Funny you should ask, Gene.
I drew our master plan at a picnic table in the front yard while living
in a tent. No, we hadn't been here a full year yet. In general the plan
hasn't changed much even with the added acre a few years ago. Maybe it's
time to revise though; the pasture hasn't been used in three years and
is returning slowly to the brushlot it was. I could take down the fences
and finally plant the orchard...
Specifics have changed though; barn will become woodshop and the small
addition that was shop will turn into a pigpen perhaps...
old aspiring architect cousin who indeed became one. That was in 1986,
years after we got the land. I wanted to see what kind of greenhouse we
dreamed of and am trying to redesign it to match the log walls which
were simply board and batten on paper. I am leaning toward a stone
(cultured stone probably) kneewall the height of our crawlspace--two
feet, recycled sliding glass doors as windows above--angled at a
fifty-degree or so pitch, and steel roofing to match the existing cabin
but with a couple skylights rather than dormers. Any non-glass wall area
will be sided with pine lap to match the gable ends and dormers of the
house.
I desperately want a concrete slab at grade for the floor, eventually
tiled. You will step down into it from my office. The ceiling height
where it joins the house will be eleven feet.
But I'm leaning toward a pole-type structure for now with gravel floor
only. The reason being the frost; about a foot and a half is as deep as
I can dig without a good backhoe and you live too far away. The septic
installer used a huge excavator to dig the hole for the tank through
solid rock. Here in Pennsylvania the frost line averages three and a
half feet. The holes for the posts will be a problem but I'll dig them
as deep as I can and call it good. Then maybe next year pour a floating
slab over the gravel, inside the posts. Any heaving shouldn't crack the
windows.
Then again, revision could be my middle name.
How about yourself, gene? Did you have a master plan?
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