If you were to put a building up on your raw land, something you could live in while you built the house, what would you do?

At one time I would have been happy going small while we built a house, but having lived in a tiny cabin where we slept outdoors in a tent and only lived full time in the tiny cabin in winter, I find I've had my fill of small, get by, living. :)

So I lean towards roomy, but I would want the first building to have use afterwards and not just be large wasted space. Garage? I want it bigger than that. Shop? Maybe it could be a barn that the animals don't get until after we've built our house?

Then there's the added complication that I like unique buildings. I like roof lines that have interest. :lol: I think I'm just too desirous at this point in my life. But if I'm going to see the thing every day for years, I want it to be neat, not just a quick thrown up rectangle.

Rhea

Oh man. I think you should keep it really simple. And garage-sized. Or, a guest house? Would you have use for something like that later?

Otherwise, I like barn. :)

Another option is to buy an RV trailer and live in that while you build, or even an older mobile home.

Before we decided to buy we looked at the kit houses. I would start with that. A garage is about $10,000. I forget the name of the place but we were looking from a place in New England. I am certain I found the information here at amity.

Before we decided to buy we looked at the kit houses. I would start with that. A garage is about $10,000. I forget the name of the place but we were looking from a place in New England. I am certain I found the information here at amity.

We were looking at those before we found this house, so that was probably from me. They're First Day Cottages. They've gotten a lot of attention and press since we were looking! FirstDay Cottage House Kits - Elegant Homes You Build Yourself (http://www.firstdaycottage.com/) The garage would be a nice structure to start with and live in until the main house is completed.

We kept going back and forth on size of the temporary shelter, until we realized that we couldn't have it both ways, and were just going to have to suck it up and live in a tiny place until the bigger house was finished. If you make it too big, it will take too long and too much $ to build (possible exception of a barn...it would still be expensive but you could keep it simple enough not to take up too much time).

We're just in the process of selling our home and buyinig one on some land out in the country. Here is a link to a cottage I plan on building onour property to be used as a guest home...I just LOVE it!

Leisure cabins are the ultimate cabins for the cottage industry (http://www.leisurecabins.com)

Yes! It was First Day. I love the second link as well.

I hope to someday have a vacation space to have a little cabin like those.

If you go 9:12 (12:9? i can never remember which number goes first.lol) pitch on a garage roof you can buy prefab attic trusses. They're square walled, no angles and no crouching. Living quarters upstairs and gear and tack down.

Use it later for a studio, guest house, office or even a rental.

We used attic trusses on our house. It was a last minute decision and believe it or not, the attic trusses were LESS expensive than the non-attic. Visual aid on 24x14 foot with 2 dormers......we opted out of cabinet doors into the crawl space but it was an option.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v444/katieswoolfood/134008.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v444/katieswoolfood/134003.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v444/katieswoolfood/134007.jpg

If you go 9:12 (12:9? i can never remember which number goes first.lol) pitch on a garage roof you can buy prefab attic trusses. They're square walled, no angles and no crouching. Living quarters upstairs and gear and tack down.

Use it later for a studio, guest house, office or even a rental.

We used attic trusses on our house. It was a last minute decision and believe it or not, the attic trusses were LESS expensive than the non-attic. Visual aid on 24x14 foot with 2 dormers......we opted out of cabinet doors into the crawl space but it was an option.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v444/katieswoolfood/134008.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v444/katieswoolfood/134003.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v444/katieswoolfood/134007.jpg



Wow I really love this idea. We are trying to figure out if we can sell our house and move. We are still in the process of considering where to move. I prefer somewhere that nver gets snow. :lol: I hope to be a full fledged homesteader in 5 yrs.

for me, with 5 children.... I have told dh we would either buy a pre-fab home or an RV.... and then sell it when we finished building.

those cabins sure are cool though. DH and I just don't want to live for several years all on top of each other. We have done that on extended camping trips and whew.... hard to hold it together somtimes with NO privacy, etc.

So fun to think about!! We are getting our home ready to sell (hopefully the market will be better in about a year as we will just FSBO it) got some stuff to do first..
Hoping to be very self-reliant within 5 years as well!!

The First Day Cottages and the Leisure House kits are neat. Have you seen Enertia? Much more expensive, but I like the envelope idea. Our current house has a somewhat enclosed porch on the north side and it's amazing the difference that makes on the one half of the house it runs along. The side without it gets much colder, especially when it's windy. I LOVE the solar rooms on the south side.

Hybrid Solar House > Home (http://www.enertia.com/)

I like the idea of the first building being a guest cottage later. Or a barn. :lol:

Rhea

If you go 9:12 (12:9? i can never remember which number goes first.lol) pitch on a garage roof you can buy prefab attic trusses. They're square walled, no angles and no crouching. Living quarters upstairs and gear and tack down.


Do you mean the attic itself is square walled, and there's a crawl space above? Is the picture you included the actual "attic" space? If so that is very cool. If not, please, please try explaining it to me again. :)

Rhea

Do you mean the attic itself is square walled, and there's a crawl space above? Is the picture you included the actual "attic" space? If so that is very cool. If not, please, please try explaining it to me again. :)

Rhea

yes. Those pictures are of our attic. On the dormer sides there is significant crawl space that we didn't utilize. There's enough room in there for full built in cabinets or closets.

The entire length of that dormer, that is available crawl space....

Rhea, do you mind if I ask where in Alaska you are? I've traveled through Southeast (slowly, with stops) on the ferry, then up to Fairbanks, where I lived for a year when my oldest was a baby. How that was a decade ago, I don't know. Time goes fast. But our first cabin was 12x18 feet, so very very tiny. For winter we found a 20x30 cabin. Both without running water.

We are on the Kenai Peninsula, about halfway down. Between Homer and Soldotna. :)

Rhea

We are on the Kenai Peninsula, about halfway down. Between Homer and Soldotna. :)

Rhea

Oh nice! I have never been to south central AK but my dh has; he lived in Homer for a summer. I love that area!

yes. Those pictures are of our attic. On the dormer sides there is significant crawl space that we didn't utilize. There's enough room in there for full built in cabinets or closets.

The entire length of that dormer, that is available crawl space....

That is very neat. Did you do the dry wall yourselves? If so, WOW! It looks better than what some pros do down here. :)

Is this kind of what your trusses looked like? With walls attached? I've never seen trusses like this. Were they a special order?
Scherer Brothers Lumber Company (http://www.schererbros.com/scripts/SimpleViewer.php?img=truss_roof_index-001.jpg&caption=SuperAttic+Truss+System)

Rhea

yep, those are just like our trusses. we don't have the slanted corners at the ceiling. however, those slants look like they add another foot or 2 to the floor space.

we didn't do the drywall...dh did some horse trading for that. lol.