Let's visit on the Porch II (Belgrade, Whitefish: specializing, real estate, new house)

[MTSilvertip]

Jackson Creek east of Bozeman? If so, that's the area I grew up in.

I worked construction for a while, and served on a fire department, so I know the kind of "building standards" in place these days, I'd rather build my own place so it lasts.

Insulated concrete with stone facing on the outside will make walls about 2 feet thick. Means it will be bug proof, fireproof, windproof, and pretty much sound proof.
It shouldn't take much to heat it either, so I won't have to chop as much wood

I figure if I can get the well and septic located and working this year, and a road in before snow flies, I'll have met my goals and have the winter to stockpile supplies I can use next summer when I dig the basement and start pouring the slab.

With just me working, concrete isn't easy, but it's a one time thing that I won't have to do much to maintain when I get older.

I still have to put a porch on the cabin this year, and my father wants to cut a bunch of lumber so he can build a garage.

Good thing summers are short here, I'd have too much work to do if we had a long summer. Winter is a great time to rest up for the summer pushes.

[Reziac]

Yep, that's the place. Former ranch, now upscale subdivision. :/

With ya on thick walls instead of thin firewood, haha. Seems to me if a person had enough of the house buried in a hillside and thick walls where it was exposed, that might be enough of a heatsink to need little or no heating/cooling. I lived in a house in the SoCal desert where the guy who built it was kinda weak on a lot of concepts... frex, "foundation slab" was "dig a big hole and pour a bunch of surplus concrete into it". I figure the slab was close to 3 feet thick in the middle. I didn't need to heat that house til midwinter, nor cool it til midsummer. The mass of concrete under the floor kept temperature stable all by itself, as you could tell by walking on it with bare feet. The walls and ceiling were pretty well-insulated too (asbestos hardboard is great in the desert) but the house was totally exposed, no shade or wind-shelter at all.

Protip: build a shop area off one end of your garage. Really, really nice to have it recessed away from the wind when the big door is open, and enough room for your workbench and larger tools out of the way of where you park.

[MTSilvertip]

Originally Posted by Reziac

Yep, that's the place. Former ranch, now upscale subdivision. :/

With ya on thick walls instead of thin firewood, haha. Seems to me if a person had enough of the house buried in a hillside and thick walls where it was exposed, that might be enough of a heatsink to need little or no heating/cooling. I lived in a house in the SoCal desert where the guy who built it was kinda weak on a lot of concepts... frex, "foundation slab" was "dig a big hole and pour a bunch of surplus concrete into it". I figure the slab was close to 3 feet thick in the middle. I didn't need to heat that house til midwinter, nor cool it til midsummer. The mass of concrete under the floor kept temperature stable all by itself, as you could tell by walking on it with bare feet. The walls and ceiling were pretty well-insulated too (asbestos hardboard is great in the desert) but the house was totally exposed, no shade or wind-shelter at all.

Protip: build a shop area off one end of your garage. Really, really nice to have it recessed away from the wind when the big door is open, and enough room for your workbench and larger tools out of the way of where you park.

That area is all subdevelopments now, that's the main reason we had to sell our ranch up there because the developments raised the property taxes to the point we couldn't produce enough on the place to pay the taxes and live too.

I thought about doing an earth house, but it can be tough to get insurance even though fire shouldn't be a real issue, it's always possible.

Where I'm siting is behind a hill so it's mostly out of the wind, but in Big Timber wind is always a consideration.

I'm planning on a detached shop/garage and barn backed into another hillside across from where the house will be.
Going to put a solarium/greenhouse as the second story with ventilation pulling the heat downstairs during the winter for passive solar.
During the summer the top story will be vented and create a vacuum pulling the cool air out of the basement to cool the living area. Kind of a natural passive heating and cooling system to make the house cool in summer, warm in winter with minimal heating/cooling requirements.

I'm trying to make the house as efficent as possible to minimize the work I have to do once it's built.

[Threerun]

Originally Posted by MTSilvertip

That area is all subdevelopments now, that's the main reason we had to sell our ranch up there because the developments raised the property taxes to the point we couldn't produce enough on the place to pay the taxes and live too.

I thought about doing an earth house, but it can be tough to get insurance even though fire shouldn't be a real issue, it's always possible.

Where I'm siting is behind a hill so it's mostly out of the wind, but in Big Timber wind is always a consideration.

I'm planning on a detached shop/garage and barn backed into another hillside across from where the house will be.
Going to put a solarium/greenhouse as the second story with ventilation pulling the heat downstairs during the winter for passive solar.
During the summer the top story will be vented and create a vacuum pulling the cool air out of the basement to cool the living area. Kind of a natural passive heating and cooling system to make the house cool in summer, warm in winter with minimal heating/cooling requirements.

I'm trying to make the house as efficent as possible to minimize the work I have to do once it's built.

I think we are going to retire right here, lol. Put in some new windows, maybe seal off some of those early 90's trendy half circle windows, replace our normal windows with good units, double up on insulation in the attic and call it good. Steel roof with possibly solar (we have a great exposure for solar), feed back to the grid and install some mini-split Mitsubishi cold temp heat pumps. I'm really happy with pellet heat in the basement and I'm close to, well, pretty much everything I want.

We may rent a place for vacations elsewhere- like Glasgow or Columbia Falls- but I think we're going to stay put.

[MTSilvertip]

Originally Posted by Threerun

I think we are going to retire right here, lol. Put in some new windows, maybe seal off some of those early 90's trendy half circle windows, replace our normal windows with good units, double up on insulation in the attic and call it good. Steel roof with possibly solar (we have a great exposure for solar), feed back to the grid and install some mini-split Mitsubishi cold temp heat pumps. I'm really happy with pellet heat in the basement and I'm close to, well, pretty much everything I want.

We may rent a place for vacations elsewhere- like Glasgow or Columbia Falls- but I think we're going to stay put.

I have to admit, you've got a great spot there Threerun, pretty close to everything.

I had thought about retiring to my cabin, fix it up a little more for year round living, putting in power, that sort of thing, but the snow and mud are so deep up there we couldn't even get in until the last week of June this year.

I don't mind the isolation, but the wife has some medical issues and I couldn't guarentee being able to get her out in an emergency.

So I'll put in my house down at Big Timber, and spend most of the summer at the cabin where it's 30 degrees cooler.

Then I can winter down along the Yellowstone, just like the Indians did.

Plus my folks are getting up there in age, and they will need someone to watch out for them. Having a home close to them would ease my mind and make life easier for them too. The wife is a nurse with over 20 years working in geriatrics, so she could do in-home care for them.

It makes sense, but I sure do love that Clark Fork country.

[Reziac]

I love it around Big Timber, but the trouble is indeed staying put long enough to put down roots... turn loose of your anchor for two seconds and you're already in Billings! Someone oughta start a windsailing club. If they can keep anyone from blowing away long enough.

Sounds like a plan with the house and cabin.

Does Bob Sager still have his dad's ranch around there? last I heard he'd gone off to teach for a while at Colorado State.

[MTSilvertip]

Originally Posted by Reziac

I love it around Big Timber, but the trouble is indeed staying put long enough to put down roots... turn loose of your anchor for two seconds and you're already in Billings! Someone oughta start a windsailing club. If they can keep anyone from blowing away long enough.

Sounds like a plan with the house and cabin.

Does Bob Sager still have his dad's ranch around there? last I heard he'd gone off to teach for a while at Colorado State.

That little breeze keeps the air nice and fresh

I don't know Bob Sager, but there are a lot of the rich and shameless that own land around Big Timber, mostly on the main Boulder south of town.
Brokaw is there, Brook Shields used to have a place there, so did that guy that played in the first Batman Movies and Beatlejuice, can't remember his name.

They don't associate with us "common" types.

[Reziac]

Heh. The Sagers are common native Montana types. Livestock veterinarians, father and son (well, dad is long gone from us, but son was still alive, last I checked, tho getting up there).

Wouldn't be so bad if the rich and shameless would buy a working ranch and keep it a working ranch...

[MTSilvertip]

OH, That Bob, I never knew his last name. Had the vet clinic just across from the lumber yard right?

If so, he sold out and moved several years ago. His son had some medical problems and he moved to I believe Great Falls so his son could get the care he needed.

I haven't seen him in a long time.

Most of the rich and shameless have no concept of what a working ranch is. They buy them and make them "wildlife refuges" so that the elk and deer can stay safely there during hunting season, then invade the neighbors haystacks all winter.

Not a good situation.

[Reziac]

Bob Sager had his clinic at Belgrade back when I lived there which is how I knew him. Then we all moved away and no one knows where anyone is anymore!

Yeah, that's why I specified "working ranch", not "hobby preserve". Of course these same hobby preservists then wonder why they get herd overgrowth and rampant disease among their deer and elk...