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Castles in the Mud, GFF's "Intelligent Domicile" build thread

boostindoubles

Nacho Libre
Mar 16, 2004
8,500
7,093
Yakistan
Thats retail my friend, if you have at least a 1,000 gal tank you qualify for bulk prices from a distributor, you just have schedule it far ahead of time, out peak season and pay in cash.
Yeah thats two nice things about having a bigger than necessary tank -

1. Better pricing
2. Fill tank around seasonal cheap pricing rather than peak heating season.
 

gonefirefightin

free wieners
Bit of an update, Currently waiting on DEQ and the county for permits

Well was drilled

200' overall, Bedrock at 190'
100' of 6" steel casing
120' of 4" PVC perf sitting on bedrock
80' of 4" PVC liner in the casing
55 GPM
100 ppm of TDS
130' static water level

Solar well pump, panels, controller, and pressure switches have arrived, need to pour concrete and build a pump house and pump puller to install the pump. Waiting on DEQ for the septic so I can have an excavator on site for both installs.


Got the floorplan render back from the architect,

Screenshot 2024-07-15 at 9.25.34 PM.png



Pretty stoked on the layout and glad I had the time to draw my own plans so early in the process, the architect is one of the few residential ICF-specific engineers so it comes with the stamp.

If ya got any questions on parts of the plan I can offer up some images that will explain the madness behind it
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,951
8,881
what's the crab shack?

the walls with dotted lines are the ICF ones?

where are your tanks going to live?
 

gonefirefightin

free wieners
what's the crab shack?

The Architect was calling it that since I was explaining what the use for it was, it's essentially an adaptation of the "dogtrot" from the original plan's inspiration except it has glass garage doors on each end for when the weather is nasty or windy.

1721136977919.png


Basically an outdoor kitchen/dining area in a covered breezeway. A place where I can cook, clean, and smoke meats, fish crab ect without making the house smell.



the walls with dotted lines are the ICF ones?

Yes, just the house is ICF, I am building everything else with the lumber from the ICF bracing

where are your tanks going to live?

LPG and Water tanks will be up against the trees on the SE corner behind the garage.
 

chuffer

Turbo Monkey
Sep 2, 2004
1,844
1,200
McMinnville, OR
Looks very cool! Lots of interesting details. My only two comments:

I really miss having a slop sink next to the washing machine. Although, having the washer & dryer in the wic, may make that impossible. Are you gonna have a slop sink somewhere? Garage? Mud room?

No patio or balcony off the master BR?

Again, lots of cool stuff.
 

gonefirefightin

free wieners
Looks very cool! Lots of interesting details. My only two comments:

I really miss having a slop sink next to the washing machine. Although, having the washer & dryer in the wic, may make that impossible. Are you gonna have a slop sink somewhere? Garage? Mud room?

No patio or balcony off the master BR?

Again, lots of cool stuff.
There will be two giant utility sinks, one in the crabshack/dogtrot and one in the garage. The master has a corner on it so I can add a wind wall and pergola with a concrete patio, gas hot tub right out the french doors. just not part of the plans
 

gonefirefightin

free wieners
The plans look really good. Really like the connecting room between the garage and house.
Had to have a formal entrance and spot to drop the rubber boots, rain gear ect. The original plan didn't have a formal front door so it was easier just to make a connector and create one. It will make more sense when the architect comes back with the elevations and roof plans
 

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,738
1,251
NORCAL is the hizzle
Looks great! Love the crab shack concept and ability to open and close it when wanted. Also good to have guest bed on the other side of the crab shack if it can't be completely separate. A bit of distance/privacy can be good even for the best of friends, let alone all the random monkeys who will be coming over... :thumb:
 

gonefirefightin

free wieners
This must be the girlfriend's design because that's way too classy for you, my man. :rofl:





It's more of an adaptation and amalgamation of all the houses I've worked on in the past. Little tidbits, parts n pieces I've liked from other custom homes. There wasn't much to design since I already had it in my head and notes. The shape is made just to maximize the view lot.

The real "classy" parts will show once the sheetrock and siding go up.
 

gonefirefightin

free wieners
Looks great! Love the crab shack concept and ability to open and close it when wanted. Also good to have guest bed on the other side of the crab shack if it can't be completely separate. A bit of distance/privacy can be good even for the best of friends, let alone all the random monkeys who will be coming over... :thumb:
Everyone is invited to drop in anytime! except for Toshi of course, who can stay next door with his parents.
 

gonefirefightin

free wieners
Due to impending tariffs and import hikes, I decided to get the off grid solar components that would be the most affected by politics.

Screenshot 2024-07-23 at 10.30.44 AM.png




All of the small stuff such as PV wire, large cable, PV disconnects, breakers, array mounts, grounding, and terminals I can source locally or online for much cheaper than Signature Solar was selling for.
 

Colonel Angus

Turbo Monkey
Feb 15, 2005
1,009
584
land of the green chiles
Bit of an update, Currently waiting on DEQ and the county for permits

Well was drilled

200' overall, Bedrock at 190'
100' of 6" steel casing
120' of 4" PVC perf sitting on bedrock
80' of 4" PVC liner in the casing
55 GPM
100 ppm of TDS
130' static water level

Solar well pump, panels, controller, and pressure switches have arrived, need to pour concrete and build a pump house and pump puller to install the pump. Waiting on DEQ for the septic so I can have an excavator on site for both installs.


Got the floorplan render back from the architect,

View attachment 215065


Pretty stoked on the layout and glad I had the time to draw my own plans so early in the process, the architect is one of the few residential ICF-specific engineers so it comes with the stamp.

If ya got any questions on parts of the plan I can offer up some images that will explain the madness behind it
That is a very strange floor plan. I hope it was influenced by some constraints of the building site. Otherwise there is a lot a wasted space and inefficient use of building materials.
 

CBJ

year old fart
Mar 19, 2002
13,221
5,210
Copenhagen, Denmark
That is a very strange floor plan. I hope it was influenced by some constraints of the building site. Otherwise there is a lot a wasted space and inefficient use of building materials.
I'm not an architect but I thought it looked pretty good. Where are the problems you see?

My only concern is the guest bedroom is on the small side. I need better facilities for me month long stay!
 

gonefirefightin

free wieners
That is a very strange floor plan. I hope it was influenced by some constraints of the building site. Otherwise there is a lot a wasted space and inefficient use of building materials.
It was totally designed to get the most out of the views and the constraints of the pad, I had to move over 18k cubic yards of dirt in order to create a pad large enough to build the minimum 1800 sq feet as required in the CC&R's, Also it is a very efficient use of materials and space as the house itself is all insulated concrete form that will essentially be a net zero construction with 6" concrete walls but the rest of the floorplan such as the hallway connector and garage is being built by the wood bracing for the ICF walls. The only possible place where there may be "wasted space" is the hallway connector but that was simply to create a true formal front entrance and have a place out of the rain and weather to don and doff the rain gear/fishing gear ect...

I guess it would help if did an overlay of sorts to show the constraints I had to work with. The lot in its entirety is only 1.2 acres, I have just enough room for the floorplan, the septic system, the solar arrays and enough asphalt to turn around a boat in the driveway, the topography uses the rest of the property.

Here is a shot looking from the NE of the pad so you can get an idea of the views and directions you can see the tape stretched out along the view side of the property that directly looks over the bay facing the bay bridge directly. you can also get an idea of the topography loss.

Screenshot 2024-04-28 at 8.25.59 PM.png



This is the grand layout of the scheme, using the whole west side of the house as view points, essentially that whole west side of the house will be 6 foot tall windows


The photo below is of the same day with the truck in the same spot but oriented north, so you can see how the west side of the house is all the views but still have enough room for a garage and shop and cutting the driveway 40 foot wide allows a space for all the solar array off the side of the driveway.

Screenshot 2024-07-24 at 8.29.57 AM Large.jpeg
 

SkaredShtles

Michael Bolton
Sep 21, 2003
68,022
14,259
In a van.... down by the river
It was totally designed to get the most out of the views and the constraints of the pad, I had to move over 18k cubic yards of dirt in order to create a pad large enough to build the minimum 1800 sq feet as required in the CC&R's, Also it is a very efficient use of materials and space as the house itself is all insulated concrete form that will essentially be a net zero construction with 6" concrete walls but the rest of the floorplan such as the hallway connector and garage is being built by the wood bracing for the ICF walls. The only possible place where there may be "wasted space" is the hallway connector but that was simply to create a true formal front entrance and have a place out of the rain and weather to don and doff the rain gear/fishing gear ect...

I guess it would help if did an overlay of sorts to show the constraints I had to work with. The lot in its entirety is only 1.2 acres, I have just enough room for the floorplan, the septic system, the solar arrays and enough asphalt to turn around a boat in the driveway, the topography uses the rest of the property.

Here is a shot looking from the NE of the pad so you can get an idea of the views and directions you can see the tape stretched out along the view side of the property that directly looks over the bay facing the bay bridge directly. you can also get an idea of the topography loss.

View attachment 215526


This is the grand layout of the scheme, using the whole west side of the house as view points, essentially that whole west side of the house will be 6 foot tall windows


The photo below is of the same day with the truck in the same spot but oriented north, so you can see how the west side of the house is all the views but still have enough room for a garage and shop and cutting the driveway 40 foot wide allows a space for all the solar array off the side of the driveway.

View attachment 215527
There's a requirement for a *minimum* of 1800sq ft? WTF?
 

gonefirefightin

free wieners
I'm just saying that having minimum sq ft requirements is fuckin' stooooopid. :disgust:
High dollar hill and they want to keep the overall equity up in the "subdivision" if you could call it that. Every house in the hood is at least 2 stories and over 4k sq feet, a couple are over 9k. It was the only part in the CC&R's that I didn't quite agree with but was workable considering the view and price. NO HOA or enforcement though, so I could have got away with less but I wanted to use all the view possible.
 

gonefirefightin

free wieners
NOT IN MY BACK YARD!! :rolleyes:
I truly believe that my lot, the lot to the north, and Toshis folk's lot are the three best single pieces of property in the county, and for the price, I just couldn't pass it up. The hill is roughly 420 feet above sea level so there is no risk of tsunami impact, it is quite the jaunt out of town and very secluded from nefarious areas and essentially the end of the road and a very convoluted steep road system that actually really doesn't bode well for the door to door type encounters. The neighbors are great, I haven't had any issues with any of them really, they all seem to just chip in on the roads and stay in their own lane. My specific lot is very sheltered from the coastal winds, thus is why I designed as such to essentially not even be phased by the elements and having a low profile. But overall it is close enough to town, the sand and boat launches that it's not a trek or inconvenience compared to most places I have lived in the sticks. There is no real threat from wildfire since the proximity to the coast and the bay has enormous RH recoveries every night and the prevailing winds are nowhere near the site direction. If there was a wildfire it would be behind the lot and carry away from the lot. Even at this point, I could essentially sell the lot as is with all the excavation done, the well, and septic permits and get more than twice what it was purchased for so it was very feasible economically
 

gonefirefightin

free wieners
Yeah - my commentary has nothing to do with your plans/plot/work - just a general comment on the stupidity of things like sq ft requirements like that...
it's essentially the Bel Aire/Hollywood hills of the county, I am surrounded by docs, lawyers, and the business titans of the county. If you tell someone you live up off of East Bay you can immediately see the change in demeanor and stance as if it is a status monicker And now I have been determined to be the "guy" who keeps the roads in shape as I donate the cost of the road grader and the operator prowess. There is only one other spot in town that has that status and the lots were significantly smaller and were littered with HOA rules and enforcement and stuck-up people, that area is called Glasgow Heights and they have significant issues with trespassers, criminal activity and noise as it is essentially just off the bridge and next to hwy 101. Twas a no brainer
 

gonefirefightin

free wieners
alright, taking bets on how long after gff takes occupancy that he gets bored and moves.
nope, not gonna happen, been traveling the country for the last 3 years and then some before that looking for these two spots, the Oregon coast and a place in AZ to escape the coast winters. it gets pretty dreary here in Jan and feb. As soon as I get this place built I will then start building the place in AZ. It will be a much smaller and simpler place as it will essentially be used for maybe 3-5 months a year.

This is what I will build in Southern Arizona, located roughly 15 min north of Nogales


Still debating if to buy a double wide in the Florida keys but that is still tentative on the zoning down there but that would be just to have a place to keep a boat and fish, not sure if it will be cost effective yet or not versus just not owning anything and just visiting for weeks at a time.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
89,116
27,297
media blackout
Still debating if to buy a double wide in the Florida keys but that is still tentative on the zoning down there but that would be just to have a place to keep a boat and fish, not sure if it will be cost effective yet or not versus just not owning anything and just visiting for weeks at a time.
i recall reading once that unless you're visiting somewhere more than i think 3 or 4 weeks a year, it's not worth buying.

its definitely not worth buying what will eventually be seafloor.