Shane, Actually, i wouldn't build a house right now. with the current house market, you can probably buy something better then you can build for that price. And if you build, it will probably be worth less than it cost to build. that aside, I think building a house would be fun, and I hope to in 5 years. if your 80k budget does not include purchasing a lot, you might want to see what lots are selling for where you want to build, assuming you are going to need to buy one. 15000 sq/ft house for 80k...well, that will be tuff, $53.33 per sq/ft. They say the average is $115 per sq/ft of home for a basic house. But I am sure it can be done. If you want energy efficient, spend the majority of your money on your building envelope. things like light fixture, flooring, cabinets, etc... can be upgraded at a later date when you have the money for it.
Cost will be different for you, than they are for me, so you need to speak with contractors to get ideas of what things will cost. Compare using closed cell spray foam to other methods of insulation. It is about an R7 per inch, and seals against air leaks as well. So in a 2x4 wall, you will have an R value of 24.5. Add 1 inch of xps foam to the outside, that has an R of 5, and you have a 29.5 R value wall. Closed cell spray foam runs about $4 per sq/ft of 2x4 wall here. 2x4's are a little less expensive than 2x6's, and much less than going with something like ICF's. 2x4's will give you a few more sq/ft of interior space. Closed cell foam also adds to the strength of your walls. if you do not mind vinyl windows, I would go with something like the American Craftsman sold at Home Depot. They are reasonably priced and are pretty good windows. They make the vinyl for Anderson Windows. But they are about half the price of an Anderson or Pella window. Go with a non-vented attic. Insulation, spray foam is best, is put right against the underside of the roof deck. This makes the attic part of your conditioned air. This does not increase the roof temp by more than a couple of degrees, like some will have you believe, and you do not have that hot attic air working it's way back down in to your house. When you do this, the roof should have a layer of water and ice shield on the whole roof though, instead of roofing paper. The reason for this, is to give you a extra layer of protection if your shingles were to fail. With the insulation right against the roof deck, leaks can take a lot longer to show up. Use a light colored shingle, or roof coating, to reflect the heat back away from the house. The HVAC contractor needs to run a manual J to size your a/c and heat properly. . Systems to small or to big can cost you more money. Radiate floor heating can make a house feel more comfortable at a lower temp, but you will not have that many heating days, and a central air system needs the blower to circulate the air, so you might as will just used forced heat and air. All that stuff about turning back the thermostat at night, and up during the day, doesn't really work in my experience and opinion, your best to only change it be a degree or to, or just leave it at the same temp all the time. Try to use standard sized products in your house build. Example windows, a stock window is much less than a custom ordered one. try to keep your dimensions divisible by 4, there is less waste of product, so you are buying a few sheets less of plywood and such. Michael _____ From: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com [mailto:blindhandy...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Shane Hecker Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 2:50 PM To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] building a house I'm looking to build a 1500 sq foot 1 story house. Here's some information about a house I'm currently in. It is about 1280 sq feet. It has standard 2x4 walls with fiberglass bats. The windows are single panes in aluminum frames. The doors are insulated metal. The attic has standard bats, but on top of this, there is blown insulation. I think it's about r38 in total. I keep the ac at 78 during the day, 75 during the night. In the dead of summer, my bill is between $150 and $160. My goal in building a house is to decrease the amount I pay for electricity by a decent amount. The last thing I want is to have to pay $200 to cool a house. In doing research, I've seen people say they have big houses and are paying about what I pay. One article I remember seeing indicated that the writer paid about $168 in the middle of summer for a 3400 sq foot, 2 story house. According to the writer, it is all electric. His wife likes to cook. The kicker is that he keeps his ac at 75 day and night. It is noteworthy to mention he built with icf. If I could build a 1500 sq foot house and have a bill at about $80, or even $100 in the middle of summer, that would be great. It is my opinion that I'd be a fool to not do everything I could to save energy within reason. Shane ----- Original Message ----- From: Dan Rossi To: blindhandyman@ <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 9:08 AM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] building a house Hmm, so many possibilities for building a house from scratch these days. I think that radiant under floor heating and heavy walls are probably a good start, either masonry or rammed earth walls. Air tight but with good air exchange. There is a company in Germany, can't remember the name, but they make windows that are the most efficient in the world. They have triple seals or something and have a lever that pulls them closed and seals them. Plus they are triple pained and low E and all that. However, you can probably spend the better part of your 80 grand just on the windows. Is your goal to make a house that costs nothing to run, or do you want to build the largest house you can get for the money even though it might cost a bit more to heat and cool? They are kind of mutually exclusive. In either case, I envy you as I think it would be quite a lot of fun to design and build a house from scratch. -- Blue skies. Dan Rossi Carnegie Mellon University. E-Mail: d...@andrew. <mailto:dr25%40andrew.cmu.edu> cmu.edu Tel: (412) 268-9081 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
