Tommy Bolin

We are then at approximately the same elevation, as is our Nevada home.

I like Basin. I remember in the early 70's when the highway still passed through town. I also remember the year, 1976? how surprised we were the Interstate was being completed to pass around. We had a cabin on the North Fork of the Sun, just south of the Bob Marshall. My dad was stationed in SoCal after his second tour, and we passed through every July until we moved back to Great Falls.
I also remember Elk Park just south towards Butte being one of those quirky places on the morning news with the lowest temps in the state, when it wasn't Butte.

+1 For the central utility chase/closet idea.
Add a chimney for the RMH, folks plan for chimneys after the fact often as well. Keep the heat in the center of the house, instead of giving half to an outside wall exposure.

Last days of stump season.

William Bronson wrote: Standard toilets do flush down.
Most commercial toilets go into the wall.

Do they then stay in the wall?? Or do they then also go down at some point?

Commercial units go horizontal for a very brief run into a wet wall, where they also go....
Down.
Pretty sure.
Built more than a few commercial buildings.
Either way, the problem is the same. If you stubbed your plumbing up through a floor or slab, and then change your mind......
Hammer up a slab or open a subfloor.

Anne Miller wrote:Usually all the plumbing is in the walls.  Why put plumbing in a raised floor?

Toilet drains go down.
Always. Pretty sure. Basements were not part of OPs question.
Only your upstairs neighbor has a toilet drain passing through your wall. Vents, of course, always rise through a wall. In wall one way vent caps can be used where a riser is not practical.

In places that never freeze, most plumbing could be in an exterior wall. Carving a drain line through a wall stud doesn't leave much framing meat for stiffness. Plumbing tends to be in 2x6 walls. Walls can be doubled or furred out for additional room. Soffits can be added to conceal overhead horizontal pipes.
Codes have requirements, based on common sense, and experience about the length of in wall laterals for drains and number of turns allowed, and the requirement for cleanouts.

Sure it's all been done. A couple of my oilfield skid shack houses had raised plumbing floors. Been done in remodels as well. Also prevents freezing in an obviously movable structure.
The door is a bit of an issue, on top of raised floor or in front of raised floor? You'd want/need a landing outside of the door to prevent someone stumbling out and down at the same time in the dark through the door.
If you are not building on a slab, then your floor should have had a ventilated crawl space under it for sure. I'm guessing you also have no building inspectors involved or yours is pretty low.
There are no leaks....... right? Why pressurized piping is always continuous in inaccessible spaces. ABS drains will never leak in your lifetime.
Water supply can also come from overhead, then only drains are affected.
Another issue is the rigidity, false floors tend to be kinda weak sounding/feeling. Subfloor glue helps, under framing and holding subfloor down to framing.

Days are getting short fast. Our morning temps have been in the 30's, had our first couple frosts. Black cottonwood leaves already dropping. Had the woodstove running for the last two weeks or so in the morning. Just a short fire. Lil'B works really hard around here. Her small luxury is coffee prepared, and a fire to knock the cool edge off when she comes downstairs. I get pie and cookies in exchange.
We try to pick cool/rainy days to leave it running for pot roasts and curries. Boost the house temps for her sourdough raising. Dishes, indoor bathing often get done in the morning. The Fisher takes 5 hrs. to cool down once well heated, so even though I start it with the coffee at 4 am., it can still be kicking out a bit of unneeded heat at noon on a sunny day. Our warm water supply pots on the back, coast farther yet. I burn the small spruce saplings from overcrowded thickets, dense and very dry. We have cloudy cooler weather this weekend, woodstove stays lit for all day for canning.  
We bathe during the warmer months using a black canning pot set out in the sun on a large poplar stump in the morning. By 4 it is nice and warm, perfect for a work break and outdoor shower, perhaps followed by coffee or cocktail watching the lake. This time of year the late day sun is trying to hide behind the trees, the hose and pot don't warm as fast, and the breeze out of the woods is cooling. Stump season is ending.
Only three of our eight cats would even dream of coming indoors. The rest see this house as an inescapable prison. Two will tag along on walks, they seem to think they are dogs.
Anyone else have a rodent explosion this year? Four packrats and 20 squirrels so far have retired to the PetSematary, courtesy of Beksi and Sonni. Crazy.
Cats have been leaving partial mouse corpses everywhere.
Steve the cat is back early from his summer woods walkabout. He moves out in May, comes back October. Crane flocks already overhead. This suggests maybe winter is early arriving? Rodents might be bulking up population facing a cold or snowy winter? Maybe last Spring was early leaving and June was dry. Berries and apples seem early this year, huckleberries, cranberries weak or non-existant, roses smaller deep, deep red.

+1 for the idea of brush blades.
I have a 'saw blade' for my Stihl string line trimmer. Only as dangerous as the attention span of the operator.
Works well enough for brush, string trimmers are far less than stellar in tall anything and no good for anything tougher than grass.
Lil'Bs 36V Makita chainsaw much more effective and fast for small poplar/sapling clearing. One of my chores is laying down any fallen poplar junk whenever I get out of the truck with a saw to work. Get it onto the ground to properly rot. I will use the Stihl to cut back dead rose, snowberry, other brushy junk, clear the area for grass. Also try to reclaim the formerly grassy areas rose is colonizing.
MY only real issue is the quality of the steel the blade is made from. Endless resharpening.
An old SkilSaw carbide blade rebored for the larger Stihl center diameter will be my solution.  Not sure the trimmer driveline will be up to the task long term.
Also have a cheap machete and lightweight scythe.

David Nightingale wrote:
Great advice.  Anymore?  I’m in the middle of below grade room build for this exact purpose, as well as increased insulation to zero degree, regular freezer, fridge that will reside in that room.  Brands and models any advice greatly appreciated.  I like the buy in person with voltmeter and testing.  We did that at a moderately upscale appliance dealer and found a few probs, higher load draws, shorts, all kinds.
As well is Sol-Ark 15K worth $$$ vs MyGrid $$ 10K givin likelihood of solid state battery tech coming in next 10 years? Thanks, Cheers the micro grids.

I've got not much to add, sorry. But, if you can, concentrate on using less rather than buying more capacity. I know that is not an option for a lot of people.
We love our small bush home dim, warm, and quiet. Especially in the stillness and solitude of a heavy winter. No neighbors, no noise, period. We are usually shocked when we go home to Nevada and the brightness and noise.
I marvel at the (huge) cost, complexity, and capability of current solar tech. Like everything, it seems to be a cult of have/have not. I built the mini-grids to allow me to piece build from scratch and put power where it needs to go at lowest cost.
The original (70's) owner of this house lived with hand pumped cistern, wood heat, Coleman lights, propane and a battery system comprised of used 6V? large telephone batteries he would place in the bed of his pickup and charge from the alternator on a run into town. Although the house in now upgraded for AC and indoor plumbing, we still have no running water. We heat our house and water with a Fisher woodstove. Water is taken from the lake or melted from snow in the yard, battery lighting mostly, some DC fluorescent, and one very pretty old Rayo kerosene lamp. Lincoln Ranger for welding/power and generators for heavy tool loads/battery charging.
I bargain sourced quality parts, Morningstar, Victron, BlueSky, AIMS, Trace, Renogy, US Battery, Trojan. Bought cable 200ft at a time on sale, did all my own work. Bought most of a crate of leftover 325W Canadian Solar panels from an installer, cash. I also have no grid here to tie to, solves that complexity layer, although my 4000W Trace would do so.
I'm not sure the tech is ready or proven for me, lithium batteries mainly. Anything that needs a brain and heater to run, sounds like two extra failure paths in a tech not field proven for more than the last decade, really. IF battery tech changes, I'm sure with what I have now and the spares, I'll be able to just change solar charge controllers if necessary.
Good luck.

Coolers-towels.
Coolers are often for travel. I did a lot of it for work, oilfield/construction. I found that clean towels, slightly damp, always in short supply living out of my truck.
Bonus: In really hot weather, that big, cool, damp bath towel is great for a short bit of heat relief.
Good luck.