# furgal home ideas



## 88beast (Jun 4, 2012)

well how do you build your house cheap? im looking for ideas 
post up the ideas and pics you have on them
thanks


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## MushCreek (Jan 7, 2008)

Step One- Build in an area with no building codes or inspections. Modern building codes have really ramped up the cost of home building, even if you DIY.


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## mike554 (Jun 9, 2012)

yes, like $400 or more just for arc fault breakers.


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## willow_girl (Dec 7, 2002)

I don't know your location, but DH#2 and I built one of these:

Big L Lumber new home packages

A one-story conventional ranch style house of a modest size probably is your best bet.


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## 88beast (Jun 4, 2012)

those houses in the link are pretty cool and fairly cheap.
so it looks like you get a shell from them then finish as you want.


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## mike554 (Jun 9, 2012)

The best way to save is to do all or most of the work yourself. On my first house I even dug the footer trenches with a shovel.


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## mike554 (Jun 9, 2012)

Another way to save is to look for property with timber that you can use for your construction. There are nice inexpensive portable sawmills that you can buy to saw your lumber and you can always resell it when you are done or saw for other people. Check out Wood Mizer Way magazine and look at some of the nice places people have built. Just sawing the timbers for my house probably saved me 7k alone.


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## 88beast (Jun 4, 2012)

what about alternitive meathods? stone in ground the straw and adobe?


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## Pelenaka (Jul 27, 2007)

I could build or rather remodel dirt cheap if i had a storage area as in unlimited. So far I've had 3 clawfoot bathtubs given to me but I was only able to keep two. 

88Beast, if you gave a location then it would be easier to give you advice & suggestions on alternative building methods. 


~~ pelenaka ~~
thirtyfivebyninety


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## 88beast (Jun 4, 2012)

thing north east pa ny de md oh areas 
i want to stay out of the coastal areas and more in the mtns


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## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

Local building codes are what make it expencive on the doit yourselfer my cabin is still listed as a barn with the power company and zoners you can get used mobile homes rather. Inexpencivly .the big factor is where you are and the materials in my area of sw virginia there are a lot of rocks slip form construction would have been a good option also there a lot of (or were ))local sawmills to buy lumber from cheaply as I did there are a couple rock quaries. With cinderblock plants often selling #2 blocks at a very good price also odd lots of colore blocks ect some of the meatle barn bilders can put up a shell for you to finnish as you like logging men are often helpful if you can get land with timber and would like a log cabin they have the heavy equipment to handle logs .stacked wood construction is a method you can use on your own that seemes to me much better than stacking straw bales


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## KMA1 (Dec 9, 2006)

There are lots of things you can do to reduce cost. 
1. Choose carefully where you build to avoid lots of permit requirements.
2. Choose a building site that does not require a lot of site prep or grade work.
3. Build it yourself to reduce the cost by 1/2.
4. Always negotiate with building supply for an all you are going to need price. That is all the framing lumber roof, subfloor, interior walls and iwre you will need. Same with the cement place, all cement, rebar, blocks, sand and morter mix. Never buy from a big box store unless it is a loss leader.
5. When you plan your house, always plan in 4 foot increments. This saves time and building material waste. Simple rectangles are less expensive.
6. Do not scrimp on framing, wiring and plumbing.
7. Inside and outside walls, roofing and flooring, are all areas that cfan vary considerably in cost and affect future maintenance costs. If you need to cut upfront costs to get into the house as ineepensively as possible, you can go cheaper and upgrade later rather than maintain, and can upgrade as money permits.
8. Cabinets are in the same catagory as #7. Most of the prebuilts I have looked at I don't consider worth bringing home. 
9. Faucets, go with a reasonably priced but quality name brand to save lots of bucks. 
10. Many times, good quality bath and kitchen fixtures can be found very cheap at second hand and building salvage places. 
11. Windows: Hard to replace once they are in. My experience is you get what you pay for. Go cheap and you will regret it in a year or 2. Top names like Anderson and Peachtree will leave you a quadraplegic at best. I choose Pella as a compromise when I built my own house, and this is the exception, because I got a good proce at Home Depo when I bought all at one time.
12. Plane 1x4,6 and 8 inch boards and a router can make much better looking trim for doors, windows, base, ect than you can buy and at a fraction of the cost.


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## KMA1 (Dec 9, 2006)

Just saw you were interested in alternative methods as well. Building with logs is a lot more labor, but the building materials may be available on your own land.


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## farminghandyman (Mar 4, 2005)

a slab floor is usually cheaper than a crawl space,

a basement is not cheap but may be the lowest cost square footage one can buy,

consider a story and 1/2 design, and use the "attic" for bed rooms, (similar to a Victorian type house.

keep your plumbing consolidated, 

do not skimp on quality or materials, (I have seen some "new" green Ideas, that are basically skimping on materials, a house that only lasts 30 years is a lot more expensive than one that will last 100 years. (in other words do not build a trailer house on site,

really I have the vinyl windows a reasonable good deal, many are fairly docent quality, 
(I agree with Anderson and some others being top of the line. but they also carry a top of th line price,

when I put in a window I use screws in the flange not nails, and then put on the rain and snow seal, and then put on brick molding, with screws (usually vinyl), and then side, that way if the window needs replacement one can take off the brick mold and remove the window by taking out a few screws (never having to touch the siding), many of the vinyl windows are not much over $100, 
30 years ago I put in a good aluminum window, but 30 years have taken there tole on them and have been replacing with the vinyl windows and have felt they are a good buy,

I think a tin or steel roof may be lower cost in the long run, 

find a floor plan that is pleasing, (the old houses had doors ever were so heat could be controlled) most modern homes are mostly open, 
having a stair way being able to be shut off may help on heat, and seldom used rooms,
and open plan helps with wood type stoves, but one Can plan on some vents and fans to help move the heat to rooms that are more shut off from others,
(or even putting a duct and fan systems to take the heat off the ceiling of the room with the wood stove and move to bed rooms or other),

position the house to take advantage of natural shade in the summer and some solar in the winter, (hard wood trees are great for this),

Insulating is not nessarly low cost, but don't skimp on it, it may be one of the best values in the building industry,

(I think the best way to build low cost is to keep the square footage limited),

and then take advantage of "free" space, or low cost space,

basement, story and 1/2, with convental rafters, not trusses, (if considering this type of design, taller walls may be of help, so the upper story has short walls, but keep the basic single story will make the labor less, (full two story homes are a pain to paint or to side and work on, who wants to be 25 feet in the air working on the gutters or eves or painting, when you can basically have the same square foot of space and walls about 10 to 12 foot tall, 

usually a square or rectangle is lower cost than one with angles or off sets.

an design that could be added on to with making it look like a after thought,

keep your roof designe simple,

here is jsut one design http://www.dfdhouseplans.com/plan/1428/ if one put a basement in it one would have an extra 1400 square feet, to the all ready tal: 2393 Sq. Ft. with a foot print of only 1400 square feet, (using this for an example,)

looking at the 1920 -1930 house plans many of them are frugle designes, http://www.mitchellspublications.com/ur/ah/chr.htm#c1940

http://www.antiquehome.org/House-Plans/1925-wardway/

http://www.antiquehome.org/House-Plans/1925-wardway/vincennes.htm
this one is a nice floor plan (my DD lives in one), a lot of nice place and reasonable lay out, (the people who built it put a basment under it, and it is a nice size of house, they took the materals for the finishing the upper area, and used in the basment and an additional back pourch and shelter for the stairs to the basment, but they still have the space and option to finish the upper story, into two or three nice rooms,


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## 88beast (Jun 4, 2012)

well i thought so about the insulation not much good ways to save there.
the trim i already knew i grew up in a 150 year old house and replaced any rotten trim by using a table saw to match the style and i did pretty well. 
also that tablesaw can make taht plain board trim much fancier.
i was planning on using the raised floor ideas older buildings used with a block pillar that supported the house.


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## KMA1 (Dec 9, 2006)

Be careful with the pier supports. Most older houses I have been in that were built on piers had significant issues with settling. May just be that my experience is in the southeast, but I wouldn't consider piers unless I were setting them on bedrock. Which I will be doing with a new log caretakers cabin I am planning on building next year.


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## 88beast (Jun 4, 2012)

ya most areas around here you can be pretty shallow to bedrock its common when a subdivision goes in for them to truck in tons of soil to get the basements easier to work.
so i was thinking of bedrock or something sturdy id problly get gground testing donw if i dont hit something solid


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

Build in a Free State (no codes). Build it all yourself. Scrounge for all the materials... get a part time job at the 'dump'/reclamation center, and pull all the windows, doors, sinks, etc. that are usable. I scrounge whenever I can, and have a barn full of doors, windows, fixtures, plumbing, electrical, sinks, tubs, etc.... I've been at the 'reclamation' center, and had people throwing away perfectly good parts (doors, windows, etc.) after remodeling. They came home with me.

If you build yourself, your major costs are floor and roof... adding an extra floor to my house cost less than $400. I'd've spent several thousand if I'd had to extend the foundation and roof.

Buy a woodmizer bandsaw mill, used. Use it to cut all your material (I've seen houses that are completely made of wood (foundation/floor/walls/ceilings/roof)... then sell it, and recoup all your money, as long as you don't wreck it. There are tons of free trees everywhere (unless your out on the plains and I imagine, they even have timber there, in the draws and river areas...


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

KMA1 said:


> Just saw you were interested in alternative methods as well. Building with logs is a lot more labor, but the building materials may be available on your own land.


I have built with block, stone, logs and conventional frame houses. labor wise I have found building with logs to be about the easiest. when you set a 20ft long log in place... you have just completed a whole bunch of wall... for the effort of cutting two notches and hoisting it into position.


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## Adamb (Jul 15, 2012)

If you need to use cement or concrete use ECC instead. ECC stands for engineered cementious composite & replaces all the aggregates with fine sand (the finer the better), adds small pieces of fine fibers in small amounts (2~5%) & various additives can be used like in other concrete products to make it sprayable, use less water, etc. Basically it is the best option available for concrete & also reduces the amount you need by anywhere from 50~90% depending on what you at trying to do with it. Its also much stronger, is ductile instead of ridged & doesn't form large cracks, instead it forms very fine hairline cracks that are self-healing. It some amazing stuff, that's for sure.

Another technique I'm using is Ferrocement which also reduces the overall thickness needed. Basically you use alternating layers of concrete & wire mesh (though I've heard of using plastic mesh instead). I'm planning on using recycled metal fencing to save costs & reduce my environmental impact. You can make any shape you want without significant cost increases.

I'm combining the above techniques with straw bale building where the vertical surface are covered in my ECC/Ferrocement combo instead of ordinary Portland cement. This way I'm increasing the mass & insulation without increasing my concrete needs or the overall weight. 

The building shape is going to be a pentadecagon (15 sided regular polygon) which has nearly the same amount of square footage relative to perimeter as a circle while have flat/straight walls & being able to use common (read cheaper) building materials. If the building is large enough them you could go with a 30 sided shape but I ended going with the pentadecagon instead, mainly I went that route just to keep it simpler.

I also kept the height the same as the radius so I would only need 2 lengths of structural members which was simpler & reduced costs by buying in larger quantities instead of smaller quantities of various lengths. So a single storey building could have a radius & height of 9~12', a 2 storey building could have a 18~24' height & radius, & so on. Another option for reducing structural costs is to use tires & rammed earth for your structural posts, I am going to be doing that for my corner & center posts.

Also being creative & finding multiple purposes for each room is important. For instance I need a wheelchair accessible home so I designed my main floor bathroom to be slightly larger then your average half bathroom, choose waterproof materials for the entire room, put a drain in the center of the floor, designed my composting toilet to be either a toilet or with the lid closed a bench, added a shower head & curtain to cover what I wouldn't want to get wet (i.e. Cupboard & towel rack); then for nearly the cost of a regular half bathroom, I had a full bathroom with walk/wheel in shower. Another little extra I planned was to add was a bucket with a heating element & bunch of rocks so I could use it as a sauna as well.

Another little extra I designed was to make the base of my bed into bathtub (Ferrocement techniques work perfectly for this kind of thing). My mattress lifts up by tilting onto one edge with pulleys & there is a shower head built into the underside of the mattress. Then a shower curtain wraps around the other 3 sides creating a bath/shower combo without needing any extra space. I saw this trick on a green homes TV show & thought it was brilliant so I incorporated it into my design. Also I was planning on spraying the underside of the tub with spray insulating foam to insulate it since I like long baths. I also was in touch with one of those companies that makes tubs for people with mobility/balance disabilities & they offered me a wheel in tub door to add to my tub for a couple hundred. That saves me a few thousand by not buying a full system from them.

Apart from those options I also was getting 80~90% of my building supplies from either a store called the "Restore" or from recycled/donated materials for free or at cost so that was going to save me a lot too. Try calling building supply manufacturers & resellers to explain what you are doing & why, many will be willing to donate or sell at cost some materials or even freely donate material & installation help if you let them take photos for their advertising. Then of course there's the tried & true method of haggling. No matter where you are getting something, compare prices & store price matching programs, then go to the store with your research in hand & ask them if they'ld be willing to match a competitors price & discounted price match policy or if you can get bulk discounts or even a discount for buying a bunch of different things all at once. Remember the more you buy the more room you have to haggle & no matter what you are getting you can usually haggle a discount if you are polite, honest & firm.

At the end of the day think & act creatively & you'll find ways to make nearly any budget work. The ideas I've mentioned here are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what I'm doing to save money but they really add up. 

Good luck
Adamb


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## doc66 (Jul 22, 2009)

All great suggestions! If I can find the link, I'll post to a community built by a group of folks in Ohio who built their homes from recycled/reclaimed materials culled from the dumpsters at construction sites. When I spoke with them, they said it took about two years of making the rounds to gather everything they needed. They developed working friendships with site managers who eventually held damaged things out for them so the material did not get more trashed in the trash. 

Have you checked out rammed earth homes using tires as of yet? Earthship.org is a good place to start for that, since they have been doing it for many many years. I visited their facility outside of Taos, NM a few years back and it was some interesting construction ideas and design. They are not as free with the planning as they used to be, but you can still get an idea of their work.


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## The Tinker (Apr 5, 2011)

We had looked into straw bale, cob, log cabin, and slip form stone. We finally settled on a modified underground plan. One thing to think about, when discussing cost, is not only cost of building, but maintaining and living in. Two sites to consider when looking into this are: Earth Sheltered Homes by Underground Home builder, Davis Caves Illinois (this is the site we used to model our own plan, with enough modifications to avoid any sort of copyright infringement) and my favorite site, Radically Sustainable Green Buildings - Interior Earthship Images. If it was just me and not the entire family, I would be ramming tires full of dirt today. the earthship sustainability plans are fantastic. A totally self-contained, self-sustaining house? Sign me up!


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## doc66 (Jul 22, 2009)

I'm with you on the earthship! Someday, someday. Thanks for the links, I'll be spending my evening looking through them for sure.


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## speedfunk (Dec 7, 2005)

Yvonne's hubby said:


> I have built with block, stone, logs and conventional frame houses. labor wise I have found building with logs to be about the easiest. when you set a 20ft long log in place... you have just completed a whole bunch of wall... for the effort of cutting two notches and hoisting it into position.


Even with the additional filling of the cracks? I have built with block and conventional but in the future it would be nice to use onsite trees which need to be cleared any way.


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