Tips & Advice...what would you do?

My husband and I are right in the middle of acquiring land (150 acres), and building a new home/yardsite. 
We would love tips, advice, and "what would you have done differently" from others who have been through this process, or simply have
a yard setup that they wish they could change!  We expect to keep about 20 cows, I have a home-based business, and my Husband
has a dayjob as well. 
Our main concern right now is finding quality water, making sure we have drainage (water is higher here than ever before), and shelter.

This is a silly one, but don't forget to put a nice big window and a patio within clear view of a pasture. When things get crazy or stressful, simply go there, stare and all is well

Deal!  Yes, it is just a huge convenience when you can check the cows from your house...even if it requires binoculars for a closer look

keep your house as far off the road as possible its a little more driveway to take care of but the seclusion is priceless

barns have manure and manure makes flies, better to walk or take the 4-wheeler to the  barn than have lots of fly poop on your house...siding brick etc would be better if it doesn't show fly poop

good lots make safer more settled animals and workers.. really consider animal flow and places for bulls when planning

electric service may be better split rather than long runs to the barns

handicapped access to tjhe house and a bathroom..minimal cost when building but can be a real blessing if only for guests

stairs in the garage into the unfinished basement for muddy boots etc

shade and porch

water service needs to be reliable,bury it deep

I would keep the yard fairly small and easy to keep mowed.  The last thing I want to do when I come home from work or a show is to mow our 8 acre yard and it's danged expensive to pay someone to do it

make sure the house site is raised by grading, put sand as a covering if you have a crawl space, long over hangs able to withstand wind, 6" walls minimum with foam insulation, gutters drained far from house, geothermal if appropriate for area, two leach lines so you can switch them with access at ground level.

knabe said:

make sure the house site is raised by grading, put sand as a covering if you have a crawl space, long over hangs able to withstand wind, 6" walls minimum with foam insulation, gutters drained far from house, geothermal if appropriate for area, two leach lines so you can switch them with access at ground level.

Click to expand...

The home will have a walkout basement.  Were just digging out the side of a hill, not building up a hill.  If we cannot get natural gas service out here, my husband is pretty determined to go with Geo.  He is a plumber, so he
has worked with it a bit, and seems to love it.  We are in Saskatchewan, so winters can be rather chilly, and most people try to convince us that the Geo isn't a good choice.  We have mostly heard the con's of Geo, versus the
pro's, so I am nervous about the investment still.  We are also choosing not to go with spray insulation....my Husband is convinced it will turn out like Asbestos and be filled with bad things!  I am ok with splurging on the
good ole fashioned insulation, or some type of foam.
I agree with the overhangs.  Seems that things like concrete slabs, garage's, porch's, and overhangs can never be big enough!  

I hope you have a big garden because there is nothing like fresh veggies from the garden in the summer!! and what were you guys using for fencing??

We just built our house a year ago, and after living in it for a year here are some changes we are making:
We could not afford a walk out basement, so have a subfloor. It was NOT insulated (we put in real hardwood floors - Australian Cypress, GREAT FLOOR). This spring we are crawling into the space and insulating! We have an electric heater and our bill went up to $600 this winter    (normally about $120) We are also installing a wood burning stove to help with heating.
Upgrade to good quality counters. We bit the bullet and put in granite countertops and LOVE them! You can cut on them and not damage them, drop stuff on them, and they clean so easily!
If you think it is big enough, go BIGGER! We thought our house was going to be big (it is 2000 square feet), but the rooms are still not big enough for the kids. Also, our garage was supposed to be a two car garage, but we can in no way fit two cars in there (well, an explorer and f250)!
One of my favorites; our sliding glass window faces east with a patio. We can go outside and sip coffee and watch the sun rise over our cattle (when they are in the east pasture!).
Windows, windows, windows! I can walk into any of our kids rooms and look out over our property and see our cows, VERY NICE!
If you use a subcontractor to do any work, DO NOT PAY THEM until they COMPLETE THE JOB! (personal experience here )
Research your appliances and what you want to use; electric, propane, natural gas, .... We have an electric water heater and wish we had planned for a propane. Kids use up hot water after just two baths and it takes awhile to reheat. Dryer is gas and dries REALLY fast! LOVE IT!
UTILITY ROOM! We put ceramic tile in the utility room, which comes from the garage, and has a bathroom and sink so when we come in from working with the cows and horses we can pull off muddy boots and clean up before going into the house. Leave the muddy boots in the utility room. And we actually took the door off and put in a pet gate so the dogs get locked in the utility room when we are not home and can get locked in there when they are muddy and not get the rest of the house dirty!
Plan ahead! We had our barn pad cut out (120 feet x 60 feet pad) while the large equipment was here. We hope to build our barn by next year, but use the pad to store hay and have pens set up for working cows.
Just a little to start with. We love our home, just wish we had looked at more places before we built so we could get a good idea of how big or small it was actually going to be.

"UTILITY ROOM! We put ceramic tile in the utility room, which comes from the garage, and has a bathroom and sink so when we come in from working with the cows and horses we can pull off muddy boots and clean up before going into the house. Leave the muddy boots in the utility room. And we actually took the door off and put in a pet gate so the dogs get locked in the utility room when we are not home and can get locked in there when they are muddy and not get the rest of the house dirty!"

AMEN!
a "mud" room is a must!  cause as you know, life on the farm can get real dirty real quick...mine is a combo mud room/laundry room, with the washer and dryer in it...we come in, take off muddy boots and clothes, throw them in the washer or laundry basket, they dont even get inside the main house...when we build a new house im going to add a bathroom and shower to the mud room...one stop cleaning! 

I would look into geo thermal as well.  If you know you are going to be in the house for a long time, you will easily see the pay off.  I assume there would still be some energy tax credit available, but they might have expired in 2010.

Insulate it good, tankless hot water heater, radiant heating in the floor, tons of huge windows, etc.

Jason said:

I would look into geo thermal as well.  If you know you are going to be in the house for a long time, you will easily see the pay off.  I assume there would still be some energy tax credit available, but they might have expired in 2010.

Insulate it good, tankless hot water heater, radiant heating in the floor, tons of huge windows, etc.

Click to expand...

Also shop around on windows and don't take the brand name as the quality.  I have anderson 400's for 2x4 construction and I was unaware that I would not be able to hang blinds inside the windows, as opposed to on the casing.  The anderson rep never mentioned anything about it.  Little things like that you didn't expect will  drive you nuts.

A utility/mud room is DEFINITELY going into the house!  My husband even suggests having a cheap washing machine right in the garage to was those really dirty clothes...almost the best idea
I have ever heard from him!  I think I would like to have some type of boot wash...like those sinks you can get for washing pets to put into the utility room as well.  It should be good for discinfecting
as well...as right now I travel to 3 or 4 farms a day doing custom AI.

We are also considering investing in a windmill as well...especially if we go with Geo.  I believe we are going with a tankless H20 heater...could be wrong...but it is the type that always has hot water
available, and hangs on the wall. 
There was a grant available for Geo...which I believe is still in effect.  The huge windows are also a plan too...and good quality ones as well.  Being a farm kid, I know not to necessarily trust the
brand names.  Often, it can be those small business that have great products!

I appreciate all the tips from everyone

I personally do not know much about geothermal heating but I have a friend who built a new house with it a year ago just outside of Moose Jaw and he seems to be quite happy at this point after the first winter. 

We poured stained and stamped concrete floors where we could,  wish we had put radiant floor heating also.  Be sure you leave plenty of room in the driveway to turn a trailer around.

being involved in custom home building here are some things that we do and feel that they are a must and the cost is very little but the end result is much better.

When you pour your footing pour them at least 24" wide and since you are doing a basement also pour a ribbon footing down the middle of the house, don't just pour pier pads.

Also on the basement walls put the rebar in on 24" centers both horizontally and vertically and PLEASE pour 9 ft basement walls, this will give you plenty of room for clearance after you put the duct work in.
Keep the basement wall that is out of the ground at least 2 ft.

Insulation, foam is excellent, but more costly.  Use blown in Cellulose, it has boron in it and will help to keep bugs at bay. and is much much more energy efficient than fiberglass.

We also use I-joists instead of 2x's for the floor joists, they are more uniform and stronger and about the same price as 2x lumber.

If you are going to have any vaulted ceiling be sure and use 2x12's,  I know that in some cases 2x6 or 2x8 will work, but insulation is the problem.  2x6 will only give you an R-19.  If you go 2x12 your R value will be somewhere around an R-40,  You will lose most of your heating and cooling costs through the ceiling/roof.

I don't know what your prices is for propane on gas where you are, but if you are putting in a geo thermal HVAC system, install 2 hot water tanks,  the first one will get hooked up to the geo unit and give you free hot water, the second one will not have to work as hard to keep or heat the water.

There are many excellent hot water tanks out that are a minimum of 92% efficiency on keeping the water hot.  Depending on the size of your home and where the kitchen, bath and laundry are located hot water may have to travel quite a distance.  There are some products on the market that can be hooked up and set on a timer that will circulate the hot water so that if you are getting ready to take a shower, when you turn the hot water on, it is there.

On the garage, make sure that if you are going to have a double car garage with 2 doors, PLEASE be sure that the doors are at least 9 ft wide.  Also if you are going to park a pickup and especially a 4-wheel drive that the door opening is tall enough for clearance so that you don't hit the top of the cab of the garage door.

In the bathroom, be sure and put in 2 GFCI outlets and not just one, the women of the house always appreciate this.

On the water lines, be sure and put a whole house shut off valve where the water comes into the basement, and also be sure and put shut off's at ALL sinks.

Also watch the electrical wiring, with the price of copper and electrical wire, some electricians will try and wire a house with only 14 ga wire.  All electrical outlets should be 12 ga, and ceiling lights can be 14 ga.  Also be sure to put plenty of outlets in the kitchen.  Also pre wire your house for telephone, cable tv (even for satelite), and internet and network.