Our Responsible Home
It's no secret that homes have gotten bigger over the last 20 to 50 years. Owning a home is still considered part of the American Dream and the bigger the home, the higher the perceived social status; therefore, bigger should be better, right?
OUR STORY
In 2013 after we got married, Joe and I decided that our town home was no longer suitable for us, especially with kids in the foreseeable future. It wasn't too small, it was too vertical.
Before we started searching, we discussed at length the type of home we wanted. We also discussed design, the feeling we wanted people to have in our home, how we wanted it to perform (energy costs), and what we wanted to represent. We loved the idea of a tiny house, but a space that size is not good for kids and our county's building codes were not amicable to homes less than 1200 sqft. We also did not want, nor could we afford the micro mansion that you see in many of our new local developments.
After months of searching and not locating a house that made sense for our needs, we decided to look for land. We created a new budget and started searching north into Canton, Jasper, Ball Ground, Ellijay, and even Blue Ridge. After almost a year of searching, we purchased a 3+ acre, undeveloped parcel in Woodstock (pics below).
We agreed to spend more that our budgeted amount for the land, so we could remain geographically close to our friends, family, community, and our life in Woodstock. Once we closed on the land, we started working on the design with these criteria:
1. Keep it natural, minimal tree removal
2. Eco-friendly (within reason)
3. Cabin like
4. At least 1 porch, preferably 2
5. Space to grow into and finish later, but not wasteful
6. Stay in budget
7. Open space for people to roam and hangout
8. Option to live on 1 level as we get older
9. Keep it simple - Box shaped designs are simple and cheaper to build
10. Hallways, 1/2 baths, giant closets, giant bedrooms, and giant bathrooms are wasted space. Do you really need 200-300sqft to $*&!, shower, and shave?
11. Carport instead of a garage
12. Function over form
DESIGN
Rather than immediately contracting with an architect, we looked at 1000's of house plans online. After an exhausting search, we went to the land with wooden stakes, orange contractor ribbon, and used those to create a box that would one day contain our home. The box helped us visualize which trees would need to be removed. Once we had our box, we looked at plans that fit within that box and located a plan that was good, but not great. We modified the floor plan using graph paper and a pencil until we finished an acceptable plan to take to our builder then onto their architect. Pictured below is the Main Level Floor Plan (1880 sqft) and yes, there are 2 front doors. We also added features to the design that would allow us to live there as senior citizens, such as the ability to live on 1 level and making the master shower access wide enough for a wheel chair.
ENERGY
As part of our Eco-friendly design, we elected to use 6" exterior framing for the walls which allowed for 6" of open cell spray foam insulation throughout the house (including the framing in the unfinished basement), a galvalume metal roof, argon gas filled windows, industrial sized ducting, and a Waterfurnace Geothermal HVAC System. A byproduct of the geothermal unit's cycle is hot water; therefore, we installed the most energy efficient tanked water heater. The tank provided a drum of water for the geothermal unit to circulate as it runs. We also considered the position of the home for optimal natural light and for as much passive solar benefit as possible with the forest.
All of our choices increased our initial building cost but would equate to much lower energy costs over time. We elected not to include solar as part of our energy plan due to the copious amount of canopy trees that would have been removed to make solar energy viable on our roof. We did have 2 conduits run through our master closet from the basement to the roof should we decide to install solar later. We had 3 ceiling fans installed in the main space to help condition the loft and reduce heating/cooling cost by circulating the air; there are also ceiling fans in every bedroom. All of the light bulbs both inside and out are LED's (see #2).
After being in our home for almost 3 years, our average electric bill for 3600 sqft of conditioned space (main level and basement) is $105.00 per month. Pictured below is our actual energy usage report from January 2016 to present. Before we started the build, we estimated that it would take 8-10 years for our geothermal system to pay for itself with the energy savings vs a traditional HVAC system. Choosing to use geothermal was one of our best decisions.
Rather than paying to install a gas line for the cook-top and the 2 wood burning fireplaces, we chose to purchase and bury a propane tank in the yard. This allows us to take advantage of current, cheaper gas prices and will fill our tank as needed based on consumption. On a side note and during our construction, we had a friend building their slightly larger home in a local neighborhood. He was shocked when he saw their initial electric bill was more than $500. Many families forget long term utility cost in their new home budget.
INTERIOR
Fixtures, granite, stone, ship-lap, bead board, other aesthetics, etc. were all secondary focuses. I believe that too much of today's mass-produced ADHD home buyers focus on the aesthetics rather than the home's performance. Yet another reason why flippers mostly focus on aesthetics. We did not care what kind of counter tops were installed as long as I could cook on them, they were easy to clean, and in budget! Fortunately, when we selected our counters, we went to the cheap section of the granite yard, found 2 that worked perfectly and were under budget.
I made the majority of our towel rods, toilet paper holders, hand towel holders, etc. and installed them myself after we moved in. Since we were in the adoption process, we chose not to purchase a lot of new furniture. Our kitchen table and the associated benches and chairs were the only exception.
Being able to grow into a home means not finishing everything during the initial build. We have a fully stubbed and unfinished, but fully conditioned basement to add at 2 more bedrooms, a bathroom, and a basement living room later. Choosing to build down into the ground rather than up also helped us to reduce our energy costs and utilize the ground as insulation. The loft (plant shelf) above the kitchen was also left inaccessible without an A-frame ladder to climb over the railing. We recently had a local contractor install an accordion style, metal loft ladder in the kitchen ceiling and plan to convert that space into the office since it has Ethernet, carpet, and electrical.
Even though we have been here for a while, we still have yet to put anything up on the walls and are still are not sure that we need too...
Our home near the end of construction
IN THE END
We moved in on December 23rd, 2015, and hosted Christmas dinner 2 days later with hardly any furniture. Yes... we could live in a smaller home; however, we utilize all of our space. We built our home to be a warm and inviting place for friends and family, a place we could live forever with minimal utility costs, and a daily getaway from the daily stresses of life with a Reformation on the front porch. We hoped that our Front Porch would be the "attitude" for our home and thus far, we feel like we've accomplished our goal.
As a married couple of less than 3 years, our marriage survived the build, and we learned a lot about each other too...
SUGGESTIONS
Before you purchase, build, move into, etc. a new home, consider the following:
How much crap do you have and can you reduce that amount? The less stuff you have, the less space you need... REMEMBER: the avg home cost is around $150 per square foot. HINT: your closet space will reflect your hoarding consumerism, larger closets equate to more stuff, and smaller closets equate to less stuff.
What do you NEED vs WANT in a home? (HINT: you will NEVER need granite countertops, farmhouse style, stone work, a farm sink, etc. but you may need 3 or 4 bedrooms if you have multiple children, an office if you work from home, etc. Any aesthetic feature will always be a WANT unless is affects the home's performance).
Is this a forever home; how long do you plan to live there? If forever, what will your family look like in 5 years, 10 years, etc.? Will you need room to expand and how can you prepare for that now? Will you be able to live in your home as a senior citizen?
If you have children, do they all need their own bedroom and bathroom? HINT: The answer will likely always be either NO or MAYBE, rarely every will it be YES. Think, how did you grow up? For Ex: if you have 2 boys and a girl, can the boys share a bedroom and all 3 kids share a bathroom?
Will you need to prepare to care for any aging parents, relatives, friends, etc. now or later?
What will be your home's total expenses per month (mortgage, homeowners insurance, taxes, utility bills, long term maintenance costs, etc.) and as utility costs rise, can you afford to live in that home "as is?"
If you or your family is considering buying and/or building a home and you want to see ours, chat about designs, chat about eco-friendly building methods, etc., message me, and let's chat.
Have a good one,
Dan
