It's very hard for me to ask people to work on my little house when there is so many people in Lakeshore that do not have houses and lost everything in the storm. So for now my house is stalled at the electrical and plumbing stages, since I'm sure I couldn't do that. But that's no big deal. It gives me more time to plan what I am going to do. Come the walls and flooring stage though, hopefully I will be able to do some of that on my own and with a little help.
For those interested...I drew up the plans on Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Suite 6.0. My goal was to design a building under 200 square feet. The floor plan is pretty basic and flexible as far as getting up into the loft. Originally I was going to just use a ladder, but I have been talked into building an alternating tread staircase. I will probably build a book case on the back of the staircase and I have an idea for the table, but I'll. tell more about that if it happens. I am also still trying to decide what I am going to do as far as siding. I think I like the idea of a rustic cabin. If I do that I will probably go with T-111 for siding. I intend to sheetrock once things are ready inside and as far as flooring I will probably do some tile since we have a bunch of random donated tile. But for flooring in the loft I'm stuck...any suggestions?You might notice that there is not a spot of the water heater on the drawings. I have plans for that as well...probably a little shed looking thing just off the back of the house. At one of the houses we rehabbed we did this and it seemed to work pretty well...If it doesn't make sense now hopefully once it is done I'll have pictures to explain.
1 comment:
About your hot water: May I suggest you use an on-demand hot water heater? These little boxes use a lot less energy since the only make hot water as you need it. They are also often very small, a box about a foot square in the front and about 4 inches deep.
The down side is these are often more expensive, and when they are working, they need a lot of energy in a short period of time. It shouldn't be much of an issue, but make sure the installer knows what s/he is doing. Look for a version ment for a camper/mobile home as these tend to be sturdier, smaller and cheaper.
As for the loft, you can use laminate flooring which goes on easily, and looks good. Don't get the cheapest stuff you can find, as they often don't fit together well and will cause chipped edges between pieces.
You might want to also look into unfinished hardwood flooring. If you do it yourself, it's as cheap as any other technique (~$1 per sq foot), but can take some time to install AND may require a special tool called a floor nailer. Feel free to leave it raw for something as light as a loft, or you can always apply polyurethane to make it last forever.
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