STARTED

Posted by on 11/ 11/ 15

Site, Design, Permits, and Preparation

Building a house is a long journey, and one of the most important characteris­tics you can possess is optimism. In this context, I often think about President Jimmy Carter, who has done so much to promote the work of Habitat for Humanity. Over the years, he and his wife Rosalynn have helped build nearly 3,000 houses in the sincere belief that decent housing can be made available to every human being. As you take your first steps toward building a house, remember Mr. Carter’s optimistic attitude, and make it your own.

The homebuilding process can be intimidating, especially if you haven’t been through a house construction project from start to finish. This book is here to help you. By gaining a good understanding of when, why, and how things are done, you’ll also gain confidence in your ability to build a house that’s comfortable, functional, and affordable. Take care, and hold on to your optimistic attitude. Enjoy the step-by-step journey and all the people who help out along the way.

STEP 1 OBTAIN A SITE

The first step in building a house is finding a place to put it. This is not a step to be taken lightly. There are many factors to consider, not the least of which are the exact location of property lines, the setback and other zoning require­ments (the distance a house must be set back from property lines), and whether there are any easements or restrictions on what or where you can build.

Soil characteristics are important when choosing a building site. We once built a house in Montana where 6 in. of topsoil hid large boulders, making it impossible to dig trenches by hand. Building on expansive clay soil requires

Подпись: BUILDING A HOUSE IS A TEAM EFFORT Working together builds more than houses. Every Habitat project offers a unique opportunity to make new friends and build a new beginning. Подпись: Get help from IIP the EPA. If you suspect that your building site may have been contaminated with hazardous materials, contact your local chap-ter of the Environmental Protection Agency or order an environmental site assessment from an environmental professional.

extra precautions. Learn about the lot’s zoning, whether it’s situated in a flood plain or on a wetland, and whether any hazardous materials are, or have ever been, present. Removing asbestos debris or an underground oil tank can be very expensive.

Also check to see whether utilities are in place—water, water meter, sewer or septic system, electricity, gas, and telephone and cable lines. When we first moved to Oregon, I inquired about a two-acre site near where we now live. The city water lines stopped 14 mile away from the property, and to drill a deep well or extend water lines to the new site would have
cost a small fortune. We looked elsewhere. Be sure to check with the local building depart­ment (as well as the health, zoning, wetlands, and any other local departments that must issue approval for a construction project) about any potential lot. This investigative work can save you a lot of time and money. Make sure you’ve done all your homework to determine a lot’s suitability before you buy.

Particularly in cities, finding a suitable lot can be a daunting task. The price of the prop­erty can sometimes be the biggest impediment to building an affordable house. I know of a couple of marginally suitable building lots in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles that recently sold for $258,000 each. Both of those lots are pitched so steeply that each one will require at least $150,000 just to prepare for construc­tion. That’s $400,000 before the owners can even start building! Obviously, most of us have to look elsewhere. There’s no easy way to find the “perfect” lot. Check with realtors, follow up on newspaper and online ads, let friends

Heavy equipment readies the site. Initial site prepa­ration is usually done with heavy equipment because of the sheer difficulty of clearing, grading, and dig­ging by hand.

STARTED[Photo © Larry Haun]

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

Posted by on 11/ 11/ 15

The Highway Engineering Handbook has been developed by knowledgeable engineers to serve as a comprehensive reference source for those involved in highway design. This handbook is broad in scope, presenting information on topics ranging from environmental issues to value engineering, from the design of culverts, lighting, and noise walls to the design of safety systems, retaining walls, and bridges. In addition, such fundamental subjects as location and pavement design are fully discussed.

This volume should be useful to a wide range of personnel involved in highway design and construction, including consulting engineers; engineers employed by departments of transportation in federal, state, and local governments; those involved with turnpike authorities; and engineering educators. Both experienced practitioners and serious students will find the information presented here useful and easy to apply. It should enable the engineer to create a design that fulfills the requirements of the highway user: a safe, smooth, durable, aesthetically pleasing, environmentally sensitive, and economical highway system.

Contributors to this handbook are experienced highway engineers, consultants, or educators. They are leading authorities in their subject areas. The guiding principle of this book is to present practical information that has direct application to situations encountered in the field. Efforts were made to coordinate the information with that of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). Metric units are used where feasible to ease the transition to that system.

The material in this book follows a logical sequence. It begins with a discussion of environmental issues, a fundamental consideration in modern highway design. This is followed by a chapter on location, design, and traffic that includes extensive examples of typical standard treatments. A subject critical to building and maintaining durable systems, pavement design and rehabilitation, is then presented. Following this, aspects of bridge engineering are discussed to aid in the selection of bridge type and material for a durable design. The essentials of culvert design are then offered, as well as information on the various culvert types available. Next, a discussion of roadway safety addresses the latest options for providing for errant vehicles that leave the traveled way. A wealth of information follows on signing and lighting highways, subjects that also are closely related to highway safety. A comprehensive chapter next addresses the selection and design of retaining walls and considers both generic and proprietary systems. Walls to reduce traffic noise and screen unsightly areas are then considered. Finally, a chapter on value engineering and life cycle cost presents fundamental insights into these areas, as well as application examples, to encourage cost-effective design.

The contributors and editors are indebted to their colleagues and a variety of sources for the information presented. Credit is given in references throughout the text to the extent feasible.

The reader is cautioned that independent professional judgment must be exercised when information given in this handbook is applied. Anyone making use of this information assumes all liability arising from such use.

Roger L. Brockenbrough, P. E.

Kenneth J. Boedecker, Jr., P. E.

FACTORS FOR CONVERSION TO SI UNITS OF MEASUREMENT

Multiply

By

To find

Length:

Inches (in)

25.400

Millimeters (mm)

Feet (ft)

0.3048

Meters (m)

Yards (yd)

0.9144

Meters (m)

Miles (mi)

1.6093

Kilometers (km)

Area:

2

Square inches (in )

645.16

2

Square millimeters (mm )

Square feet (ft2)

0.09290

2

Square meters (m )

Square yards (yd )

0.8361

2

Square meters (m )

2

Square miles (mi )

2.5900

Square kilometers (km )

Acres (ac)

0.4047

Hectares (ha)

Mass:

Ounces (oz)

28.350

Grams (g)

Pounds (lb)

0.4536

Kilograms (kg)

Tons, short (T)

0.9072

Megagrams (Mg), or tonnes

Volume:

Ounces, fluid (oz)

29.574

Milliliters (mL)

Gallons (gal)

3.7854

Liters (L)

Cubic feet (ft3)

0.02832

Cubic meters (m )

Cubic yards (yd )

0.07646

3

Cubic meters (m )

Velocity:

Miles per hour (mi/h)

1.6093

Kilometers per hour (km/h)

Force:

Pound (lb)

4.4482

Newton (N)

Kip

4.4482

Kilonewton (kN)

Stress:

2

Pounds per square inch (lb/in )

6.8948

Kilopascal (kPa)

Kips per square inch (kips/in )

6.8948

Megapascal (MPa)

Kips per square foot (kips/ft )

47.880

Kilopascal (kPa)

INTRODUCTION TO FRAMING

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I’m a framing contractor. I’ve spent most of my career as a lead framer, directing my framing crews and training workers to become framers. In my teaching, I found that much of the information I needed was not available in a good book, so I wrote one, Framing & Rough Carpentry. As I started spending more of my time training and working with lead framers, I again looked for a good, easy-to-understand reference. I didn’t find what I needed, so I wrote another book, Advanced Framing Methods, that provides all the information a framer needs to move up to the next level-becoming a lead framer. The Complete Book of Framing is the combination of those two books, updated with full – color illustrations and photographs, plus additional information-all presented in what I’ve come to think of as a “framer-friendly" format.

If you’re a novice with no framing experience,

you’ll see the basics of framing shown in a simple, step-by-step style that makes it easy to learn. Where possible, I included both photographs and drawings for each step-for quick and complete learning. The advanced information will be more difficult for a novice to understand, but getting a good feel for the framing basics that come before it will help. The more advanced tasks are also explained with photos and clear drawings.

If you’re already an experienced framer, the book gives you some unique tools that you won’t find anywhere else. For example, after struggling with rafters and rake walls for years, I developed a diagonal percent system that makes it easier. I use this for finding rafter lengths and rake wall stud heights.

The book also explains all the “classic" methods for doing these tasks, but once you try the diagonal percent system, I doubt you’ll go back to the old methods. Another example of the book’s unique style of presentation is the layout language, which I developed for my first book.

If you’re a lead framer, all the basic framing steps presented are important for reference and to help you teach and train crews. Most valuable, however, will be the guidance on managing a framing crew. Once you become a lead framer, your productivity is defined by the productivity of your crew. You’ll need to think about the information they need and how to teach and manage them most effectively. Chapter 14 of this book is like a mini framer management course.

The charts and graphs in the book present information that is needed to manage a framing crew, but is not readily available. For example, the International Building Code chart makes it easy to reference the latest information governing framing. The Standard Framing Dimensions chart gathers the information that you "sort-of" remember, but it helps to have it handy for quick reference.

This book covers all the major topics related to framing. Each is presented in the easiest learning method. Because the framing tasks are diverse and vary in complexity, the format also varies a little throughout the book. All of the topics are covered in a framer-friendly way.

Framing is very rewarding work, both physically and mentally. One of the biggest challenges, however, is getting accurate information every time so that you can be sure you’re framing a structure correctly. This book will assist you in that task.

Happy Framing,

The trade of wood framing comprises the rough carpentry skills needed to produce the “skeleton" of a building and its first layer of “skin." The skeleton consists of the structural lumber forming the floors, walls, and roof. The skin consists of the lumber that encloses the skeleton and provides a surface for subsequent layers of protective and decorative finish materials.

This chapter is an illustrated review of a framer’s most basic tools, materials, and terminology. This basic information is often not even taught on the job site, so if you don’t know it when you arrive for work, you will have to play a guessing game or ask a lot of questions.

The detailed illustrations serve as a handy reference and help to reduce confusion when different words are used for the same item. Confusion can arise when framers move from job site to job site and work with different people. For example, bottom plates are often known as sole plates, backers as partitions, and trimmers as jack studs. But it doesn’t matter what they are called as long as you know what they are. There is also a more detailed list of framing terms with definitions at the back of the book.

The suggested organization for a framing tool truck presented in this chapter is just an example of how a truck might be set up for tool storage. Its purpose is, once again, to reduce confusion and make the job easier. It is amazing how much time can be spent looking for tools and nails if they aren’t put where you expect them to be.

WOOD SHINGLES AND SHAKES

Posted by on 11/ 11/ 15

Shingle wear will almost always be greater on a south-facing roof because that side gets the most sun. If shingle ends are cupping and splitting, plan to reroof soon.

Mossy shingles or shakes are common in wet climates and on shady roof sections. Although moss-covered shingles can be relatively sound, the condition will induce rot because moss retains water.

If the house is in a fire-risk area, insurers may refuse to give a policy on a wood-shingle or wood-shake roof. In this case, replace it with noncombustible roofing.

SLATE SHINGLES

Do not attempt to walk on slate roofs. Even when dry, they’re slippery. They’re also brittle and so break easily.

Off-color areas may indicate replacement shingles for those that suffered damage from a tree branch. Later, when you are in the attic, check for water stains on supporting lumber.

If you see rust-colored streaks or cockeyed slates, the installer may have used nails that weren’t galvanized, which by now have rusted through. Although it’s possible to remove and renail slate, the job requires a costly specialist. However, if many nails have rusted through, the roof is dangerous, and the slate should be removed.

ROOF TILES

Stay off tile roofs. Even when the roof slope isn’t steep, your weight could damage the tiles.

Inspect them from an extension ladder and with binoculars.

Look for odd-colored tiles from earlier repairs. Obviously cracked or broken tiles can be replaced, but the job is costly. In the attic, check for water stains.

Look closely at the ridge. Sagging ridge and rafters suggest too much weight on the framing. It’s a big expense to remove the tile, bolster or replace sagging rafters, replace sheathing, and then replace tiles.

Stay off metal roofs. They are slippery, whether wet or dry.

Even though a rusty roof may not look great, it could be watertight with a lot of years left. Roofs with superficial rust can be sanded and repainted. In the attic, check for evidence of leaks.

Note: Roofing panels should be nailed at the high point of metal folds. If you see many nails in the roofing channels themselves—where the water runs—the installation was inept, and you’ll need a new roof.

ASPHALT SHINGLES

Posted by on 11/ 11/ 15

If the granular surface of asphalt shingles is worn and if shingles are cupped and dog-eared, it’s time for a new roof. Ditto if gutters contain a sig­nificant amount of gravel washed off the surface of the shingles.

If the roofing is lumpy and uneven, it proba­bly has two or more layers of shingles that weren’t well installed and so need to be stripped to the sheathing before reroofing.

Do you see odd-colored shingles? If so, they are probably patches over old leaks. Or if the roof is relatively new and shingles are worn in only one area, perhaps one bundle of shingles was defective.

A roof less than 5 years old with a large num­ber of loose or missing shingles indicates that the installer’s power nailer was set too deep and drove the nails too far through the shingles. In this case, that roofing needs to be replaced.

Two’s

If there are two or more layers of roofing, strip the roof to its sheathing before reroofing. The best place to count layers is along the edges. But, as you count, keep in mind that roofers often double the shingles along the edges, to stiffen the shingle overhang so water drips freely off its edge.

image39

METAL ROOFING

Подпись: FLATПодпись: This old brick chimney has four strikes against it: crumbling mortar, failed base flashing, no flue lining, and a wind-buffeted TV antenna that stresses mortar joints.

AREN’T FLAT

Flat roof is a misnomer: Even relatively flat roofs need some slope so water can exit down a drain or gutter. (After all, a cubic yard of water weighs 1,684 lb.) Still, water tends to pool on such low-slope roofs, so their roofing mem­branes must be intact to keep water out.

DIFFERENCES IN SMAs AROUND THE WORLD

Posted by on 11/ 11/ 15

To summarize the status of SMAs around the world in regard to the design of mix­tures and their aggregate gradations, two general trends consist of the following:

• German SMAs and others made by those more-or-less faithful to German guidelines have evolved somewhat based on long-standing systematic observations and experiences in SMA technology

• Research and development continues on new ways of designing SMAs; U. S. and Dutch techniques may be representative of that trend (see Chapter 7).

Various mixtures worldwide are referred to as SMA although they may differ greatly from Dr. Zichner’s invention. Some of these variants should, in principle, actually be called something besides SMA. Undoubtedly they are still gap-graded mineral mixes and SMA-like, but they are not identical with Dr. Zichner’s

Splittmastixasphalt.

In subsequent chapters, SMA composition will be discussed according to a scheme drawing on both trends. The existence of so many different attitudes toward the SMA mix has been problematic in selecting the right way to express the variety of opinions in a methodical and comprehensive way. That is why some specific refer­ences to particular trends may appear occasionally.

Contributors

Posted by on 11/ 11/ 15

The following have contributed to this book. Where a name is shown in bold, he or she is a contributor to one of the main chapters. Where a name is shown in bold and italics, the person was a contributor to one of the main chapters but not a member of the COST 351 project. Special thanks is due to these authors for being external contributors to the book. The others listed were members of the COST 351 project team but their contribution has not been separately identified. This doesn’t

mean that it was an unimportant part__ in several cases these people have made

major contributions in editing, providing material, organizing the appendices, etc. Some of those listed only participated in the COST 351 Action for a short period. Particular recognition is due to those who helped establish the direction of the study but were then unable to continue to the final stages of which this book is the principal result.

Andrew Dawson

Abstract This introduction provides a brief review of the history of highway sub­drainage before setting out the aims and organisation of the book of which it forms the first chapter. It gives an overview of the subjects to be covered in the following chapters, introduces the key topics including definitions of subgrade and pavement layers, their classification from a drainage point-of-view together with a brief cover­age of the principle of effective stress, suction, leaching and water movement due to evaporation and frost-heave. It outlines the way in which pavements and the hydro­logical environment interact before introducing the reader to the varieties of climate in which highways and pavements have to operate – a task that is likely to become more onerous in the light of climate change effects.

Keywords Introduction ■ history ■ definition ■ drainage classification of pavements ■ alternative materials ■ drainage systems ■ climate

Techniques HIRING A CONTRACTOR

Posted by on 11/ 11/ 15

IF YOU’RE BUILDING A HOUSE, somewhere along the line you’ll likely need to hire a contractor. Whether it’s a surveyor, excavator, foundation con­tractor, plumber, electrician, or other tradesperson, you’ll want to choose carefully. Regardless of the job, always get bids from at least three contractors. Ask questions about their work, ask to see other work they have done, and ask for names of former clients, then follow up by talking with some of their previous clients. Finally, before hiring anyone, call your state contractor’s board to see whether any complaints have ever been filed against your prospective contractor. (Look in the blue pages of the phone book for the appropriate department within your state’s consumer-protection division.)

When you interview each contractor, pay atten­tion to his or her attitude. You want someone who

listens to you. What you don’t need is someone who ac:s as though he or she knows what you need better than you do. Get a written cost quote that includes a detailed description of the work to be done and a completion date. Make sure all the quotes you receive are for identical work.

Most contractors are in business because they do competent work for a fair price. But this is the real world and, unfortunately, not every contractor is honest. I recently received a call from a distraught couple who had given a roofing contractor a $2,000 deposit to have their house reshingled. When the couple called to find out why the contractor hadn’t shown up to do the work, the phone number provided by the "contractor" turned out to be disconnected. So please, take care.

Подпись: Helping HandПодпись: Protect trees and vegetation. If you want trees, vegetation, and other site features to be preserved during the construction process, rope them off before the work begins. Heavy equipment can damage roots that are close to the surface. It can also compact soil, limiting water absorption.

STEP 2 Prepare the Site

Site preparation can mean many things (see the photo on the facing page). In Oregon, for example, you’re likely to have a huge tangle of blackberry vines to subdue. In the southeast, your land may be covered with kudzu. I once built a house on what looked like an old junkyard—the lot was strewn with a dozen dismantled cars and several old motorcycles, which had to be removed before we could start the construction process. Removing vegetation or junk from a lot may be just the beginning, though. Another possibility is that you might encounter hard rock, which may require blasting. In any case, you’ll most likely need to hire a contractor to level the land, establish proper drainage, put in a septic tank
or sewer connection, prep the driveway, or dig trenches for the foundation footing. If you bring in heavy equipment, do your best to communicate to the operator that you want to save existing trees and to work native plants into the landscape when the project is finished.

Run power to the site

Before you can build, you’ll need to run elec­trical power to the site. Most builders contact the power company to arrange for a tempo­rary power pole to be set up on the site (see the top photo on p. 8 ). Another option is to ask a neighbor to allow you to use—and pay for—electricity while you are building.

Подпись:Remember, you’re going to live in this neigh­borhood. There’s no time like the present to be friendly and to get to know your neighbors. If you’re building in a remote area, you’ll probably need a generator to get electricity to the site. I’ve built many houses using a portable, gas-powered generator. Make sure your generator is capable of supplying power to several tools at once.

Every House Needs an Energy Audit

Posted by on 11/ 11/ 15

■ BY JEFFERSON KOLLE

I

n the bill from her gas company, Leslie MacKensie of Minneapolis learned that she could have a free energy audit performed on her house, so she made an appointment. After assessing the 1915 bungalow, the audi­tors showed her air leaks and other problems that resulted in a monthly bill of $110. The auditors left her with weatherstripping and foam-insulation pads to install, along with a list of other needed improvements.

Chipping away at the list has had dramat­ic results. Even after she expanded her home with a small addition, her current gas bill averages only $80 a month. "Almost as im­portant," she says, "is that now our home is really comfortable to live in all year round."

Home-energy auditing—the process of diagnosing and recommending improve­ments to reduce a house’s energy consump – tion—is not a new idea, but the reasons to get an audit are more pressing as concerns about costs, comfort, personal health, and the environment loom large.

Along with free or reduced-cost audits offered by utility companies, an increasing number of private companies perform
audits. And while an old leaky house might be the obvious choice for an energy-waste diagnosis, new houses can benefit, too. The results can be an excellent marketing tool for builders and can help homebuyers qualify for an energy-efficient mortgage, which uses energy-cost savings to lower debt-to-income ratios.

The most important thing to note about energy audits, however, is that they don’t save money or energy. Implementing the recommended improvements is how the savings happen.

There Are Two Types of Audits

Energy audits vary in complexity from an unscientific but learned assessment to one that uses an assortment of diagnostic equip­ment to measure the performance of a house and its systems. The unscientific assessment typically consists of a thorough two- to three-hour walk-through, during which the auditor makes a visual inspection; takes pho­tographs; and records information about the

Every House Needs an Energy Audit

Locating leaks. One of the most valuable scientific tools an auditor can use is a blower door, which is mounted temporarily on an exterior-door frame. The blower door’s calibrated fan pulls air through the building, measuring the amount of air leaks. While the fan is operating, an auditor uses a smoke stick to locate the leaks. smoke pulls away from the leaky spot and toward the blower door.

Подпись: Most experts agree that air infiltration is the No. 1 cause of energy loss in any house.

size of the building and specifics about the assumed efficiencies of the insulation, the appliances, and the HVAC (heating, ventila­tion, and air-conditioning) system. (For in­stance, he might know how fiberglass batts should be performing but can’t tell if they were installed properly.)

The scientific approach, which takes four to six hours to complete, uses diagnostic equipment to record and quantify a home’s energy shortcomings. The auditor completes a walk-through of the house, but he doesn’t stop there.

The first step is often a blower-door test. After closing windows, exterior doors, and often flues, the auditor turns on a calibrated fan mounted in an airtight frame temporar­ily set in an exterior door (see the photo on p. 5). The fan reduces air pressure inside the building, pulling air in through all the holes in the building envelope. Depending on the blower door’s supporting software, the audi­tor quantifies the number of air changes the house goes through in an hour (expressed as ACH) as well as the combined size of all the air leaks. In an old house, those leaks can
easily equate to leaving the bottom sash of a double-hung window open all year long.

To pinpoint where air infiltration is hap­pening, the auditor holds a smoke stick or smoke pen in front of doors, windows, or other suspect areas (see the inset photo on p. 5). The pen emits a chemical smoke that wafts away from the leak and toward the fan to identify air infiltration. The auditor makes a note of the location and later sug­gests how to seal the leak.

A blower-door test can find air leaks in heating and cooling ductwork that runs through unconditioned spaces, such as an attic or a crawlspace. But it can’t find leaks in ducts that run through the conditioned space, such as walls and floors. A tool made specifically for that job is a calibrated airflow-measurement device called a duct blaster. After turning off the blower door and taping over the floor, wall, and ceiling registers, the auditor connects the blaster to a central return in the system and measures its airtightness. Leaky ductwork can lead to substantial energy loss, which can be espe-

Making the improvements.

Every House Needs an Energy AuditSealing leaky windows and air ducts, and adding insula­tion are the most common improvements auditors sug­gest. Attics can be the largest culprits for air and energy loss.

Every House Needs an Energy Audit

Подпись:Every House Needs an Energy Audit

dally costly when that loss is happening in an unconditioned space.

Perhaps the best qualitative scientific tool an inspector pulls out during a diagnostic audit is an infrared thermograph, a camera – style device that shows the relative tempera­tures of objects portrayed as a kaleidoscopic image (see the photos at right). The colors reveal heat loss or gain, which indicates if a wall or attic floor is insulated, for example, and how well that insulation is performing.

It also can identify moisture problems and leaky pipes behind the walls.

The auditor might also use a combustion analyzer and flue-gas monitor to measure the efficiency of boilers and furnaces (see the left photo on p. 8). Finally, he plugs in an electricity-usage monitor near appliances like the refrigerator to determine their efficiency.

Proponents of these diagnostic audits say that scientific measuring allows individual house components to be assessed as part of a whole system in which change to one part affects another. For instance, extensive air­sealing could make the building too tight and result in a furnace’s flue gases being sucked down a chimney and into the living space—something that might not be detected without testing. This system’s approach might also show that increasing insulation levels would allow a home to be heated by a smaller boiler. Test equipment can measure these kinds of occurrences, whereas a strictly visual inspection results only in an educated guess. The other main reason to use testing equipment is that retesting can determine the success of the recommended improvements.

Steve Luxton, regional manager for CMC Energy Services® (www. cmcenergy. com), disagrees with the need for scientific test­ing. Luxton’s company has trained more than 1,000 energy auditors, 90% of whom are working as home inspectors, the folks that mortgage companies require you to hire before they’ll lend you money. "These guys already know what to look for in a house,"

says Luxton. "[They] don’t need a fan to tell you where the leaks are."

His point is well taken; most experts agree that air infiltration is the No. 1 cause of en­ergy loss in any house. Most buildings have common air-infiltration areas that are easy to spot if you know where to look.

STEP 1 Obtain a Site

Posted by on 11/ 11/ 15

The first step in building a house is finding a place to put it. This is not a step to be taken lightly. There are many factors to consider, not the least of which are the exact location of property lines, the setback requirements (the distance a house must be set back from prop­erly lines), and whether there are any ease­ments or restrictions on what or where you can build.

Soil characteristics are important when choosing a building site. We once built a house in Montana where 6 in. of topsoil hid large boulders, making it impossible to dig trenches by hand. Building on expansive clay soil requires extra precautions. Learn about the lot’s zoning, whether its situated in a Hood plain or on a wetland, and whether any haz­ardous materials are, or have ever been, pres­ent. Removing asbestos debris or an under­ground oil tank can be very expensive.

Also check to see whether utilities are in place—water, water meter, sewer or septic sys­tem, electricity, gas, and telephone and cable lines. When we first moved to Oregon, I inquired about a two-acre site near where we now live. The city water lines stopped mile away from the property, and to drill a deep well or extend water lines to the new site would have cost a small fortune. We looked elsewhere. Be sure to check with the local building department (as well as the health, zoning, wetlands, and any other local depart­ments that must issue approval for л construc­tion project) about any potential lot. This investigative work can save you a loi of lime and money. Make sure you’ve done all your

homework to determine a lot’s suitability

*

before you buy.

Particularly in cities, finding a suitable lot can be a daunting task. The price of the prop­erty can sometimes be the biggest impediment to building an affordable house. 1 know of a couple of marginally suitable building lots in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles that recently sold for $258,000 each. Both of those lots are pitched so steeply that each one will require at least SI50,000 just to prepare for construction. That’s $400,000 before the owners can even start building! Obviously most of us have to look elsewhere. There’s no easy way to find the “perfect” lot. Check with realtors, follow up on newspaper and online ads, let friends know you’re looking for land, and focus on the out­skirts of the town or city where you’d like to build. But above all, be persistent. Keep your energy and optimism high and you’ll find the right piece of land.