Building an Acreage

[mikeo2]

Looking at building an acreage, what are some of your experiences and the do's and dont's. There is a good well, a little hard but not to bad. New at this acreage thing, wife grew up on one but Im a city boy from that aspect. Spent lots of time out on the farm with my grandparents but never had to deal with the septic or well or anything like that. Ideally I like ranch style houses or a walkout basement. The land we have could suit either or depending on where we set the house. I plan on building a large shop with some living quarters as well

[Walleyes]

Welcome to the site mikeo2.

I have spent most of my adult life on acerages of differant sizes. Close to 30 years now. Some owned, some rented so I have had the opportunity to see the good and the bad. My wife and I just recently in the spring of 2013 set up our latest acreage. We bought 70 acres of raw land in the Cold Lake area and built a new house and I also built a 40 x 50 shop on it for myself. The house was my wife's design that we took to an architect and had the plans drawn up the. We took the plans to differant builders and had it built in a RTM then moved out to our location and had the double garaged built on there.The shop I put up that fall and just recently finished it last fall.

We built a 2000sq/ft rancher all on 1 level on a 4 ft crawl, the shop is a 40 x 50 with 16ft walls. It is a pole shop that I finished as a studded shop. I did a lot of work my self as I am handy at a lot of things. I had bought my own small dozer while we were building and did all my own land scaping I also dry rented a large dozer and brushed and built my own driveway. The shop was a package deal for the shell and doors. I had a contractor do the cement floor and I had an electrician come in and do the wiring and after that I took it over from there. Saved about $50,000.00 by finnishing it myself.

Couple things I will say first off keep it simple, do not get caught up in all the latest gizmos and gadgets. There are enough things to look after on an acerae you don't need to do create work for yourself. I am not sure how much land you have but if possible stay away from a septic field go with a mound and pump out if you can. Same as heat and water. Don't get carried away. Either hot water or forced air. I went forced air for ease of maintaince. Water I went with a cistern. Simple reason there is nothing worse than hard water. It will wreck your clothes, your sinks, washing machines, hot water tanks it's horrible stuff. For the price of water delivered now days a well will never pay for itself with the maintaince of them. There are 3 in our house now and for $180.00 of water for delivery last us on average 5 weeks. I have two 1750 gallon low pro tanks I put in my crawl space before I placed the house on and tied it all in myself,, again the simpler the better. In the end the choice is yours though. I could write a book on acerage living I really could. I will share more in coming posts for you and will share some pictures as well.

On a closing note for now I will say one thing,, it's expensive my friend very expensive.

[mikeo2]

Thanks for the welcome, I've been a lurker for awhile now haha.  You were the guy I had in mind when I posted this as I've followed your posts and it sounds like I have in mind almost exactly what you've done with the exception of maybe a little bigger house or a full size basement due to us starting a family soon.  I'm very familiar with the cold lake area, in fact that was one of my first choices for somewhere to build as I grew up in Lloyd.  Wife is from just outside edmonton so we bought 40 acres just east of Leduc.  I'm handy and can do stuff as well.  I've ran lots of equipment and would probably look at getting a little cat to, it would be a good excuse to buy a fun toy haha.  Only reason I may not do that is because I work a 21 and 7 shift and will have that for the next 5 plus years while we build an LNG line out to Rupert.  I want to keep stuff as low of maintenance as possible and want reliable systems so the wife has no worries when I'm gone.  Who did you buy your rtm through?  We're they receptive to working with your wife's design?  Any other tips/info bring them on!

[MrDave]

My first recommendation is look at your drainage. Where is the runoff going to gather. Stops the flooding basement issue. Also look at what you will be digging into, cost of digging a basement can change drastically if you hit rock early into the digging.
 What is the land like? Hilly, treed, ? Always helps us to suggest future problems.
 I had a pump out septic system and hated it. Rather spend extra money on a good field system. The one place I lived on had the septic pump out dug into the lawn to keep it green. Glad I didn't own it. Big rain storm came and the rain pushed the contaminated water down and into the basement. Definitely an idiot move on the owners part.
 Other suggestion, is look at fire hazard. That is why I asked about the surrounding lands. If your neighbors have a fire, will it get to your place? Is it easy to protect? What is the response time of the fire department?
 

[Walleyes]

Good points on the basement Dave. But I don't understand what you mean by a pump out being more maintance and you had one that was buried in the lawn,, how do you bury a pump out in the lawn. I may be mistaken here but I think you have them backwards. A field is a series of perforated pipes you bury in grVel and cover with earth and it drains out into the surrounding ground and as such has a life span on it. A pump out or mound is a simple system and trouble free. You simply bury your pump out line coming out of your septic tank away from your home in a spot that has decent drainage and away from you prevailing winds usually 300 feet is sufficient it's that simple you never touch it again othe than the odd pump. If it's done right you will never have to worry about them. Cost wise a field now days is running about $24,000 compared to a pump out and mound at $12,000. If you had issues with a mound and pump out it was because it was dome wrong not because of the system and regardless what you have if it's not done right you will have grief. With fields you have to watch what you put down the drain, no grease no garberator with a pump out it really doesn't matter.

[RobMcLeod82]

Its all incredibly expensive. The costs continue for years, Things like seeding x amount of acres of lawn, putting gravel on your new driveway for 3-5 years before it settles and packs up. Make sure you have something to move snow, preferably with a cab, a quad with a blade doesnt really cut it. Learn how to put up snow fence so your wife doesnt wake up to 6 foot drifts across the driveway when you are away. Like was already said pay close attention to the natural drainage, I ended up having to regrade my back yard as it drifted froze and when it melted caused an ice dam and almost flooded my basement. Think about things like purchasing a backup generator with automatic transfer switches(Wish I had put one in) Because the power only goes out for extended periods of time when you are away working, and then your wife loses her heat and water ect ect ect. Purchase a flat deck trailer, you will use it like crazy. If you do go on a well look into a good filtration system, it will save your appliances and keep your toilets,sinks and tubs from staining. Make sure in your master bathroom you put in a tiled porno shower with a bench (Probably the best thing we put in our house a set of harrows are your friend. Its way cheaper to have the builder finish your basement when you are building the house than doing it after the fact.

[MrDave]

Nope not mistaken. Idiots dug up the lawn and put weeping tile in it. Pump from the tank actually pumped to the lawn. Hey kids don't eat the grass from the lawn.... Place was a death trap in many ways.
I haven't installed a sewage system in a couple of decades. I grew up doing home building as a kid. Costs have sky rocketed. Makes me glad I can do most of my own work.
I simply got tired of impeller problems and power outages. All it takes is an extended outage at the wrong time and you will get a lesson on cleaning out the second compartment. Rural living has many challenges.

[Walleyes]

Yes rural living is differant but I couldn't emagine living any where else.

Paying attention to details ahead of time can save a lot of grief down the road. As mentioned before,, take your time and pick out a good building spot, drainage is everything, for your house and the yard. Be prepared for the wettest of years not dry years. Consider how far from power you are or want to be as this is a big expense as well. I ran my power about 300m, three poles then buried into the yard. Cost was close to $20,000.00. Natural gas is another expense, this one not so bad. Most areas are on a co-op system and it's generally a flat rate whether you are 100 feet or 300 yards it's the same. Generally around the $4000.00 mark for gas. We didn't build a basement and went with a rancher all on one level and put it on a 4' crawl, my drainage is awesome as we put the foundation about 12" into natural ground and I built up around that. When the hoe was there digging the foundation I knew I would need more dirt to have a nice slope around the house so I had a buroe pit dug about 200' from the house and used the dirt from there to back fill around the house and later sloped the buroe pit and I put the garden next to it and use it as a dug out for watering the garden during the dry season. My house being built above ground level I never have to worry about poor drainage or sewage backing up. The drain in my house is actualy higher than the tops of my septic tanks so it will run out the top of the tanks before it floods my crawl space. All things to think about ahead of time.

Before you build or dig your basement make sure you strip all your top soil back from your driveway area as well as around the basement, shop, any area you will be building on or graveling. Putting gravel on top of top soil is a waste of money. As well top soil isn't cheap to buy. Save what you have and if needed buy what you need after. I was lucky and needed none extra. My property had abut 8" of good top soil and having my own equipment I was able to save it. I had top soil piled 8 feet high all around my yard when I was done and spread it out after construction wa complete.

Gravel is a big expense but you need it. So far I am I to gravel for about $13,000.00 around my place and will be putting in another $8,000.00 this year so will be into the gravel for over $20,000.00. mind you I started all from undeveloped ground so everything was more expensive.

Looking at my place you would never guess it was built 3' above ground the way it's been landscaped it all looks natural.

[RobMcLeod82]

Good points walleyes!

[mikeo2]

Thanks for the great info!

[MrDave]

I have a major roofing project starting on the senior's retirement home, I do the maintanence on. So yesterday, we had the big prebid meeting. It included the consultant our corporation has hired, out of Texas, to chair it.
 This fellow is the know it all roofing man. He was telling us about what's happening with the shingle industry.
 Shingles with a 10 year warranty, are a screw the customer game. 50% will be no good by 5 years, of those the manufacturer will blame installer for. Of the remaining complaints the expect to only pay for warranty on 2% of total sales. Most people will forget about the warranty, or not fight.
Basically it boils down to how hard you want to fight for the warranty.
 Same with the longer warranties, expect half of what the life span is stated. He is seeing the weight of a square of shingles, dropped by 30 pounds since he started engineering in the 60's.
 My area alone has 3 buildings whose 25 year shingles, are done in 15 years. Out of 29 complexes in Canada, we have 10 that must be redone. Between $15,000 and $20,000 per building.

Moral is buy the best and watch out for poor installation.
 Now, this firm requires 6 fasteners per shingle. This is improving the lifespan greatly. They are finding far less storm damage due to lifting.
  Makes sense to me. Costs less than $12 on an average home, for the fasteners. Cheap little improvement.

[Walleyes]

And the other joys of an acerage,,, the work never stops, especially if your like us and run a big garden, 3 acres of lawn and I think about 1000 flowers lol.. Just got home from a 21 day hitch and it will all be spent with my nose to the grind wheel. My 9 days off look like this.

Today go get the new zero turn then rush home and hook the old mower up to the lawn sweep.
Sweep all lawn including ditches.
Give lawn a quick cut.
Aerate bad patches in lawn and along ditches.
Seed bad areas have some areas that never caught on that good.
Drag seed in.
Go get 3 point rotor tiller for back of tractor, rotivate garden ( making bigger this year manure coming wensday) prep garden.
Get planters ready for planting.
Move more trees this time out hopefully another 20 or so. ( have an abundance of small spruce on the land so don't have to buy but have to dig up )
Hopefully some moister coming next week so will be fertilizing ahead of that.

And that's just this hitch off,meant until it realy arms up.

Yah,, the joys of the piece and quiet of an acreage,, lol..

[mikeo2]

I have a major roofing project starting on the senior's retirement home, I do the maintanence on. So yesterday, we had the big prebid meeting. It included the consultant our corporation has hired, out of Texas, to chair it.
 This fellow is the know it all roofing man. He was telling us about what's happening with the shingle industry.
 Shingles with a 10 year warranty, are a screw the customer game. 50% will be no good by 5 years, of those the manufacturer will blame installer for. Of the remaining complaints the expect to only pay for warranty on 2% of total sales. Most people will forget about the warranty, or not fight.
Basically it boils down to how hard you want to fight for the warranty.
 Same with the longer warranties, expect half of what the life span is stated. He is seeing the weight of a square of shingles, dropped by 30 pounds since he started engineering in the 60's.
 My area alone has 3 buildings whose 25 year shingles, are done in 15 years. Out of 29 complexes in Canada, we have 10 that must be redone. Between $15,000 and $20,000 per building.

Moral is buy the best and watch out for poor installation.
 Now, this firm requires 6 fasteners per shingle. This is improving the lifespan greatly. They are finding far less storm damage due to lifting.
  Makes sense to me. Costs less than $12 on an average home, for the fasteners. Cheap little improvement.

I've been considering spending the money and going with tin, anyone have experience with it?

[mikeo2]

And the other joys of an acerage,,, the work never stops, especially if your like us and run a big garden, 3 acres of lawn and I think about 1000 flowers lol.. Just got home from a 21 day hitch and it will all be spent with my nose to the grind wheel. My 9 days off look like this.

Today go get the new zero turn then rush home and hook the old mower up to the lawn sweep.
Sweep all lawn including ditches.
Give lawn a quick cut.
Aerate bad patches in lawn and along ditches.
Seed bad areas have some areas that never caught on that good.
Drag seed in.
Go get 3 point rotor tiller for back of tractor, rotivate garden ( making bigger this year manure coming wensday) prep garden.
Get planters ready for planting.
Move more trees this time out hopefully another 20 or so. ( have an abundance of small spruce on the land so don't have to buy but have to dig up )
Hopefully some moister coming next week so will be fertilizing ahead of that.

And that's just this hitch off,meant until it realy arms up.

Yah,, the joys of the piece and quiet of an acreage,, lol..

T

That's one of my worries to lol.  Although I enjoy doing all that stuff.  I know my list in the future will also include cleaning/repairing horse pens and various other animal enclosures lol.

[Walleyes]

I've been considering spending the money and going with tin, anyone have experience with it?

Tin can be fine and in the right type of house it looks very nice but it has to be that type of house. Another thing about tin is the style of roof. If your plan is a long large roof tin is not recommended do to noise when it rains. This may not seem like a big deal but it camps be.

[MrDave]

Wouldn't consider anything but metal roofing. Long term you will always have a solid roof over the investment. Use sound proofing on the ceiling and you won't hear anything from above. Bigger investment, but permanent.