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!

The Farmer/Gentleman II

A while back, I posted a floor plan called “The Farmer/Gentleman”. I decided to revisit that plan and came up with a slightly smaller home that I really like better. The living room and the study in that plan were pretty big, which is OK if you want a big house, but with this one I decided to carve a nice front porch out of those two rooms.

The master bedroom is still nice and big with doors connecting it to the bathroom, mudroom and the study.

The study can be used as a nursery or a private sitting room for you and your spouse when your kids are teens or if Grandma and Grandpa need cared for in their later years.

The mud room has a large walk-in closet and a locker style walk-in shower. It connects to the master bedroom, the study and the kitchen to help you keep the dirt out of the living room!

The kitchen, which is open to the living room has plenty of counter space a pantry and a cozy dining area that opens into a large inviting sun room.

On the other side of the house from the master bedroom are two more bedrooms, with generous closets and a second bath.

This is nice smaller home with lots of room for your family throughout your years.

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

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

Birth to Grave Romance

This is the third major revision I have made on this floor plan, but I think I'm satisfied now. This 2/3 bedroom mid-sized home has lots of built in privacy and storage. The pantry even doubles as a storm room and has a strategically placed mop sink. I would hate to be stuck in there and not have a drain!

Check out this master suite! It's big enough for Mom and Dad and a crib when the little one is to small to sleep in her own room or a little bit seating of a few years later. No need to plan a date night out here. Just hire a babysitter and retire into your own little bit of heaven! Off the bedroom is a cozy enclosed porch  that opens into the master bathroom whirlpool tub. I think I'd spend every night out there, and probably a few mornings and afternoons too!

The master bathroom also has a huge walk in shower that is located close to the mud room for filthy people coming in from outside. It also has a private toilet stall.

This mid-section of this home contains a large country kitchen and a spacious family room. The kitchen receives natural light from a row of celestory windows along the hall/living room wall. There is lots of counter space and plenty of room for multiple cooks. A handy hand sink and a breakfast bar make this kitchen the perfect social and/or family space. 

All the bedrooms have window seats. Use both for little ones while the kids are home. Later, turn one into an office and the other into a guest bedroom until Grandma needs some extra care. She will be close to the kitchen and bathroom and can still have her own space because the family and the living rooms are on opposite ends of the house. 

What do you think?

What would you change about his home?

I thought this was the last revision I would make on this home, but I was wrong. There's one more. It's  smaller, with a basement. Grampa Tom says it's better than any other's that I've done. I'll post it next week!

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

Margret Mae's Courtyard

You and your folks will be fighting over which master bedroom suite you want in this generational home! Both feature large closets, plenty of room for a king size bed and a chair or two, direct access to the spacious inner courtyard, whirl pool tubs and large walk-in showers!. 

We currently live next door to my wonderful in-loves and plan to care for them should the need arise. If we were to build this house, I'd put them in the 18 x 14 bedroom, mostly because their hermit son would be more comfortable if he had a little more privacy. He could hang out in the office and living room area. There are double pocket doors between the kitchen and living room that could be closed to give him the privacy he needs. 

Mom and Dad on the other hand have always been very public people and would be quite happy with the semi open family room area for their primary living area. By the way, I named this plan after my mother-in-love, Margret Mae :)

Besides the courtyards and the two master bedroom suites, the other really awesome thing about this house is 4, count 'em, 4 toilets! Old people tend to sit on the throne for elongated periods of time. With four of us in the same house, we'd always be able to find a place to rule from!

Are you planning to take care of your folks when they are older?

What do you like about this house?

What bedroom would you choose?

and What would you change about this home?

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

Mobile Home Makeover

Got one more makeover of my 72x16 foot trailer. Like the other two, it has sun room with a
rocket stove mass thermal heater with a hot tub for the thermal mass. couple the passive solar gain from the sun room and the thermal mass heating system with a heat exchange pump coiled under the hot tub and there should be very little need for additional heat energy.

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!

 

Double pocket doors connect the large living room with the kitchen/entry enabling these two rooms to be one open area or two separate areas when cooking in the summer. A large closet in the living room and the guest bathroom may not be something you'd want, but I'm a pretty light sleeper and Grampa Tom is a morning person. Right now we have his closet in the TV room at  the other end of the house. That way he can get up and shuffle around without bothering me.

The  kitchen is gigantic because I love big kitchens! It has a triple sink washing dishes and processing  veggies, a professional range, a hand sink, a gigantic pantry and a breakfast bar.

Off the kitchen is a bump out that I have put over a basement storm shelter and storage room. If you want more bedrooms, there would be room for one or two down there. The bump out is connected to the master bedroom and the sun room and has a direct door going outside. 

I've been having a lot of fun with these. All of them could easily be built by a modular home builder and even be put over a full basement. I'm thinking about playing with some 12 and 14 foot wide mobile homes soon,   but I have some variations of the court yard home that I want to post next. 

What do you think? 

What would you change?

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

 There's lots of great pools and hot tubs on this site!

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

Intergenerational Homesteader

This home is for the inter-generational family that  is serious about producing their own food.  In between the mud room and the kitchen is a processing  room for washing and packing fresh vegetables and meat. It's a little bigger than some of my other homes because of this, but  the walk-in cooler and freezer make the extra space well worth it.

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!

When you enter this home from the attached garage, there is a large closet to your left and a door to the master bath on the right. My bladder would really appreciate that! Grampa Tom would also appreciate it because right inside the bathroom door is a large locker style walk-in shower. He could take off his stinky clothes, throw them in the washer and step right into the shower. 

The master bath also has a double sink and a Jacuzzi type garden tub. Did you know that at one point I was considering making a run for president on the platform of "Cash for dub tubs" I really think there ought to be a government program where you can trade in your plain old dub tub for a whirlpool tub. Think about it! All of us would be relaxed and stress free. The production rate in this country would make the GNP soar!

OK, enough campaigning. The mud room also opens into the family room. The family room is at the back of the house, has it's own little half bath and access to the sun room. Double pocket doors to the kitchen allow it to be closed it off to the rest of the house when company comes. 

I envision the roof line of this home like two shed roofs with a row of clerestory windows on the wall separating the kitchen and the family room. This would give natural light to all of the middle rooms. To see an example of this type of roof, check out this garden shed plan from Mother Earth News.

 Off to the side of the kitchen is a granny suite with it's own sitting room, access to the sun room and deck and a door to the company bathroom. I love this arrangement. I've done elder care for many years. Having easy access to the bathroom, the kitchen and a nice sunny space would be such a delight for someone who is having trouble getting around. This home, like all my other homes has 36 inch doors and is easily handicapped accessible. 

The kitchen is center of this home. It opens into the the family room, dining room, living room,  processing room and granny suite. There is lots of counter space. a pantry and a breakfast bar. There is also a handy mop sink and hand sink right inside the processing room door.

The front of the home has a formal living room and dining room. If a basement wasn't wanted, The stairwell could be eliminated and the utilities could be located in a closet along the freezer/cooler wall.

There is a small office off the dining room that could be used as an extra bedroom if you didn't want the office. I put it at the front of the home so that if the home has an entrepreneur among the members, the clients would have easy access to the office without going through the family areas. I am currently the township assessor. In the boondocks here, that is a home office type of position. It would be great to have a place like this in my home to meet with taxpayers. As it is, I go to them. My house is just to small. 

Hope you liked dreaming with me!

What do you like about this plan?

What would you change?

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

The Farmer/Gentleman

Grampa Tom has absolutely no aspirations to be a gentleman, but there's a lot of classy college educated farmer's out there. This home is for them. This guy can come in from the fields covered with mud on one side of the house and emerge in a smoking jacket for an evening of intellectual pursuit in the study on the other side of this 2000ish square foot home.

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 spacious mud room connects with the master bath, master bedroom, the kitchen and the study. It also has a large walk in-shower and a walk-in closet.

The master bedroom has a huge closet and  connects to the mudroom, the study and the master bath. The master bath has a jaccuzi style tub and a double sink for the gentleman and his lady. The study could also be used as a sitting room for the gentleman and his lady or as a nursery for a growing family.

The study has double pocket doors on the living room wall making it a versatile space that can be private or used as an extended living room space when entertaining. 

This arrangement also makes this home quite suitable for inter-generational living that can give both the homeowners a sense of privacy with a buffer "public" space between them and the two bedrooms on the other side of the house that could easily serve as a Granny house. 

If no basement is desired the area for the stairwell could be enclosed and made into three big walk-in closets, one for the living room, one for the bedroom and one which could be used as a bigger pantry than the small pantry that is just off the dining room. One or more of these could also be fortified to become storm rooms. 

The compact kitchen has lots of cabinets and counter space and is open to the living room and dining room.

The dining room has double doors which open into the sun room, which also has double doors to the outside, making it easy to move furniture in and out of this home. Face this side of the home towards the south and the sun room also becomes an important source of passive solar heat. It could be extended along the entire side of the home to maximize this potential. 

This home is designed so that it can be manufactured at a modular home factory and transported in two 16 foot sections. It also has 36 inch doors through out the home for ease of moving furniture and wheel chair access. 

Hope you are having fun in my play land and getting lots of good ideas! 

What do you like about this plan? 

What would you change?

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