I'm wondering about what problems you faced while designing and constructing your own home and hiring contractors and dealing with the county? I have 35ac land in a rural county in Colorado and I'm just starting to prepare the construction documents after designing a passive solar house much like you see here. while looking up the county information, it seems like it's going to be a bit of a hassle for permitting and just starting this all on my own. I'm wondering the problems you came up with while getting your house built. it kind of seems insurmountable right now. I have prior experience in engineering and drafting so I'm able to do all the construction documents myself after studying and applying building code. been using Revit and AutoCAD. if I'm going to have a homestead and live out on my own, it seems like this is my only option. so how was it for you?
I've got something similar to that summer/winter sun trick going on.
They're called trees.
In the summer the windows get no direct sunlight.
In the winter they do.
Very high tech stuff.
I just have grass right now
Don't bother with solar water heat collectors, put more insulation and solar panels instead, same for the radiant heated, just get more insulation so you don't need heating at all.
I will shill you spanish stylke blinds instea of those shades https://holaproperties.com/the-charm-of-persianas/
https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p0brp3k4/why-can-t-spaniards-get-rid-of-their-blinds-
just one considerationif you go this route the blind box should be in the outside, bc if its inside as it is typical, it would be difficult to insulate. It shouldn't be difficult to put the outside in a new building.
in ancient greece they were already preparing the opening of the houses so they only get sun in the winter, is not exactly a new idea.
kinda like it, reminds me somewhere in the mediterranean that i cannot remember which one exactly
Not tackling the skillset topic, any square centimeter you are not designing might become an issue once on site. Try to investigate as much as possible with a 3D understanding.
Again, this is a tip about coordination. As a construction engineer myself, I would never advocate for self-design when it comes to a proper house that shall behave up to 2023 requirements. Self-building? I might see that. It is not about gatekeeping, it is about safety and security and avoid to reinvent the wheel.
Hi Brother,
My recommendation is to let the pros do it - DIY is dangerous for inexperienced people who have no knowledge of building codes and you could hurt yourself or worse, others.
The pros know how to do all that stuff and they have the right tools and safety equipment to get your building done in 1/4 of the time and for about 500x the price. But make no mistake, you’re paying for quality - for Jerome to smoke crack under your subfloor while cleetus is using extra drywall screws to set your trusses. For Gerardo to hide his empty corona bottles behind your drywall the was left in the back of a 1998 F250 for 3 days in the rain. For Kayyden the 18 year old to set your main waste line with an uphill slope towards your septic tank.
Leave it to the pros, more time to play Nintendo switch!!
-Mike
I am intimately familiar now with the 2018 irc codes.
without getting into detail, I'm very capable of diy for the majority of the work and there won't be issues there. the home is designed in Revit in 3d, and now it's time to complete the detail drawings in cad. preliminary rendering attached.
that said, I do want to subcontract whenever there's too much to do on my own like the concrete and brickwork, and excavating and grading. I'll also have to order a geotechnical soil analysis per the requirements.
thanks for your replies, what I'm thinking has more to do with building inspection and county submissions. maybe I'm over thinking that aspect.
the county is generally not hard to work with. just be upfront with their building division and be willing to work with them to correct any errors they find in their inspections. do not argue.
if your pic is how you designed your house, you may want to either redraft the facade or move it south. this does not look suitable for colorado climate.
that couldn't be less "passive-solar" ... youre well into active lunar if anything
Is that the bin Laden compound from zero dark thirty?
You need an engineer to sign off on it. Whatever fee idk, $1,000-2,000 buckerinos or whatever coloradonians charge for enginesneers.
Idr the particulars, but basically an engineer in the right field of competency can override general Code guidelines. Someanon will chime in. Structural engineer I assume?
Just call whatever office you need to get through and ask them all the questions you have
If you're rural, they aren't doing anything anyway