Building a house. Advice needed

My advice is simple. Buy a brand damn new F-350 King Ranch edition Lariat,4x4 with a back up camera.
Then live in the box it came in.
Problem solved!
Sarcasm "might" be involved in this post. Tread very lightly.
 
Paul said:
My advice is simple. Buy a brand damn new F-350 King Ranch edition Lariat,4x4 with a back up camera.
Then live in the box it came in.
Problem solved!
Sarcasm "might" be involved in this post. Tread very lightly.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good suggestion to me. You sleep in a truck, and you can sleep in a house...but you can only drive one.
 
UTfball68 said:
Sounds like a good suggestion to me. You sleep in a truck, and you can sleep in a house...but you can only drive one.
Click to expand...

x2...I've been told if it ever comes down to making the house payment or car payment; you can sleep in a car, but you can't drive a house!
 
Paul said:
My advice is simple. Buy a brand damn new F-350 King Ranch edition Lariat,4x4 with a back up camera.
Then live in the box it came in.
Problem solved!
Sarcasm "might" be involved in this post. Tread very lightly.
Click to expand...
Might as well! If you load it out with every option, you'll be about $90,000.:flipoff2:
 
awheelterd said:
@shawn building was not my first choice. We've been looking for 5yrs and nothing we wanted has come up in the area we want to live. We live in norther johnston county and unless you want a double wide or a 70's ,1500 sqft ranch, 50ft off the road on 1/2 acre theres not much to choose from. We wanted acreage and found that last year. We got 26 acres on a road off the main road. 15 on the side of the road we want to build on and 10 across the street, nc dot occupies the other acre, yay! I have a pretty small area I "need" to libe in. I didn't want to be more than 5 mins away from our business bc we have shifts working at night and I have to go in if anyone has a problem. Yay family business!

I plan to sub at least part of it out myself. We just finished building a new plant at work and I really liked working with several of the subs and know a few others personally that I want to work with. The "builder" who will oversee it all is a guy Ive gone to church with for most of my life that builds a lot of really nice custom homes. He'll take care of everything that I l don't have a guy for. He was the one who suggested we do it this way to save me money. Also I'm anal as all get out and will be out there at least once a day, regardless of who's GC.

@Ron and @rockcity yup, eastern nc, high water table. Not fing with a basement. It's too flat and close to water to deal with that bs.

@Mac5005 I've been reading that website and it's part of what has my head spinning right now with what to do :lol: do you do sealed crawlspaces? I'm only 45 mins from rocky mt...

@kaiser715 thanks for the info/advice. I'm leaning towards 2x4. We'll be 200yds off the road with no neighbors in sight so the sound deadenin isn't too necessary. I guess price will really dictate that one.

Everyone who said it's going to be tough on our marriage... don't think I don't already know. Picking out and agreeing on house plans is tough enough. I'm sure the rest will be a joy. But like I said above, there aren't any other real options around here.
Click to expand...

Your reply and a lot of the others alluded to the reasons I think building your own place should be the option of last resort. Millions of decisions, millions of ways to fuck it up or get fucked over, etc.

Vapor barrier with properly lapped seams, no wall vents, and a dehumidifier is probably all you need in the crawl space. Completely air-sealed is fine, I'm just not sure it would make a measurable difference in a new house.

2x4" exterior walls with R13 or R15 batts is fine, and you'll never notice any differences related to R19 or 2x6 walls. Depending on what material you're using to clad the house, I'd consider continuous insulation on the exterior (outboard of the air barrier), but detailing around the windows and doors and finding good subs who know how to work with that sort of system might prove difficult.

Figure 9 is a pretty good starting point, but again, continuous insulation from a residential contractor... meh.
BSI-001: The Perfect Wall

Poly vapor barriers are not appropriate for our climate zone. Exterior air barriers on the sheathing are critical. Kraft paper facing on the insulation is fine. If you have it, fine. If not, fine. Install GWB on all of the exterior walls and ceilings and paint it. I'd pay a lot more attention to how the insulation is installed than whether or not it had kraft paper.

Most of sound transmission prevention is related to good windows and doors (air sealing!), exterior wall finishes (air sealing!), sheathing continuity (air sealing!), etc. Batts deaden reverberations in the cavity, but the stud framing transmits vibrations regardless of the batts. You don't see a big jump in STC ratings until you go with resilient channels, double-framed walls, etc.

Siting the house is incredibly important, and can create or exacerbate problems that you worked to solve in other (much more expensive) ways.
 
Ron said:
Don't know, ill ask though.

Text sent
Click to expand...
I'd like info also. As noted by others building can be a marital strain. I know my wife well enough to say we can't do anything til she can lay eyes on it, touch and feel it. I had a hard enough time finding a camper to suit us both. So modular or at least walk in models or the neighbors, friends house is how she basis every decision. Extremely visual with no vision. Does that make sense?
 
jeepinmatt said:
What company did he use?
Click to expand...


Talked to Gene last night, finally.
Said he used Taheel Custom Modular (isnt that an oxymoronic name) out of Denver.
Said the owner/guy he worked with is now stick/site building homes instead of "factory" building. But that there were a "couple" companies around Denver/Newton that he talked to before going with them.
 
My wife (fiance) and I cleared the lot for our house in Nov or Dec 2006, graduated college in Dec '06. I started my job 1/23/07, got married 5/5/07, and she started grad school that fall. We had planned to live with my parents for a month or 2 after the wedding, but the house wasn't finished until Jul '08... talk about stressful. You'll be fine o_O
 
Back
Top