Moving To Mackay (Boise, Challis, Hope: 2009, houses, purchasing)

[Arrowwind]

Greetings,

We are in the process of purchasing 8 acres near Mackay Idaho and would like to hear from anyone in or around that area.

I have all the questions that one would have who is planning on building a small house and developing a mini ranch in a neck of the woods we are not too familiar with. We will be very close to Mackay. The land will come with lots of water for irrigation. We are planning to have 2 horses and maybe a steer or two but that is likely about 3 years down the road. We will be building the garage this summer to work out of next year as we build the house. We plan on doing most of the work ourselves..Since my husband retired I need to keep him busy and out of trouble

The thing thats on my mind today is regarding house design. My husband is an Architect, he has only designed a few homes over the years, so he's kind of excited to finally be able to design and build our home.

We are trying to figure out a good heating system for the 1200 sf home. We do want a wood burning fire place but we are considering a pellet stove or possibly propane. We just don't have an idea of costs for this neck of the woods, if corn pellets are easy to get, the cost of electricity. Is electricity a better choice than propane? My husband says every home should have at least 3 different ways to heat it so you are prepared for come what may. We will be cooking with propane at least.

I've heard electricity is cheap in Mackay but still haven't found out the price per kilowatt. Anybody know? Would love to hear opinions on heating systems.

Thanks,
Arrow

[Arrowwind]

Come on! Were heading to Mackay real soon to start the building process.

No advice about how best to heat a house in Mackay?

[jadbad2004]

Hi there,
Saw your lack of responses and thought I would try to help you as best I can... I live i nthe central mountains, so I can only tell you what people here do. Most I have seen have a fireplace, but also baseboard electric heat to help offset cold winters. My brother plans to put up a windmill and solar panels to generate the electric for his baseboard heat, jsut because not to sure what the propane price will jump to. I hope this helps you, and Good Luck on the building of your home.

Beth

[shades_of_idaho]

When we lived in Challis and Clayton which is sort of over that way we used woodstoves in all of the houses we had with electric back up if we were going to be gone for a few days. We had an Earth Stove in one house and I think the name was Elm in another house and I think in the third house it was Orley?? Something like that. I would not recommend a fireplace. For us it was preferred to have the woodstove in the room radiating the heat all around. Stoke the fire just before bed and close stove the door. Seemed safer than a fireplace.

[Hayduke777]

Just curious where you're moving from? Have you actually visited the area? Are you prepared to live in a relatively isolated location?
I'd agree with the solar panels as at least a back up source of heat and power since Mackay is an extremely rural area and you never know when the power is going out or for how long. I believe electricity would run about 5 cents per kwh. Electricity is still fairly cheap anywhere in Idaho. I've always liked wood over pellet stoves since you can burn anything in an emergency and not have to rely on finding pellets. But you have to like chopping wood.

[Arrowwind]

Well, thanks for the insight.

We started foundation work on the garage last week. When the garage is done we will live in it's second floor as we build the house.

We have chosen wood as our main heat source since it is readily available.

The garage will have a yodel woodstove in the residence part on the second floor.

I think we will go with a fireplace but not what one commonly thinks of. It is really a wood burner and more on the level of an efficient wood stove. It will heat 2.000 sf, the one were looking at, good enough for a 1500 sf house I expect. It will burn a long for 10 hours. Electric will be our back up and we are going to have a solar room on the south side of the house, a solar collector, my husband calls it, with duct work to move heat around.

Mackay is not exactly isolated. We've been going up there for two years looking around. I was pretty interested in the pellet stoves and neighbors up there have one... but wood is free if you can do the work. If we get too old we'll throw a pellet in the sun room when the time comes.

[debraw]

The very best source of heat for cold climates is Radiant infloor hot water heat. Radiant warms everything in the room including people. No cold spots. Radiant can run on propane, natural gas, or wood-fired boilers. A Jotul wood burning stove would be essential also. Hope this helps!

[esselcue]

On the subject of stoves...I had a woodstove which I loved for keeping my house warm, but I hated stacking and hauling wood and I hated the soot and mess all over the house, so I traded it in on a beautiful ceramic pellet stove. I wish I had the woodstove back...it always worked even when the power went out, I could cook on it if I had to, and it kept the house much warmer than the pellet stove.

[erikk]

Greetings:
I realize you're probably moving ahead with the Mackay homestead. I would heartily endorse both the Jotul stove and radiant slab heating, as well as a couple of heat sources. We are in Boise in the residential geothermal district w/ a radiant slab in the basement. No need for other heat after 3 years, and once the slab is up to temperature the mass stays fairly constant.

My question is, how do you like the Mackay area so far? I'm part of a team that has been asked to conduct a community review in July/August of 2009, and the two primary questions involve the availability and condition of existing housing stock, along with community involvement and cooperation. As a 'newbie' to the area, I would be interested in your perceptions.

I used to live near the Loon Creek Guard Station, and we purchased supplies in Challis and Mackay. It's phenomenal country and the geology is quite impressive. Hope your project is going well.

Erik Kingston
Boise