Well I haven't 100% decided yet but was leaning towards just a wall mount 80,000 propane heater and then having a wood stove for when I'm there.
I am there about every weekend but wasn't sure if I wanted to burn through propane all winter when I'm not there? I was going to have very little drywall if any as I know it doesn't hold up to freezing?

have you considered since your building into a grade like that,have one the porch on the down grade side and and on on the up hill side, set the hole works into the hill , make the 2nd story have just a few steps down on the uphill side , keep all your mechanicals in the middle of the back and give it it's own heating zone. to keep it at 60 and heat the rest of the house to 45.

if your pouring concrete put pex in it and a small natural gas boiler it will mount on the wall they are so small they use an antifreeze mix so much better heat than a wall unit

2x6 construction and spray in foam we had some friends that built a house about the size your talking they insulated it very well the first floor was concrete floor in the side of the hill 5 feet up the north wall their natural gas heating bill was down around 30-40 dollars a month to heat to 68 when they had a fire in the wood stove they could easily get the hole house up to 80

Well if faced that way the view from that porch would be of basically scrub brush. Plus I wasn't wanting any windows or anything back there because
of break ins. They could sit back there for hours and nobody could see them, plus the beautiful view of the hills is on the front.
I am not familiar with pex but will look into it. There is no natural gas options there. I was actually going to go with metal sides and am not sure what will be the best way to insulate it. I haven't gotten that far to see if I can put the metal right to the framing then insulate (spray or otherwise) up to the metal or if I need sheeting. I will probably use knotty pine for the interior walls?

So to back track do you agree with my foundation choice but you're saying run pex thru it to heat it?

I don't necessarily agree with a foundation wall and cement floor

I think you should price it as a crawl space , basement without finished floor, basement with a finished floor and as a foundation with poured concrete floor.


but any option that involves concrete floor should have PEX tubing in the cement it is such a good way to heat for very little cost you heat up the cement and you have many tons of thermal mass to hold the heat you still have to do everything else you would do with a concrete floor just that for a few hundred dollars in tubing your running the heat through the part of the house you would never get warm otherwise.

cement floors are always hard on joints and to stand on hard to hit if you fall but at least if it is warm concrete from heating lines running through , it won't also be cold all the time.

when you have a building not heated , then you start heating it a lot of time the floor will start to sweat especially if you don't have insulation and vapor barrier under it , it will always be cold and no matter how warm you make the air it never really warms up the concrete floor.


I have stayed in older slab cabins in the winter , furnace can run all night the floor never gets warm and it often sweats because it was allowed to get down to freezing for days or weeks before we got there and started the heat.


my wifes office is a slab , they keep the temp up they sell propane but she always complains of it being cold that slab never warms up it even has carpet over it

if you move the slab down 6 feet into the ground it changes things you don't have frost at the floor , you stay cool but warmer than outside I take a laser thermometer if I start it the top of the cinder block wall where it is expose to the outside , we have snow right now the wall is 51.5* as I move it down the wall the temp climbs about a degree every 16 inches the floor in the middle of the room is 58.5 mid summer it won't get over 62 my house is more than 100 years old and the basement has no insulation but it shows this effect well.

if your slab is at or above grade it acts as a huge heat sink stealing heat from your room

you have to isolate it with insulation around the insides of your foundation wall and under the slab that gets expensive , concrete is expensive so a craw space with a vapor barrier and some gravel over the top then a wood sub floor puts the least expensive of all insulation between the ground and your floor , dead air space.

it used to be you vented a crawl space , now you seal them up and insulate the perimeter.

knotty pine looks nice , but the cost is more than double even a basement board drywall that handles moisture and temperature swings better.


how about running water and septic will this have water and septic , how will you run that , where will the water shutoff be . how will you drain the house if your not heating it , what kind of water heater , will you be draining it every use of the house ?

am I understanding that the view is on the uphill and not down hill side ?

View is on the downhill.

I am not opposed to running floor joists and sub floor, I think it will actually save me money rather than concrete. I was advised by some to stay away from a crawl space because of critters? I know that would be easier to run the plumbing. Yes I have an exsisting septic I want to tie into and
a well. I wasn't planning on winterizing every time I leave but was told the newer pex lines are less likely to freeze? but was going to look into this
more.

I would go with a slab (heated) over a crawl space. So many crawl spaces with mold and dry rot.

You will either have to drain or heat in freezing weather. If a pipe breaks in a concrete floor good luck finding the break. A crawl done right gives many options a slab doesn't. I am a builder and although I don't know your situation I do know that you need to trust your builders opinion or get a new one. I have told customer that I would not do things a certain way if I knew it was not right. Some time it is not right or wrong but rather preference just like which trap or lure you choose. Good luck.

Another option is to add glycol to the in-floor radiant heat system.

http://ri.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrC1.qxPNVajVYAvwTBGOd_;_ylu=X3oDMTByOHZyb21tBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--/RV=2/RE=1523952945/RO=10/RU=http%3a%2f%2fhomeguides.sfgate.com%2fadvantages-disadvantages-house-built-slab-vs-crawl-space-36388.html/RK=2/RS=LJBcQr0PIcuINAiaJ4hz_.AaT_0-

Well its been frustrating but finally am off and running, lots of planning and a bit overwhelming.



The staked out area



the footer getting started


the old cabin, lots of memories


The new drive going up to the back a bit




The views once I get a few more scrub trees removed will be better

Got the footer started Saturday, hope they finish up by Wednesday. Then I will put in pipes for drainage, vapor barrier and a scratch coat.
Then off to building. Very exciting and overwhelming as well and the costs are already adding up and going over of course.

You can insulate the floor slab from the outside ground with thick styrafoam all around the sides and down into the ground a couple feet. Some insulation under the slab would help, not sure about the cost then.Floor joists and wood floor are going to be warmer, but also expensive. Like others have said , it makes a difference if it is going to be heated every day or only on weekends, etc. A little heat on the slab to keep it warm would help rather than allow it to equalize with outdoor cold, then have to be re heated. But that is going to cost too.

Kyt, yes I am running greenboard insulation on the outside and inside the foundation all the way down to the footer. Lots of options and they all cost money.

Here are some pics of the foundation being done. I filled some of the block with morter for strength and tar for the outside. 90 degrees this weekend, those two things about killed me. What a job by myself. My dad told me if you have 10 good friends and family that say call anytime they would love to come down and help you will be lucky to get one. Boy is he right. Now come October first they will all be down every weekend to hunt.

Looks great! Beautiful place how big of spread is it? Are you working on it full time also besides the two contractors?

Snowy, it is 26' X 38' and even though its a hunting, fishing, trapping, retirement cabin I'm already wishing I had made it bigger. But with a tight budget I just couldn't afford to. I had the footer and foundation work subbed out. I am going to do all I can myself but I am not a builder. I work a full time graphics/printing company and this is an hour away so it'll take awhile. One of my two semi retired contractors is already bulking a bit so I may have to go another route to get it under roof by winter.

Well we got the French drain in and the green board along the outside of the foundation. All back fill done, we filled the back and sides up almost to the top with pee gravel. Out of town last weekend so nothing got done. I hope to put down the vapor barrier and scratch coat of concrete this weekend and start the septic
work. That should clear the way for floor joists and walls to be started. And I had a guy help with finalizing plans and this thing took a big turn from when I started but I think I'll be much happier. Have to push a little to get it under roof by winter so I can focus on trapping and hunting.

Well guys its been awhile since I updated. Its been a long grueling process and of course going way over budget. The rain has been brutal here in Ohio and Jefferson County has registered the most rain fall in September in 65 years, October not any better. That and only getting a day or two a week has been slow going. Hoping to get the headers and start the truss work this week. Of course sacrificing my deer hunting, namely the rut is tough on me also but really want to get under roof asap.