# My new house



## johndeerefan

Started building in Dec. 2007. Finally moved in June 2008. Still lacking a few exterior items.

<a href="http://s394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/timsoutherland/?action=view&current=63040a23.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/timsoutherland/63040a23.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/timsoutherland/?action=view&current=c9ec3fe1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/timsoutherland/c9ec3fe1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/timsoutherland/?action=view&current=79b63c55.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/timsoutherland/79b63c55.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/timsoutherland/?action=view&current=ee7fcf95.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/timsoutherland/ee7fcf95.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


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## Simpleprestige

Sweet man. I've always dreamed of owning a log home


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## Live Oak

Welcome to Tractor Forum johndeerefan! Gorgeous home! I love the wrap around porch and the wood floor look real nice. Did you go with a basement or crawl space?


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## johndeerefan

I actually have a crawl space. Because the dirt slopes so much, we used a dozer to cut into the hill and make the crawl space flat. So, it has about a 4' tall crawl space throughout with lighting. The plumber and HVAC people really appreciated it.

Here we see several severe storms during the year. So since I did not put in a basement, we installed a storm shelter under the porch. All you have to do is open the decking, open the shelter door, and climb on down. The room is 8x10 with a 6' ceiling height.


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## Live Oak

Do you build these for a living? You did a real nice job on all of the details. :thumbsup:


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## johndeerefan

No I don't build these for a living. I am actually an engineer that designs coal transportation systems. My wife and I designed the floorplan and all the small details. Then, I drew the plans for the contractor. Seems to work out nice. We had about 20 people over Christmas and it didn't seem too cramped.

This is actually the second new house we built. We built the berm style home shown in the background on the tractor photos I have posted. I designed and actually did a lot of the building on it myself. We outgrew it and needed to move closer to work. So, I sold it and started on this one. We had been planning and designing it for about 5 years. We discussed every fine detail, including where the trash cans will go, door knob styles, etc.

This house actually has a built hidden entertainment system under the staircase, built in Bose surround sound, hard wired computer networking jacks, built in audio/video jacks for the televisions, and remote control programmable lighting throughout.

To help on the utility bill, we used Anderson 400 series windows and doors (they have the low E4 glass), blown in cellulouse insulation, caulked every crack, and a high efficiency heat pump with a propane auxiliary backup with touchscreen programmable thermostat. 

To achieve the large vaulted ceilings, we used the laminated I-joist (most people use these for floor joist) for rafters with 5/8" plywood. Most people would have used 2x12's without the plywood decking since it has a metal roof.

The only thing I wish I would have done different is to install the heat pads under the tile floors and maybe increase the master bedroom and bathroom size a few feet.

Here is a couple of additional pictures.

<a href="http://s394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/timsoutherland/?action=view&current=3fe9b55b.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/timsoutherland/3fe9b55b.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/timsoutherland/?action=view&current=f8c103fc.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/timsoutherland/f8c103fc.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/timsoutherland/?action=view&current=42896f6e.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/timsoutherland/42896f6e.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/timsoutherland/?action=view&current=8c598af9.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/timsoutherland/8c598af9.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/timsoutherland/?action=view&current=02cf0ffb.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/timsoutherland/02cf0ffb.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


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## Live Oak

Beautiful!!!!:thumbsup: When can you get around to building me one like it?  yumyum


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## johndeerefan

*It's been 1 year*

I look back at last year's October pics and laugh. It's amazing how much things change in just 1 year. Of course, it is still a work in progress. If I had the money and time to do everything at once, then I would be bored. Planning for tomorrow is most of the fun.

<a href="http://s394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/timsoutherland/personal/?action=view&current=IMG_0393.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/timsoutherland/personal/IMG_0393.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/timsoutherland/personal/?action=view&current=IMG_0397.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/timsoutherland/personal/IMG_0397.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


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## chrpmaster

That is a beautiful home! Looks like you have a future tractor forum member in the last picture too.


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## Hoodoo Valley

Your place makes my log home look like the shack that it is! As a builder, I must say, very nicely done indeed!


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## johndeerefan

Thanks for the compliments. Since the last photos, I finally poured some exposed aggregate sidewalks and done a little more landscaping. I still need to install gutters and downspouts. I just can't seem to find the extra money to finish it.

By the way, it is log siding and not a log home. That is why everything on the inside is tongue and groove instead of logs.


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## Hoodoo Valley

johndeerefan said:


> Thanks for the compliments. Since the last photos, I finally poured some exposed aggregate sidewalks and done a little more landscaping. I still need to install gutters and downspouts. I just can't seem to find the extra money to finish it.
> 
> By the way, it is log siding and not a log home. That is why everything on the inside is tongue and groove instead of logs.


I know! I'm in the second actual log home on the same property within 47 years. The second log home, the place I'm in now, I peeled every single log in the place. I included a lot of photos of my place over the years at the forum in the same section as your post. I also did a bit about building for free! Check them out and see how we build things in Vay! But be polite! I love your property by the way. Bet it's so nice in the fall with the leaves.


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## johndeerefan

Photo of the Kentucky ice storm 2009. You can barely make out my house through the tree limbs. I am still picking up tree limbs from the ice damage.


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## johndeerefan

Another pic I found. This is my garage behind the house.










This is what you do with leftover building materials. My wife wanted to buy one, but I said I wasn't paying that much for a playset the kid would outgrow in 5 years. Plus, I tend to want to design things my way. So, I commenced to building using leftover stuff from building the house. I ended up with about $400 invested plus the stuff I already had. Not bad considering ones like this sell for $2000. This one is all bolted together in sections so I can sell it when the kid outgrows it.


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## Hoodoo Valley

That's awesome. I love recycling and reusing. I'm going to start badgering KAU (first hint) to bring out another section dedicated to, and promoting recycling. It just makes so much sense to me these days, what with the price of things and the fact that almost everything is made in China anymore, and the obvious strain of pulling from the earth, those already limited resources. By the way.....won't be long before you need to expand that clubhouse and raise the roof! I love that garage by the way, and am now jealous, big time. I have a 3 bay garage, that cost me nothing, because I recycled and reused everything that went into it. I put pictures of it up on the forum, but I'm a bit embarrassed after seeing your garage/ shop. The photo of the ice storm almost looks like something out of a fairy tale. We get lots of cold and lots of snow, sometimes even an ice storm, but nothing like that. WOW! Must have been super cold, then let loose with lots of rain. Loose power at all during that?


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## johndeerefan

Yea, but your garage was free and serves the same purpose. Mine cost me $15,000. On the clubhouse, I will just sell it when he outgrows it. I made the ceiling height about 4'-6" and the house portion is 4'x6' with a 2'x4' deck. My wife, kid, and I can all sit in it at the same time. He even has outdoor carpet and furniture in it. My wife wants me to make windows and doors for it. I even thought about wiring it for a plug in and light. I will wire them to a pigtail that I can plug an extension cord into. Maybe someday when I am bored.

We had 1 1/2" of ice accumulation. Did we lose power? HUH! I went without electricity for 3 weeks and the temperature stayed at around freezing. I finally got tired of it and installed a pigtail cord from my main breaker and plugged in a 6500 watt generator. My heat unit is the hybrid heat pump with propane backup auxiliary. So, I was able to kick on the blower and light the fire with the small wattage generator. Not to mention I could run all the lights and television. Of course, I had to manually throw the main breaker to prevent back feed. Not totally safe, but I was desperate. I am now wanting to install a propane generator that kicks on automatically when the power goes off. Needless to say, our power goes off quite frequently for storms and such.


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## Hoodoo Valley

johndeerefan said:


> Yea, but your garage was free and serves the same purpose. Mine cost me $15,000. On the clubhouse, I will just sell it when he outgrows it. I made the ceiling height about 4'-6" and the house portion is 4'x6' with a 2'x4' deck. My wife, kid, and I can all sit in it at the same time. He even has outdoor carpet and furniture in it. My wife wants me to make windows and doors for it. I even thought about wiring it for a plug in and light. I will wire them to a pigtail that I can plug an extension cord into. Maybe someday when I am bored.
> 
> We had 1 1/2" of ice accumulation. Did we lose power? HUH! I went without electricity for 3 weeks and the temperature stayed at around freezing. I finally got tired of it and installed a pigtail cord from my main breaker and plugged in a 6500 watt generator. My heat unit is the hybrid heat pump with propane backup auxiliary. So, I was able to kick on the blower and light the fire with the small wattage generator. Not to mention I could run all the lights and television. Of course, I had to manually throw the main breaker to prevent back feed. Not totally safe, but I was desperate. I am now wanting to install a propane generator that kicks on automatically when the power goes off. Needless to say, our power goes off quite frequently for storms and such.


I was just razzing you! We've lost power before. The longest was about a week. They are pretty much up on the trees and such here. My wife panicks whenever the power goes out. I always tell her, just think, we lived like this for 23 years! No biggie really. One day, we'll build a nicer garage, but for now, this one will like you said, do the job just fine. Where's the horses at?


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## Dugout

That's a heck of a house!


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## Hoodoo Valley

I can't help but muse that the kids fort is not much smaller than the house I grow up in! We just need more pictures of that John Deere tractor up close!


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## kau

I know it's not real kosher to ask house prices but I'm really curious what range you have invested into your log home total in parts and labor, not land just house related.


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## Lamar Holland

We've studied log homes for years and still would like to build one someday,,.. We particularly like the Wisconsin branded system,, anyway, where did yoo get the logs from?


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## johndeerefan

Sorry I have been away for awhile and not able to reply. So to catch everyone up.

To answer the house cost question: I have between $140-$160 per square foot. You can have a basic one built starting at around $120 per square foot.

Log location: I ordered all the materials that were wood from Kuhn Bros Log Homes in NC. It is kiln dried white pine (not yellow).

Here is a night shot of it.










Next request: Here's my JD tractors


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## TALHA

Hello.

Why log homes? 

Our log houses around here do not. The houses are made of brick or stone. There are concrete houses.

Example home construction;









Make a tree house, is not dangerousDid he? 

For example,
Fire, flood, tree worms, decay, etc ...


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## johndeerefan

It is a nostalgic thing with people wanting the warm feeling of the wood and the rustic look. Most houses here are built with traditional framing then covered with brick or vinyl. In my area, there are only a handful of log homes.

We are a glutten for punishment when it comes to having to stain them every couple of years. They are very high maintenance and expensive to upkeep.


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## TALHA

Thank you for the information.


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## Hoodoo Valley

TALHA said:


> Hello.
> 
> Why log homes?
> 
> Our log houses around here do not. The houses are made of brick or stone. There are concrete houses.
> 
> Example home construction;
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Make a tree house, is not dangerousDid he?
> 
> For example,
> Fire, flood, tree worms, decay, etc ...


For us, we had 20 acres of trees and not a whole lot of money, and so hence we logged our place to build the house. I guess in our case it was a matter of economics. Did you see the pictures of our place Talha? Click here... http://www.tractorforum.com/f155/pictures-my-home-part-3-a-13938/ and this link for some pictures from the past! Click on this link. http://www.tractorforum.com/f241/vintage-glimpse-13881/


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## TALHA

I'll look at this link. Then I will answer to you.


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## Mickey

TALHA said:


> Hello.
> 
> Why log homes?
> 
> Our log houses around here do not. The houses are made of brick or stone. There are concrete houses.
> 
> Example home construction;
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Make a tree house, is not dangerousDid he?
> 
> For example,
> Fire, flood, tree worms, decay, etc ...


Construction looks similar to what I saw in China. Will the walls see some kind of decorative siding or left as is shown in the picture?

Here in the states typical home construction is wood frame on either a solid concrete slab floor or concrete parameter with wood beams supporting the floor. Siding could be one or a combination of brick, stone, plaster or wood (in many styles).

Here is a picture of our home which is typ construction for the pacific north west. Siding on sides and back are plywood panels that are cut to look like vertical wood planks. Front is from a newer building material. It is made from concrete impregnated paper and made in planks with wood texture on the outside. These planks are rated to last 50 yrs and are fireproof.


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## Hoodoo Valley

Very nice place Mickey. Wish my lawn looked like that!


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