floor plan

Hope I can frame straighter then I draw. This floor plan was adapted from a previous house that I had hoped to build on our lot about 15 years ago. It was 2 1/2 floors with a full basement. It must have been 24' x 36' I thought it was 20'x30'. This will be 1 1/2 stories. Basement? We want a plan that lets us live on one floor, but has room for family or friends to stay over comfortably. I would like a big open core space and be able to cook and still talk and visit. It's 16' out to the stairs/wall and I can use 2x12 for the upstairs joist.

homemade SIP's?

This is a detail of what I was thinking in my original post. I never really thought it through. One thought led to another, wanted to know if there would be a problem with all the vapor barriers. I read John's post's about them and believe I have a better understanding for the first time. Thanks John.

SIP's seem to perform well. I would guess because they would be easy to make air tight. That seems to be the key for vapor movement, and also comfort.

Why 4"x4"s, I like the proportion I think they would make the interior seem larger and would help to give a feeling of being inside/outside. I guess that the posts are under sized went by the old rule of thumb that if you can use 2"x4" 24" OC you can use 4"x4" 48" OC. Maybe I made that rule up? don't think that I will do this anyway.

our lot

We have the center lot, there is a X about where the house is. It is up against the north side of the lot so we can clear trees and insure that we have direct sun. Shot the sun line when I bought the land 20 years ago. Will shoot it again next month (soltice) to get the sun's low point. Have to check and make sure that they haven't changed the side line set backs.

elevation for floor plan

Not the greatest drawing, the faint line represents the first floor deck elevation.

I like steep roofs and big over hangs I guess I'm going for the cottage look. They cost more so don't really know where I will end up? Could do a shed dormer for the stairs, like this one better.

hill about 20' drop in elevation middle of 400' driveway

Any advice? It drops off on the left as you look at it. Seems that you would want to cut the right side of the hill and swing the drive that way so your not building the drive on fill? looks like there would be potential water problems to plan for. Don't know what you can see from the photo? Excavators were kind of new around here when I got out of constuction. Guess that's what a equiptment guy would use today? I think that a good size dozer could cut and push a rough drive ready for gravel in a day.

garage site west of house

If we build a garage it would be here. Will be a turn around for a while. Maybe a apartment up stairs. Want to build the septic to acomidate future expansion whether the house stays in our family or we sell it.

upper hill in drive