Excavation to Start on Jan 25

If all goes as planned, our builder will start clearing trees and excavating on Monday (1/25). I took my small tractor with the woodchipper attached up to the property this week so I can clean up some of the smaller brush and use it for mulch. Tree trunks that are large enough for the sawmill will be saved to make fencing and anything else will be cut for use in the wood stove. The plan is also to bury the stumps somewhere on the site as well to keep the mess to a minimum. I plan to be there on Monday and will take some pictures.

Contacted Frontier Telephone yesterday and ordered phone service. For the neighbors down the hill from us, it took about 5 months to get their service connected so even though we don't need it now, figured it would be good to get started. They told us that high speed internet will be available to us as well- good news is that there is a central office not far down Route 50 so DSL is within reach- great news. With high speed internet and satellite tv, we'll never need to leave :).

Jan 17 Update- Temporary Electric Started

The power pole for the temporary electric meeting has been installed, we're ready for Allegheny Power to actually run the service about 3600 feet up to the property. Once we have temporary power, we'll be able to use the trailer a bit more easily and have a few more comforts like satellite tv, lol.

On January 13, our builder applied for the building permits from Hampshire County- should get an update in the next week or so if all is okay. Once the permits are issued, construction can really get moving. The log house kit has been ordered but there are some final details to complete before the mill starts cutting the logs. There was a slight delay getting the applications for the permits in to the county as the plans needed to be stamped by a design engineer- this isn't a requirement in Berkley County where SNRL has built most of their log homes- not a big deal, just a step.

It turns out the review by the design engineer helped us out a bit- there were a couple of supporting beams in the hall and kitchen that were going to be about 7 1/2 feet above the floor- the design engineer made a suggestion that allowed the beams to be raised nearly a foot so the head room will be higher- nice news!

Donna and I are spending a bit of time trying to make some decisions related to kitchen cabinets, location of outlets, ethernet, and trying to think these things through. There are a lot of choices and we're just getting started! We're still planning to have a wood stove in the basement for supplemental heat but will be adding a propane connection in the great room in case we later tire of the wood handling and want to go with a gas stove upstairs.

Here's one last picture from my last visit the site- our trailer in the snow. Good news is we're finally starting to see a melt of the big snowfall (nearly 2 feet) of snow from before Christmas- road was still covered but only with an inch or two and with four wheel drive, no problem getting to where the house will eventually be built.

Nearly Ready to Start

Donna and I reviewed the house plans on 12/30 during a trip to Hedgesville, WV to Snowy River Log Homes. Plans look great, incredible amount of detail to review. Hope is to have building permits in the coming week and for basement construction to be completed by the end of January.

While in Hedgesville, we also took a look at the kitchen cabinets that had been spec'd for the house- they are by Kraftmaid- we liked the look but will be thinking through the color/door combinations over the next couple of months. We also went to a customer of SNRL to see some custom cabinets that were made for a kitchen remodel. The work was great, very detailed, strong construction, and a lot of touches that were obviously done to fit the job. When the time comes for cabinets, we'll get a quote on the custom constructed cabinets- they have a lot going for them but will have to see how the pricing comes out.

We took a ride to the property on 1/1- just spent an hour or so walking around- road to top of the hill wasn't plowed but we made it up there anyway- lot of wildlife tracks and the trailer was in good shape. Started to snow while we were there and it was beautiful, great views like we hoped for.

Every time we're in Home Depot or somewhere like that, we take time to look at appliances, lighting, sinks, and other items for the house- an incredible amount of choices to be made as we move forward. For now though, we're just looking forward to seeing some physical work started like excavation for the house and garage/shop.

We're getting close.

Drawing of House & Some Details

Here's the latest drawing showing the house we're building. The most recent change is to extend the porch on the front door side of the house to the full length of the house. This way, there will only be a couple of stairs to the front door. We plan to have a parking area just off these stairs as well. We might add a set of stairs off this deck later but don't plan to do this right away.

We heard from Allegheny Power this week and have the final numbers for getting power extended 3,600 feet up the road to our lot- whew! Interesting way this is handled, you basically pay for the extension up front and then as other power customers connect to the line, you are reimbursed. In the perfect world, you have 5 years for enough other customers (about 6) to sign up to get all our money back.

The house is going to be located about 250 feet from the end of the cul-de-sac. The garage/workshop will be between the house and the road. This will be a 3 car garage (28'x36') on the first floor and the plan is to build a workshop over the garage. The foundation slab and garage walls will be poured at the same time as the house basement is poured but construction of the workshop will come later. The driveway will be a circular and gravel/shale running from the cul-de-sac completely around the shop and in front of the house.

The house is about 2200 square feet, 2 bedrooms (master on the main floor and guest off of the loft). There is also a full basement. Permitting is under way and we hope to break ground in the next few weeks, obviously the weather will be a factor this time of year. The house should be ready next summer.

Site Layout

We visited the site on November 13th to mark and locate where the house, shop, driveways, and septic fields will be located. Doug Copenhaver from Snowy River Log Homes (SNRL) and Custom Contracting was there along with Mark McNeal from SNRL to get everything marked. Here's a shot of Doug checking out the future view.

The picture below shows Doug and Mark finishing up the final elevations for the driveway.

















We're waiting for information from Allegheney Energy to get the power extended to the property- hopefully the permits will be ready and we'll be excavating and putting in the foundation before Christmas.

Next steps are getting the permits filed and should have an update on the log kit delivery date soon as well.

Here's our future home site, house will sit about 150 feet in to the woods. Property is a total of 28.5 acres on 3 lots at the top of a small mountain. We're about 4 miles west of Romney, WV.

Contract Signed

We signed the contracts for the new house- Log kit from Snowy River Log Homes and the build by Custom Contracting. These are both actually the same company, out of Hedgesville, WV. The owner is Doug Copenhaver but everyone there has been great to work with so far.

House will be 2187 square feet plus a full basement and a lot of decking and porches. Will post the plans and drawings later.

Actual build will probably start in early to mid December after the permits are obtained. The next step is to meet at the property and stake out the final locations for the house, garage/shop, and driveways, will meet Doug in Romney on 11/11.