In the spring of 2001, I bought a piece of land in the country. It didn't have a house on it, so I switched into high gear to design a new home and prepare for construction. I took a homebuilding workshop at the Southface Energy Institute in Atlanta. I started poring over books and magazines and sketching plans. And I looked into the permitting issues to find out how far they'd let me go here.
I got the building permit in the fall of 2001, had the foundation poured in mid-October, and was dried in by the end of November. Doing much of the work myself, while having a full time job in academia, it took nearly two years to finally get moved into the house in August 2003. It was a wonderful experience overall, sprinkled with bursts of agony and frustration, of course. I had no major problems or injuries (a badly-hammered--but unbroken--thumb of one of my workers being the worst), and the drawn-out construction period benefited me with falling interest rates.
This house is now for sale!Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more info. |
One thing I was determined to do was to build a house that was not only green (in the environmental sense) but also a pleasant space to be in and one that fit in with its environment. The design grew out of some plans I saw for a small cabin, and it has a cabiny feel. I wanted to minimize the building envelope, so it's two stories (on a full basement). It's energy efficient, there's no septic tank or sewer connection, and a photovoltaic panel powers the pump in the well that supplies water to the house. Also, about two thirds of the floors are white oak salvaged from a local elementary school that was built in 1921.
In the following pages, I've highlighted some of the major features of the house.