Finally Bought Some Land

[Badonkadonk]

You need to cut some trails. And get a gator.

yes, yes and yes

have been reviewing the polaris and can-am models, as my tractor research reveals what seems like a healthy premium for the lovely green and yellow stuff

[caleb]

yes, yes and yes

have been reviewing the polaris and can-am models, as my tractor research reveals what seems like a healthy premium for the lovely green and yellow stuff

https://www.arcticcat.com/dirt/side-...016-wildcat-x/

[jesseth]

Bensonwood looks like an interesting company.

Very interesting. They have a very unique mix of sophisticated CNC tooling (Hundeggers) & software (CADwork) driving both timber fabrication and wall fabrication, along with a deep hand tool skill for traditional joinery & detailing. Their Open Built pre-fab wall system is really well thought out, can easily achieve Passive House level enclosure quality & assemble a whole house in a few days using low embodied energy materials.

Like a lot of people, they've cut way back on using SIP panels because of the huge waste factor (throwing away all the window & door holes) and the desire to get away from building with petrochemical foam products.

[Markco]

anyone here ever put up a barn on the cheap that's not terrible to look at? currently lost in pre-fab metal, post and beam nonsense, steel truss stuff. how can i buy my dream Can Am Maverick/Defender if I ain't got nowhere to park it??

This is the V Salon of barns/garages and workshops. Lots of full on anal retentive advise and narratives on the journey. I started with metal like Morton buildings and upper management said we needed more curb appeal, so we ended up with a conventional post and beam barn.

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[jesseth]

I contacted Bone Structure and there costs are out of whack, a finished building, not including the lot nor site work is $300-500 per square foot. Our on-site built including site work will be $200 per square foot. People keep on saying that pre-fabricated houses are less expensive, but.....

As someone in the field banging away at the same problem, this is pretty true across the board. Rural carpenters in our country are typically paid terribly, have no job security, no workman's comp or health care, and have to provide all their own tools & vehicles. It's a rough & undervalued profession, but it also creates an incredibly inexpensive floor to the market.

Pre-fabrication & off-site construction involves expensive buildings to work inside, sophisticated equipment and (hopefully) better paid labor. It has to not just be a little faster than typical methods, but a huge amount faster & more sophisticated to compete with slow, traditional, inefficient on-site construction. Off-site construction can be faster, have less waste, be more accurate, higher quality & more sophisticated, but it's almost never less expensive.

But again, just because something is less expensive doesn't mean it's better, this forum should know this all too well. Most house construction in the US is far too cheap, the normal market subdivision production house has about a 20 year lifespan right now, it's almost exactly the equivalent to the Wal-Mart bike.

Why should any of us be surprised that a decent quality house costs a dramatic multiplier more than the basic product the market provides to a consumer who has consistently proven that barely functioning is good enough for most of them?

[guido]

Another approach to getting the quality you want at a reasonable price is to get a kit, gather some friends and build it yourself...

Owner-Built House, Cabin and Barn Kits from Shelter-Kit(R)

These guys have a different aesthetic that might work will in the neighborhood...

[monadnocky]

Jorn - I have ridden with Tedd Benson of Bensonwood many times. A great guy who rides quite a bit, both off- and on-road (rides road on a nice Rourke Ti), does a ton for the community along the upper valley and SW NH. Bensonwood buildings are beautiful, a bit pricey I'm sure. He's doing a lot of stuff in Europe right now, Germany mostly I think, integrating his construction style with small to medium-sized industrial buildings (or something like that?)

Anyway, a very approachable, down to earth guy.

[j44ke]

anyone here ever put up a barn on the cheap that's not terrible to look at? currently lost in pre-fab metal, post and beam nonsense, steel truss stuff. how can i buy my dream Can Am Maverick/Defender if I ain't got nowhere to park it??

I know of people who've bought old barns and had them disassembled and rebuilt on a different site, and while I don't know the actual cost, it was presented as a cheaper option, primarily because some people just want to get rid of a barn.

[Badonkadonk]

here's the real question - now that you own the property and can do whatever you want, do you find it to be a constant source of distraction and call to visit, walk, think, and dream of the possibilities? bc MAN am i having trouble focusing on my real life with my parcel still to be explored, climbed, frolicked...

[Matthew J]

I would be very leery of going the Bone Structure route. Steel & spray foam do not a healthy house make and their portfolio is mostly renderings at this point. A solid thermal bridge coated in toxic plastic won't end up energy efficient or resource efficient, no matter what the claims.

While I certainly agree they do not look like the home dear old Grand Dad dreamed of having, there are in fact certified net zero steel fabricated residential and commercial buildings already in use.

Turning forests into managed tree farms fits a human definition of sustainability but does not necessarily do the critters living in them any great favors.

[j44ke]

here's the real question - now that you own the property and can do whatever you want, do you find it to be a constant source of distraction and call to visit, walk, think, and dream of the possibilities? bc MAN am i having trouble focusing on my real life with my parcel still to be explored, climbed, frolicked...

Yes. I am already planning our first camping trip (though no camping until temps are over 60 as per my wife) and (as evidenced in previous posts) I am consumed with researching the wide range of tent/shelter options. Also looked at circular saws for a while for building a platform until I realized oh right we know a good carpenter who could knock one out in a day. And I spend way too much time looking at design p@rn.

Strangely I have not spent much time looking at gravel bikes.

One thing - I don't think I really processed that buying property "up there" would mean not renting the little cottage "down here" in Amagansett. I knew that would happen obviously, but I hadn't really considered it much. And I'll miss it.

But if I still had all my camping stuff, I'd probably be up there now making coffee on my dirty old Coleman suitcase stove and enjoying the morning in the pines.

[Badonkadonk]

Yes. I am already planning our first camping trip (though no camping until temps are over 60 as per my wife) and (as evidenced in previous posts) I am consumed with researching the wide range of tent/shelter options. Also looked at circular saws for a while for building a platform until I realized oh right we know a good carpenter who could knock one out in a day. And I spend way too much time looking at design p@rn.

Strangely I have not spent much time looking at gravel bikes.

One thing - I don't think I really processed that buying property "up there" would mean not renting the little cottage "down here" in Amagansett. I knew that would happen obviously, but I hadn't really considered it much. And I'll miss it.

But if I still had all my camping stuff, I'd probably be up there now making coffee on my dirty old Coleman suitcase stove and enjoying the morning in the pines.

fwiw since December when we kinda sorta started to move into our VT place, I have sat or stood quietly with coffee and watched the sun rise more times than i have in MY ENTIRE LIFE TO DATE. and bear in mind, i'm up there only about every other weekend. for those of us sinners in and around the city, my god is the wilderness a lovely lovely lovely welcome outlet. a toast to your coming peace of mind and harmony with nature! ps - coffee at sunrise / tequila at sunset has really been working for me, metaphysically speaking

[DCT]

fwiw since December when we kinda sorta started to move into our VT place, I have sat or stood quietly with coffee and watched the sun rise more times than i have in MY ENTIRE LIFE TO DATE. and bear in mind, i'm up there only about every other weekend. for those of us sinners in and around the city, my god is the wilderness a lovely lovely lovely welcome outlet. a toast to your coming peace of mind and harmony with nature! ps - coffee at sunrise / tequila at sunset has really been working for me, metaphysically speaking

Another month or so and I'll have more time off.

[Badonkadonk]

Another month or so and I'll have more time off.

dude, you know how good we are at mountain biking? wait til you try this "downhilling" nonsense. i will supply us with flat-brimmed monster energy hats, you bring the long travel 44 DH bikes

[SlowPokePete]

my dirty old Coleman suitcase stove and enjoying the morning in the pines.

Come by you can borrow mine.

SPP

[Mabouya]

anyone here ever put up a barn on the cheap that's not terrible to look at? currently lost in pre-fab metal, post and beam nonsense, steel truss stuff. how can i buy my dream Can Am Maverick/Defender if I ain't got nowhere to park it??

The last time I thought about going down this route Shelter Kit seemed like a good way to go:

Barn & Garage Kits for Owner-Builders from Shelter-Kit(R)

Shelter-Kit® Barn and Garage kits are functional, sturdy and handsome. They are made of hand selected, top quality pre-cut lumber. Members in the post & beam frame are joined together with heavy, plated steel hardware and fasteners. Shelter-Kit Barns are available in widths from 16' and up, and in any length from 16' to 64'. All of our kits are designed for assembly by people with no building experience. You will not need power tools to assemble your Barn/Garage kit.

The kit includes the materials required to create a weather-tight building on your foundation: hardware, fasteners, framing, sheathing, loft floor, roofing, flashing, drip edge and trim. We do not include windows and doors in the base kit, but a wide selection of exterior doors and windows are available as options.

[jesseth]

Yes. I am already planning our first camping trip (though no camping until temps are over 60 as per my wife) and (as evidenced in previous posts) I am consumed with researching the wide range of tent/shelter options. Also looked at circular saws for a while for building a platform until I realized oh right we know a good carpenter who could knock one out in a day. And I spend way too much time looking at design p@rn.

Just to add to the research, this might be my all time favorite tent platform: Dwell: A Platform For Living

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[j44ke]

This barn is something else. Framed in oak and chestnut, and the main roof support timbers go all the way up to the center beam (the purlin,) which is also hand-hewn. They don't make trees like that any more.

[j44ke]

Just to add to the research, this might be my all time favorite tent platform: Dwell: A Platform For Living

2a6c121ad6e743d86fdbb649386158bd.jpg

Holy smokes. That's like the promised land. Instant favorite. The density of cool sh^t in Japan is very high.

[ides1056]

Jorn- My wife and I built a timber-framed house and barn in Cummington. The house is featured in Jack Sobon's book on the subject. To build the barn I cut several acres next to the house, milled it in-site with a Wood-miser, stacked this, and built the barn. It cost about 35K to do this, and about nine months of my time- I was younger then. Timber-framing is not the cheapest way to go by a long shot, but...

200$/ sq ft is the floor for construction costs these days, using store-bought materials.

Advantec is shite. Why do I think so? I worked at MoMA, which has a plastics collection as part of the architecture and design department. Stuff made in the fifties, bowls and the like, look like Dali made them. Chipboard of any kind is structural only because of the adhesive. I don't trust the 50 year rated promise. Good luck with that.

Friends who had been sailing around the world for several years returned to the states and moved onto land they owned in Calistoga. My advice to them was to live in Yurts till they figured out where to build permanent structures. They lived in these for about fifteen years.

We own a Kawasaki mule. When my wife bought it, I thought it was a waste, but it is an incredibly useful tool and timesaver. Load your stuff into it, and you don't have to schlep saws, gas, etc out into the woods. But don't get a quad to go rip it up. Nature doesn't translate well mediated by a motor other than the one you were born with.

If you get a chain saw, get chaps and a helmet.