Home plans

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by SB21, Apr 4, 2020.


  1. SB21

    SB21 Monkey+++

    I have looked at thousands of home floor plans from different sites and architects. And I have found very few that really have what I'm looking for. Just wondering if any of you might have any ideas. I'm looking for the simplest, most efficient, least expensive, most use of space , economical, plans for a possible 3 bedroom home. I'd like to be able to build these in the 12-1500 sq ft range. I'm just trying to see if I could find the simplest , most efficient starter home for people that want to own a home , and could get in one for a reasonable price. If anyone knows of a site with plans in this area , or has a floorplan they like , post them if you'd like. If this isn't allowed here ,, the mods can delete it if I'm out of line. Even if you have ideas to be added. I've tried designing my own plan ,, and have come up with a few ,, but getting ideas from others helps me see what others feel is important to them. Thanks all.
     
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  2. Merkun

    Merkun furious dreamer

    You may be searching for unobtainium. The lowest cost per square foot will not suit you, the layouts will suck. Split entry is what you'll find as lowest cost, but take it from me they are inefficient from a living standpoint, nothing is convenient. (At least the one we had was a royal PIA for space utilization.) I've come to like single floor living, even if the foundation costs are much higher than building up.
     
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  3. Yard Dart

    Yard Dart Vigilant Monkey Moderator

    I have lots of ideas...but this as far as I could get at the moment.....
    Have a central area of focus...build the rest of the house around it. :)

    [​IMG]
     
  4. HK_User

    HK_User A Productive Monkey is a Happy Monkey

    No pictures but I rented a place like that one time.
    Beach house with a Looong step out the back door.
    I do suggest the glass doors be at least 90 degrees from the bar.
    An understanding owner is a must.
     
    Last edited: Apr 4, 2020
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  5. SB21

    SB21 Monkey+++

    I'll agree with all of these points ,, still searching tho. Thank you.
     
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  6. Dunerunner

    Dunerunner Brewery Monkey Moderator

    I'll try to dig some floor plans up for you. I designed my house (floor plan). The builder's architect did the real work, changing some of the room dimensions to lessen the lumber waste and engineering the roof trussing. There are some sketches to scale somewhere.
     
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  7. SB21

    SB21 Monkey+++

    I really appreciate that. I don't want to put you through any extra trouble,, but that's really nice of you. Thank you.
     
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  8. Dunerunner

    Dunerunner Brewery Monkey Moderator

    I just went with what worked and expanded some of the living space from a 1700 sq. ft. format to a 2300 sq. ft. footprint. Redesigned the Entry, Living Room, Master suite, Kitchen, two remaining bedroom spaces and guest bath.

    Other sketches were for much, much smaller homes 1100 to 1400 sq. ft. Pretty sure they are still on one of my other computers, but if not I can recreate them. And, it is no problem.
     
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  9. 3M-TA3

    3M-TA3 Cold Wet Monkey

    Try looking at floor plans for manufactured homes. They are all very efficient because that's the name of the game for them. You can use those as starting points for a stick built home

    Here isa good resource: Palm Harbor Homes | Manufactured Homes, Mobile Homes and Modular Home

    give an Oregon zip code for a large variety of plans - they have a major factory in Millersburg, OR.
     
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  10. 3M-TA3

    3M-TA3 Cold Wet Monkey

    Here are a couple of decent designs under 1250 square feet
    upload_2020-4-4_11-34-38.

    upload_2020-4-4_11-36-35.
     
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  11. Ura-Ki

    Ura-Ki Grampa Monkey

    Design your own!
    Two schools of thought here, 1: a small compact square with the central living area, all other rooms built around that space!
    easy to heat/cool, and easy to secure
    2: Separated rooms, cheaper to heat/cool the one small space as needed, and secondary heat/cool in the other rooms as needed!

    We designed our house as a single level ranch in a "W" shape, with the living/dining room the center point of the "W" and the bed rooms on one wing of the "W", and the utility/pantry, and guest bedroom on the other leg of the "W" it's super easy to heat/cool and still easy to keep secure! We also have a kind of basement, sort of like a root cellar that really helps keep the temps constant, so it's even cheaper to cool the house during the hot months, while during the cold winter, we can regulate the heat better!
     
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  12. Airtime

    Airtime Monkey+++

    A few thoughts:
    - Basements are cheap square footage and if done right (thats a big if) can be nice warm and dry.
    - Consider advanced framing using 2x6 on 24 inch centers and 5/8” drywall. Costs are pretty similar, its more energy efficient, a little quieter and the heavier dry wall gives a little flatter walls a bit more fire resistance.
    - Plan intelligently for an expansion. Costs very little more at front end but can make it far easier to sell if the buyer can see plans for expansion when they are ready.
    - There is a Youtube channel Matt Risinger and his Build Show. Has some good ideas for energy efficiency etc.

    Basements - my thoughts:
    Having had lived through big troubles, like walls caving in, replacing 2 basement walls, water flowing like streams across the floor and then building a basement that is warm and arid dry, I’ve learned a few things.
    - Pour concrete if you can. If that is a no go, then cut out some of the webs and ends on the block to rebar horizontally every two rows and vertically and fill all the block with concrete running a vibrator down the channels for good fill. Have to be careful to not block them off with mortar.
    - Put a vapor barrier on outside (can be tar or better is rubber membrane like Blue Seal) and then put over that a second dimpled polyethylene membrane that stands away from the wall from footer to above grade. Platon is a great product but there are others.
    /
    - Put rigid drain pipe on outside of wall at both bottom of footer and on top of footer at bottom of wall. Cover with gravel and wrap all that with landscape fabric to keep clay particles from clogging the drain. Cover fabric with a good bit of sand. You can even tuck the drain on top of the footer under the dimpled membrane. Put a corrugated drain pipe inside along footer. Run them all independently to daylight or two good sumps (one for inside, one out). You dont want water from exterior drain to flow backwards into the interior drain dumping water under the floor.
    - Put 2” of rigid extruded foam such as Formular 150 on outside of concrete from footer to sill. Design walls to over hang foam (easy with 2x6 studs). Coat the foam above grade with a protective coating like Styro Tuff II. Keeping all the thermal mass of the walls inside the insulation gives the basement and house more stable temps.

    I know from personal experience that the above techniques yields a nice dry basement.
    AT
     
    Last edited: Apr 4, 2020
  13. Merkun

    Merkun furious dreamer

    Very highly recommend making scale drawings, measure some furniture, make scaled cutouts of them and shove them around on your scaled drawings of the rooms. Pretty quick a 10X12 bedroom becomes a cell.
     
  14. SB21

    SB21 Monkey+++

    No basements in the AO I'm looking to build in. More than likely,, just the opposite,, building on pylons would be safer.
     
    Last edited: Apr 4, 2020
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  15. Merkun

    Merkun furious dreamer

    Don't forget your rat wall, and make it high enough to get in and service the stuff that will be in the crawl space. You WILL need access that is critter proof. Put the footers at least a foot deeper than the codes call for.
     
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  16. sec_monkey

    sec_monkey SM Security Administrator

    wut about hurricane resistance??

    [​IMG]

    member dis house??

    it wuz the only one to survive intact
     
  17. SB21

    SB21 Monkey+++

    Yes sir. I do remember that one.
    A buddy of mine knows a girl that had a camper down in that area when that hurricane went thru. She figured it was going to be a total loss. She had it set up on a lot with a small deck set up to the front door. There was a house on both sides of her. Both houses were wiped out. Her camper was slid about 5 feet away from the deck. Moved it back in place and is still using it today.
    It's weird how storms react sometimes. Total destruction on some places , and barely touches other things right beside a demolished property.
     
  18. Ganado

    Ganado Monkey+++

    are you looking for plans or materials or both?

    I did some work for a woman in Texas who builds low income house with tilt up precast concrete walls.
     
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  19. SB21

    SB21 Monkey+++

    Mainly looking for good house plans that are simple , easy builds , with some good ideas to utilize space , etc.
    That's really interesting ,, the tilt up walls. I'd like to see that ,, do you have any pics of that ?? What was the reason for the tilting walls ?? Thanks.
     
  20. Ganado

    Ganado Monkey+++

    Prefab concrete walls cheap, inexpensive indestructible and with foam in between decent insulation... I will see if I can find pics
     
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