How to build utility room on slab under piling house?
Warren White
5 months ago
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Patricia Colwell Consulting
5 months agolast modified: 5 months agoDeWayne
5 months agoRelated Discussions
Care 2 Share? How Much Did your Home cost to Build?
Comments (30)$360,000 to build + $200,000 for 40 acres with 330' lakeshore in MN. The cost to build includes about $30,000 for gravel driveway, $7,500 for underground electricity, well for $6,250 and $10,500 for septic. 4 BR/2.5 bath. 1,450 sq ft main finished, 1,100 2nd level finished, 1,450 basement unfinished, 780 bonus room unfinished. 2-car garage unfinished, 28'x28'=780 sq ft. Colonial variation with 6 dormers. 9' ceilings throughout including basement. Open floor plan two story great room/kitchen/dining room. Master BR and laundry on Main Floor. Split-faced block, Hardiboard siding. 8/12 pitch with architectural 40-yr shingles. Upper mid-level finishes. Large porcelain tile, BR-111 Amendoim wood floor, 48" stainless steel double oven stove with custom 48" range hood, maple stair treads and railings with white balusters, maple fireplace hearth surround, custom mudroom lockers, geothermal HVAC including radiant floor in basement plus desuperheater, garage and bathroom tile floors, closed cell sprayfoam insulation, quality vinyl argon-filled casement windows. Finished building August, 2009. Hopefully plan on never moving. I was nervous building in a severe market collapse because I didn't know what would happen if our appraisal was less than what it cost to build. Local lender really helped as well as one-time close construction to permanent loan as they had an incentive to get it closed. I was technically the GC although we had an experienced, quality builder. I did the tile, wood floors, built master shower, painting, basement waterproofing, interior and exterior drain tile, much of radiant tubing and below slab insulation, closet systems, pantry, low voltage wiring including Cat6 and coax to multiple locations in each room, security wiring, music system and speaker wiring, fireplace mantle, hearth and surround, etc. On-site every day after work and many days before work too and every weekend....See MoreBuilding in Maine - basement, slab, or crawlspace?
Comments (27)"Basements Vs slabs", Practically all basements have slabs and most of them have plumbing underneath, same for 99.99% of commercial buildings. Not building a slab (or basement) for plumbing fears is typical for DIY types unfamiliar with concrete work. Designed and built right, there should be no reason to tear up the concrete in one's lifetime. If it does need to be redone, it's still light construction and not a problem for professional contractors. Building a basement or crawlspace below variable water tables can be appropriate if there is enough topography to daylight the drainage. Relying on pumps is a recipe for eventual failure. The wetter the site, the bigger the concern. Daylighted drainage that works by gravity, should be designed well, with plenty of clean gravel, silt protection and cleanouts. If your builder or grader shows up with corrugated, single wall PE, better call in an experienced civil engineer. It sounds like your lot is ideal for a stemwall slab, basically a crawlspace filled with compacted fill or better yet clean gravel and topped with a slab. This elevates the slab and provides gravity proven drainage below. Worthy's FPSF suggestion is also worth a look if your lot is really that flat. Slabs have better building science fundamentals being a well defined boundary (drainage, air barrier, insulation) between the elements and living space. Crawls are more confused. Vented crawlspaces in humid climates (east of MS) should be illegal, and if you decide to go unvented, ensure the entire crawl floor slopes to a daylighted drain. With a good design team, forced-air ductwork does not have to go in a basement, crawlspace or attic....See MoreJUNE 2018 - How’s your house build?
Comments (247)We have (some) tile! The wrong tile was ordered for my girls’ bathroom and for the laundry room. Luckily, I saw it RIGHT before it was going to be installed. It was nothing close to what I wanted in looks, but the name was really close- hence the mistake. Now we are waiting for the correct tile to come in, so those rooms and my middle son’s bathroom haven’t been started yet. (mudroom) (Powder room) (Master bath floor) (Basement bath floor) And half of a completed exterior! Nidnay, you mentioned earlier up the thread about shutters being looked at unfavorably on Houzz (I think yours are beautiful, btw, and perfect for your gorgeous house!), but I think my white hardie board with black windows get more disdain than shutters- haha. On another note, anyone else Looking at furniture? We live in a big furniture manufacturing area, so we went to a factory to look at some pieces on Thursday. Now I am trying to decide on fabrics. I’m leaning towards the ones below: Leather for sofa, light color for other sofa (it’s bulletproof fabric, so kid and pet friendly, otherwise I would never look at such a light color with 4 kids and 4 pets!). Patterned fabric and lagoon fabric (pic below this one) would be for chairs. One for the head of table dining room chairs, and one for the 2 arm chairs to go with the sofas. Trying to decide which fabric for which chairs, and keep changing my mind! We have a great room, so these pieces will all be in eye shot of each other. Lagoon...See Morebuilding a house in North Texas under $150k?
Comments (46)Well, we built a 1600 ft shop, with just our own 4 hands, for today’s equivalent of $78,000. It’s 2x6 construction, 10’ ceilings, heated and cooled, with an epoxy floor. The only paid labor was for lot dirt work, the slab pour, and the trusses built. That was right at 15K in today’s money. Those are friends and family prices. All of the rest was materials, and we built it better than our house. The total includes tool purchases that we kept, but which the pros would likely already have. Like a drywall lift and roofing nailers. We built the forms, did the termite treatment, framed it all, roofed it all, did all the electrical, and all of the finishing. It took over 2 years, with both of us working 2 full time jobs. There’s no plumbing, but, I figure that we could put in an IKEA kitchen, and 2 basic 5x9 vinyl floored bathrooms with an acrylic tub/ shower for 30K, plus the added rough in plumbing from a pro of maybe 7K. But again, that’s with us doing almost all of the work. We’re talking materials only, and an existing water supply, and either a city sewer, or existing septic. Aiming for 150K, that would only leave 35K for all of the work that we did ourselves, to be done by pros. I know for a fact that would not be nearly enough allotted for labor, as I deal with the construction labor market on a daily basis. To build that shop as a house today, with the plumbing and more lower end choices, such as eliminating the 2x6 construction, exterior foam sheathing, upgraded windows, and architectural shingles. etc, I think I could get it done for just at 180K, GCing myself. But that would be too big a pain, as I work too many hours to fully babysit a work site. And, the whole point of wanting to build it ourselves was to be able to build it better than low end. Add back 50K for a GC and the upgrades. 230K, for something fairly basic in shape, with upgrades to the bones, but not crazy finish upgrades. That would be my estimated a bit better than a starter home price....See MoreMark Bischak, Architect
5 months agoBeverlyFLADeziner
5 months agoGina Gilgo
5 months agoGina Gilgo
5 months agoDavid Cary
5 months agolast modified: 5 months agoKR KNuttle
5 months agoNorwood Architects
5 months agoMark Bischak, Architect
5 months agoKR KNuttle
5 months agoPatricia Colwell Consulting
5 months agoPatricia Colwell Consulting
5 months agocpartist
5 months agoWarren White
5 months agoWarren White
5 months agoDavid Cary
5 months agolast modified: 5 months agoMark Bischak, Architect
5 months agoPatricia Colwell Consulting
5 months agoDeWayne
5 months agolast modified: 5 months agocpartist
5 months agoWarren White
5 months agoDeWayne
5 months agoWarren White
5 months ago
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