September 29th, 2019 The Build-up to Building

This is how the house will appear from the front of the Farm.
The house is designed to allow visual access to
the entire Farm from the front room.

Since last Thursday we have had permits in hand to build our new house. This early process took about three years to do, the building of the entire house won't take nearly as long. But taking the correct first step will take a little bit longer. Since we got our permits fairly late in the year, deciding to dig our foundation footings now might run us into early rains. So, for now, we will prepare carefully to dig our footings, then wait for the right time to actually break the ground.

From the back the house isn't as interesting. But since the house is fairly close to the back
of the Farm, and there is a large kennel behind the house made from half of our current
tiny house, it doesn't need to be very interesting. 

We are doing the entire build ourselves. Not just general contracting, where we hire people to come do parts of the project, our hands will do all of the work. Some might way this is a daunting task. They would be right. We have much to learn. Luckily for us, most of the skills we will need we have already been learned from twenty years of business in building related trades. Still and all though, it will be difficult and there will be much more to learn.

This is the side where the bedroom and bath will be located.
The bedroom is located at the farthest point away from the road.
The windows above the porch in this area are there to light the attic.

The first part of the project will be laying in a square and level foundation. Past this, the project is decidedly easier. The framing, plumbing, electrical, siding, insulation, and roofing are all pretty straight forward. Each part has a definite start, middle, and end. Each part has a definite cost and parts requirement. Each part comes in a specific order. So, barring unforeseen circumstances, once the foundation is laid the rest of the build will be done in about six months. We will continue to work the Farm and build the kennel during the house build, but there is time for everything.

You can click on this to see a bigger picture.
The house is simple and relatively small.

This is the site plan with elevations. The blue parts are access.
The red parts are things that used to  be on the Farm
This image isn't really true to the actual scale
but it seemed to make the County happy.