House Blueprints Are A Necessity
Whether you are planning on building a luxury home, a summer home, a condo, a country house, a custom log home, an investment property, or a new green home, the house plans will have to come first. Getting your blueprints for your new house does not need to be difficult.
The Time Is Good to Get Ready to Build
Listening to the news may make you wonder about whether or not it is a good time. Recent news says that mortgages have not changed in the past couple of weeks, and may not change much in the future. While that may not change much, you probably should not expect the cost of getting a set of house plans to get any cheaper, either. So, even if you are not quite ready to build, now is still a good time to get your new home house plans ready. Minor alterations can be made later - if needed.
Avoid Mistakes with a Professional Home Designer
Consulting with an experienced custom home designer will enable you to avoid a lot of potential mistakes, too. You can gain a number of tips and insight into what works well - and what may not - if there is a poor design feature that may need changing.
You will definitely want to make sure that whoever makes your new home plans has the experience you need. You will need to have elevations, foundation plans, the floor plans, cutaway drawings, basic electrical, and various views. It is also possible that you can get a 3D rendering of your custom home plans so you have a very good idea of what your new home will look like before you build.
Go for Experience and Custom House Package Plans
If you already have a good idea about what kind of new home you want, then now would be a good time to start finding an expert for your new house plans. Some architects offer convenient package plans to help fit your budget and enable you to know what you are getting up front with your floor plans. For a look at my custom house plans packages, click here to get started.
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( 3 / 284 )Rather than going for graceful, interesting houses that express something, they simply try to build the biggest, most expensive thing that they can to show off their wealth. For me, this isn't the way to do it. The great thing about having some money is being able to express yourself in your living situation. A unique custom house plan can do this.
On the street that I live on, there are many different unique house plans to look at. You might see an Art Deco house right next to a traditional Tudor and beyond that, a house that looks sort of like an old-style barnyard except larger. Although I don't like all of these unique house plans – some of them are downright ugly – I do admire their willingness to take risks. And with risks, there are occasionally great acts of beauty.
Up in the hills, for example, you can see some of the most unique house plans in the entire city. There are houses that are built around streams in a style that reflects the workings of the great architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Some of these have entrances at the back of the house, intricate networks of walkways, and a harmonious design that seems to fit in well with the surrounding land. They also have interesting gardens, large windows, and other features that make their house plans unique.
Coming up with your own unique house plan is kind of difficult – as I figured out myself. There are plenty of unique designs, but finding the perfect one can be a painstaking process. In my case, I had to look at well over a hundred different designs before I found the perfect unique house plans. It actually was one of the plans I had initially considered, but when I looked at it in more detail it was perfect. It was spacious, interesting, and well-designed for entertaining in such a favorable climate.
There is plenty of outdoor space surrounded by awnings which protect it from the wind. Since the weather is so mild there, this meant that I had ability To entertain outside year-round. This is a great luxury for someone who enjoys inviting a lot of guests over to their house. I certainly have taken advantage of it since then.
About the Author: Caroline Bourke runs her own interior design business from home. Check out this great Advice For Homes website with loads of Home Improvement ideas.
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( 2.9 / 262 )There are many things that may be difficult to learn, but knowing how to draw house plans is not one of them. In fact, it would not take you very long to be able to do it yourself and then you can start drawing your own house plans for your dream home. Here are just a few things you need to know about learning how to draw floor plans.
The Home Design Software
Drawing house plans and floor plans requires that you use special home design software. This software, such as is offered by CAD, or Chief Architect, simplifies the process and enables you to use special features that are necessary for your custom home designs. Some of this home design software contains features like:
* Furniture
* Cabinet design
* Siding texture
* Floor textures
* And more.
These features are used when you tell the home design software program to generate your 3-D images so you can know what your custom home will look like.
The Time Involved
Learning how to draw your own custom house plans really does not take long. Two courses can be completed in just a couple of months, but you can learn how to draw a ranch style home in about a month. The nice thing about computer courses is that you have the freedom to work at your own speed and schedule. This allows you to put in the time you have available, or whenever you are available, even if 3:00 am is the only time you have for it!
The Assistance Available
Taking a course is one thing, but doing it with the ready help of a trained and very experienced house plan designer will definitely give you an edge. Questions can be freely asked through emails and you will get an answer quickly.
The Focus of the Lessons
These courses will teach you what you need to know about designing your own floor plans. By the time you finish the first course, which could be completed in a month, you will have made the floor plans for the ranch style home. This will include:
* Elevations
* Foundation
* Basic electrical
* Kitchen
* Doors and windows
* Porches and Decks
* And more!
The second course will teach you how to draw a two-floor home. Between the two courses you will have learned enough to get you going so that you can begin to create the house plans for your dream home.
The House Plans You Create
Being given the basic tools for drawing house plans, you can go from there and use your imagination to create your own dream house plans. You will be able to experiment and tweak your unique creation until it is just the way you want it. Best of all, after your new home plans are done, it is just a few more steps until you can build it - and the best part - live in your dream home that you designed yourself.
By Mike Valles, a freelance writer, invites you to learn more about these courses for drawing your own house plans. Enrolling takes only a few minutes and you also get the personal help of the instructor who has more than 22 years of experience. To learn more, just go to House Plan Drafting 101 at http://houseplandrafting101.net
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Valles
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( 3 / 226 )Let's face it. This planet is in a crisis. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. To create the energy we needed to sustain our modern comforts, we've polluted our atmosphere with countless gasses that will eventually warm the planet. A major part of this is the energy we squander heating and cooling our homes which is produced using fuels that emit greenhouse gasses. The solution is simple. Build homes that use less energy.
Earthen homes are at the top of the list. These are also known by the name of earth ships. Problem is that a majority of the living area on an earth ship is subterranean and doesn't meet many fire codes for egress as I understand.
One other is the chord wood house. This is also an exellent choice and I don't believe there are many downsides to this method except it's walls are nothing but firewood logs cut to length and put together with mortar like a brick house. I say it's a downside because we really need to save as many trees as possible. No, I'm not a tree hugger sorta guy, I just know that trees are the one element of nature that, if left alive, will scrub many of the bad gasses out of our atmosphere.
So then we come to building homes out of bales of rice or wheat straw. The straw is something we have been actually throwing away as waste in this country for years. Yet when put together as wall units, produce a very high restivity factor of R-39 to R-52 with a wall thickness of 14 to 16 inches. Wow, the common house built in America today using standard building methods is generally R-13 to R-19. R or resistivity is a number measuring a material's resistance to heat flow. R stands for resistance. Anyway, there is over double the difference in how much heating and cooling these walls can contain. Less energy used, less greenhouse gasses spilled into the atmosphere.
Once the walls are up, then the home is wrapped with a fabric that allows moisture to exit but not enter the walls and then is covered in about one inch of cement. These structures are as beautiful as they are functional. Even better is that only 20% or so of the structure is lumber so trees are saved. The cost is probably 50% less than standard construction methods and they last for ages. There are straw bale buildings in my area of Tennessee that have withstood the elements for well over a century.
Tim Davis is an Architectural Designer who has been in drafting and design since the late 1980's. He teaches Architectural Drafting over the internet at http://houseplandrafting101.net, draws House Plans professionally at http://customhouseplans.8m.com and offers Free Strawbale House Plans at http://customhouseplans.8m.com/strawbale/.
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( 3 / 227 )When contemplating building a home addition onto a single story house, frequently the question comes up on what makes more financial and practical sense? Is it better to build out with a room addition, or build up with a second floor addition?
The short answer is, if you have the land it is probably better to build out than to build up.
Building any home addition is a major undertaking. However, building a second story addition has significant more risk and interruptions associated with it.
First, local codes need to be checked to see if adding a second story addition is even feasible.
Second, the existing foundation needs to be inspected by the local building inspector, architect, or foundation contractor to see if the foundation can support a second floor. Concrete footings and foundation requirements usually vary on the type of home being built. A second story home creates significantly more load on the concrete footings and foundation walls. Consequently the footings and foundation walls are typically built more ruggedly for two story homes.
Third, the roof has to be torn off the home. This leaves the home vulnerable to the weather such as rain, snow and wind. Also, removing a roof in a controlled manner also takes significant time and labor which adds to the cost of the project.
Forth, frequently the homeowners need to find temporary housing elsewhere, as it is nearly impossible to live in the home while the roof is removed and replaced with another level.
Fifth, although every attempt is made to maintain the integrity of the first floor of the home, inherently there are risks of damage to the first floor ceilings and walls. Ceilings frequently are cracked while the second floor is being constructed.
Building a second floor addition is not an impossible endeavor. However, it does require more up front work and presents more risk to the existing home structure while being constructed. If you have limited land, then it may be your only alternative to create more space in your home. Again, however, if you do have the land it is probably a better bet to build out with a room addition.
For more help on Building a Home Addition, see HomeAdditionPlus.com's Room Addition Bid Sheet. The Room Addition Bid Sheet will help ensure that your room addition project goes smoothly and is completed on time and budget.
About the Author: Over the past 20+ years Mark Donovan has been involved with building homes and additions to homes. His projects have included: building a vacation home, building additions and garages on to existing homes, and finishing unfinished homes. For more home improvement information visit http://www.homeadditionplus.com and http://www.homeaddition.blogspot.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_Donovan
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