Hey porkchop, question | Construction and DIY projects | Forums

~1200 square feet.

I will respond as a place holder and try to upload pics of the layout.

Well, that's a hard question. We do everything debt free so we basically built it as big as we could for what we could afford at the time. We had already purchased the land, and hindsight being 20/20, we probably would have gone with a different piece of property. Also, I would have orientated our house differently to get better sun exposure. We tucked it into the trees since we don't have A/C, and it does keep us cool in the summer, but we could have mounted solar panels on our roof and gotten passive solar with a different location. Maybe that would have made up for not having A/C, e.g. we could power an A/C unit with the extra sun. We didn't insulate the place as well as we could have -- I didn't know any better when we started building. No question I would have gone with a different foundation over post and pier. Probably a perimeter wall foundation. I would also make sure that we had a dedicated utility closet. We don't and as such it has made some utilities harder to locate. The last part that I have come to learn is that since our house is on the smaller side we really could use a garage of some sort to store boxes, tools, vehicles, etc. We have our barn that we built to hold our solar equipment but it is 75 yards away so it isn't really ideal.

It becomes a slippery slope if you are also asking about how we use solar and other offgrid utilites, etc. Some regrets there we have are not going with more panels initially and not having grid power run out to our location first. We could use the grid power as a source of AC, similar to a generator, to charge our batteries in the winter. As such we have to rely on a cheaper Champion generator which can be a source of failure. We didn't know that running power was as cheap as it would be (well, so they say). ~$2,000. I had a buddy in the construction industry call for me and he said it would be $10,000+. So the truth most likely lies somewhere in the middle. Also, our water comes from a shallow point well. I sunk it myself and water flow is good but it has a heavy iron content that makes it unsuitable for drinking. I would rather we had a deep well. That being said, at a different place on our property is a shallow point well with the best water I have ever tasted. If we had that I would not be complaining.

If you are asking in the context for you and your wife building your cabin on your new acreage then I would recommend that simpler is better. KISS. We are in a different stage of life and need/want running water, septic, etc. Building a place with an outhouse and using a pitcher pump for water would be amazingly simple, use no power, and still get the job done. Wish we could do that but would be very hard for us to change and having 4 kids.

I will try to post back with more when I have the chance. If you have more specific questions let me know.

I drove it with a jackhammer. If you are considering a well for your new place I would definitely recommend trying a shallow point first if you have water within 25 feet. Around me there are a lot of lakes -- I know of one lake where ~75% of homes on the lake get all of their water from a shallow point well. Ours has tested fine multiple times but has an off taste -- which is a bummer because there is another shallow point well 300 feet away on our property that has the best tasting water I have ever tried. All of our sinks, shower, toilet, etc. gets water from this one well. Supply is great and it is all powered by a 1/2 jet pump which is somewhat solar friendly.

I built an insulated pump house on top -- which surprising did not freeze this winter. No heating elements in it. Just rigid foam insulation and I buried a 6" diameter pipe 3 feet down venting into the pump house to let some of the warmer ground air rise up. Looks like it worked.

What's your goal for your new property? For example, no electricity at all? Hand pump water, compost toilet, etc.? Or solar, limited electricity, etc?

I am glad to hear that -- will make your build so much easier. For future use or sale value to you plan on running electrical or plumbing "just in case"? Not saying you should, just wondering if that is part of your plan.