I have houses with full basements that I built 15 years ago that still do not have any evidence of leaking.
Building a new house and shop (6 Viewers)
- Thread starter 1911
- Start date
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1911
chupacabra
- Thread starter
- #262
Now that some of the dirt piles originally excavated from the hill are being moved to back-fill the house, I can almost get the whole house in one photo. I can't quite get the whole thing yet, because of either trees or other dirt piles in the way, but here is one taken from standing on top of a remaining dirt pile. You can see pretty much everything except one of the garages and the northern retaining wall. The southern end is in shadow cast by trees, but that end of the house (master bedroom) goes pretty much right to the edge of the photo:
1911
chupacabra
- Thread starter
- #264
Thanks!
All the walls, up to the overhang/parapet wall will be faced with stone. I really like that dry-stacked stone look, but Mrs. 1911 will have to approve the final decision. The overhang and the parapet wall will be finished with an epoxy stucco product, in a color to either compliment to the stone below it or approximating the color of the rock from the excavated hill.
Gus
SILVER Star
This is such a cool build, I really dig the design. Congratulations and thank you for sharing.
1911
chupacabra
- Thread starter
- #267
Thanks!
Not everyone that sees it in person appreciates it - the local concrete guy that poured the floors kept looking around and saying "this sure is different...". One of his crew asked me "how do you get upstairs?". A friend told me that it looks like a strip shopping center.
As you get things filled in and landscaped, I think the perception of it is going to change drastically. Some people can’t see the vision until it is all there in front of them.
I can see the end results in my minds eye. A brilliant design IMO. Did I mention I hate roof maintenance, something you shouldn't need 
.
.
Gus
SILVER Star
One of the details I like most about this house is how low maintenance it will/should be.
Most people need to have the cookie cutter house in a subdivision in order to be happy. Low maintenance, efficient and will stop bullets from flying through the walls!
In my opinion the last one is most important.
1911
chupacabra
- Thread starter
- #273
I can see the end results in my minds eye. A brilliant design IMO. Did I mention I hate roof maintenance, something you shouldn't need
Most people need to have the cookie cutter house in a subdivision in order to be happy. Low maintenance, efficient and will stop bullets from flying through the walls!
Thanks guys. Low maintenance and low operating cost (high efficiency), as well as structural strength were indeed prime considerations when we decided on this type of house and this design.
LS1FJ40
SILVER Star
Everything about this is ridiculously cool! Except the whole having to live in Texas part. I can’t wait to build my shop and house. I don’t remember seeing the dimensions of your shop (including the guest suite). My plan is for a 50x70 building with a guest suite in it. We will live in it while I build the house.
Congrats!
Congrats!
1911
chupacabra
- Thread starter
- #275
Over the course of my 61+ years, I've lived in Missouri, Colorado, Utah, Ireland, Scotland, Alaska, and Texas (some of those more than once). One of the things I discovered early on, is that you're about as happy as you decide you're going to be, no matter where you are. I've managed to find beauty in every place I've ever been, even the North Slope of Alaska in winter, and west Texas.
I'm self-employed, and with a few conditions, I could live anywhere I want. We actually own some nice land in the mountains in Santa Fe County, New Mexico that we were going to build/live on (I like the climate there a lot better), but there is a huge difference between building there and building here. In Santa Fe County, the zoning laws are unbelievable! They tell you how tall you can build, where you can or can't put it on a hill, how much you can use your own water well, etc. The list goes on and on - the zoning regs are many pages long. By contrast, rural counties in Texas have no, as in zero zoning laws or building permits. The only single permit I had to have for this whole place was for my septic system, and that took a 10-minute inspection of the soil. So that is a big part of our decision to stay here; less over-reaching government on every level from the county and state. I could list many other reasons: no state income tax, business-friendly environment, 2nd Amendment-friendly, natural beauty, water rights, etc. Bottom line is that Texas has been very very good to us, and we love it here. YMMV.
My shop building is 75'x30', including the guest suite that we're living in now. I designed the actual shop space to be the same as my last shop, which had adequate space for my needs. Larger is always nicer, but there is a balance between space and cost of course.
Good plan; I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Thanks!
LS1FJ40
SILVER Star
Yeah, I could live in the rural Texas areas. I lived in McKinney (suburb of Dallas) and HATED it! I just don’t like people that much! Haha.
Where I’ll be living I’ll need to store my excavator and all equipment inside. It won’t be as finished as yours. I’m sacrificing some finish for square footage.
Where I’ll be living I’ll need to store my excavator and all equipment inside. It won’t be as finished as yours. I’m sacrificing some finish for square footage.
1911
chupacabra
- Thread starter
- #278
Back-filling continues. Most of the excavated dirt piles from the front are gone, and now my dirt contractor is tipping excavated dirt that was left up on the hill above the house, just for this purpose. I'm really glad it's him and not me running the track-steer; it would scare the piss out of me to run it right up to the edge like he does. The hill is taller than it looks in this photo:
Moar moar MOAR!!!
How do you like it? How do you like it?
