Design III - Inspiration

Originally, I had planned to start into the technical details of the house design in this post.  Things like control layers, orientation, and heat loss.  However, it occurred to me that any design needs a starting point, an inspiration.

If you ask a novelist where they get their inspiration for a book, I expect the answer would vary with each individual author.  The same is probably true with people who design homes.

For me, in the beginning at least, I had some starting points.  A few images, some houses seen from the road, and some mental expectations of what might suit us.  From there, it has been, and continues to be, an incremental process of learning what questions to ask.

Design II - Tools

This is the second post in a series of Design related topics.

As mentioned in my first post, I decided to do the design for the home myself.  This entails producing construction drawings, a floor plan, a septic plan and a site plan.  Within the construction drawings umbrella, there are many individual drawings.  For example, elevations or assembly details.

Once the decision was made that I would be doing this myself, the next step was to gather the necessary tools.

Some folks like to get out the pencil and paper.  For me, however, the computer seemed like a logical choice.  So far, three basic tools make up my design kit.

Design I - Getting Started

This is the first in a series of posts that relate to the design phase of building a home.



Build, Design, Both?

It was always my intent to do the physical work.  My background is in construction, specifically in bridge work.  My father made a living for most of his life as a builder.  My brother has been a general contractor for over a decade.  So the idea of hiring a contractor to do the framing, foundation, site work and a myriad of other tasks that make up the building of a home was never in the cards.  I would swing the hammer, with as much help from friends and family as I could get.  

The story so far

First post, just to bring readers up to speed.



On the Hunt

It is near the end of August, 2014.  We have been hunting for a property for a while now, and the search is starting to wear on us.  We are, however, resolved to find one that suits us.

Criteria for a building site is a list of potential compromises.  No site is ever perfect.  Below is our list, which is roughly in order of descending importance.