Designing Your Own House Floor Plans

 The desire to design your own house floor plans is admirable, but may be beyond the scope of what your able to accomplish without a little help. Stock plans available on the internet or plan books can only help so far because each house needs to be designed not only for those who will live there but also to compliment the site where it is being placed. Here are some tips for those who desire a custom home design but want to be more involved in the process while not spending 8% of the total build cost to hire an architect. 

The first step is to make a list of necessities. Ask yourself and your family how many bedrooms are needed, now many bathrooms, two-story or one-story, are you satisfied with some living space in a walkout basement, do you desire separate living areas or do you want a combined great room, does the garage need to be attached to the house or can it be added later, etc. 

 

The next step is to look for houses that appeal to you. Are there things that attract you? Are there things that you hate? Can you be satisfied with conventional construction or do you want a hybrid or log home" Do timber accents impress or are you more drawn to whites or grays? Taking the time to gather pictures is a great help to assisting the designer in knowing what you are looking for. 

Thirdly, look for a home designer near you that can take these ideas and translate them into reality. Choosing a home draftsman might be suitable, but choosing one that is also a licensed general contractor can lend to a custom home design that is based on building codes and practical insights from day one. 

 Fourthly, be willing to start with a floor plan. Working out the floor plan nuances, flow of the rooms, and circulation path makes the entire design process flow better. With today's high tech 3D design software like Revit, the flat floor plan is actually being designed with the structure in the background. The placement of each window and exterior door and the sizes thereof are the factors that are then taken into the 3D realm and turned into the house design. 

Fifthly, but this actually should be before number 1, be sure to research what requirements are in existence for your HOA if you have one and for the local building code department of your city or county planning office. Things like minimum square footage of living space, maximum footprint of the home, setbacks from property lines, overall height of the buildings, length of roof lines that are unbroken by changes of direction or height, etc are all very important. It is best to include this type of planning parameters into the plan from the beginning so that less time and effort has to be invested in redraws to satisfy requirements that were in place from the beginning. 

 

I have built several of my own homes and I can honestly say that designing my own home plans is a great experience. There is some stress involved, but the investment in a quality set of designs makes it much easier to envision the house that will meet your needs and match your dreams. Quality architectural plans created by a proficient home designer allows accurate cost estimating and construction time projections for your home. And finally, plan designed by a house designer are infused with structural knowledge based on building codes that would be lacking with a simple pencil drawing. 

For more insights to design your own house floor plans visit us at Venture Home Design. If you have specific questions be sure to post a comment below. 

Mike and Sue Lemmon
Venture Home Design
Belgrade, Montana

Log Home Builder Choices

If you are building a log home, a log home builder is a necessity. Any log home company will sell you logs, a log kit, or a log home package, but they are lax is providing a log home builder. Without a builder the homeowner either has to build the log home themselves or try to locate a qualified contractor on their own. Here are some different log home builder choices to help you navigate from your idea of a log cabin to a complete turnkey solution. 

Log homes are an atypical type of home construction. They are more difficult to build than a conventionally framed home, but they are not rocket science. There is simply some construction practices that are unique to log homes that must be incorporated in the building to prevent issues with binding of doors and windows, cracking to drywall from the settling and shrinking of the logs, and air leakage issues between rows of logs and in the outside corners. 

 

Quality log home builders are well versed with shrinkage channels, slip joints, and proper trim installation to prevent long term issues with the log home. Log homes are some of the oldest structures in the United States and they way they have stood the test of time is through quality building. Log homes in the eastern United States are often of a higher quality than ones which were slapped together in gold mining camps of the west. The most renown log structure is the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park. This one massive log structure was built in 1904 and was designed by architect Robert Reamer. Locally sourced materials of Lodge Pole pine and local stone were the main structural elements. Today, it still stands as a remarkable reminder of quality handcrafted log construction. 

 For those who wish to build their log home themselves, complete log home blueprints that come with a log home package should have detail pages and diagrams explaining how to install the shrinkage channels and slip joints, settling jacks and trim to prevent future issues like are noted above. Log home packages also often include the log wall assembly materials such as splines, settle jacks, log caulking, foam tape, lag bolts, and Oly-log screws. It is best to purchase these materials with the log package so that the log home manufacturer can provide you with the correct log wall assembly materials and you don't have to try to figure out what you should buy, how much to purchase, and where to source it from. 

For those who do not want to build their own home but who still desire to be involved in the process, another option is a dry-in contract. A dry-in contract is where the log cabin building company erects your log home and gets it to the point of keeping the weather out. This includes stacking the logs, installing all of the dry-in materials such as roof framing, sub-floor(s), exterior doors, windows, door and window bucks, exterior door and window trim, soffit, fascia, and roof underlayment. The foundation and excavation may or may not be included in a dry-in contract. The final roofing is typically not included in the dry-in contract as it should be contracted with a local roofing company in case of leakage later on. If you use someone local then you can easily call them back if there is a problem. Most log home building companies that solely build log and timber homes travel across many states so calling them back for roof issue is not ideal. Any staining of the logs is also not typically included in a log home dry-in contract. The beauty of the dry-in contract is the interior of the home is protected from weather damage, the log work is done by a qualified log home builder assuring that slip joints and shrinkage channels were properly installed, and the owner can then contract the rest of the finish work themselves without spending money to have someone else oversee it. 

 A full turnkey solution is where a general contractor is hired to do all phases of construction and hands the owners the keys to the front door when they leave. This is a good option for those who have limited time or sparse knowledge of building. Letting the professionals handle things from start to finish, or dirt-to-done ensures that each step is overseen and completed by the professionals. 

So no matter what your choice is, having your log cabin home built on your own land is a satisfying accomplishment. Choosing a high quality premium log package, complete customized construction drawings, and a log home builder with many years of experience can help to make your log home dream a reality. 

For more information about choosing log home builders please visit us at Cowboy Log Homes and view our "Log Home Builders Availability" article.

And as always - 

Thanks for reading - 

Sue Lemmon