K Schelle

I was just gifted a roll of used firehose.  Looking for suggestions and creativity - what would you do with it?

Cheers!
K

more pics

Hi y’all.  My wife and I have decided to sell our 37 forested acres in southern Vermont, within miles of the Massachusetts border, in the town of Readsboro.  We had big plans to homestead here, but we’ve found another place closer to where we need to be.  So, more about this place:

37 Acres, raw land
Long northern boundary borders Green Mountain National Forest
Ownership includes rights to access road along southern boundary
Forest type:  Northern Hardwood, with maple, spruce, hemlock, beech, birch.
South-facing slopes, with cleared level ⅓ acre undeveloped home site.
Small spring/or seep pond at top of property.
Great footings in place for a cabin
Mushrooms galore
Awesome seasonal neighbors

There is a decrepit cabin on the property, overlooking the adjacent property's beautiful beaver ponds.  We had ambitions to rehab this cabin, but I honestly think it would be better to demo the place and use its old, high quality, unheaved footings to put a new cabin on.  (This cabin location is not at the abovementioned cleared level ⅓ acre undeveloped home site.)  This is the first time we’ve posted our lovely place - we’d really rather offer it to permaculture minded folks, if we can help it.  We are asking $65K for it.  I’ll be happy to answer any and all questions about it.

Cheers!
Kurt

A pic of what I'm working with:

Marla Kacey wrote:Watch the video at the link.  It looks like vegetation does not interfere.  I may be wrong, though.

Are you going to clear all the trees?  Or leave some for wild area, wind break, animal habitat, etc?

For now, clearing young scrub trees (hemlocks, norway maples), keeping established value trees (oaks, maples, white pine), just so I can wrap my brain around the topography.  So, not really clearing, but trying to get some sight lines longer than 20 ft, and breaks in the canopy where I'm working.  It's just so dense I'm finding it impossible to plan...

I figured the vegetation wasn't completely impeding the data collection, but wondered if, theoretically, bare land has more accurate info than forested land.  New to this!

K

Looks cool!   I have a logistical question, for you or anyone else.  I have 40 acres in Vermont, but forested with mostly young trees.  My task over the next year is to clear the 4-6 acres that I could use for a homestead and small farm.  Will my data look much different if I use these technologies before I clear the overstory, or will I have better resolution if I do this after I clear the land?

Thanks!
K

Me!  Just setting up shop in Halifax, VT.  

Hi Rob, that's one thing I hadn't thought of - I'd love to see more pics of the install, if you have them. I assume this gave you the opportunity to relocate windows, doors, and other features. I'm off to google these SIPS. Was routing for plumbing/electrical an issue?

Cheers,
Virgil

Terry,

thanks a ton for this detailed answer. It gives me a real starting point, and I'm going to go to go ahead with this property.

I had hoped not to hear "batting", as my timeframe to establish this site will be long (5 years) and interrupted, and I know how mice love this stuff when it's not completed quickly.

The roof info is great stuff, I wanted to start up there this summer anyway, to put on a metal roof, and had no idea how to think about insulating it. I would not have thought of doing it external to the decking. Now I have to wrap my brain around venting - most of what I've been reading pertains to attics and homes with different envelopes.

And building a skirt that aligns with grade. Thanks for giving me so much to chew on.

Cheers!
Virgil

Terry Ruth wrote:

Code min walls are R-20. Looks like 2x4 walls so you can get R-15 with Roxul, ThermaFiber, or JM mineral wool batts plus some rigid IS R5 boards. The 2x6 roof needs R-38 min, R-23 + R 15 (stacked & staggered) Roxul Comfortboard IS outsulation. That means remove the roof felt/shingles add the IS board on top of the sheathing, then add 1x4 furring strips as ventilation gaps, then add sheathing, then deck the roof with new shingles and a ridge vent. Add the same rain plane/ventilation gaps to the walls if $ allows. Add out riggers to create 24" overhangs, ventilated silicone sealed soffits/facias, gutters. Create a skirt around a sealed crawl space insulated with R-12 IS boards in the same plane as the walls. Add R-23 to floor joist, keep the R-3 reflective foam or move it to the roof to reflect heat in the summer and use IS board in it's place. If there are no National Fenestration Ratings(NFRC) on window labels and no values and they feel cold, add low E glass storm insulated windows, U-value < .30, SHGC > .45 and seal the windows up. South facing windows use a high SHGC as possible.

more pics.