If you have built or were to build your retreat house what features would you want?

[SCinPNW]

As I have mentioned in a couple of other threads, we are putting our house on the market next February so that we can purchase 5-10 acres a little further out in the country in an effort to setup our homestead. I am currently making a list of all the things that are important to have in a retreat home. For example:

1. Under ground concrete cistern to hold the water that the house uses, rather than pumping water directly from the well each and every time we turn on a faucet in the house.

2. Alternative energy option(s) for pumping water from the well into the cistern.

3. Wood stove in the living room that takes the place of a fireplace.

4. Large pantry for food storage.

5. To keep the house low tech, low maintenance, and low cost.

6. Kitchen stove to run off of propane.

So what do you consider to be must have features for your house/retreat?

Thanks,
SC

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Well first off congrats, long time no hear
I've had some places but none measured up for sure.
Things to want/think of that have effected me and/or friends I will want for the next place:
small crime, field of fire, growing area, water/sewer not on city, upwind of high value nuke targets/volcanoes/chemical plants or railways, trees for wood and shade but sun for solar and plants for a balance, non electric stove (think you said that)and non electric heat if possible, dry enough area for "digging" and maybe "leaving something", good neighbors with some privacy, ability to catch water from roof setup, able to fence in properly, best solid construction possible

I could go on but thats enough i reckon
I hope you find "The Place" that suits your needs and fulfills the desires

[SCinPNW]

Thanks Matt, it is good to be back. I am looking forward to finally having something to contribute. The land pieces we are currently looking at are definitely off of city water and sewer, we are also looking at places that have lots of trees for privacy, but also some cleared space for the house, gardens, outbuildings and chickens, etc. We know people who live out by where we are looking, however, I do not expect to know my direct neighbors prior to moving in. I will definitely be praying that God will lead us to a place where we have some good neighbors. As for sun, well, we are on the rainy side of Washington so we shall do the best we can. ;-) With that said, we have had the most amazing summer we have had in years. Truly perfect weather.

I get you on the dry enough area. The straw that broke the camel's back on where we are at now is that we are surrounded by wetlands and the county would not let us do anything in our backyard other than what we have done. I was wanting to clear some trees so that I could open it up for some sun and then move my vegetable gardens to the back of our house. No such luck. After paying a biologist to write up a report for the county, the outcome was no. That and the fact that dh has been working very long hours 6-days a week all summer and for who knows how much longer I said that is it we need to move onto a place we own outright and can do more with our land. My number one priority is that whatever we get when all is said and done we will not be slaves to a bank with a mortgage over our heads.

Don't get my wrong, this is not going to be an easy move because once we have our current house sold we will need to find temporary housing that works for someone in a wheel chair and a dog, plus the rest of us.

Anyway, thanks for contributing to my thread, I always value your input.

SC

[hidden_waldo]

A large closet / small room with no windows that you can lock. It won't stop the hard core break-in, but it gives you some space to put some items away and where the random home guest won't be snooping around all your stuff that you don't want every person in the county to see or know about.

[610Alpha]

2. Look at Engineer775 on youtube for water pumping options.

3. Wood Stove - I would look at either the one that is sold by JRH (the model they sell has a cooking option) or just a regular wood stove no cooking option (non-catalytic style...Blazeking comes highly recommended by Mike Holmes).

5. Not sure I fully understand the low cost stance; is that low cost to build or to maintain or low cost to heat/cool? Personally I want an ICF (Insulated Concrete Form) or cinder block filled with concrete. ICF is proving to be quick on setup, saves on energy, and can come in cheaper than traditional construction but that is dependent on a lot of factors from my understanding. I want to use metal trusses that are attached to the concrete walls with bolts and a metal roof but I live in an area where tornadoes come thru.

6. Propane - might consider burying your propane tanks if possible, check out these vids from Engineer775 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSxdg-Bq1IU and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-3mcOxkTCg

You might look into Solar for your AO too, with the Tax Credits that are available both Federal and State (varies by state) you can get a very large portion of it paid for and include a Battery bank for it too:)

Check out more of Engineer775's videos, he has a lot on water and gasifier's that hook up to gensets

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress and ideas.

[Jerry D Young]

You may have seen this list before if you posted the question on another forum. If so, just ignore. If not, it is an over the top, money no object, fantasy prepper mansion. Ignore the obvious luxury items and the over the top stuff, but do look at the ideas that they represent such as the ICF/CMU construction and the standing seam metal roof, and some of the various optional rooms and features. Just my opinion.

[SCinPNW]

Thank for the feed back, it has given me lots to think about.

As for low cost, I am thinking low cost to maintain, and low cost to build but still have decent quality. In other words, a solidly built modest home that is low maintenance. As for solar, that is not high on my list right because sunshine is not a high commodity around here. ;-)

Burying the propane tanks is a good idea, I am just not sure if our county will allow it. They are pretty strict about a lot of things.

An update on where we are at is that I am working like crazy to get our current house on the market in February. Unfortunately there is lots still to do. The realtor was here with the photographer to take the outside pictures, so that is done. Now I just need to get the inside stuff done and stage the house so that they can take the interior photos. As I mentioned on Matt's Crime thread, I am going out next week to look at several properties and physically walk them to see if anything looks promising. My goal is to narrow the list down and then go out and walk the narrowed down list of properties again with my husband and get his opinion before making a final decision. However, I am also prepared for the possibility that none of them will work and we may need to just wait and sit tight for others to come on the market.

I have also met with our builder, who we have known for many years, and he knows exactly what I want. After some of his preliminary research has come back he definitely thinks we can build what we want on the budget that we have.

As a side note, I have mentioned several other times here on the forums that we have a medically fragile special needs child. Well he is scheduled to go in for back surgery on the week of the 16th. He has a severe scoliosis curve and they will be fusing his back with a rod. He is expected to be in the hospital for 7 days, the first night in ICU and the surgery is expected to last 6+ hours. That is the other thing that has been taking up my time is all of the doctor appointments leading up to this and trying to make sure we are making the right decision in having him have this surgery. It has not been easy. Anyway, after he has the surgery all of my work in trying to get our house ready to sell and look for property will come to a stand still until he has recuperated. I will add this to the Prayer thread as well as I would truly appreciate all of your prayers.

Thanks all!
SC

[Tackleberry]

As a side note, I have mentioned several other times here on the forums that we have a medically fragile special needs child. Well he is scheduled to go in for back surgery on the week of the 16th. He has a severe scoliosis curve and they will be fusing his back with a rod. He is expected to be in the hospital for 7 days, the first night in ICU and the surgery is expected to last 6+ hours. That is the other thing that has been taking up my time is all of the doctor appointments leading up to this and trying to make sure we are making the right decision in having him have this surgery. It has not been easy. Anyway, after he has the surgery all of my work in trying to get our house ready to sell and look for property will come to a stand still until he has recuperated. I will add this to the Prayer thread as well as I would truly appreciate all of your prayers.

Thanks all!
SC

You can count on my family's prayers for your boy! Keep us posted!

[SCinPNW]

Thank you Tackleberry! I will definitely keep everyone posted.

SC

[Grand58742]

If at all possible and without adding too much to the overall cost, I have found a basement is an outstanding investment. Storage space is almost always at a premium and depending on where you are at (as long as it isn't heated) it doesn't count against your taxed floor space. And can add a significant amount of floor/storage space onto your house.

[SCinPNW]

Grand, I definitely want a basement if we can make it happen. That is something we have wanted for a very long time.

Update:
This past Monday the 9th I went out and walked some of the properties that were at the top of my list. Heh, I must say it was very interesting. Realtors definitely have a knack for taking the best possible pictures of the property thus hiding the reasons you would not choose the property.

The first property we drove to was 9.85 acres that is a bank owned property. There is an older condemned house and a couple of other out buildings. The access to the property is off a dead-end road and via an easement through another property. The shape of the property is rectangular and the front acre plus is what is cleared. There is an overgrown road that goes through the property to the back with possible building sites towards the back of the property as it is very lightly treed. There is also a ravine that is in the middle of the property. All in all a definite possibility. One concern I have is how far it is from everything we need to access, i.e., husband's job and daughter's school, activities, etc. It is at least 30 minutes out not counting traffic. It also has a verbal agreement on it, so if we were really serious about it we would need to make a compelling offer by this Friday.

The second property we went out to was near the first one, and was immediately ruled out due to the road noise while on the property. The other interesting thing about his property (6.09 acres) is that it had some older buildings, and to our surprise a man was on the property. He said he was doing some work for the owner, however, we had the distinct feeling that he was living there. I am so glad that I was armed with my conceal carry even though it was not needed. He was slightly overweight, mid-50's, hair in a very short crew cut, clothes were very worn. He was loading up a bunch of stuff into an older red pickup, i.e., old water heater and a bunch of other stuff. We explained to him we were just there to look at the property and asked him if he minded, he said no problem, and explained that he lived on a nearby property and was doing work for the owner. He had also logged the property twice over the years for the owner and that the property had been a part of 40 acres at one time. The condemned building had a satellite dish attached which was interesting. We proceeded to walk around the property and away from him. We saw three very run down camp trailers hidden away in the underbrush. After hearing how loud the road noise was I said I was done and did not need to see any more.
As we were walking around I had heard him start up his truck and drive off, however, he was not going far as our car was blocking the very narrow over grown driveway. Sure enough he was between us and our car hacking away at the over grown blackberry bushes with a very rusty 18 inch machete. At this point I let the realtor walk first and backed off a bit in case things began to get dicey, no pun intended. Fortunately, all was well and we had no trouble. Whew, that was a bit scary for my taste considering I have been watching this series on Amazon Prime called “I survived” and it shows in great gory detail just how perverse some people are in our society.

The next few properties were very much off the beaten path and at this point in time, I am not sure they are what we are looking for. In our area you have to be careful if you want a lot of cleared space to look for property that is not heavily treed or already cleared because our county is not keen on allowing people to remove trees willy nilly.

The second to last property we went to was another out on a dead-end road and at the very end of it. Way off of the beaten path, and once again, just a little on the scary side for two women out and about on their own looking at property by themselves. This property we parked at the locked gate and walked up the tree covered road to the clearing on top. There was a very old decrepit house and some outbuildings, and at least 10 dead cars, a pile of tires, an old camper, and a couple of old abandoned camp trailers, the S.S. Minnow from Gilligan’s Islands, only it was a sail boat. Some very rusty propane tanks which had me thinking of what Matt said on his Crime thread. The entire time we were walking around only to find more abandoned stuff I kept expecting someone to walk out of the trees or around a corner. I was very happy to get out of there. Someone could have easily tried to murder us and they could have hid our bodies to never be found out there.

The last property we saw I turned out to be a hidden gem. The commute into town is very short and a straight shot, this property is also on a dead end road. The neighboring properties are well maintained and would be the only traffic on your road. However, the dirt road you drive up once leaving the pavement is a very steep deeply rutted dirt road, as in 2-3 inch ruts. The surprising thing is that at the top of this dirt road is a really nice house on the left. We parked in front of the gate that accesses the dirt road to the property. This property is 22 acres. The dirt road is an easement via another property and has a very steep incline on part of it. The entire time we were on the lookout for cougars and other wildlife.

Once we got to the clearing of the first part of the 22 acres, we were shocked at how stunningly beautiful it was. The property is sloped from south to north, but not so much that it would be unusable. The area cleared is all I would need to do what I want to do, i.e., house, fruit trees, soft fruits, gardens, chickens, outbuildings, etc. We found evidence of elk, some very large elk prints, and what looked like another cleared area off beyond the trees. Because we were tired at this point we did not go and investigate to see if there truly was another cleared area. But as it turns out the realtor made some calls when she got back in the office and yes there is another cleared area that is actually much larger than the one we saw. The plan is to go back out on Thursday morning to re-walk the property and to check out the other cleared area.

The pros on this property are that it is very private, truly there is no road noise, no houses to be seen nothing. The view you would have with proper house placement would be stunning, and lots of space to do what we wanted. Plus, you could sub-divide the property and sell off 10 acres. The area is zoned RA10. The cons to this property are: the owner, before it became bank owned cleared about 10 acres without getting permission from the county so it is flagged with a clearing violation. My other concerns are the development costs just to get the property to a point it could be built upon, and the steep access to the property. All of the cons may require us to remove it from the list.

Well if you have made it this far, kudos to you, and thank you for taking the time to read this. If you have any thoughts, feel free to share.

Thanks,
SC

[EX121]

Good news on the property search.
what type of soil does the road on the last property traverse? Is it rocky or mud? On your side of the mountains it is probably muddy. How is it sloped? Straight up the hill or across? Sounds nice to me, especially if there are elk.
Good luck.

[dusso]

if it's shtf, I want concealability and portability. :-) As in a slot cut back into a small hillside, in the woods, not too far away from home. back in a van or pickup camper, cover it with brush or camo-net or both. Food and gear should already be cached there. Stabil will keep gas useful for almost 2 years. By then, one can travel and find diesel vehicles and fuel for same.

[SCinPNW]

Latest update to our property search. We have narrowed the list down to two properties. Both properties are just under 10 acres, each has a well, and all of the feasibility work completed, although out of date. The most important thing is both properties have had the wetlands delineated, which in our part of the country is a big deal because pretty much all of the land in this county has "wetlands" per the county's definition, and if that has not been done then it can be expensive and time consuming to have it done. Plus by only looking at properties that have had the wetlands delineated then we have a better idea of how much usable land we will have and how it is laid out.

Property #1, has a better commute for my husband to get to work and our daughter to get to the school she attends. The orientation of the lot makes it very sunny, but it has a lot more trees and is not completely flat. The part that we saw was slightly sloped, but we are not sure of the rest. We are hoping to do a walk through of the entire property with our realtor, the seller and his realtor's in a couple of weeks. We also like the privacy that this property would offer. Out of the shy 10 acres there will be approximately 2 usable acres, maybe more with mitigation. We also like the access to this property as it is off of a gravel county road that is in very good condition.

Property #2: Is a little more ready to go as the seller was getting it ready to build on for himself but then a medical situation came up and they have to sell. The useable portion of this land is 2.5 acres out of the shy 10, and the usable portion is completely flat. The access to this property is a little less desirable since the road has not been maintained as well as the first since it is maintained by the homeowners who access their property via the road. Our realtor is arranging a walk through of this property with the owner as well.

With regards to Property#2 something that was interesting when we went out with the realtor this past weekend is when walking around we ended up on the neighbor's property via a very well worn path between the two properties, and on his property right next to the property line with the one we are looking at he has a shooting range. We actually thought it was a part of the property we were looking at but when our realtor checked into it found out it was the neighbor's property. Would you be concerned with your neighbor having a shooting range right next door? I don't have a problem with guns, what I have a concern about is with people I don't know anything about and how safe they are when handling their guns. I would definitely be less concerned if they had a better backstop to catch the bullets around their target.

EX121, both of these properties are not in the area where the elk are. The property we looked at with the elk on it would take too long to get through the feasibility studies before we could even think of building, approximately 2 years and we really are hoping to be in our new place by this time next year or close to it.

Speaking of elk, a couple of weeks ago my husband, son and I took a drive out past the elk property I mentioned above to see another property and by the time we arrived there it was dusk. We drove up to the property only to see two very large bull elk. It was very cool since I had never seen them in the wild before. They were pretty big.

Anyway, I am hoping that either property #1 or #2 will work for us, especially since they have had so much work already done on them and the prices are pretty good.

As for the soil on these properties, I am not really sure. Property #1 is pretty heavily treed with some pretty big trees, and property #2 has sparsely treed.

Dusso, good idea on the caches. I think both we could easily do some caching on both properties.

If you have any thoughts, feel free to share them. I am all ears at this point.

Thanks,
SC

[Matt In Oklahoma]

I have no concerns with neighbors that build shooting ranges because they are doing it right. What our issues are here is the 5 acre dreams who step out of the trailer and shoot the 06 at the beer cans laying on the fenceline between them and their neighbor. I would in fact like to have a neighbor that might lemme use the range and help them build a good backstop as a neighborly gesture by showing up with a dozen railroad ties or soemthing