Just got a called from the contractor in Ellsworth yesterday, he said the posts are up and hope to get post & Beam structure up by this week if the weather permitted.
Our small Post & Beam house is build on concrete slab will have styrofoam under slab, walls and under the roof.
Will have natural light coming from sky lights and windows.
Where?.
This is back an forward so many time, on Graham Lake in Waltham or on 1A in Ellsworth.
My heart want to build on the lake, we have the home site clear the septic design is in place. BUT
to bring the electric in from the front of the property to home site will cost about $ 40-50k base on Bangor Hydro Electric.
Solar is so expensive, even with willing to cut back on electric usage.
We used to use average 4000 kw per month in Miami, here in VA i managed to cut it back to about 1000 kw per month.
In Maine i plan to cut it down to about 600 kw per month, 20 kw per day. that will be very difficult to do.
to generate and store the electric for that usage, the minimium system i will need is 5 kwh system , that about $50k.
< the number on solar system is my understand from reading may not be correct>
well some day i will have a house on the lake.
We build on Ellsworth, drive way is about 100 feet from 1A and they said 1A is keep snow clear in the winter.
? basement or no basement.
from this Maine forum, i want basement. BUT
The house is build on top of Ledge, to build a basement there would be very expensive, i would love to have stone basement, if some one can give me a fixed price and with out have to come back with concrete to level the floor or plump the wall. It would be a nice Vegie/wine cellar.
? how to heat Maine house
This is the most difficult decision for us, from i gather from Maine forum, the heating oil could cost from $4000-8000 per season. That is a lot money, our electric bill in Fl for AC, hot water, pool pump and all other electric stuff is at the low end of the heating oil.
In VA here we cut back a lot, drop down to about 1/4 - 1/3 of that number for heating and cooling and all other elec stuff.
This is what i have plan for Maine house;
Wall fan heater in the bed rooms, the installer said it should maintain 58-60 F,
and it will NOT run none stop.
wood stove for the living area, and duct less heat pump for the lazy day.
The manufactory claim it will work when outside temp is 0* F. It also serve at the aircond., wife insist that.
I thanks, MW on motivate me to split wood faster, it used to take me 20 mins to split a log, in an hour i may get about 12 peices.
one day i read her post she went out for an hour or two got a cord of fire wood.
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I've always wanted an outdoor shower, but I'd have all 4 sides of mine covered at least from the shoulders to the knees.
And up there, it would have to have some very warm water attached!
The Posts are up
The tortoises can't handle cold at all. They need lots of sunlight. So year round just isn't a possibility. I'd thought of having a sunroom put on the house and they could live in there when it's cool. But Panzer is still pretty young and small (about 75 pounds) and he's already tearing up the walls in the sitting room. And I've got a good 3 or 4 months before he can go back outdoors now. I don't see how I'll be able to confine him when he hits 200 pounds...... 
A ticked off 75 pound tortoise is nothing to mess with ! !
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