Making plans

Things are looking surprisingly doable with this piece of land. I've been cranking out lots of thoughts for the past few weeks, discarding many, and forming the remaining ones into somewhat of a plan. This piece of land is actually supporting many of of the things I had speculated upon in earlier postings, and you will see that these plans incorporate those concepts, as well as many others.

The driveway is naturally at a much lower grade than the land. This works nicely with an earth sheltered design

I think an elevation like this could use space very efficiently, maximize solar benefits from the south facing windows while leaving some south facing roof for hot water and maybe photovoltaic. The north portion of the house will be primarily stairs, storage, & baths.

These windows are just stand ins, but the idea is that the south facade will be covered in windows.

I am working with an engineer to revise this plan moving the house closer to the road to cut costs.

A design like this probably requires a lot of concrete construction, so I'm looking into ICFs. I'm also still trying to come up with a way to shade the main level windows from the summer sun. I would love to hear any critique and suggestions in the comments.

Investigation

The extremely low price on this land is like the flowers I buy my wife after an argument... it would be much nicer if there wasn't a reason for it.

The problem is that the lot slopes up steeper than the town allows a driveway to be built. The seller had started to remedy this situation by digging and removing dirt to lower the grade, but this obviously resulted in a driveway that is channeled much lower than the natural surrounding grade. I find the new contours interesting and appealing, but they will require some serious engineered retaining walls and drainage systems for the town to approve the lot. Right now I am talking to engineers to get an idea of roughly how much all of this work will cost, as how it works into the total price of buying and developing the land.

satellite image with overlayed contours

photo looks down the driveway toward the road

Season One Recap

That was not the greatest cliffhanger ending, but for those still following the show, it is back for another season.

Over the past eight months while this blog has had no activity, I have in fact been doing two very important parts of production; making money and watching the real estate listings.

Finally there appeared a piece of land in a perfect location, which filled our criteria, and fit our budget, so we decided we would go forth with the steps to make an offer.

Well a few days ago a new listing appeared in the online MLS. It was half a mile from the other parcel we were watching, had more appealing terrain, much quietter neighboring land, and cost half as much. It looked promising through my computer screen through the lens of the camera through the window of the airplane that was taking online map photos for Microsoft live maps. But in order to really get a feel for it, I had to walk it with my own feet (in boots, through the mud and snow). I drove up there and rather than walking it, I ended up running it, dancing it, skipping it, and jumping it. It felt perfect. We made our offer the next day, and today it has been accepted.

We stipulated 30 days to perform due dilligence, so (spoiler alert) the next 30 days of posts will be just that, because very much dilligence is due (more on that later).

Wet Land

I've looked over many pieces of earth for sale, but none attract me as much as the lot I posted about previously... that is until I found this wetlands map on the town planning & zoning website which doesn't make the lot look so pretty...

Now, I walked the land with the Realtor, and it only really feels like wetland in a few small patches toward the bottom of the slope, and the lot has been approved for building and septic. The Realtor says this map is old and that wetlands change, and suggests making an offer contingent on the town's approval of the plan.

Even if the build is legal, my question is whether it is wise to build on a lot where water is drawn to, especially when I am very interested in a partially underground structure.

Is there a way to circumvent the water problem? I've got some investigating to do, including a trip to speak with the town Planning and Zoning folks.

Looking at Land

While I haven't posted for a while, I have looked at several pieces of land. One of them in particular has my attention because it is in the perfect location for me and my wife, and has a very low price tag. The cheap price is probably due to a substantial slope in the land down from the road. A real topographical study hasn't been done, but I sketched out some rough lines indicating the terrain:I know that building on a slope can provide some serious challenges, but I think it could provide some unique opportunities as well. I really like the feel of sloping terrain, and I think the fact that the general slope is down toward the south could be advantageous for the passive solar/earth sheltered design that I'm thinking about.

My concerns are that excavation cost would be high, and that the property feels like it is sloping in the bottom of a "valley" and might not receive as much sun as I desire. Here's a close up from Microsoft's Virtual Earth:


The lot is approx 1.75 acres, and is approved with perk tests complete.

Does anybody have precautions I should investigate regarding building on a steep slope, or selecting a piece of land in general?

Two faced

I scribbled out a little sketch showing the general concept I'm looking into:


The idea is to find a site which allows for a private but open outdoor area to the south, shielded by the house whose "back" is turned to the road and the north winds.

The glass explains much of the reasoning.
The functions of glass windows/doors...

good	bad
View the beautiful outdoors	Can reveal unsightly things
Provides an entry/exit	Lessens indoor privacy
Allows sunlight inside
Allows in solar heat energy	Heat is sometimes unwanted (summer)
Can be opened for fresh air	Has very poor insulating properties

Each of these "good" functions are amplified many times when used in the pictured setup, while many of the "bad" are mitigated. Therefore, it makes sense to me to almost exclusively place windows on that one side.

Another concept I'm looking in to is placing an earth berm toward the north of the house. Since I'm not concerned with windows on that side, and earth is a readily & freely available material, walling the house with it could add significantly to the insulation and privacy.