that is done like that to make the roof? We would want to put drywall up on the ceiling. Wasn't sure if we would have to put all those pieces of wood up and then have to put the drywall over the top of them. The beams and posts we will paint to give them a different color.
Not sure if the link will work or not to give an idea of the wood I'm talking about on the ceiling. http://www.linwoodhomes.com/house-plans/plans/Selkirk.aspx
Here's another link just incase. http://chrismapson.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/pb070133.jpg
We are only going to put in one full bathroom. The upstairs will have a spot for a future half bathroom which we will just use for closet space till then. We may go ahead and see about running the plumbing up there just so it would be easier when we do install one. We don't care about having a bunch of bathrooms in the house. I've seen some floor plans with 2 full bathrooms on the main floor with only one bedroom on the main floor. Just not something we need a bunch of. They also cost to much to put in.
I've been looking at floor plans to see what could be changed to cut back costs and not have space wasted. Cutting out the bathrooms will help. I also plan to use the underneath of the stairs for more space whether it is a closet, open to walk under, or have the bathroom/utlity room connected under it to make them bigger.
We are going to hold off on a sundeck till later on just to save on costs. Probably be around winter time before we would be moving into the house so we won't be wanting to sit out on it anyway.
We are also going to hold off on cabinets and applicances at first till we get some money saved up again. His parents just live down the road so we can use their freezer and if we have to we can just buy a small dorm room fridge. Laundry can be done at his parents also. I might check on craigslist for furniture and just buy some as we come across some good deals. I see some nice stuff on there all the time.
I'd appericate any advice on how to cut back costs or some stuff to look for to install that would help cut costs to run the house. This will be our first house and we are use to living in a bedroom so we are going to try to make the plan as open as we can.
I was going back and forth on either a slab or crawl space since we don't want a basement. I decided that I will probably go with the crawl space due to wanting to add wings on later and we are going to have tile floors. I don't want to have something happen and then have someone come in and tear up our tile to be able to get any piping in the slab. I'm also worrying about having a slab crack. Even though it will cost more it probably would be a better option for us.
Next is the heating. I've been looking at the hydronic radiant heating even though that does cost more but would be a lot better in the long run. I do have some questions about it. My FIL said someone over in the village had the hydronic radiant heating and the upstairs had a leak and the people came back with the upstairs flooded. That is one concern I have since the hydronic is the better choice. How often does something like that happen? Would it be better if we only put it in on the main floor and not the upstairs bedroom? If a piece of the tubing does get a leak how much damage might it do to the main floor since we aren't probably going with a slab? I know it would be cheaper to fix the actual tubing with a crawl space but I wasn't sure if it would damage the wood. If we didn't put it in the second floor would the heat from the main floor be enough to keep the upstairs bedroom warm?
If we go with radiant heating should we have the radiant a/c put in also? I know they would be on seperate systems and tubing. Can the radiant a/c be put in at a later time easily if we didn't want it at first or wanted to wait till we got more money in? Does it cost more than the radiant heating to install? Is it cheaper to run verus using just a regular a/c in a window?
Since my husband doesn't really like the log look we are going to go with siding on the outside of the house. I'm assuming that would cut down on the costs instead of having logs and we could put that on ourselves. The inside we were going to use drywall which we can install also. I've noticed with a lot of the roofs that they have wood that runs from the outside to the inside for the ceiling. I'm guessing it is for the looks. I was wanting to know if that is for looks or if that is done like that to make the roof? We would want to put drywall up on the ceiling. Wasn't sure if we would have to put all those pieces of wood up and then have to put the drywall over the top of them. The beams and posts we will paint to give them a different color.
Not sure if the link will work or not to give an idea of the wood I'm talking about on the ceiling. http://www.linwoodhomes.com/house-plans/plans/Selkirk.aspx
Here's another link just incase. http://chrismapson.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/pb070133.jpg
We are only going to put in one full bathroom. The upstairs will have a spot for a future half bathroom which we will just use for closet space till then. We may go ahead and see about running the plumbing up there just so it would be easier when we do install one. We don't care about having a bunch of bathrooms in the house. I've seen some floor plans with 2 full bathrooms on the main floor with only one bedroom on the main floor. Just not something we need a bunch of. They also cost to much to put in.
I've been looking at floor plans to see what could be changed to cut back costs and not have space wasted. Cutting out the bathrooms will help. I also plan to use the underneath of the stairs for more space whether it is a closet, open to walk under, or have the bathroom/utlity room connected under it to make them bigger.
We are going to hold off on a sundeck till later on just to save on costs. Probably be around winter time before we would be moving into the house so we won't be wanting to sit out on it anyway.
We are also going to hold off on cabinets and applicances at first till we get some money saved up again. His parents just live down the road so we can use their freezer and if we have to we can just buy a small dorm room fridge. Laundry can be done at his parents also. I might check on craigslist for furniture and just buy some as we come across some good deals. I see some nice stuff on there all the time.
I'd appericate any advice on how to cut back costs or some stuff to look for to install that would help cut costs to run the house. This will be our first house and we are use to living in a bedroom so we are going to try to make the plan as open as we can.
