Grama's House | Passive Solar

 

We are actually in the process of building this one! It started out as a barn to house our RV and has gone through so many revisions! For a while there I was tweaking it 2 or 3 times a week. Had the friends who are helping us build this heads spinning!

This is a passive solar pole barn home. The deck across the front is actually a greenhouse. The whole house has a concrete floor with in-floor hot water heat. 

The kitchen is huge! We plan to have bench seating along the L shaped island with storage underneath. There will be plenty of room to store homeschooling supplies and teach a bunch of grandkids. :)

There is also a loft above the hall/closet/bath and laundry room area that will be accessible by a steep ladder/staircase. It is 4ft. high at the center and goes down to 2ft. on the north side. It sticks out over the garage a bit. Lots of room for the grandkids to hang and sleep!

There is a tiny second bedroom on the northwest corner. At first, it will probably be used as a bedroom for my grandkid who wets the bed so Grama doesn't have to navigate those loft stairs with wet sheets every day, but later on, we will probably use it for storage. 

The smaller bath is a shower room with a toilet in it which will double as a storm shelter. 

If I wasn't so adamant about my hubby having a mancave to retreat to, I'd build another bedroom or two in the garage area and leave the entire south side as one big room, but he really needs a place to escape from the grandkids! He recently decided to put in a glass patio door instead of a garage door just because it will be warmer, but we went ahead and put in a frame for a garage door in case we ever decide we want one there. The patio door will be big enough to get the tractor into on really cold snowy nights and that is really all we need right now. He is putting in a hoist, a floor drain, a stainless steel sink, and a stainless steel table so he can butcher there. He also wants to use it as a summer kitchen for canning with the doors open when it is hot.

All doors are 36 inches wide so the main floor will be fully handicap accessible. We also have double doors between the great room and the mancave so we can open it up to have more space to entertain. 

The greenhouse will have a black block wall along the house side with insulation between the blocks and the house proper and a 2-foot deep gravel/sand/patio block floor for heat sinks. 

Under the roof, we put a layer of reflective foil insulation, then 1 1/2 inch foam board insulation and we are still going to add 16-inch thick roll insulation. That will give us a 48.5 R-value in the ceiling. The walls will be the same, except without the reflective foil. 

We plan to have a mini-split system for air conditioning. But we are also putting in a whole house fan. We think if we open the windows at night and use the fan to pull the cool night air in and close the windows during the day, we shouldn't have to use the air very much.  

Here's a picture of the house today. Stop back by! I will be updating this as we go along.

Here's the east wall with the patio doors to Grampa Tom's workshop.

1/23/21

OH MY! It looks like I haven't updated this in quite a while! We have been living in our house since September 1st. We didn't get the boiler installed and working until just a few days ago so we have been heating water on the stove and running space heaters. Today, we are redoing the roof insulation. A few days ago, we discovered that the pink board above the bat insulation was wet with condensation. In researching how to fix it, we found that we absolutely had to have spray foam insulation on it. So we are pulling down all the batt insulation and foaming it. We will put the batt insulation back up after it is dried. By the time we get all this done, our roof will have an R50 insulation value! 

Here are some pictures from the week before we moved in.  Apparently, my old film-oriented mind shut down on taking pictures once we moved in. When I can get back in there, I will try to remember to do a walkthrough for you!

Grampa Tom's Favorite

Well at least so far it's Grampa Tom's favorite. Every now and then I come up with a plan that he looks at and says, "That's the best design you've come up with so far." and I did it again with this one.

Last week I shared a 2400 square foot inter-generational home with a storm room, 2-3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, a formal living room and a very, very cool master suite. But, it's really pretty big so I thought I'd work on it some more to see if I could shave a little square footage off it. I did it! This one is 1762 square feet, with the option of putting a basement under it if you want more room or just some storage space.

I kept the master suite with the large window seat, enclosed porch, the whirlpool tub that is accessible from both the porch and the master bathroom, the private toilet stall, the huge walk-in shower and the large attached mud room. 

Then I created a large great room with a guest bath just off the kitchen, a long sun room for passive solar heat and another large room off the kitchen that could be used (depending on your needs) as a formal living room, an office, or an extra bedroom that's big enough for your folks have a bit of private space if they can no longer live by themselves . If you don't want a basement, turn the stairwell into a combination storm room/ pantry and you are all set!

This home also follows dimensions that could be easily accomplished by a modular home builder.

What do you think?

Are there any changes you would make to this home?

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Jesse's Place

My youngest son is a farmer and he absolutely loves houses with wrap around porches so I named this one after him. It's an  inter-generational home designed for country folk who produce a lot of their own food with a wrap around porch to satisfy his heart's desire! Maybe he'll build something like this by the time I need to live with him :)

The spacious 20' x 15' mud room sports a walk-in cooler and freezer, a large closet, and plenty  counter space to process either your meat or veggie harvests. There are plenty of sinks. A hand sink, a mop sink and a deep double laundry sink make keeping things sanitary easy.

The mud room opens into an attached garage, the family room, the kitchen and the master bath (which has a large handy walk in shower right inside the door).

The gigantic country kitchen gets plenty of natural light from a row of clerestory windows along the family room wall. If you don't know what those are, (I didn't.) Check out the windows on this garden shed from the Mother Earth News. It is at the heart of the home. 

The second bedroom opens into a sitting room that has a private outside  entrance. The sitting room could also be an office or a third bedroom depending on your needs. The living room has double doors for ease of moving furniture in and out of the home.

The master bedroom has a large walk-in-closet and a window seat. And the master bath has a large whirlpool tub!

In my book, this home has plenty of room, but if you have a lot of kids like my boy wants to have, you might want to have a little more room. I wouldn't put a full basement under it unless it sat on a hillside or the basement went all the way out to the edges of the porch. I just have this thing about natural light and fresh air. 

What I'd be more likely to do is put a  root cellar/storm room under the laundry room and then put a second floor over the sections that have the kitchen and bedrooms.

You could put two or three bedrooms and a bathroom up there. This is just one of a few options that might work for you.
Showed this to Jesse and told him I'd be moving into the granny suite someday. He told me I'd be going to live with my daughter. No way! She lives in the city!

What do you think?

What would you change?

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Carol's Court Yard

The #1 floor plan on this blog so far has been  Olivia's Court Yard. A couple of weeks ago, I asked my mom which was her favorite and it was her's too. So I decided to do a couple more court yard plans. This one is named for her.

If you want to see a bigger version of the plan, all you have to do is hold down your Ctrl button and push the + button!

This plan is a little smaller and I've tried to incorporate some alternative energy into it too. The court yard has a rocket thermal mass stove with a hot tub providing the thermal mass. The court yard would have a translucent retractable roof and a large ceiling fan to circulate air. It opens into the great room, the formal living room and both bedrooms. 

The master suite has a large dressing room, a garden tub and separate his and hers sinks that can be custom designed to suit each person's height. It is also close to the mud/laundry room which features a large walk in shower and a large walk in closet.

The second bedroom, the guest bath and formal living room are grouped together and separated from the main family area. This way they could easily form a second designated living area for an inter-generational family. 

Off great room is a green house which maximizes the passive solar and food production potential of this home. It also provides a delightful walk way from the garage to the great room and the mud room.

What do you think?

What changes would you make to this plan?

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Red Neck Heaven

Victims internalize shame when called a derogatory name. Winners find the positive things associated with the name and own it. Red Neck, Trailer Trash - hard working, innovative people with a different set of priorities than a Yuppy. It's what I am. Both are valid life styles. No need to be ashamed. This mobile home design is on the fancy end, but still under 1700 square feet. 

Remember, if you want to see a bigger version of the plan, all you have to do is hold down your Ctrl button and push the + button!

This home is a 16 x 72 foot mobile home with two bump outs, an attached garage and a large sun room. It incorporates passive solar principals and could be set on a full or partial basement. 

The guest entrance, the garage and the mud room are on the north side. The garage opens into both the mud room and the kitchen. 

The kitchen/living room is a spacious 30 x 14 1/2 foot area. Like all the other living areas, it opens into the sun room to take advantage of the heat produced there. The sun room has a rocket fired thermal mass stove to keep the hot tub warm and act as a buffer against cold nights in the sun room for all the plants you'd be able to cultivate there. 

Off the living room sun room is a study that could also be used as a second bedroom. Off the kitchen is a large pantry and a full bathroom with a door close to the bathroom so you don't have to run through the house in a wet bathing suit.

Way down the hall is a private master bedroom suite with a walk in closet, a large bathroom and private access to the sun room. 

I'm in love. 

What do you think?

What would you change about this design?

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Smaller Gambrel Barn Home With Silo

One of the first plans that I posted was a gambrel roofed styled barn with a silo. Recently, I received a message about it, saying they loved it, but would like to see something smaller. I've been working on it. I've now got several floor plans of varying sizes. Hopefully, I'll post all of them soon.

This is the second smallest plan with 1596 square feet of living space on the first floor. Please excuse my square silo. My rinky-dink floor plan program doesn't do round walls. I'm really not sure if the 8 ft. diameter is big enough. I'd need the pro-version to figure that one out. It's just a guess. 

Remember, if you want to see a bigger version of the plan, all you have to do is hold down your Ctrl button and push the + button!

The main entry of this plan opens into a spacious great room consisting of a living room space, a nice size kitchen and an over-sized pantry. This pantry could easily double as a storm room if it were reinforced. There is also an office that could be used as a bedroom if needed and a full bath on the opposite side of the hall. 

The mud room has a huge closet, lots of cabinet space, a double laundry sink and even access to the master bathroom walk-in locker style shower. That's Grampa Tom's idea. It's in a lot of my plans. He want's to come into the house, put his dirty clothes right into the washer and step into the shower. Then he can just go into the bedroom and put something clean on.

In addition to a walk-in locker style shower, the master bath has a Jacuzzi style tub and sinks on different walls that can be at different heights for him and her. It also has a large master bedroom with a huge closet that can be organized to eliminate the need for dressers.

I have several ideas for the second floor. Decided to limit it to 4 different versions for this post. There's at least 3 or 4 more I could come up with, but you might get bored!

The first is a simple loft over part of the first floor. With this option, the gambrel style roof would end at the master bedroom. A loafing shed style roof would cover the rest of the first floor. The first floor is open over the kitchen and living room with a blank of windows on the second floor level to flood the place with light. If situated with the main entry facing south, this could serve as a solarium providing passive solar heat during the cold months. 

This second floor option is also only over part of the first floor. It has 2 bedrooms, a full bath a large storage room and a loft area that is open to the kitchen and living room.

The third has a gambrel style roof over the entire second floor with a private porch area at the back of the house. 

The fourth option has 3 large bedrooms, a full bath in which the sink area is walled off from the toilet-bath area so lots of people can use it at the same time and a loft area on the second floor. If you have a really large family, you could go ahead and put a floor over the portion of the second floor that is open to the first floor and add  at least 2 or 3 more bedrooms. 

Like I said, lots of possibilities with this one :)

What do you like about this plan?

What would you change?

While I was posting this, I started thinking about an idea to create a barn style house that's even smaller. Maybe I'll even try to come up with a tiny house!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Passive Solar - Off Grid L

This 2009 square foot home is fully capable of going off grid with ease. Every room has direct access to passive solar heat and there are plenty of southern facing roofs to put solar panels on to provide the electricity for this home. A bank of batteries could be housed in the large root cellar. Add a well and a roof rain water collection system and you are in business!

Remember! If you want to see the floor plan better, just press ctrl and + at the same time! 

The main entrance opens into a spacious great room with a cozy conversation area. The dining area has enough room for a table, a desk and includes a breakfast bar with a pantry that is close to the kitchen. It opens directly into the sunroom with large double doors for easy access to year round fun in the sun and the root cellar/high tunnel type greenhouse. 

And the kitchen! It is a cooks dream! The15 x 15 space features wall ovens, a professional gas range, a huge sink, lots of counter space and ample room for a professional size refrigerator and freezer. Processing produce and getting ready for farmer's markets, bake sales, or entertaining would be quick work in this kitchen. 

Oh there's just too many places for homesteader to go in this place! 

Back to the sun room! I don't know about you, but if I could, I'd grow tomatoes, peas, lettuce, chard, bush cucumbers and peppers all winter long for my salads. The sunroom is heated by the rocket fired stove with a hot tub for thermal mass. The raised bed on east side provides plenty of room for the warmer weather crops and grow lights can be put above it to supplement lighting if desired. There is also a utility room that houses the water heater and heat pump. Both coil pipes under the hot tub to provide hot water during the winter. The heat pump then returns heat from the house to the hot tub during the summer, still warming the water before it enters the water heater. 

The high-tunnel style greenhouse on top of the root cellar provides heat for the bedroom wing of the house and gives plenty of room to start your garden early and if by chance the temperatures take a nose dive after you've started those precious tomatoes, the windows and the sunroom can be opened to help provide the extra bit of heat those pretty little things will need to get through. 

The root cellar underneath can be accessed by a small door on the kitchen side for hauling canned goods down there, but also can be accessed by wide doors on the east side for storing garden  produce you need to load on your truck to take to market. 

There's a shower in the sunroom so you can rinse off before and after using the hot tub or after playing with dirt in the garden. I envision a bank of sky lights too and thermal window coverings that can be rolled out at night or on cold cloudy days. 

Just off the mudroom entrance  to the sunroom, there is a half bath. Hopefully, the kids can be trained to use it instead of running through the living room in wet swimsuits! There is also a large walk-in shower for Grampa Tom or your big guy! Grampa Tom is always wishing he could just walk in the door, put his dirty clothes right in the washer and step into a huge shower! Don't tell your guy, but there might be a filthy teenager or  momma who might just take advantage of this too ;)

The family room is right next to the kitchen. One of the things I hate about my current house is that the kitchen is so far away from the man cave where Grampa Tom spends most of his time.  I put in double pocket doors so that I wouldn't have to feel exiled when ever I cook. The doors can also be closed on hot days so the family room can be kept cooler. I would equip each room with separate thermostats of course! 

This house is made with two 16 foot wide sections so it could easily be built by a modular builder. It has double doors into the sunroom and into the main living area to make moving furniture in and out easier. Our family has always been involved with caring for older folks and since we aren't spring chickens ourselves, wide doors and hallways are features I try to incorporate into every home I design. 

If you have kids, a basement could be put under all or part of the house for extra bedrooms, or an east wing could be added.

There's probably things I haven't told you about this home, but if you're not excited by now, more words won't help :)

Tell me what you think! What do you like and what would you change?

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Wrap Around Sun Fun

This weeks 2025 square foot home wraps around a huge 4 season sun room for maximum light and winter passive solar heat.

This house is much more the size that I think Grampa Tom and I need. It's about 75% bigger than the trailer we live in now and it has at least a partial basement under the kitchen living room area that houses a root cellar and a large storage room.

The guest entry is a small enclosed porch on the north side. It comes into the light filled great room that consists of a large kitchen and a cozy living room area. We used to live in a huge farm house that had a gigantic kitchen. I really miss that kitchen! This kitchen has tons of counter space, room for both a refrigerator and a full size upright freezer, a professional range, an island, a large bank of floor to ceiling pantry cabinets and room for a kitchen table as well. I really like the corner bench style like the one below. It would  look great in this kitchen, but my program doesn't have any images of it :( The kitchen has wide doors opening into both the family room and the sun room so that I don't have to feel exiled when I'm cooking.

The sun room  not only opens into the kitchen, but into the master bedroom, the mud room and the family room. A large bank of windows opens it up to the living room as well. It has a hot tub and the rocket fire stove  that I talked about in my last post and an out door shower to rinse off before and after your soaking massage. 

The utility room for the hot water heater and the supplemental heat pump is located next to the hot tub so heat from the thermal mass can help heat the home's hot water and heat pump. During the summer, heat pumped out of the house will help keep the hot tub warm. The walls of this room only go up about 6 foot so the green house ceiling covers the entire area between the wings. 

I envision some sort of thermal awning that can be rolled out  under the greenhouse style roof of the sun room to keep the heat in at night and the sun off in the summer. The south wall windows would open during the summer, converting it into a screened in porch with vines climbing out of the garden bed just inside.

And then there's the basement steps. I placed them just outside the kitchen door so I could take all of my home canned goodies down there!

The mud room has a large walk-in closet, a locker style shower and a half bath. It is connected to the family room so I have half a chance at keeping the dirt contained in the west wing of the house :) 

In the east wing there is a private master bedroom, a guest bedroom and two full baths. There is a closet between the bed and the master bath so those middle of the night flushes aren't quite so loud. I thought about putting the closet in the second bedroom on the east side so the door could be closer to the bathroom and I could put another closet at the end of the hall, but natural light in the hall and east-west airflow through the house during the warmer months.

What would you change?

Got any suggestions for a good name for this house?

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue