still thinking it out, never said i was fast.

1-4-2015

More on planning

back in the days when log cabins were simple  

     Just spent a half hour trying to remove an erroneous underline from my word document and I am sure there is a button I pushed somewhere that led me on an OCD adventure of trying to rid myself of that nuisance . It is kind of hard to write when things are just not right.  I am feeling much better as now I can get on to my subject at hand and that is planning my senior home, and addressing the issues in the preliminary planning phase of bedrooms and the single floor concept of designing the perfect for me senior house.

    I guess if one is going to build a new place or remodel then time needs to be set aside to really search your soul to try and make things right the first time around. Here I won’t have a do over as it will take most of my resources and time to build the house I want to build. That is even though I still am not entirely clear as to what exactly that is and it will be a work in progress as I intend sharing completely with you.

      Working with logs is kind of permanent. Regular stud frame wall construction can easily be retrofitted to something else down the road, whereas logs are not that easily changed, and are most of the time support load bearing walls. Chainsaw’s are the carpenter’s choice of tools to cut in a needed window, or door later on. It is easier to build the log walls right the first time than it is to return to your work later on and make modifications.

     So in my small little mind I am trying to lay out exactly where things will go, kitchen and living room and bath on one floor, with a murphy bed in the wall or cleverly hid in the ceiling where at a push of a button would lower and offer me an extra bed to use as a senior room or as an extra guest bedroom . The advantage of having a bed suspended on cables is that I could have it raise or lower to suit my needs or anyone else’s needs to properly be at the right height when extending your feet over the side of the bed to get up.

    I would build a recess in the ceiling to allow the bed to disappear completely allowing me full access to my living room .recessed lighting on the side of storage area could create a mood that will enhance the whole living room and completely disguise the fact that the bed is over your head. Locks cleverly disguised will prevent the bed from falling when not in use.

      This will allow me the ability to utilize only the first floor when I am at that point where I need to be on one level. I am not there yet and desire to have a master bedroom and still also a place I could have guests sleep if they come over to visit. I intend to add a second floor and as long as I am able, and will try and negotiate circular stair case as it protrudes from a wall as opposed to one from a central pole. This will be in the rear corner of the house and will lead to a closed in master bedroom on the second floor with an outside entrance and patio outside the bedroom taking advantage of the elevation difference of the area where I intend to build on the second floor. I am working on the drawings and will hopefully have something for you to view soon, as well as some sketches of what the outside will look like as I go along here.

       Another point I would like to make at this time, and that is the orientation of the house to the winter sun, and to the rest of the buildings on the property. I have mentioned before that I would like to have view over all other consideration when designing the house, although I intend to use solar arrays as a means of providing at least some of my electricity and also a windmill is not out of the question as I go along. I think any investment made into these technologies now will give you independence from local utilities and if nothing else much needed back up electricity that one can go to in unexpected emergencies.

    Also I intend to utilize very  little electricity in my overall design, allowing windows to provide much needed light when our gray days disappears and sunshine appears. I also intend to supplement light with new LED technologies using less energy. The back side of the house will still be south facing even when aligned with pond, and the roof will have solar panels installed over a metal roof and at the proper angle, this with the absence of trees should give me the proper amount of sunlight when available to fill part of my electrical needs on a daily basis. Battery storage is a design consideration I need to take into account and may be located in a box outside the house itself to prevent accidental explosion of batteries or fire to affect the house itself. Limiters and electrical regulating equipment can be installed to make these alternative sources of power much safer, still I would feel better if that was a stand away unit instead, as batteries still give off noxious fumes.

      Skylights and windows will also be used to make the house inside appear much brighter than normal, and I Intend to make full advantage of both to bring the outside in with a main focal point of the pond as the major emphasis of my design parameters. I will try and look for all energy efficient windows when I buy my windows to assure I conserve energy where possible.

       As opposed to a conventional fireplace, I intend to use a wood stove that allows me to view the flame eliminating the need for a drafty fireplace although the fireplace does add a country charm to the overall cabin look, I still have to be safe and maintain it and feed it wood which may be a problem as I get older. Currently I have natural gas but doubt that it will be there in the next twenty years so I need to plan now on how I am going to heat that is efficient and dependable even in emergency situations.

     Consideration is still being given to having a central type combination wood, pellet and gas stove located in the older section with a warm water loop running through greenhouse and into the main house and heating the floors, with a  multi fuel heater , I could start on gas or propane and switch  to wood or wood pellets as I went along making starting of the wood much easier and providing heat through a closed loop system, this would assure warm floors and if the floors are warm then rest of the house will be warm as heat still rises.

      I wasn’t planning on a basement but instead a crawl space or at least removable panels and a conduit system where as the pipes would be laid in trough’s to allow easy access to plumbing and electrical components.  I had mentioned earlier also that I intend to have water storage below the floor centrally located to provide water during emergencies and also for use in recirculating through waterfalls features located outside. This way even if I have an emergency then this water could be used to flush the toilet and for showers if absolutely necessary, this water would be filtered to assure cleanliness.

       These are all aspects of design consideration I am considering as I go along here. My first step is harvesting all the logs I need and I am well underway in that process and have a considerably large pile of wood with a lot more to bring in. the other main item I have to do is settle on a final design of the overall look I am going to achieve. I have been thinking on that a lot and I am starting to form a vision of what I can realistically achieve by myself with what I have available to me. I will make more available as I go along and settle on some ideas and actually put them in plan form. 

   

glad i don't need all of this , they have as much wood in train trestle as in the woods.